Two Athletes From New Jersey Makes 100 Greatest Of The 21st Century List

Back in 1999 when ESPN first debuted the Sports Century TV Series, it became a must-watch every week. Sports fans wanted to see who ESPN ranked as the Top 100 North American athletes of the 20th Century.

Now 25 years after the "Worldwide Leader In Sports" ranked the best athletes of the 20th century, ESPN decided it was time to rank the next generation of athletes. But this time, they decided to expand their list to 100 athletes.

The process of making this list involved pairing down the list from 262 to 100 while gathering more than 70,000 votes. Even though several of the athletes on the list started their professional careers before the turn of the century (Kevin Garnett, Barry Bonds, etc), their accomplishments before the year 2000 are not supposed to factor into these rankings.

What Professional Athletes From New Jersey Made The ESPN 100 List?

Two professional athletes on the ESPN List were born in New Jersey. This was a very exclusive list of athletes that two-time Super Bowl Champion Isiah Pacheco (Vineland) and UFC Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar (Toms River) did not make the cut for ESPN's 100 best athletes of the 21st Century.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, and ranked 17th on ESPN's 100 list is Shaquille O'Neal. After spending his childhood at the Boys and Girls Club in Newark, Shaq's family would later move to Texas where he attended High School. O'Neal won three NBA Titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and one with the Miami Heat along with eight All-NBA Team selections in the 21st Century.

O'Neal has not forgotten his New Jersey roots even after winning NBA Championships for two of the most glamorous cities in the United States (Los Angeles and Miami). Shaq recently started two projects in Newark: The refurbishment of Public Basketball Courts that will be renamed Comebaq Court and a 33-story residential tower with affordable apartments on Edison Place.

Born in Vineland, New Jersey, and ranked 30th on ESPN's 100 List is Mike Trout. After graduating from Millville High School, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels with the 25th overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft.

Trout had one of the greatest runs of individual accomplishments from 2012-2019 when he won the Rookie of the Year Award and three American League MVP Awards. Trout is also a two-time All-Star Game MVP Award winner. The Proud South Jersey Resident turns 33 years old in August and can still add to his incredible MLB career.

Here is an extensive list of the best athletes who are from the state of New Jersey: