r/whowouldwin • u/retired-tweeter • 4d ago
Battle All 47 US Presidents are running against each other in a 40 yard dash. Who wins?
Every U.S. President is magically cloned into their peak physical form, dropped onto a football field, and lined up for a 40-yard dash. Who ya got?
Favorites:
JFK: 2 sport college athlete, plus military training. Swam 3.5 miles towing an injured soldier with a bad back.
Gerald Ford: Another strong military background who was a two-way football player at Michigan.
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Extensive military career, who played halfback at west point until his injury. Guessing he was a little fast even in segregated times
Barack Obama: Gonna get a lot of votes here probably as one of the only presidents we've seen in action playing an athletic sport, but no athletic background, so you know, can't give him too much credit
Donald Trump: In doing my 20 minutes worth of research, I came across this quote from a Ted Levine in 2015 (In an article about Trump running in 2016 so...take that as you will) "He was just the best, a good athlete, a great athlete," Levine said. "He could have probably played pro ball as a pitcher. I think he threw 80 miles an hour.... He was physically and mentally gifted." So there's that (Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-high-school-classmates-what-he-was-like-2015-10)
All in All, I'd lean Gerald Ford. JFK had injury issues so who knows what his "prime" would have been athletically. Maybe at absolute peak and health, JFK could win, but I'm going with the 2-way football player from Michigan.
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u/JBaecker 4d ago
Tom Seaver entered USC pitching 85mph fastballs. He upped his speed to 91 by the end of his lone season in college in 1965. By the time of the 69 Mets World Series he had multiple recorded 100mph fastballs. Some pitchers might get looked at if they were throwing 80 in high school but you had to be mid-80s for good college programs to notice you even back then.