Everything is bigger in Texas. Especially the sports stars. The Lone Star State is home to some of the greatest athletes and sports moments in U.S. history—indelible images that will stand the test of time. From Olympians to college stars to the best professional sports has to offer, it’s impossible to write the story of American sports history without looking to Texas.
Narrowing down nearly a century of excellence in America’s second-most-populous state is no easy effort, but we at Chron are up to the task. Is our list championship worthy? Is it a major whiff? Read below and decide for yourself in the latest installment of our Texas 250 series.
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From hospital to hero
Ben Hogan, the golfing star who came back after a close brush with death in an auto accident, smiles as he receives trophy and prizes after winning the playoff for the National Open crown at Merion Golf Club.
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June 11, 1950: Ben Hogan was already a three-time major champion before the ‘Miracle at Merion’ in 1950. His fourth career major made him a living legend.
Hogan, a Stephenville native, suffered a life-threatening accident in February 1949, in which his car smashed into a Greyhound bus in West Texas. The accident nearly killed one of golf’s great all-time talents, who suffered a fractured pelvis, fractured collarbone, broken left ankle, broken ribs and severe blood clots. Doctors feared Hogan would never walk again during a 59-day stay in the hospital.
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Hogan didn’t just return to the course in 1950. He emerged once again as a historic talent, winning the 1950 U.S. Open at the East Course of Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania. Hogan then added four more career majors to finish with a total of nine by 1953, and he now sits No. 4 on the all-time major list, trailing only Walter Hagen (1914-29), Tiger Woods (1997-2019) and Jack Nicklaus (1962-86).
Glory Road
Texas Western changed college basketball forever when its all-Black starting five beat Kentucky in the 1966 national championship.
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March 19, 1966: Perhaps the greatest win in college basketball history was authored by a tiny school in West Texas.
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On this day, the University of Texas at El Paso (then known as Texas Western), squared off against the Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA men’s college basketball national championship game. UTEP went just 16–9 the year prior and found themselves in a battle against college hoops’ premier power.
Not only did UTEP’s 72-65 win over Kentucky shock America, but it also challenged racist assumptions nationwide. UTEP was the first team in college sports history to win a championship with an all-Black starting five, taking down a Kentucky team that started five white players (Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp refused to recruit Black players). The UTEP win increased nationwide efforts to recruit Black players, leading to greater opportunities for many of the nation’s best athletes.
‘Next year’ no more
Wide receiver Bob Hayes of the Dallas Cowboys finds some running room during Super Bowl VI against the Miami Dolphins on January 16, 1972 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana.
James Drake/Getty Images
Jan. 16, 1972: Before the Dallas Cowboys were “America’s Team,” they were a plucky underdog who couldn’t win the big one.
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Dallas won 52 of 69 regular-season games from 1966-70 but failed to win a single Super Bowl due to a quintet of heartbreaking playoff losses in the NFC divisional round, NFC championship game and Super Bowl V in January 1971. The next winter brought a long-awaited championship to Tom Landry’s team. Dallas destroyed the Miami Dolphins 24-3 in Super Bowl IV in January 1972, finally erasing the “Next Year’s Champions” moniker that haunted them for a half-decade.
Notorious noogie
Nolan Ryan was still as intimidating as ever, even at 46-years-old.
Linda Kaye/Dallas Morning News
Aug. 4, 1993: Nolan Ryan is Major League Baseball’s all-time strikeout king and the author of an MLB-record seven no-hitters. Yet no moment better describes the ferocious intensity of The Ryan Express quite like this 1993 incident, in which a 46-year-old Ryan hit Chicago White Sox youngster Robin Ventura with a fastball, then dominated Ventura in a subsequent benches-clearing brawl at Arlington Stadium.
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Ryan’s records will likely stand forever. So will the image of his noogie to Ventura, which he could probably still pull off at his current ripe age of 79.
