Whenever the question arises at a bar about who was the greatest athlete, I allow everyone to offer their opinions.
“Jim Thorpe.”
He was a multi-talented competitor.
“Ali.”
Ali was a great fighter.
Once the debate has lost steam I say, “Andre the Giant.”
They argue that the Frenchman was only a wrestler, but Andre the Giant was a living legend.
I was lucky enough to shake Ali’s hand on 5th Avenue back in 1978 and entered Studio 54 with Andre the Giant.
Both were memorable encounters, however I recently read on www.geekosystem.com that Andre the Giant was driven to school by Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett in the early 50s. The future wrestling legend was a huge twelve year-old. The author of WAITING FOR GODOT had a truck. It was the only vehicle in the village that could accommodate Andre, whose father had constructed Beckett’s cottage in France.
Andre recalled that they spoke about Cricket.