The Tampa Bay sporting scene has objectively never had a sports legend as big as the one who will be joining them for Sundays next fall.
But that doesn’t mean that Tom Brady won’t have his work cut out for him if he wants to become one of the city’s most beloved sports figures. Tampa Bay has a rich sports history and a deep love for many of the men who have played for the Buccaneers, Lightning and Rays, as well as a couple of professional wrestlers and one Olympic swimmer.
Here’s a look at 23 of Tampa Bay’s biggest sports legends, starting with …
Warren Sapp
After a standout career at the University of Miami, Sapp fell all the way to the Buccaneers at the 12th pick of the 1995 NFL draft. He quickly helped turn the franchise from a joke into a Super Bowl winner, making the Pro Bowl in seven of his nine seasons and lifting the Lombardi Trophy in 2002. He was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013 and his No. 99 is retired by the team.
Martin St. Louis
The 5-foot-8 forward starred for the Lightning from 2000 to 2014 and won the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player during Tampa Bay’s Stanley Cup winning season in 2004. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
Mike Alstott
Alstott played all 12 of his seasons with the Buccaneers and was renowned for being a true running fullback. He made the Pro Bowl six times, was named an all-pro three times and scored the first Super Bowl touchdown in Buccaneers history.
Jon Gruden
His 57-55 mark over seven years with the Buccaneers doesn’t exactly scream “legend,” but you can’t win a Super Bowl in a city and not be beloved. The Buccaneers acquired Gruden in a big trade from the Raiders just before the 2002 season and it paid off as Chucky got the team over the hump that Tony Dungy never quite could. Though he would only make the playoffs in Tampa one more time, he was installed into the Buccaneers’ ring of honor in 2017.
Warrick Dunn
A star at Florida State, Warrick Dunn was drafted by the Bucs in 1997 and rushed for 978 yards his rookie season. He had two more 1,000+ yard seasons over the next four seasons before moving onto Atlanta. He would return to the Bucs for one more season in 2008, rushing for 786 yards. A Walter Payton Man of the Year winner in 2004, Dunn is beloved for his work building homes for single parents. As of this writing, Warrick Dunn Charities has helped build 177 homes.
Evan Longoria
Longoria won Rookie of the Year in 2008 as the wild-card winning Rays improbably won the American League Pennant. Three years later, Longoria hit the biggest home run in Rays history – a line shot down the left field line against the Yankees in the bottom of the 12th inning on the final day of the 2011 season. The home run allowed the Rays to complete an improbable one-month comeback against the Red Sox and sent the team to the playoffs.
Lee Roy Selmon
The expansion Buccaneers took Selmon No. 1 out of Oklahoma in the 1976 draft and he would be a lone ray of light in the team’s dismal early years. Selmon made the Pro Bowl six times and was named to the NFL’s 100th anniversary all-time team in 2019. He also served as an athletic director at the University of South Florida. He died of a stroke in 2011 at the age of 56.
Steven Stamkos
Stamkos has been a standout for the Lightning since being drafted first overall in the 2008. He has led the league in scoring twice (2010, 2012) and been named an All-Star six times, which is tied with Martin St. Louis for the most in Lightning history.
George Steinbrenner
The late Yankees owner called Tampa his adopted hometown and it showed in his behavior. The Yankees moved into a spring training stadium in 1996 that now bears his name and was a big philanthropist for many causes in the area. “I’ll tell them until they’re tired of hearing it. I don’t like in New York. I live in Tampa, Fla.,” he said in 1997.
Hulk Hogan
His reputation has taken a big hit in recent years, but the former WWF heavyweight champion at the peak of his fame probably comes closest to the heights where Tom Brady resides. Hogan grew up in the Tampa Bay area and has never abandoned his roots. He currently has a wrestling shop on Clearwater Beach.
Brooke Bennett
Born in Tampa in 1980, Bennett is the most decorated Olympic athlete in city history. The swimmer won gold as a 16-year-old at the 1996 Olympics, taking first in the 800-meters. She would add two more golds at the 2000 Games, winning the 400- and 800-meter freestyle.
Derrick Brooks
Brooks played all 14 of his NFL seasons in Tampa Bay and his numbers are simply astounding: 11 Pro Bowl, nine All-Pro teams, a defensive player of the year award in 2002 and one Super Bowl ring. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Joe Maddon
Maddon will go down in history as the manager who broke the Cubs’ 108-year championship drought, but he had a great run in Tampa Bay too. Maddon is the winningest manager in franchise history with 754 wins. He was named AL manager of the year in 2008 and 2011 and took the team to the 2008 World Series.
Wade Boggs
One of Tampa’s favorite sons, Boggs played with the Rays for the final two seasons of his career and got his 3,000th hit — a home run — while wearing a Tampa Bay uniform. His number was retired by the team in 2000, 16 years before the Red Sox got around to doing the same thing.
John Lynch
Along with Sapp, Brooks and Ronde Barber, Lynch formed the backbone of the vaunted Bucs’ defense. He played in Tampa for 11 seasons, making the Pro Bowl five teams and earning two first-team All-Pro mentions. He’s a member of the Buccaneers ring of honor.
Vincent LeCavalier
LeCavalier played the first 14 years of his career in Tampa Bay and was drafted No. 1 overall in the 1998 NHL draft. He was the NHL’s leading scorer in the 2006-07 season. His number was retired by the Lightning in 2018.
Tony Dungy
Dungy came up just short of a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers, but the franchise doesn’t turn around if not for his steady hand in the late ’90s. Dungy’s famed “Tampa 2” defense brought the Bucs to the 1999 NFC title game and another two playoff appearances before he headed to Indianapolis for more success. Dungy is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is a member of the Bucs’ ring of honor.
Lou Piniella
A graduate of Jesuit high school, Piniella was a local boy made good as he won World Series with the Yankees and managed the Mariners to 116 wins in the 2001 season. He also managed the Rays for three years from 2003-05, though all three seasons ended with 91 or more losses.
Dave Andreychuk
The captain of the Lightning’s Cup winning team, Andreychuk hoisting the Cup is featured on a statue outside the team’s arena.
Ronde Barber
Barber was a Buccaneer for all of his 16 seasons, making five Pro Bowls, three first-team All Pros and winning Super Bowl XXVII against the Raiders. He was a member of the NFL’s 2000s all-decade team and is in the team’s ring of honor.
Randy “Macho Man” Savage
A member of the Tampa Tarpons during the early ’70s, the late Savage was an incredibly popular person in the Tampa Bay area before his death in 2011.
Ferdie Pacheco
Raised in Tampa’s famous Ybor City, Pacheco earned worldwide fame as Muhammad Ali’s fight doctor. He later became a boxing analyst for both NBC and Univision. He died in 2017 at the age of 89.
