In order to answer this seemingly impossible question, we turned to some of Oakland\u2019s biggest sports fans: political and business leaders, local sports media, local sports teams, and even some local athletes. All of them had opinions, and all of them had stories.<\/p>\n
\u201cBandage this MF up\u201d <\/p>\n
On a summer day in 2015, then-Mayor Libby Schaaf dropped her kids off at camp and decided to go for a jog. As fate would have it, she tripped, fell and broke her hand. At the hospital, she was told she needed to have surgery the following day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is one day that I cannot miss in my life,\u201d she says she told them, \u201cit is tomorrow. Bandage this MF up and I will come back any other day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That is how badly Oakland\u2019s mayor wanted to be at the Golden State Warriors\u2019 championship parade the next day. And it was worth it because, as she later noted, \u201cThat parade is without question one of the very best days of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hospital gave her a Warriors blue-and-yellow cast and some Tylenol and sent her on her way. There was just one problem: she was supposed to ride a fire-breathing snail art car<\/a> in the parade, and her staff worried that without the use of her right hand, she would be too unsteady on it to ride alone. Unsure who to ask to ride with the mayor, one staff member had an idea. It was a long shot, but he had a cell phone number for someone who loved Oakland sports as much as she did. At 10 p.m., Schaaf got a text message that former Oakland A\u2019s bat boy<\/a> MC Hammer, someone she had never met, would be accompanying her at the parade the next day. After that, it became their thing. When the Warriors won the championship again in 2017 and 2018, they rode the snail car in the parade together again.<\/p>\n So of course, the Warrior who was the driving force<\/a> behind those three Oakland championships, Steph Curry<\/a>, is on Schaaf\u2019s Mount Rushmore.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In fact, Curry is on a lot of people\u2019s lists, despite the fact that he isn\u2019t from Oakland and no longer plays here, since the Warriors moved to Chase Center in San Francisco in 2019. Such is the love for his championships and his commitment to Oakland through the Eat.Learn.Play Foundation<\/a>, which he co-founded with his wife, entrepreneur, chef, and actor Ayesha Curry.<\/p>\n \u201cMan of Steal\u201d<\/p>\n Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Rickey Henderson was on the list of nearly all of the people we interviewed for this story, and was usually the first person mentioned (the leadoff<\/a>, if you will). Two people referenced baseball statistician Bill James\u2019s famous quote about Henderson: \u201cIf you could split him in two, you\u2019d have two Hall of Famers.\u201d Maybe if you could split him in four, you would be done with the Oakland sports Mount Rushmore, and it would just be four Rickeys.\u00a0<\/p>\n What makes Henderson so compelling of an Oakland sports figure is that he fits every criteria. The Oakland Tech grad was from Oakland, and he also played for, and won a championship with, the Oakland A\u2019s. Paul Freedman, co-founder of the reigning champion Oakland Ballers<\/a>, put Henderson at the top of three different Mt. Rushmore lists he offered for this story.<\/p>\n As the all-time runs and stolen base leader in major league history, Henderson is clearly one of the greatest to ever play. As Monte Poole, NBC Sports Bay Area Warriors and NBA insider, put it, there is \u201cnot much that everyone agrees on\u201d but everyone agrees that Henderson was \u201cabsolutely the best leadoff hitter in history.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n When we asked him for his four-person list of all-time greatest Oakland athletes, Poole unsurprisingly included Henderson.\u00a0<\/p>\n It has been a little over a year since Henderson passed away. Longtime broadcaster and East Bay native Brodie Brazil believes that \u201cone of the biggest shames is that Oakland never got a Rickey Henderson statue while he was alive. He deserves that.\u201d<\/p>\n Pioneers and record breakers<\/p>\n Oakland has had more than its share of sports trail blazers and again, it\u2019s hard to pick just few as standouts.<\/p>\n Don Budge<\/a>, for example, was the first tennis player, male or female, to win the Grand Slam (Wimbledon, U.S. Open, French Open, and Australian Open) in a single year, 1938, and he still holds the record for Grand Slam event wins in a row, with six.