This week, we witnessed Leicester City pull off one of the most amazing turnarounds in sports history by winning the coveted English Premier League championship title. The Foxes forever etched their names in sports lore as one of the greatest underdog stories of all-time, but where do they rank amongst the other unheralded and unexpected wonders of the sporting world?
Let’s relive the top 10 underdogs that captivated many hearts from past to present below. After this, check out more of our latest countdowns with our top 10 lists for the best UFC fights and Kentucky Derby moments.
The Top 10 Greatest Underdog Stories in Sports History
10. Michael Oher
Our first underdog on this list is not so much as winner at his sport of choice, but rather life in general.
NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher had a rough upbringing, having been raised by a drug-addled mother and a delinquent father. Eventually, The 6-foot-4, 315-pounder was fostered by the Tuohy family, which give him the proper guidance and support to become an immovable force in the Mississippi Rebels’ O-line, and to be selected as the 23rd-overall pick at the 2009 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.
Oher’s story is well-documented in popular culture, thanks to a critically-acclaimed film that was released the same year that he was drafted. Although he hasn’t exactly made huge waves as a pro, Oher remains a perfect role model for young, aspiring athletes looking to step out of the shadows of their misfortunate childhoods.
9. Goran Ivanisevic
By the year 2000, tennis great Goran Ivanisevic was at the tail-end of his career. He even had to sit out that year’s entire season due to a shoulder injury.
Entering the 2011 edition of Wimbledon, Ivanisevic was merely ranked as the 125th-best tennis player in the world. He secured his slot in the tournament as a wildcard entry mainly because he was a three-time runner-up at the event, and not due to his current form.
The tennis world didn’t expect the Croatian sensation to have so much left in his battered tank to ultimately prevail over the likes of superstars Andy Roddick, Carlos Moya and Patrick Rafter among others en route to winning his one and only Grand Slam title, and as the only wildcard in the ATP to win at Wimbledon at that all the more.
8. 2010/2011 Butler Bulldogs
It’s a tremendous accomplishment for a mid-major school to reach the championship game let alone escape the first or second round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. But to do it in back-to-back seasons? That’s just unfathomable.
Well, that’s what the 2010 and 2011 Butler Bull(under)dogs exactly did. Head coach Brad Stevens, together with standout player Gordon Hayward took the program to new heights in those two seasons after going only as far as the Sweet 16 of the Big Dance on three other occasions.
Butler failed to win the national title on those two trips – losing to Duke in 2010, and then to UConn in 2011 – yet those Cinderella runs have given the rest of the lesser-known schools lots of motivation to excel come March Madness season.
7. Jeremy Lin
Where were you when Linsanity fever broke out in February of 2012? Every NBA fan was surely enraptured by that widespread pandemonium that year, as Asian-American point guard Jeremy Lin took the league by storm.
Playing for the downtrodden New York Knicks at the time, Lin got an opportunity to be the team’s starting floor general mid-season, and shattered any and all expectations. The half-Taiwanese became a superstar of sorts in less than two weeks after becoming the first player in NBA history to score at least 20 points and dish out seven assists in each of his first five games as a starter.
While the Linsanity madness died down nearly as quickly as the Knicks’ season ended that year, and that he failed to sustain the explosiveness from his debut run, Lin’s coming-out party for the ages served as a template for what the NBA might expect from diminutively-sized Asian basketball players. Because hey, Yao Ming never had such a strong, fan-wide appreciation as Lin did, that’s for sure.
6. Tom Brady
No underdogs list would be complete without the mention of Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr.
Selected as the 199th-overall pick at the 2000 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, Michigan quarterback Tom Brady flew under everybody’s radar. One untimely injury in 2011 to then-starting New England QB Drew Bledsoe later, and the second-year play-caller finally got his chance to show what he’s got.
Fast-forward to today, Brady now has four Super Bowl wins – including a Lombardi Trophy from his first crack as the team’s official starter – three Super Bowl MVP titles, 11 Pro Bowl selections and many more accolades that other football players can only dream of.
If Brady still isn’t considered as the greatest quarterback in NFL history right now, he’s at the very least the greatest and most successful surprise that the league has ever seen.
