Who is the Most Fascinating Athlete Ever - I.E. - Compelling Human Interest Story?

Some great choices with Tillman and Ali. I always appreciate a Thorpe shoutout and I'll echo that. Guy walks off an Indian reservation to become the world's greatest athlete. (For context for those unfamiliar with Jim Thorpe, he was a college football legend, he won two Gold medals at the 1912 Summer Olympics [pentathlon, decathlon] and played professional football and baseball-- and he was a basketball barnstormer; in other words an incredibly versatile athlete.) But from a human interest aspect that's only the beginning. They took away his gold medals because he had played semi-pro baseball before the Olympics (which many Olympic athletes did, they were just savvy enough to use fake names). The medals weren't restored until decades after his death, and he became an unemployed alcoholic who died in squalor. His family tried to erect a shrine to him in his home state of Oklahoma but the town declined funding. Then his wife essentially auctioned off his remains to the town of Mauch Chunk, PA (a place Thorpe himself had never been) so they could create a tourist attraction around his remains to attract business. The town even changed its name to Jim Thorpe, PA.

On one hand the dude has a town named after him and a pretty sweet memorial. On the other hand, that place meant nothing to him and his remains belong in his home state, in my opinion. Thorpe was so far ahead of his time that most people today haven't heard of him, but stories of his athletic exploits will blow your mind even now. The idea that the world's greatest athlete could die broke and forgotten is unfathomable today.