40 OVER 40
NHL star Jaromir Jagr just turned 44 but remains an impact player, following the path of these 40 age-defying men and women who showed that 40 doesn't have to mean the end.
Jaromir Jagr turned 44 this week, and he's still going strong a quarter of a century after entering the NHL. The fifth pick in the 1990 draft is one of the top scorers for the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers, and last month he earned his 10th All-Star selection. More than half of Jagr's Panthers teammates weren't born when he played his first NHL game Oct. 5, 1990.
Though a performance such as Jagr's beyond the big 4-0 is rare, it's not unprecedented.
Here are 40 other athletes who defied Father Time and made significant impacts after their 40th birthday (listed by age during their last time competing on the highest level of their sport or by current age for those still active).
John Stockton, Basketball
Stockton, a 10-time All-Star, became the NBA's career leader in assists and steals.
Stockton turned 40 at the end of the 2002-03 season and would play one more season for the Utah Jazz, his 19th with the team, before retiring at 41. He started all 82 games, averaging 27.2 minutes in his final season. When he retired, the unassuming point guard did so without much fanfare. "I think I'm finished," Stockton said. "I informed those guys and that's the direction I'm headed. I just said, 'I think it's time to move on.'"
Brett Favre, Football
Long before the "Old Gunslinger" became old, he established himself as an all-time great quarterback, winning a Super Bowl and earning NFL MVP honors three consecutive seasons with the Green Bay Packers.
After "retiring" twice, Favre experienced a rebirth with the Minnesota Vikings in 2009, the season in which he turned 40. He earned his 11th Pro Bowl berth and led the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game, where they lost to the New Orleans Saints in overtime. Favre's penchant for unretiring became a running joke, and the Rams contacted him about another return in 2013. "It's flattering," Favre said. "But you know there's no way I'm going to do that."
Hank Aaron, Baseball
In 1973, at age 39, Aaron earned his 19th consecutive All-Star selection and finished the season one home run shy of Babe Ruth's career record of 714.
Aaron stood up to racial insults and death threats for months before hitting his 715th home run on April 8, 1974, against Los Angeles. Dodgers announcing great Vin Scully gave a home run call for the ages: "What a marvelous moment for baseball, what a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia, what a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol."
Jerry Rice, Football
Arguably the greatest football player ever, Rice was a three-time Super Bowl champion, a 10-time first-team All-Pro and the NFL career leader in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown catches before he turned 40.
In 2002, the year Rice turned 40, he caught 92 passes for 1,211 yards, both his best marks since 1996. Rice played until 2004 and signed a one-day contract with San Francisco for $1,985,806.49 before officially retiring in 2006. He didn't collect on that ceremonial deal, the amount of which was derived from his first year in the league (1985), his uniform number (80), the year ('06) and the team he played for over his first 16 seasons (49ers).
Darrell Green, Football
One of the fastest defensive backs in league history, Green was a seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback and won two Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins.
Green, who recorded at least one interception in an NFL record 19 seasons, picked off four passes after turning 40. He played in all 16 games in each of his final two seasons at ages 41 and 42. Green celebrated his 50th birthday in 2010 by announcing that he ran a 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds. "I think today I became the fastest 50 year old in the world!" he tweeted.
Harold Baines, Baseball
Baines was a durable slugger who had the rare distinction of having his number retired (by the White Sox) while he was still an active player.
In 1999, at age 40, Baines knocked in 103 runs while batting .312 for the Orioles and Indians. His previous 100-RBI season had been in 1985 for the White Sox, giving him the record for the longest span between 100-RBI campaigns. He also earned his first All-Star berth in eight years.
Ted Williams, Baseball
Teddy Ballgame was the greatest hitter who ever lived, and a war hero to boot.
Williams wrapped up his career with a finishing kick, posting a .316/.451/.645 slash line at age 41 in 1960 for the Red Sox. He hit a home run in his final plate appearance and, characteristically, declined to tip his cap or otherwise acknowledge the cheering fans, prompting the writer John Updike to observe, "Gods do not answer letters."
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Basketball
The NBA's all-time leading scorer, Abdul-Jabbar was a six-time NBA MVP and a six-time champion while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers made it to three NBA Finals, winning twice, after Abdul-Jabbar turned 40. He was a full-time starter and an All-Star each of his final three seasons. When Abdul-Jabbar had his jersey retired in 1990, he joked about a possible comeback. "I was absolutely positive I definitely got out of my system the feeling of thrills and chills I get here," he said. "I'm sure that's what Coach [Pat] Riley was talking about when he was trying to get me back playing."
