7 Athletes That Ended Up Stinking Rich

The fantastic Nelson Smith is now a staff writer on TSM. Mostly because I felt that you needed something more awesome to read. 

Allow me to make a gross blanket statement, because it’s kinda what I do.

People love hearing about former high profile athletes going bankrupt. Former Mets and Phillies center fielder Lenny Dykstra went spectacularly bankrupt back in 2009 as his various business interests imploded. He’s in jail now. Boxers Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather are terrible with money, each have burned through hundreds of millions worth of earnings. Evander Holyfield pays tens of thousands in child support every month, since he has 11 different children with 9 different women. The ranks of retired NFL and NBA players are littered with stories of failed business ventures, greedy family members, and personal bankruptcies.

What about the other side of the coin? It’s not very often we look at athletes who were actually smart with their money. And it’s really too bad, since some of these people make savvy investments and turn their millions into legitimate empires. Let’s look at seven.

1. Greg Norman

As a pro golfer, Norman is remembered more for the events he didn’t win — specifically the 1996 Masters — even though he was one of the best players of his generation. He’s made up for it as an entrepreneur, leveraging his brand into a golf empire. He owns interests in many successful courses, a golf apparel/accessory company, a turf company, a golf course design company, and a wine company. His estimated net worth is $300M.

2. Tiger Woods

Speaking of golfers, Tiger Woods is still pretty loaded, even after the world discovered his weakness for sex with everyone except his wife.

Woods doesn’t have much going on except for huge endorsement deals with companies like Nike, Electronic Arts, Rolex, as well as many more, especially before the whole unfortunate business a few years ago. He lost something like $300M when he and his wife split up, and he’s still worth an estimated $600M. It’s good to be Tiger.

3. Magic Johnson

Magic is probably best known for telling the world about his positive AIDS test back in 1991, but he’s been quietly accumulating assets since.

Magic owned a small chunk of the Lakers, purchased in 1994 for $10M. He later sold that to a Los Angeles billionaire for a reported $50M. He also owns Magic Johnson Enterprises, a company that owns movie theaters, a production company, and a promotional company. He also owned 175 Starbucks stores before selling them back to the company back in 2010. His net worth is estimated at $500M.

4. George Foreman

George Foreman is my new favorite person. He has five sons, and they’re all named George. He has seven daughters, all with the middle name George. (Except for one daughter. She is named Georgina.) He retired from professional boxing for a decade, and then mounted a comeback when he was 38, eventually winning the heavyweight title he lost two decades earlier.

Oh, and he also signed on to be the spokesman for a certain grill you’ve heard of. He reportedly sold the right to use his name for over $100M. He’s also a spokesman for a muffler company, and often is hired as an analyst during boxing telecasts. His net worth is estimated at some $250M.

5. Wayne Gretzky

Gretzky retired from hockey back in 1999, and promptly jumped into the endorsement field, famously doing commercials for McDonalds and Ford. He also owns a restaurant near Rogers’ Center in Toronto, as well as a company that makes hockey apparel and another company that makes roller rinks. His net worth is $100M or so.

6. Michael Jordan

No rich athlete list can be complete without the greatest basketball player of all time.

Jordan is well known to live extravagantly, traveling around the world to golf, party, and especially gamble. He’s survived a divorce, an ill-advised comeback with the Wizards, and an even less ill-advised minor league baseball career. And yet he still has a net worth in excess of $500M.

Jordan is a endorsement machine, primarily still raking it in from his signature shoe which is still a great seller for Nike. He’s also done deals with MCI, Hanes, Coke, Gatorade, McDonalds, and those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. He was also in Space Jam, which was kinda fun I guess.

7. Nolan Ryan

Let’s wrap things up with Nolan Ryan, one of the greatest pitchers in MLB history. Ryan threw seven no-hitters, struck out about a billion batters, and punched the crap out of Robin Ventura when he rushed the mound after getting hit with a fastball in 1991. Ryan giving it to Ventura might be the best baseball highlight of all time.

Ryan invested in what he knew, becoming the principal owner of the Texas Rangers in 2010. He continues to run the team today, and is often shown during Rangers’ telecasts sitting in his spot near the field, often with former U.S. President George W. Bush.

Can you think of any athletes that haven’t squandered their millions? Let us know in the comments.