\u00a0<\/p>\n McClymonds alum Jim Hines<\/a> was the first sprinter to break the 10 second barrier in the 100 meter dash. He won individual and relay gold medals at the 1968 Olympics and held the 100m record for 15 years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Glenn Burke, who was raised in Oakland and later played for the Oakland A\u2019s, actually has two different legacies. In 1977, he raised his hand to give Dusty Baker the first recorded high-five<\/a>. Five years later, in 1982, a retired Burke became the first Major League baseball player to come out as gay.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another pioneer is a literal Pioneer, Women\u2019s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Anna Johnson<\/a>. She was the first professional women\u2019s basketball player from Oakland, with the San Francisco Pioneers of the Women\u2019s Professional Basketball League in 1979. Known as the WBL, the league folded in 1981. Johnson went on to a distinguished coaching career at Oakland Tech, her alma mater, as well at AAU camps and local clinics for many years. As a result, she has crossed paths with nearly everyone in Oakland basketball from the 1970s through today. For example, a 12-year-old Damian Lillard worked out at a camp Johnson ran with coach Pico Wilburn. Speaking of Wilburn, he and coach Leroy Hurt, before they led Oakland Tech girls basketball to a combined five state championships, were players Johnson coached on the practice squad that scrimmaged against her Oakland Tech girls teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the words of current Oakland Tech Athletic Director, Alexis Gray-Lawson, Johnson \u201cis the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time] because she coached all the GOATs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t have a Mount Rushmore in Oakland without a woman\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Johnson is one of the few women that multiple people we spoke with considered for their lists.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oakland City Councilmember Rowena Brown, the resident \u201csports nut\u201d on Council who played running back for the Bay Area Bandits<\/a> and celebrated many of her birthdays by tailgating at the Coliseum, went so far as to reserve a future space on her Mount Rushmore for a woman to be named later, perhaps from the Golden State Valkyries whose practice facility is in Oakland.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t have a Mount Rushmore in Oakland without a woman,\u201d said Marcus Thompson II, who is an Oakland Tech alumnus as well as a columnist for The Athletic. Thompson bemoaned the lack of opportunities for female athletes in Oakland<\/a>, especially prior to the passage of Title IX in the 1970s.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brekke-Miesner says that even after Title IX\u2019s passage, Oakland schools did not really have the facilities to support girls sports until the 1980s, so Oakland\u2019s early female sports heroes were outliers like Oakland High alum Zoe Ann Olsen<\/a>, a diver who won Olympic medals in 1948 and 1952, and who had the benefit of a mother who was a swim teacher. (Bonus fact: Olsen was twice married to 1958 AL MVP and fellow Oakland High alum, Jackie Jensen<\/a>.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This year has seen the emergence of the most internationally accomplished female athlete in the Town\u2019s history, Oakland School of the Arts alum Alysa Liu, who developed her figure skating skills at the Oakland Ice Cente<\/a>r.\u00a0 After becoming an Olympian as a teenager in 2022, Liu took a two year hiatus<\/a> from competition. Upon her return to the sport, Liu emerged as World Champion in 2025.\u00a0 She then won two gold medals<\/a>, team and individual,\u00a0 in the recent Winter Olympics, representing the USA but also the Town, in her words, bringing \u201cOakland to Milan.\u201d<\/a> In addition to her place on Mayor Barbara Lee\u2019s hypothetical Oakland\u2019s sports Mount Rushmore, Liu has a real mural painted in her honor<\/a> in the Temescal neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n And circling back to the \u201cGOAT of GOATs\u201d Anna Johnson, when we asked her to create a Mount Rushmore of Oakland sports, she delivered a list that was all women, and all basketball players. It included two-time high school state champion, Cal legend<\/a> and WNBA player Gray-Lawson; Rehema Stephens<\/a>, whom Johnson coached at Oakland Tech in the 1980\u2019s before she played at UCLA and in the WNBA; and Diane Blackwell and Denise Gazaway, Fremont High School teammates in the 1970\u2019s who made the Tournament of Champions<\/a> all-star squad.<\/p>\n Beast Mode and The Glove<\/p>\n Another athlete on a lot of people\u2019s lists is five-time Pro Bowl running back and Super Bowl champion, Marshawn \u201cBeast Mode\u201d Lynch.