Dikembe Mutombo, Basketball
Famous for wagging his finger after every blocked shot, Mutombo was an eight-time NBA All-Star and a four-time defensive player of the year.
On March 2, 2007, at age 40, Mutombo had 22 rebounds for the Houston Rockets, becoming the oldest player in NBA history to record more than 20 rebounds in a game. "They had all these young guys around me," he said. "I still got to the ball." Mutombo averaged 5.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game in three seasons after turning 40.
Robert Parish, Basketball
The Chief was a nine-time All-Star and an integral part of the Boston Celtics' memorable run to three NBA championships in the 1980s.
Parish finished his career at 43 with the Chicago Bulls in 1996-97 and became the oldest player to win an NBA championship. In one of his first practices with the Bulls, according to ESPN's Jackie MacMullan, Parish botched a play and was amused to find Michael Jordan jawing at him. "I told him, 'I'm not as enamored with you as these other guys. I've got some rings too,'" Parish recalled.
Barry Bonds, Baseball
Bonds won six NL MVP awards, was named to 13 All-Star teams and, in 2001, hit an MLB-record 73 home runs.
In 2004, the year he turned 40, Bonds set MLB single-season marks with 232 walks and a 1.421 OPS and won his seventh NL MVP award. He was an All-Star for the Giants at age 42 in 2007, his final season. Allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs have kept baseball's career home run king out of the Hall of Fame. On the matter of steroids, Bonds once said, "Doctors ought to quit worrying about what ballplayers are taking. ... The doctors should spend their time looking for cures for cancer."
Babe Didrikson, Golf
One of the greatest athletes of all time, she was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year six times -- once for track and field and five times for her golf prowess.
Didrikson Zaharias was the leading money winner on the LPGA Tour in 1951, the year she turned 40. In 1954, a year after she had colon cancer surgery, Didrikson Zaharias earned her sixth AP Female Athlete of the Year honor after winning the U.S. Women's Open by a record 12 strokes. "It will show a lot of people that they need not be afraid of an operation and can go on and live a normal life," she said after her 10th career major championship. Didrikson Zaharias died from cancer in 1956.
David Wells, Baseball
Ah, Boomer -- a pot belly, a rubber arm, pinpoint control and a perfect game to his credit.
Wells, who made six postseason starts after turning 40, idolized Babe Ruth. While playing for Boston at age 42, he realized a career-long dream by convincing the Red Sox to let him wear No. 3 -- Ruth's number -- thereby joining the small fraternity of pitchers who've worn single-digit numbers.
Vinny Testaverde, Football
The first pick in the 1987 draft was a two-time Pro Bowler, and he's the last quarterback to win a playoff game for the Cleveland Browns.
On Dec. 2, 2007, a 44-year-old Testaverde led the Carolina Panthers over the San Francisco 49ers to become the oldest QB to win an NFL game and the second oldest to start one. He had joined the team midseason on short notice and won his first start for Carolina, too. "To come in with three days of preparation and go out and help a team win a football game and contribute," Testaverde said, "I'm proud of the fact I was able to do that."
Warren Moon, Football
Moon had already put together a Hall of Fame résumé by his late 30s, with eight Pro Bowl selections and an NFL offensive player of the year award after a decorated Canadian Football League career that included five consecutive Grey Cup championships.
His NFL career was thought to be over by the time he celebrated his 40th birthday, but he had a last hurrah with the Seattle Seahawks in 1997, the year he turned 41. He was named AFC offensive player of the week twice that season and earned a ninth Pro Bowl berth after leading the NFL in passing yards per game.
Rickey Henderson, Baseball
Widely acknowledged as the finest leadoff hitter ever, Henderson was a 10-time All-Star and led the AL in stolen bases 12 times.
Although he made his last MLB appearance with the Los Angeles Dodgers at age 44 in 2003, Henderson played two more years in independent leagues and never willingly retired. He's still the MLB career leader in stolen bases and runs. In a conference call leading up to his Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2009, a 50-year-old Henderson said, "In my heart, loving the game, I would love to come back and play.''
