Athletes who retired in their prime.

[Gwladys St. Glory]

One for the Americans to confirm: Barry Sanders.

Absolutely...in fact, the only one I can think of right now.

 

[Bilko]

Could have a case for Eric Cantona,wasn't he fairly young in sporting terms when he quit the game ?.fantastic player

 

[Milk]

Didn't FloJo retire when she was very young?

Probably political & before she was fingered as a drug user unlike Marion Jones who was caught?

 

[wm02]

His predecessor Billy Sims as well

Jim Brown, Reggie Lewis and Cantona

Jim Brown is a great shout. He's the first one that came to mind. Reggie Lewis died during practice, so I think that would be a different category with guys like Petrovic.

 

[mezzrow]

Still, the best example I can remember is Jim Brown. He was the best athlete in his sport when he walked away at 29 years old.

It was a job, and he felt it was time for a job change. I still believe he's the best running back I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of running backs.

"'Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts." - Jim Brown

 

[ilikecheese]

Still, the best example I can remember is Jim Brown. He was the best athlete in his sport when he walked away at 29 years old.

It was a job, and he felt it was time for a job change. I still believe he's the best running back I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of running backs.

"'Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts." - Jim Brown

Got to be him or Barry Sanders.

 

[Tree13]

Still, the best example I can remember is Jim Brown. He was the best athlete in his sport when he walked away at 29 years old.

It was a job, and he felt it was time for a job change. I still believe he's the best running back I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of running backs.

"'Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts." - Jim Brown

Wasn't that the same Jim Brown who was even better at lacrosse than football, and chose between the two on the basis he could make a pro career in football? If it's the same guy, I've seen some old footage of him cutting teams to pieces and making it look effortless.

 

[mezzrow]

Wasn't that the same Jim Brown who was even better at lacrosse than football, and chose between the two on the basis he could make a pro career in football? If it's the same guy, I've seen some old footage of him cutting teams to pieces and making it look effortless.

That's the guy.

 

[Elong]

Could have a case for Eric Cantona,wasn't he fairly young in sporting terms when he quit the game ?.fantastic player

32 I think? Playing his best footy too.

 

[cronullasharks]

Mike Hussey. Could have kept playing until he was 50.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

John Elway? Retired after back-to-back Super Bowl wins...

 

[davideinstein]

One for the Americans to confirm: Barry Sanders.

Yep. Right in the middle of his prime.

Greatest running back ever.

 

[davideinstein]

Magic Johnson was 31 when he was forced to retire. A couple of years later the first Jordan retirement was right in the middle of his prime. So much so that he left for two years to play baseball, came back and won three more titles.

 

[Clint Planet]

Peter Knowles was 25, I think.

More on Knowles:

God's footballer plays his final game

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• The Guardian, Saturday 6 September 2008

I can remember the day he told the manager that he was leaving. He just went up to him one day in training and said: 'I'm packing the game in in six weeks' time.' We were all in shock when we heard because it was completely out of character. He was always a bit of a jack-the-lad. He'd just bought a brand new MG sports car and put his name on the side. It just seemed so unlikely.

What people forget is that he was a very, very special player. We had a good team then and he was probably the best player in it. If he'd continued playing I think we would have won things. He was a good passer of the ball, had two good feet and could strike the ball really cleanly. He scored a lot of goals and had intelligence with it - he was one of those players who, when through on goal, you really fancied him to score.

It's a crying shame. They were saying he might go to Mexico for the World Cup the following summer, but he just gave it all away. It was a bloody waste of talent, to tell the truth. There are kids who would give their right arm to have that kind of ability, and there he was walking out of the sport. That summer Bill Shankly wanted to sign him for Liverpool but he turned them down. Of course we all understood why a few weeks later.

He never said a word to any of us about it. I did try to talk to him one day, but he wasn't interested. We thought it was because of his girlfriend, who I think had been involved with the Jehovah's Witnesses before, so we thought at the time it was all a bit of a gimmick. We all thought he'd be back in six weeks or eight weeks and we laughed it off. After about a year or so we realised he wasn't coming back.

I still remember his last game, against Nottingham Forest. We were winning 3-0 at half-time and it ended up 3-3 - one of their players got a hat-trick in the second half. And that was it. After the game he just left the ground and didn't come back. There were no big goodbyes. It was very strange.

He used to work stacking shelves at Marks and Spencer. Maybe he still does. A few years ago I had a stroke and Peter came to visit me in hospital. I have to say, whenever I've seen him since he's looked very happy and content. Who's to say that he made the wrong choice?

Then what happened
Knowles turned 24 three weeks after the Nottingham Forest game, his last in professional football. Wolves retained his registration until 1982 in the hope that he would return. In 1991 Billy Bragg released a song, God's Footballer, inspired by Peter Knowles' story. Munro retired in 1979 and still lives in Wolverhampton.


Another article (and Bragg's song) can be found here:

http://www.thedaisycutter.co.uk/2012/10/gods-footballer-the-story-of-peter-knowles/