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many pointed to a particular \u201cOakland swagger\u201d as one of Lynch\u2019s key attributes, something akin to Rickey Henderson\u2019s style. As Ahmed Alibob, native Oaklander and past chair of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, put it, \u201cOakland recognizes its own when we see it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Like Henderson, \u201cBeast Mode\u201d combines being from Oakland with playing for an Oakland team, the Raiders. The Oakland Roots, who now play soccer in that same Coliseum where Lynch played football, use \u201cOakland\u201d by Vell as their goal song in homage to the dance that Lynch did on the sidelines<\/a> when he heard the song there. Lynch also gets Oakland cred for doing community work through his Fam 1st Foundation<\/a> alongside fellow Oakland native NFL stars, Josh Johnson and Marcus Peters.<\/p>\n The third athlete that people described as having Oakland swagger is Skyline High legend Gary Payton. \u201cThe Glove\u201d is an NBA champion and Hall of Famer known for his tenacious defense, floor leadership and trash talk<\/a>. Lesser known but equally important, said the fans we spoke with, is how Payton stays local and gives back through coaching at the College of Alameda and supporting efforts like the recent refurbishment of Mosswood Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sports journalist Matt Steinmetz, who has lived in Oakland over 25 years, said Henderson, Lynch and Payton \u201call resonate a pride in Oakland. It\u2019s probably part of the reason why they are so loved. They send a positive \u2014 and accurate \u2014 message about what happens here.\u201d<\/p>\n Payton was the most frequently mentioned member of Oakland\u2019s rich history of homegrown point guards. This includes Brian Shaw, who made it to the NBA two years before Payton; streetball legend<\/a> Demetrius \u201cHook\u201d Mitchell, who probably should have made it to the NBA alongside Payton; NBA Champion Jason Kidd, whom Payton mentored; and current NBA All-Star (and recently crowned three-time All Star 3-Point Champion<\/a>) Damian Lillard. Amazingly, Payton, Kidd and Lillard were all named to the NBA\u2019s 75th Anniversary Team<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Classmates Who Changed the World<\/p>\n The fourth Oaklander on the NBA\u2019s 75th Anniversary Team is the person, after Rickey Henderson, who was most frequently mentioned as deserving of a spot on Mount Rushmore: center Bill Russell.\u00a0<\/p>\n A five-time NBA MVP, Russell is the winningest player in professional team sports, with 11 NBA championships. Some people we spoke with noted that while Russell was raised in Oakland, he is more often associated with Boston, where he won NBA championships for the Celtics. In Oakland, he was actually cut from the McClymonds High junior varsity team<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Oakland sports fans we spoke with wanted to recognize and celebrate him as a son of Oakland who made history not just as a player, but as the first Black coach in NBA history and as a civil rights activist <\/a>whose fight for racial justice led to his recognition with the Presidential Medal of Freedom<\/a>.<\/p>\n Incredibly, Russell\u2019s high school classmate, Frank Robinson, was also a highly decorated athlete. People cited Robinson as worthy of Oakland sports\u2019 Mount Rushmore not just because of his Major League Baseball career \u2013 which included winning two World Series, earning All-Star recognition 14 times, and being the only player to win MVP in both the National and American Leagues \u2013 but also because he was the first Black manager <\/a>in Major League history.<\/p>\n And yet, a more important historical figure may be Russell and Robinson\u2019s classmate Curt Flood. His Major League career<\/a> was excellent, winning two World Series and earning three All-Star selections and seven Gold Gloves as a centerfielder. Flood\u2019s impact off the field was even more significant, famously challenging the reserve clause and suing for the right to free agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes,\u201d he stated in a 1969 letter<\/a> to the league. Flood\u2019s principled stand led to the end of his playing career and a barrage of hate mail and even death threats. But it also led to opportunity and riches for generations of players after him. An annual award for selflessness and devotion to players\u2019 rights is bestowed in Flood\u2019s name<\/a> by the Major League Baseball Players Association.