Pete Rose, Baseball
The 1963 NL rookie of the year and 1973 MVP molded himself into Charlie Hustle, the heart and soul of the Big Red Machine.
In 1982, at age 41, Rose played all 162 games for the Phillies and made the NL All-Star team for the second consecutive year. Three years later, he broke Ty Cobb's career hits record. MLB's last player-manager retired with 4,256 hits and holds the career records for games played, at-bats and plate appearances. Oh, and then there's that gambling thing and the Cooperstown controversy -- perhaps you've heard about that.
Dara Torres, Swimming
Torres won nine swimming medals as a sprinter for the United States in four Summer Olympics: 1984, '88, '92 and, upon returning to competition after a seven-year hiatus, 2000.
Torres came back again -- 24 years after her first Olympics -- and anchored the 4x100-meter freestyle relay to silver at the 2008 Beijing Games. Torres volunteered for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's stiffer testing program along the way, too, explaining: "I want people to know that I'm 41 and I'm doing this right. I'm clean."
Phil Mickelson, Golf
Perhaps the best golfer of his generation not named Tiger, Mickelson won the 2010 Masters -- his fourth career major championship -- two months before turning 40.
Lefty was 43 when he broke through in 2013 to win his first British Open, leaving the U.S. Open as the only major to elude him. After entering the final round tied for ninth, 5 shots off the lead, Mickelson closed with a 66 for a 3-stroke victory. "Today will be one of the most memorable rounds of golf I've ever played," Mickelson said. "It's probably the greatest and most difficult win of my career."
Roger Clemens, Baseball
The intimidating right-hander was named to eight All-Star Games and won six Cy Young Awards and one MVP.
Clemens was named to three more All-Star teams, won the 2004 NL Cy Young and led the NL with a 1.87 ERA in 2005, the year he turned 43. Clemens, like home run king Barry Bonds, has yet to be voted into the Hall of Fame because of allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Of the suspicions, he dubiously said, "I should have a third ear coming out of my forehead; I should be pulling tractors with my teeth," during a "60 Minutes" interview.
Gaylord Perry, Baseball
The most famous spitballer since Burleigh Grimes, Perry was also one of the best pitchers of his era, with five 20-win seasons and the 1972 American League Cy Young Award. He also wrote a book, "Me and the Spitter," about throwing spitballs without getting caught.
Perry won the 1979 National League Cy Young Award for the Padres during the season he turned 40 (and notched his 3,000th career strikeout two weeks after his 40th birthday), going 21-6 with a 2.73 ERA and becoming the first pitcher to win the award in both leagues. He earned his 300th win -- a complete game -- at age 43. He kept on throwing the spitter (and not getting caught) through the end of his career at age 45. When he retired, he said, "The league will be a little drier now."
Carlton Fisk, Baseball
By the time he turned 40, Pudge had already been AL rookie of the year, a 10-time All-Star and the guy who hit the most famously body-Englished home run in World Series history.
Despite playing the game's most punishing position, Fisk kept strapping on the catcher's gear until his was 45. At the time of his retirement in 1993, he held the career records for games caught and home runs by a catcher (although both have since been broken). When his No. 27 was retired by the Red Sox -- joining the 72 that already had been retired by the White Sox -- he summed up the experience of the over-40 athlete by saying, "A million years went by quick."
Charlie Hough, Baseball
Most pitchers begin to fade in their mid-30s, but that's when Hough, a career knuckleballer, began hitting his stride, averaging 16 wins per season from age 34 through 39.
In 1988, at age 40, Hough won 15 games and threw a now-unthinkable 252 innings. Five years later he was chosen to start the first game in Florida Marlins history and pitched six innings to get the win. When asked at one point why more pitchers don't throw the knuckleball, he responded, "Why don't more pitchers throw 95 mph? Because it's really hard to do!"
Randy Johnson, Baseball
Johnson was the most dominant left-handed power pitcher of his generation, racking up five Cy Young Awards and generally scaring the heck out of opposing batters.
At age 40, the Big Unit still had enough gas in the tank to lead the NL with 290 strikeouts in 2004 -- the same season in which he also became the oldest pitcher in history to throw a perfect game. "Not bad for being 40 years old," he said. "Everything was locked in." He won 17 games in each of the next two seasons and finished with 303 wins and 4,875 strikeouts, numbers that made him a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Nolan Ryan, Baseball
The most overpowering pitcher in history, Ryan was already baseball's career strikeout leader with a record five no-hitters to his credit.
