re: Are there transcendent athletes?

Without question. In fact I mentioned this on a couple of recent threads when some of our younger brethren stated that athletes prior to the modern training regimens begun in the late 70's and early 80's could not compete with todays athletes. That's rubbish. You can add Petit, Cannon, Bert Jones, Alexander, Robiskie and Stovall to that list as well. Probably a lot more if you had the time to compile a thorough list and that's just at LSU. Athletes like Thorpe, Mathias, Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Russel, Chamberlain, Jim Brown, Jimmy Taylor, hell you could go on and on. Imagine Marciano, Ali or Foreman fighting todays sluggish plugs in the ring. Transcendent athletes abound throughout sports history.