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Rare Forty-tude These five stars have played long enough to leave lasting legacies but stayed strong enough, as they faced the Big Four-O, to perform at a level that still approaches their top form
MICHAEL JORDAN
DATE OF BIRTH: Feb. 17, 1963
ROOKIE SEASON: 1984--85
TEAMMATES AS A ROOKIE: Dave Corzine, Quintin Dailey, Ennis
Whatley, Orlando Woolridge
RIVALS AS A ROOKIE: Danny Ainge, Rolando Blackman, Walter Davis,
Clyde Drexler, George Gervin, Andrew Toney
CAREER STATS 1,039 games; 31,575 points; 5,513 assists; 6,442
rebounds; 2,473 steals*
"What Sam [Bowie] does for us is give us rebounding and
intimidation in the middle that we haven't had since Bill Walton.
If we had to do it over again, we'd still take Sam over Michael
Jordan."
--Jack Ramsay, Trail Blazers coach, Nov. 1984
*Through the All-Star break
WORST--Season Avg.--BEST
POINTS PER GAME 18.8* 37.1
REBOUNDS PER GAME 3.6 8.0
ASSISTS PER GAME 2.9 8.0
*Through the All-Star break
WHAT IT MEANS
The man with the highest career scoring average (30.4 points ),
Jordan maintained his deadly shot despite skipping the 1993--94,
1999--2000 and 2000--01 seasons.
ROGER CLEMENS
DATE OF BIRTH: Aug. 4, 1962
ROOKIE SEASON: 1984
TEAMMATES AS A ROOKIE: Dennis Eckersley, Dwight Evans, Jerry
Remy, Jim Rice
RIVALS AS A ROOKIE: Doyle Alexander, Mike Boddicker, Mike
Flanagan, Jack Morris, Phil Niekro, Tom Seaver, Don Sutton
CAREER STATS 574 games; 293 wins; 151 losses; 3,909 strikeouts;
45 shutouts; 3.15 ERA
"He battled and I battled, and I caught up with him. It was the
same thing, fastball all day. He can go home and tell his family
he went after Reggie Jackson."
--Reggie Jackson after a three-run homer, July 1984
WORST--Season Total--BEST
WINS 7 24
EARNED RUN AVERAGE 4.60 1.93
STRIKEOUTS 74 292
WHAT IT MEANS
After a dip in his last years with the Red Sox (1993 to '96),
Clemens earned two Cy Young Awards with the Blue Jays ('97 and
'98), then bagged his record sixth as a Yankee
('01).
JERRY RICE
DATE OF BIRTH: Oct. 13, 1962
ROOKIE SEASON: 1985
TEAMMATES AS A ROOKIE: Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott, Joe Montana,
Jack (Hacksaw) Reynolds
RIVALS AS A ROOKIE: Mark Clayton, Cris Collinsworth, Mark Duper,
Charlie Joiner, Steve Largent, James Lofton, John Stallworth
CAREER STATS 270 games; 1,456 catches; 21,597 receiving yards;
192 touchdowns
"I may be called cocky or crazy, but I honestly believe I'm better
than Rice. Time will tell if I am right. My stats compare
favorably with his."
--Andre Rison, Falcons wide receiver, Oct. 1991; retired with 743
catches, 84 touchdowns
WORST--Season Total--BEST
RECEPTIONS 7 122
YARDS 78 1,848
TD RECEPTIONS 1 22
WHAT IT MEANS
A torn left ACL restricted Rice to only two games in 1997, but he
has returned to preinjury form, adding to his record totals in
catches, yardage and touchdowns.
RON FRANCIS
DATE OF BIRTH: March 1, 1963
ROOKIE SEASON: 1981--82
TEAMMATES AS A ROOKIE: Mark Howe, Dave Keon, Pierre Larouche,
Blaine Stoughton
RIVALS AS A ROOKIE: Bobby Carpenter, Bobby Clarke, Marcel Dionne,
Bernie Federko, Wayne Gretzky, Gilbert Perrault, Darryl Sittler
CAREER STATS 1,625 games; 533 goals; 1,206 assists; 1,739 points;
180 power play goals*
"It seems he gets as much enjoyment from setting up a goal as from
scoring one. In fact, if I had it to do over again, I'd work on
his goal scoring a little more."
--Ron Francis Sr., April 1994
*Through Sunday's games
WORST--Season Total--BEST
GOALS 11 32
ASSISTS 26* 92
POWER-PLAY GOALS 3 15
*Projected total for 2002-03
WHAT IT MEANS
Second to Wayne Gretzky in alltime assists and fifth in total
points, Francis has surged again as a goal scorer the past two
years, especially on the power play.
JOHN STOCKTON
DATE OF BIRTH: March 26, 1962
ROOKIE SEASON: 1984--85
TEAMMATES AS A ROOKIE: Adrian Dantley, John Drew, Rickey Green,
Darrell Griffith
RIVALS AS A ROOKIE: Dennis Johnson, Magic Johnson, Fat Lever,
John Lucas, Norm Nixon, Micheal Ray Richardson, Gus Williams
CAREER STATS 1,471 games; 19,373 points; 15,556 assists; 3,212
steals; 51.5 FG%*
"We've projected him as the backup to Rickey Green. Stockton
should be able to go out and relieve him. He's the guy we look to
have come in and play 10 to 18 minutes a game."
--Bill Kreifeldt, Jazz spokesman, Sept. 1984
*Through the All-Star break
WORST--Season Avg.--BEST
POINTS PER GAME 5.6 17.2
ASSISTS PER GAME 5.1 14.5
STEALS PER GAME 1.33 3.21
WHAT IT MEANS
The career leader in assists and steals, Stockton doesn't get
enough playing time to keep up his old pace, but his 13.2 assists
per 48 minutes leads the league this season.
COLOR PHOTO: SIMON BRUTY
COLOR PHOTO: JOHN IACONO
COLOR PHOTO: BRYAN PATRICK/THE SACRAMENTO BEE/AP
COLOR PHOTO: LOU CAPOZZOLA
COLOR PHOTO: JOHN W. MCDONOUGH
FIVE COLOR CHARTS