<\/p>\n The legacy of those McClymonds classmates \u2014 who incidentally also played alongside four-time All-Star centerfielder Vada Pinson \u2014 is unique. Said Brekke-Miesner, \u201cIf anybody knows of any high school in America who can claim to have three athletes at the same high school at the same time who changed the face of sports, let me know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOakland\u2019s Coach\u201d<\/p>\n Asked for her Mount Rushmore list, Mayor Barbara Lee felt that legendary football coach<\/a> John Beam, whose death in November shook the community, <\/a>deserves inclusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tommy Hodul, vice president of Oakland Roots and Soul, might be biased since Beam coached the football team at Skyline High while Hodul was a student there. But Hodul said Beam\u2019s impact will be felt for generations, not just because of football but because of \u201cthe number of people who would say he is a second father.\u201d He called Beam \u201cOakland\u2019s Coach.\u201d<\/p>\n Before there was Coach Beam, the person you might have called \u201cOakland\u2019s Coach\u201d was George Powles<\/a>, who from 1946 to 1975 coached baseball, basketball and football in Oakland, influencing many of the Hall of Famers mentioned in this story, including the famous McClymonds classmates of the 1950\u2019s. Bill Russell insisted that he never would have played basketball if not for Powles\u2019s mentorship<\/a>. Powles even coached an NFL MVP, former San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Tech quarterback John Brodie<\/a>, who recently passed away.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another coach frequently cited was John Madden<\/a>. A Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders in 1977, Madden went on to influence multiple generations as a broadcaster and through his eponymous video game.<\/p>\n A Bay Area native, Madden had a deep love for Oakland<\/a> and understood what the Raiders meant to The Town. Shortly before he died, Madden enjoyed watching his grandson, Jesse Madden, play quarterback<\/a> for the Bishop O\u2019Dowd Dragons, sometimes texting with one of John Madden\u2019s biggest fans, former mayor Schaaf, about his games.<\/p>\n Silver and Black and Green and Gold<\/p>\n Despite the heartbreak of Oakland losing its football team twice, many people still hold\u00a0 love for the Raiders\u2019 roster of star players, including Marshawn Lynch, Bo Jackson, Gene Upshaw, Tim Brown, Jerry Rice, Kenny Stabler, Jim Plunkett, Jim Otto and John Matuscak, with an extra special mention for Charles Woodson throwing up the O for Oakland<\/a> and coming back to end his career here.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two of the sports fans interviewed for this story found space on their lists for Al Davis,<\/a> who as a coach and team owner was largely responsible for setting the culture of the Raiders.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jorge Leon, founder of the Oakland fan group, the Oakland 68\u2019s, chose Davis because \u201che created that Oakland Raiders persona\u201d and credited him as a progressive mind who wanted to employ Black and Latino players. Davis hired the first Black coach in modern NFL history, Art Shell, and also the first female NFL CEO, Amy Trask.\u00a0<\/p>\n Leon also listed former Oakland A\u2019s owner, Charlie Finley, whom he credited for similarly having \u201ca very Black squad\u201d that was \u201ca team that represented our city.\u201d There was a lot of affection for the A\u2019s among many people we spoke with. After Rickey Henderson, his championship teammate pitchers, 1989 World Series MVP Dave Stewart and 1992 AL MVP Dennis Eckersley, are especially beloved because they are from Oakland. Stewart\u2019s legacy includes staying up all night after the Loma Prieta earthquake, while still wearing his World Series uniform, to assist rescuers<\/a> in West Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reggie Jackson was praised by some because, like Steph Curry, he brought three championships to Oakland. Mark McGuire was also recognized as one half of the A\u2019s homerun smashing \u201cBash Brothers\u201d with Jose Canseco.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge honor to play for Oakland,\u201d said Oaklandish COO Aaron Higgins, who still remembers running around the third deck on Little League nights at A\u2019s games.<\/p>\n Beyond the Big Three<\/p>\n While the \u201cbig three\u201d sports \u2014 baseball, basketball and football \u2014 account for many of Oakland\u2019s greats, there are other legends. The most unusual sport that someone noted in my interviews was competitive slam dunking. Vince Carter\u2019s dunk contest masterpiece<\/a> at the 2000 NBA All-Star Game at Oracle Arena was impressive enough to go down in Oakland sports history.<\/p>\n Hall of Fame boxer<\/a> Andre Ward, after winning a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, launched an undefeated (32-0) professional career. Not only did he win every fight, Ward made sure to contest many of them in his hometown, at Oracle Arena, making big-time boxing accessible for local fans.<\/p>\n One of golf\u2019s greatest \u201cwhat ifs\u201d is Tony Lema<\/a>.