Hakeem’s dream
Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets turned Choke City into Clutch City in 1994.
John W. McDonough/Sports Illustrated via Getty Ima
June 22, 1994: Houston was known as “Choke City” in May 1994. The Rockets flipped that narrative to become “Clutch City” one month later.
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Hakeem Olajuwon spent his first nine years in Houston as a bona fide superstar without a championship, with a string of frustrating playoff exits leaving many to wonder whether the Rockets would ever hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy with Olajuwon as their leading man. That changed in 1994, when Olajuwon and the Rockets defeated the New York Knicks in a seven-game classic that remains one of the best NBA Finals in league history. Houston then added a second championship one year later, leading to an unforgettable postgame line from head coach Rudy Tomjanovich: “Never underestimate the heart of a champion.”
San Antonio savior
Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs speaks with a reporter during the NBA Draft at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C.
Craig Jones/Getty Images
May 18, 1997: The San Antonio Spurs are among the most dominant dynasties in NBA history. But, like their franchise anchor Tim Duncan, their five championships from 1999 to 2014 are somewhat of the ho-hum variety. Let’s instead celebrate Duncan’s de facto arrival in San Antonio in May 1997, when the Spurs won the NBA draft lottery, then drafted Duncan—one of the 10-or-so greatest players in NBA history—one month later.
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‘He’s going for the corner’
Jan. 4, 2006: Texas Longhorns fans were 35 years removed from their last college football championship before a historic night at the Rose Bowl in January 2004. Texas faced off against a USC team eyeing its third straight national championship, where a win would have cemented the Trojans as the greatest dynasty in modern college football history.
Not so fast, my friend. Vince Young authored one of the best performances in NCAA history with 267 passing yards, 200 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns, the last of which elicited a historic call from broadcaster Keith Jackson: “He’s going for the corneeeeer, he’s got it! Vince. Young. Scores.”
Dirk’s dominance
Dirk Nowitzki got the championship monkey off his back with a long-awaited NBA Finals victory in 2011.
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June 12, 2011: Dirk Nowitzki was haunted by his loss in the 2006 NBA Finals, when the favored Dallas Mavericks lost to Dwyane Wade and the upstart Miami Heat in six games. By 2011, many assumed Nowitzki’s championship chance passed him by, with 12 seasons and plenty of playoff failures in the rearview mirror. Those questions were silenced in 2011, when Nowitzki and the Mavericks pulled off one of the great Finals upsets in history with a win over Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and the newly-formed ‘Big 3’ Heat. Nowitzki bawled tears of joy at the final buzzer, sprinting into the tunnel after capturing a championship neither he nor Dallas were expected to deliver.
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The wait is over
The Astros brought a long-awaited World Series to Houston for the first time in 56 years in 2017.
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Nov. 1, 2017: The Houston Astros were without a championship in their 56-year history before a miraculous run in 2017. Houston, a 100-loss club as recently as 2013, sprinted into the playoffs with a homegrown collection of stars, then defeated the New York Yankees in the ALCS before dispatching the Los Angeles Dodgers in a seven-game World Series for the ages.
Houston’s victory wasn’t just a sports triumph. The World Series win lifted the city, which was still reeling in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The Astros won the championship in Los Angeles, then returned home as conquering heroes at their championship parade one week later.
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Simone’s redemption
Simone Biles in 2024 came back to show the world she was still the top gymnast around.
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July 30: 2024: Simone Biles is a product of the Houston suburbs and perhaps the greatest athlete to ever come out of the Lone Star State. Her Olympic excellence was halted in 2021 during the Tokyo Games, when she experienced the “twisties,” an ailment affecting gymnasts in which they lose spacial awareness mid-air, and often fall to the mat without a successful completed jump.
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Biles failed to win an Olympic gold due to her bout with the twisties in Tokyo. She rebounded with aplomb in Paris in 2024, when she claimed three gold medals to cement her status as the greatest Olympic gymnast in United States history.