Have you seen the TV commercial for Oreos in which the Williams sisters and Manning brothers both appear, playafully bickering and bantering as real brothers and sisters do?
That got us to thinking about other famous American athletic brothers and sisters. The Williamses and Mannings are a good start as you couldn't think of better sports siblings ... Venus and Serena can boast 16 Grand Slam singles tennis championships between them, and seven in doubles; and Peyton and Eli both have won a Super Bowl as NFL quarterbacks.
Here are some other families to remember, and the key to selection is that the siblings have to be similarly accomplished ... i.e., you could mention brothers Hank and Tommie Aaron as both appeared in the majors, but Hall of Famer Hank played in 3,298 games and obscure Tommie in just 437, so they don't make our list. Sorry, ladies, the Williamses are the only famous U.S. athletic sisters we could come up with.
Here's the rest of our top 12 (we couldn't keep it to 10) and the decades of their main performance. Bear in mind, there have been more than 300 sets of brothers just in professional baseball and football each, so there's a lot to pick from and our apologies in advance if there's someone we should have mentioned and didn't.
The Barber* brothers, football, 2000s: Tiki was a star running back for the Giants; Ronde still starts at cornerback for the Tampa Bay Bucs. Both have made All-Pro.
The Browner brothers, football, 1980s: This is probably our championship set of athletic brothers with four ... four! ... of 'em having played in the NFL. Ross, a huge star at Notre Dame, and Joey each spent 10 years in the pros but Jim and Keith also enjoyed significant time.
The Dean brothers, baseball, 1930s: Colorful Hall of Famer Dizzy won 30 games for the Cardinals in 1934 and 28 the next year; teammate and brother Paul won 19 games each those two years.
The DiMaggio brothers, baseball, 1930s, '40s and '50s: Everyone knows Joe with the Yankees but Dom also excelled for the Red Sox, leading the AL twice in runs and once in triples. A third brother, Vince, also made the majors and drove in 100 runs in 1941 with the Pirates but is also unfortunately noted for striking out 134 times in 1938, a huge number and in fact a record back then.
The Grant* brothers, basketball, 1990s: Horace, 6-foot-10, started at power forward for the Bulls' great three consecutive NBA championship teams (1991-93); Harvey, 6-8, spent 11 years in the NBA with various squads, and averaged over 18 points a game in three seasons.
The Mahre* brothers, skiing, 1980s: Phil took gold in the slalom at the 1984 Winter Olympics, Steve finishing right behind him.
The Matthews brothers, football, 1980s: Bruce was a Hall of Fame offensive guard with the Oilers and Titans; Clay toiled an incredible 19 years as a linebacker with several teams.
The Perry brothers, baseball, 1960s and '70s: Spitballing Gaylord won 20 games five times with a high of 24 during 22 years with various teams; Jim also won 24 games with the Twins in 1970 as the highlight of his 17-year career.
The Sharpe brothers, football, 1980s, '90s: Shannon was a star tight end mainly with the Broncos; Sterling had seven sterling years as a wide receiver with the Packers.
The Waner brothers, baseball, 1920s and '30s: 5-foot-8 Paul and 5-foot-9 Lloyd, outfielders together on the Pirates, both are Hall of Famers. Paul averaged .333 lifetime with 3,152 hits and led the NL three times in average among other accomplishments; Lloyd led the league in runs, hits and triples once each in various seasons and averaged .316 over his career.
Honorable mention: the Bryans* (Bob and Mike) and Gulliksons* (Tom and Tim) in tennis, the Hamms* (Paul and Morgan) in gymnastics, the Barrys (Brent, Jon and Drew), Kings (Albert and Bernard) and van Arsdales* (Tom and Dick), in basketball, the Boyers (Ken and Clete), Ferrells (Wes and Rick) and Niekros (Phil and Joe) in baseball, the Baileys (Champ and Boss), Bladeses (Bennie and Brian), Golics (Mike and Bob), Hannahs (Charley and John), Joneses (Thomas and Julius) and McKeevers (Marlin and Mike) in football, the Heberts (Jay and Lionel) in golf.
* denotes twins.
One parting shot: how about a few famous brother/sister athletic duos? We nominate 1) Billie Jean King and Randy Moffitt. Billie Jean, who grew up Billie Jean Moffitt, of course went on to win a dozen Grand Slams in tennis; Randy spent 12 seasons in the majors as a reliever, going 8-4 in 70 games in his best season in 1978 with the Giants. 2) Reggie and Cheryl Miller. 6-foot-7 Reggie spent 18 years in the NBA, all with the Pacers, and holds the league career record for three-pointers (2,560); 6-2 Cheryl remains the all-time leading scorer at USC (3,018, 23.6) and led the U.S. women's hoops team to 1984 Olympic gold. 3) Candace and Anthony Parker. 6-foot-4 Candace, a basketball star at Tennessee and known for being the first women's college player to dunk, now is with the Los Angeles Sparks and was the WNBA's No. 1 overall draft pick; 6-6 Anthony has started at shooting guard for the Toronto Raptors, averaging 12.5 points a game last season.
One more parting shot: if we expanded this to include foreign siblings who excelled in U.S. sports, we could mention the Alomar (Roberto and Sandy) and Alou (Felipe, Jesus and Matty) brothers in baseball and the Sorenstam (Annika and Charlotta) sisters in golf.
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