From Usain Bolt’s Olympic record to Kelvin Kiptum’s historic marathon run in Chicago back in October 2023, the sports world has witnessed some unmissable action this century. While the occurrence of record-breaking developments seems to have become quite regular, there are numerous sporting feats that have stood the test of time. In this article, we take a look at such US sports records that appear to be most unbreakable.
NFL
Derrick Thomas holds the record for the most sacks in a single NFL game. While playing for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Seattle Seahawks on November 11, 1990. Thomas had sacked quarterback Dave Krieg seven times.
Jerry Rice holds several career receiving records, including receptions (1,549), receiving yards (22,895), touchdowns (197) and most 1,000-yard receiving seasons (14). Rice is also the only player to cross the 20,000-yard receiving mark and he is 5,403 yards ahead of Larry Fitzgerald, who occupies the second spot on the all-time list.
Emmitt Smith holds the record for most career rushing yards, 18,355. This is 1,629 rushing yards more than Walter Payton for the most in the history of the NFL. Smith had featured in 226 regular-season games.
George Blanda scripted the record for taking part in the most career seasons – 26. He is just one of the two players whose career spanned over four different decades (John Carney — 1988-2010 — being the other).
Tom Brady has set the record for most passing yards (regular season and postseason combined) – 102,614. Brady is ahead of Drew Brees for the second-most all-time by a margin of almost 17,000 yards.
Paul Krause set the record for most career interceptions in the history of the NFL – 81. Krause retired as the NFL’s all-time interceptions leader and he is ahead of second-placed Emlen Tunnell (79).
NBA
Wilt Chamberlain owns the record for the highest-ever points per game average in a season (50.4). He also averaged 39.5 shots per game, which is the highest ever as well. Another record held by Chamberlain is his average of 48.5 minutes per game. Chamberlain’s 55 rebounds are also the most in a game. Chamberlain set the record on November 24, 1960, against the Boston Celtics.
On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain created another record as he became the NBA’s highest single-game scorer. He dropped 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169-147 victory over the New York Knicks in that game to achieve a sensational feat.
Bill Russell (11) holds the record for the most NBA championships won by a player. He won those championships in 1956-57, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1960-61, 1961-62, 1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1965-66, 1967-68 and 1968-69.
Stephen Curry became the first player in NBA history to achieve 4,000 career 3-pointers. Curry is ahead of second-placed James Harden and third-placed Ray Allen (2,973).
LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to combine for 50,000 points in the regular season and postseason.
Moses Malone holds the record for most career offensive rebounds (6,731). After including his ABA stats, the tally goes up to 7,382. Malone also owns the two highest offensive rebounding games in history with 21 and 19.
The record for most NBA career assists is held by John Stockton. His tally stands at a whopping 15,806 career assists. Stockton is more than 3,000 ahead of the second-placed on the all-time list- Chris Paul.
MLB
Rickey Henderson leads the list of most career stolen bases – 1,406. His tally is 468 more than second-placed Lou Brock in the history of the MLB.
In 1995, Cal Ripken Jr. set an astonishing record that remains unbroken to date. He overcame Lou Gehrig’s 2,130-game streak, which stood for 56 years. Ripken appeared in 501 more games and set the record for most consecutive games played – an incredible tally of 2,632 games. Ripken featured in 2,632 consecutive games for the Orioles, during the period from the 1982 season to 1998. The third- and fourth-longest runs in this category belong to Everett Scott and Steve Garvey, respectively.
The record for the most career strikeouts in the history of the game was set by Nolan Ryan- 5,714. His total strikeouts are 839 more than Randy Johnson’s 4,875 K’s, the second-most on this chart.
Standing at 749, CY Young holds the record for most complete games in the history of the sport.
Barry Bonds (73) holds the record for the most home runs in a single season. Bonds headed into the Giants’ final series of 2001, against the Dodgers in San Francisco, with a record-tying 70 homers to his name. He hit two homers in the first game of the set and added another in the final game of the season.