Kevin LytleFort Collins Coloradoan
It was only 13 months ago that the Coloradoan did its latest rankings of the best local athletes of all time.
The previous edition was way back in 2014. A lot had changed from 2014 to 2023.
How much has shifted in these last 13 months? Well, there was a rather significant worldwide competition where a Northern Colorado star had a big say in the result.
So, it's time for a refresh of the Coloradoan's top Fort Collins athletes of all time. These are athletes who grew up in the area (no CSU athletes who came to Fort Collins for college, for instance, are included).
1. Sophia Smith
Recency bias? I don't believe so. Smith helped the U.S. women's soccer team go undefeated in the 2024 Paris Olympics to win the gold medal. She had three goals and two assists, including a semifinal winner in extra time to keep the hopes for gold alive.
Smith is just 24 (her birthday was the day of the gold medal match) but already has a resume with national (and international) prevalence beyond any athlete we've seen from here.
The Windsor native and Fossil Ridge graduate can claim all of these:
- 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist
- Three goals in 2024 Olympics (plus two assists) and two goals in 2023 World Cup
- Highest paid player in NWSL
- 2022 NWSL MVP
- 2022 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year
- No. 1 pick (Portland Thorns) in 2020 NWSL draft
- 2019 NCAA champion, College Cup MVP
She's also one of the top marketing names for mega brands such as Nike, Gatorade, Reese's, Chipotle and more. Smith is not only one of the best American soccer players, but one of the best in the world. She already has 55 appearances and 23 goals in a USWNT uniform.
Her career has a long ways to go, but she is rightfully the new No. 1.
2. Byron 'Whizzer' White
White had been the No. 1 in these rankings for a long time. He was the runner-up for the 1937 Heisman Trophy as college football's most outstanding player (while a running back at Colorado) and a two-time NFL rushing champion.White was born in Fort Collins and grew up in Wellington. He played three seasons in the NFL, leading the league in rushing as a rookie in 1938 and again in 1940 (he was named All-Pro twice) before joining the Navy to fight in World War II. White was also a .400 hitter on the CU baseball team and a standout on CU's basketball squad that made the NIT in 1938. He went on to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice. White was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.
3. Gary Glick
The former LaPorte High School and CSU standout was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1956 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He went on to play seven seasons in the NFL. Glick was a two-time All-Skyline Conference selection as a defensive back and earned second-team All-American honors his senior year.
4. Jaelin Howell
Another soccer star. Howell (who went to Fossil Ridge) has made five appearances for the USWNT and is one who could be pushing for a spot come the 2027 World Cup. The midfielder is the captain for Racing Louisville in the NWSL. She was a two-time winner of the Hermann Trophy (college soccer's Heisman equivalent) at Florida State, where she helped the Seminoles win two national titles. Howell was the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NWSL draft. She could move further up this list soon.
5. Greg Myers
The Windsor High School standout won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's outstanding defensive back his senior year at CSU in 1995. He was the only player ever named to the All-Western Athletic Conference first team four times and was a two-time All-American. Myers was selected in the fifth round of the 1996 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals and played 64 games in the NFL with both the Bengals and Dallas Cowboys.
6. Jeremy Bloom
A two-time U.S. Olympian and three-time world champion in freestyle moguls skiing, Bloom split time growing up between his father's home in Fort Collins and his mother's home in Loveland. He graduated from Loveland High and became a freshman All-American football player at CU before an NCAA ruling forced him to give up that sport in order to accept money from sponsors for his skiing career. He still was selected in the fifth round of the NFL draft in 2006, just two months after competing in his first Olympics.
7. Katie Follett
Follett was a seven-time All-American at Washington. She was a high school All-American in cross-country at Fort Collins High School, where she won 23 of the 34 races she entered in cross-country, and set school records in the 3,200-meter run and at 5 kilometers. She won back-to-back Pac-12 Conference titles in the 1,500 at Washington and was the runner-up in the mile at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships. She also ran on the Huskies' national championship cross-country team in 2008 and set school records at Washington in the 1,500 and mile. Follett has won a USATF National Club Cross Country Championships race, won a 2017 U.S. Road Mile championship, was second in the 3,000-meter run at the 2018 USA Indoor championships, and was sixth in the U.S. Olympic trials (5,000 meters) in 2016, to name a few of her top accomplishments.
8. Marco Gonzales
The lefty was the winning pitcher in four straight Class 5A state championship games at Rocky Mountain from 2007 to 2010. He was a first-team All-American and the West Coast Conference pitcher of the year as a sophom*ore at Gonzaga in 2012 after sharing conference player of the year honors as a freshman. Gonzales was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals with the No. 19 pick in the 2012 draft. Now a Pittsburgh Pirate, he has appeared in 170 career MLB games over 10 years.
9. Gabi Morris
A multi-sport star at Rocky Mountain High School, Morris (formerly Gabi McDonald) has surged to stardom in track and field at CSU. She finished second in the nation at the NCAA outdoor championships in shot put in June of 2024. She was also second-team All-American in discus at the meet and went on to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials later in the summer. She won five total state titles in the throws at Rocky Mountain and competed for a time in both soccer (she was a 2019 all-conference goalkeeper) and track and field at CSU.
10. Lauren Gregory
Gregory is another Fort Collins running star. She was a seven-time state champion at Fort Collins High School (three in cross-country and four in track). Gregory was a three-time All-American in indoor track and field at Arkansas and has finished second in the NCAA in the indoor mile, 3,000-meter run and distance medley relay in her college career. She ran in the U.S. Olympic Trials ahead of Paris.
Other names in the mix
These athletes are close to the top 10 and listed in no particular order:
Olivia Cummins: The 21-year-old was on the U.S. Team Pursuit cycling team at the 2024 Olympics. They won gold, although Cummins was an unused alternate. Still, she's a fast-rising star with eyes now turned to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Nancy Roe: A two-time state title winner at No. 1 singles (1983 and 1984) at Fort Collins HS and three-time NCAA Division II champion at Northern Colorado. She won NCAA titles at No. 2 singles in 1986 and teamed with Sandra Elliott for national championships in doubles in 1985 and 1986.
Evan Unrau: The Rocky Mountain High graduate was a star basketball player at Missouri and a WNBA draft selection in 2004. She played professionally for two years in Luxembourg.
Micaylon Moore: The Fort Collins High School graduate was a two-time Colorado HS long jump champion and a 2019 triple jump champion. He finished seventh at the NCAA indoor championships in triple jump with Nebraska in 2024 and also competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the event.
Jacob Greenwood: A four-time high school state wrestling champion at Poudre, the first four-timer in Fort Collins history.
Trey Zuhn: The Fossil Ridge graduate has turned into an elite offensive tackle on the Texas A&M football team and is a likely 2025 NFL draft selection.
Jack Howell: Jaelin's sister, who spent his childhood in Northern Colorado before moves to the Denver area and then Arizona in high school. He's an all-conference safety at CSU with NFL hopes in the future.
Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle onXand Instagram@Kevin_Lytle.
