Plaudits abound for David Letterman after Wednesday’s farewell edition of the Late Show capped a remarkable 33-year run on late-night television.
We’ve spent the week trawling YouTube for some of Letterman’s more memorable interviews of sportspeople, a subset of celebrity who proved a fascinating fit for his disarming style. Here are 20 of our favorites. But since glaring omissions are inevitable given the more than 6,000 shows that comprise Letterman’s body of work, be sure to leave yours in the comments below.
Hank Aaron, 3 February 1982
The longtime Braves slugger helped launch the Late Show when he appeared on the third episode. One month after getting elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Aaron joked about getting invited to the White House after breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record. “I didn’t get there fast enough,” he quipped, a nod to Nixon’s resignation.
William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry, 11 November 1985
The 1985 Bears were bona fide pop cultural icons – punky QB Jim McMahon would join the show later that season ahead of Super Bowl while Walter Payton and Mike Ditka also made appearances – yet none came with the fanfare of Chicago’s 335lb defensive tackle and occasional short-yardage runner.
Wayne Gretzky, 5 February 1986
The Great One had already rewritten much of the NHL’s record book when he joined the show in 1986 and made amends for his infamous “Mickey Mouse organization” remark about the New Jersey Devils.
Mike Tyson, 13 May 1986
The future heavyweight champion was just a 19-year-old contender when he made his Letterman debut. Soft-spoken to the point of near-inaudibility, he inexplicably wore an NFL Films hat and reckoned he’d win the title by 21 – a prediction he’d make good on before the year was out.
Bobby Knight, 12 May 1987
The famously cantankerous Indiana basketball coach joined Letterman shortly after helming the Hoosiers to the NCAA championship.
Sugar Ray Leonard, 17 September 1987
The legendary fighter joined Letterman shortly after outpointing Marvin Hagler for the middleweight championship – and proceeded to throw weapons-grade shade at his vanquished opponent.
Martina Navratilova, 4 November 1987
The tennis superstar, then 31, had just been overtaken by Steffi Graf atop the WTA rankings when she joined the show – but said she’d be back on top by the spring “if I] just play halfway decently”. (It wasn’t to be: Graf was No1 for a record 186 consecutive weeks until Monica Seles took the crown in 1991.)
Richard Petty, 17 February 1988
The Nascar icon known as The King discussed his close call at the Daytona 500 earlier that week.
Michael Jordan, 4 May 1989
When Letterman brought the show to Chicago for a week of tapings, it only made sense to book Jordan – who’d previously joined the show in 1986 – during the Bulls’ first-round playoff series with the Cavaliers. Three days later, he would hit The Shot to eliminate Cleveland and bolster his legend. (Watch him slay the crowd with a joke at 36:13.)
Charles Barkley, 13 February 1990
Years later he’d join the show to discuss the Brett Favre sexting scandal, but the Round Mound of Rebound was still a Sixer when he first appeared shortly after the 1990 NBA All-Star Game.
Ken Griffey Jr, 6 September 1990
The sky was the limit for Griffey when he first appeared on Letterman at 20 years old and admitted to being scared by the intensity of the MLB spotlight.
Ted Williams, 20 January 1993
The last player to hit .400 in a season made a special appearance alongside Joe Garagiola in 1993.
Bo Jackson, 19 October 1993
The two-sport superstar was already on the wrong side of hip replacement surgery when he joined Letterman after helping the Chicago White Sox to the American League West title.
Derek Jeter, 18 November 1996
The superstar-in-waiting made his Letterman debut shortly after helping the Yankees to their first World Series since 1978.
Peyton Manning, 8 December 1997
The All-Pro quarterback – who made a cameo on Wednesday’s farewell show – was still a senior at Tennessee and in New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony when he made his first appearance on the Show. (Though Letterman introduced him as the favorite to win the award, Manning would finish second in the final voting to Michigan’s Charles Woodson.)
Marat Safin, 11 September 2000
The mercurial Russian had just upset Pete Sampras for the 2000 US Open title when he joined Letterman to discuss the merits of vodka for breakfast and Anna Kournikova’s Grand Slam prospects.
LeBron James, 22 September 2006
King James was 21 when he and Letterman spent an interview reviewing his many Sports Illustrated covers and discussing the internationalization of basketball.
Hope Solo and Abby Wambach, 19 July 2011
The US soccer stars were still smarting from a loss on penalties to Japan in the 2011 Women’s World Cup final when they joined the show.
Rafael Nadal, 24 August 2011
The Spanish tennis star joined Letterman ahead of his US Open title defense, which ended with a loss to Novak Djokovic in the final.
The Fierce Five, 14 August 2012
The darlings of the 2012 US Olympic gymnastics team joined Letterman after capturing gold in London.