5. 2007 New York Giants
For as dominant as Brady and the Patriots have been for the better part of the 21st century, one team has given these Foxborough juggernauts constant fits: the New York Giants.
It all began in the 2007 season, when the Pats became the first team in league history to go undefeated in a 16-game regular-season schedule. The path to NFL immortality was set, until they faced the 9-7 Giants in the Super Bowl. Down by two points, New York – led by another rising quarterback in Eli Manning – scored the final touchdown of the contest with less than a minute left to ruin New England’s perfect season.
Manning and the Giants would meet Brady and the Patriots again in Super Bowl XLVI, and they once again emerged victorious. Yes, the Patriots have been the NFL’s prime dynasty, but the G-Men always found unique ways to come out as dark horses and spoil their East Coast rivals’ Lombardi plans time and again.
4. Buster Douglas
In the mid- to late-1980’s, “Iron” Mike Tyson ruled the boxing ring with, well… his iron fists. He had 37-consecutive wins under his belt entering his next heavyweight title defense back in February 1990 in Osaka, Japan, where he was set to go toe-to-toe with a relatively unknown fighter in James “Buster” Douglas.
Tyson was the 42-1 favorite in this Far East showdown. So when Douglas shockingly sent Tyson down to the mat for the literal knockout of a championship victory, the boxing world came unglued.
Douglas’ glory would be short-lived, though, as he eventually lost his first title defense to Evander Holyfield eight months later. Nonetheless, Douglas’ drubbing of Tyson remains as one of the most oft-mentioned sporting upsets of all-time.
3. 2004 Boston Red Sox
Down three games in a best-of-seven series in the American League Championship Series against eternal foes the New York Yankees back in 2004, it seemed as though the Curse of the Bambino laid upon the Boston Red Sox would live on to see a dismal 86th season. Heck, the Bronx Bombers just obliterated the Sox in Game 3 by a score of 19-8.
But alas, the boys from Beantown finally got the blessing from the baseball gods that they’ve been praying for that year, clawing back from New York’s insurmountable series lead to become the first (and only) team in MLB history to win a seven-game series after losing the first three contests. They would then go on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to put their near century-long title drought to rest.
To this date, Boston is a perennial playoff contender in the majors, and they wouldn’t be in this position right now if it wasn’t for the miraculous comeback over their long-time rivals.
2. 2016 Leicester City
Think Boston’s 85 years of misery was an eternity? Try Leicester City’s 132 years of ineptitude for size.
The Leicester City Foxes entered the 2015-16 English Premier League season as 5,000-to-1 underdogs (!) at winning their first-ever league crown, which is pretty much the equivalent of Saturn disintegrating deep into the Sun’s core before Earth ever does.
Then it happened: almost a year of stellar play and a fantastic 22-11-3 season-record later, Leicester City needed just a Tottenham Hotspur draw or loss on May 2, 2016 to secure the EPL title in hand. A 2-2 draw between Tottenham and Chelsea they did get, and soccer fans worldwide – obviously – lost their freakin’ minds.
The Foxes’ valiant achievement didn’t have much of an impact stateside, though. Still, soccer (or football, depending on who you ask) is undeniably the sport of choice worldwide, and Leicester City’s marvelous feat will forever be a gleaming beacon of hope for all the little guys around the globe.
1. 1980 USA Men’s Hockey Team
More than just another underdog sports story, the USA Men’s Hockey Team’s gold-medal victory at the 1980 Winter Olympics even had the real-life historical template of the Cold War between the United States and the USSR as fuel to its already fiery context.
What made the “Miracle on Ice” such a triumphant feat for American sports, though, was the fact that the United States’ team was comprised of mere amateurs and collegiate standouts. The Soviet Union, meanwhile, brought out their big guns as always, and had won six of the past seven gold medals at the Winter Olympics at that point.
The thrilling 4-3 win over the USSR in the medal round of the event will forever be remembered as one of if not the greatest victory by a United States national sports team. This was then followed by a sound 2-1 victory over Finland in the final round-robin match of the medal round to ultimately bag the gold for the Red, White and Blue.
Let’s have Al Michaels take us down memory lane to relive this euphoric occasion once more.
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