Michael Jordan Ranked No. 1 in New 50 Greatest Black Athletes Poll

Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, the NBA legend and current owner of the Charlotte Hornets, was unveiled today as the No. 1 athlete in The Undefeated-SurveyMonkey Poll of the 50 Greatest Black Athletes. ESPN's multiplatform content initiative on the intersections of sports, race and culture unveiled the top-10 list Tuesday online and on SportsCenter. The top-5 also features: No. 2 Jackie Robinson, No. 3 Muhammad Ali, No. 4 Willie Mays and No. 5 Jesse Owens.

Serena Williams, who has 39 career Grand Slam tennis titles (23 singles), is the top-ranked female athlete on the list at No. 6. She is joined by a pair of gold medal-winning Olympic gymnasts - Simone Biles (No. 8) and Gabby Douglas (No. 9) - as the three female athletes in the top 10. In all, seven female athletes made the 50 Greatest Black Athletes list. Others include Venus Williams (No. 15), Wilma Rudolph (No. 21), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (No. 27) and Florence Griffith Joyner (No. 33)

Every Tuesday since July 11, The Undefeated has been counting down the 50 Greatest Black Athletes, which explores the societal impact, on-field dominance, and inspiration of top African American athletes as selected by fans. The 50 Greatest Black Athletes were determined via an online survey conducted by SurveyMonkey, the world's leading People Powered Data platform.

Athletes ranked Nos. 10-1 in The Undefeated-SurveyMonkey 50 Greatest Black Athletes poll:

• 10: Jerry Rice
• 9: Gabby Douglas
• 8: Simone Biles
• 7: Hank Aaron
• 6: Serena Williams
• 5: Jesse Owens
• 4: Willie Mays
• 3: Muhammad Ali
• 2: Jackie Robinson
• 1: Michael Jordan

The 50 Greatest Black Athletes by sport: baseball (11 athletes), basketball (10), football (9), TRACK AND FIELD (7), boxing (6), tennis (3), gymnastics (2) and soccer (1).

***Note - Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker were counted in multiple disciplines

For the 50 Greatest Black Athletes list, SurveyMonkey polled nearly 20,000 American adults about the attributes that make athletes great. Participants were asked to rank a randomly selected group of 200 athletes on overall dominance, impact on society, and inspirational resonance. The results are representative of U.S. adults nationally.

The Undefeated writer Jerry Bembry delves into the SurveyMonkey polling results and asks the vexing question in this survey - What constitutes greatness? In a companion piece, the data journalism platform www.FiveThirtyEight.com studied SurveyMonkey's results and explained How Gender, Age And Race Shape Our View Of What Makes A Great Black Athlete.

The Undefeated is ESPN's multiplatform content initiative exploring the intersections of sports, race and culture. The digital hub, TheUndefeated.com, combines innovative long-form and short-form storytelling, investigation, original reporting and provocative commentary to enlighten and entertain.

In addition to its cutting-edge content, The Undefeated seeks to be a thought-leader on race, sports and culture in the country - convening insightful forums and other forms of engagement to discuss and debate topical issues affecting sports and race in America.

Image courtesy of ESPN

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