\u00a0 A 12-time PGA Tour winner considered to be in the class of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, Lema tragically died in a plane crash in 1962 at the age of 32.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the Roots and Soul, Oakland is undeniably a soccer town now. Our greatest soccer player is Calen Carr, who was Pac-10 Player of the Year at Cal<\/a> and then played in the MLS, scoring the go-ahead goal in the 2012 MLS Cup for the Houston Dynamo.\u00a0<\/p>\n Perhaps the most famous person mentioned by those we interviewed was Bruce Lee. Lee popularized martial arts in the U.S. while living and starting a school in Oakland<\/a>, before moving to Los Angeles to act in TV and movies.<\/p>\n So, who is on the Oakland sports Mount Rushmore?\u00a0<\/p>\n The dozens and dozens of names offered by the sports fans we spoke with makes it clear that restricting the list of the greatest of the great to four people shortchanges Oakland\u2019s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt has to be a pretty big mountain range,\u201d said Brekke-Miesner.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-Eat.-Play.-Learn.-Lockwood-STEAM-Academy-Playground-Unveiling.jpg\")
NBA star Stephen Curry won multiple NBA championships with the Warriors while the team played in East Oakland\u2019s Oracle Arena. And the Eat.Learn.Play Foundation he co-founded with his wife, Ayesha Curry, gives back to the city\u2019s children. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-Eat.-Play.-Learn.-Lockwood-STEAM-Academy-Playground-Unveiling-2.jpg\")
NBA star Stephen Curry won multiple NBA championships with the Warriors while the team played in East Oakland\u2019s Oracle Arena. And the Eat.Learn.Play Foundation he co-founded with his wife, Ayesha Curry, gives back to the city\u2019s children. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-20240926_AsLastGame_0045.jpg\")
Nearly ever sports aficionado we interviewed agreed that left fielder and stolen bases record holder Rickey Henderson, left, is one of Oakland\u2019s greatest athletes of all time. Many others named 1989 World Series MVP Dave Stewart, right, as a choice for their four-person Mount Rushmore\u2019s. Credit: Amaya Edwards for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_0892-scaled-e1746569564880-1600x930.jpeg\")
Anna Johnson played for the San Francisco Pioneers during the WBL\u2019s 1979-80 season. Credit: Courtesy Anna Johnson<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/online-Glenn-Burke-cropped.png\")
A Topps baseball card featuring A\u2019s star Glenn Burke.<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-Alysa-Liu_EstefanyGonzalez_016.jpg\")
Olympic gold medalist and world figure skating champion Alysa Liu practices at Oakland Ice Center in Oakland on Monday, May 12, 2025.<\/li>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26050787479587-1600x1066.jpg\")
Alysa Liu competes during the women\u2019s figure skating free program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy. She took home a gold medal. (AP Photo\/Natacha Pisarenko)<\/li>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/alysa-liu-mural-oakland.jpeg\")
A mural in Uptown Oakland celebrating Alysa Liu\u2019s gold medal performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Credit: Jerome Parmer for The Oaklandside<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-Oaklandside-Culture-Makers-September-22_-Past-present-and-future-of-sports-in-Oakland.jpg\")
Oakland native Alexis Gray-Lawson played for Oakland Tech high school\u2019s basketball team, then UC Berkeley, and then went on to play in the WNBA and internationally. She also coaches. Credit: Ximena Natera\/Berkeleyside-Catchlight<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-Oakland-Tech-vs-Oakland-High-Basketball-Hall-of-Fame-Ceremony-27.jpg\")
Marshawn Lynch was inducted into the Oakland Tech Hall of Fame in 2023. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-ElectionStoriesD3-JK-01.jpg\")
West Oakland\u2019s McClymonds High School was a sports powerhouse, fostering talents like Bill Russell, Frank Robinson, and Curt Flood. Credit: Jugho Kim for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/O5A2720-2-1600x1067.jpg\")
Coach John Beam with the Laney Eagles before a game. Credit: courtesy of Peralta Community College District Credit: courtesy Peralta Community College District<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-John-Madden-Memorial-27.jpg\")
A bronze bust of John Madden displayed at the Coliseum in 2022 for his memorial service. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-20260118_Jeff-Chang_EG_09.jpg\")
Globally, the most famous athlete to ever live in Oakland might be Bruce Lee, the martial artist and actor. Credit: Estefany Gonzalez for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n