The Ryan Express didn't slow down. After turning 40, Ryan led his league in strikeouts four consecutive years. With the Texas Rangers, he also added two more no-hitters to his unmatched résumé. And don't forget he was 46, nearing the end of his final season, when he famously used Robin Ventura's head as a punching bag after Ventura made the regrettable decision to charge the mound after getting hit by a pitch.
Randy Couture, MMA/UFC
A three-time Olympic wrestling alternate, "The Natural" switched to mixed martial arts and became the only UFC fighter to win the heavyweight and light heavyweight belts.
Couture retired in 2005 after getting knocked out by Chuck Liddell in the final chapter of their epic light heavyweight trilogy. Couture returned two years later to take on heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. Couture's first punch sent the 6-foot-8 Sylvia to the canvas eight seconds into the bout, and the 43-year-old challenger won a unanimous decision, taking the heavyweight title for a record third time. "I'm not scared to fail, I'm not scared to lose, I'm not scared to die, for that matter," Couture once said. "Accept the worst outcome. ... You'll be free and fight like you're able to."
Morten Andersen, Football
The soccer player-turned-kicker from Denmark was named to the Pro Bowl seven times and received first-team All-Pro honors three times.
Andersen played seven seasons in his 40s, scoring 704 points and converting 83.7 percent of his field goal tries, and finished as the NFL's career scoring leader. He hasn't made it to the Hall of Fame but called it a "gift" to have been a finalist three times. "I'm joyful and thrilled that people think enough of me and what I did to consider me in that very elite company," he said last month. He finished his career with the Falcons in 2007.
George Blanda, Football
Blanda threw for 25,196 yards, 214 touchdowns and scored 1,148 points as a quarterback/kicker with the Chicago Bears and Houston Oilers -- and his first game with the Oakland Raiders.
Blanda turned 40 the day of his second game with the Raiders and started only one game at quarterback after that, but he scored 863 more points as a full-time kicker. He's the oldest player in NFL history, having retired after the 1975 season at age 48. Blanda holds pro football records for most seasons (26) and extra points (959), but he once said, "The one record I was happy to get rid of was the one for the most interceptions, when Brett Favre got that one."
Chris Chelios, Hockey
Chelios won three Norris trophies as the NHL's top defenseman and was a 10-time All-Star.
Shortly after turning 40, Chelios appeared in his 11th All-Star Game, won a silver medal with the U.S. Olympic hockey team and captured the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings. He finished his career at age 48 with the Atlanta Thrashers in 2010 after 1,651 career games, the most by an NHL defenseman. "I couldn't have played any longer than I did, and I accomplished what I wanted to," he said.
George Foreman, Boxing
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Foreman was such a feared puncher by his 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" title defense, many feared 32-year-old challenger Muhammad Ali might get hurt. But Ali upset the 25-year-old Foreman with his improvised rope-a-dope tactics, and Foreman retired by 1977.
Foreman returned to the ring at 38 after a decade-long absence and fought for another 10 years. He eventually regained the heavyweight title at 45 by knocking out Michael Moorer wearing the same red trunks he wore 20 years earlier in his loss to Ali. "I've exorcised the ghost once and forever," Foreman exulted afterward.
Phil Niekro, Baseball
Nicknamed "Knucksie," Niekro spent his 20s and 30s establishing himself as the most successful knuckleball pitcher in MLB history, building a solid career around an eccentric pitch.
Niekro recorded 121 wins after turning 40 -- an MLB record. He won his 300th game at age 46, a four-hit shutout in which he avoided throwing any knuckleballs until the game's final batter. "I always wanted to pitch a whole game without throwing knuckleballs because people thought I couldn't get people out without throwing them,'' he said after the game. Niekro, who finished his career with the Braves, continued playing to age 48 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997.
Jamie Moyer, Baseball
Moyer was the quintessential soft-tossing lefty journeyman, quietly finding a way to get guys out without looking particularly impressive.
Like the Energizer Bunny, Moyer kept going and going and going. Moyer's final win came on May 16, 2012, when he was 49 with the Colorado Rockies, making him the oldest pitcher in MLB history to record a win and the oldest player to knock in a run (on a bizarre two-RBI infield single, no less).
Julio Franco, Baseball
Franco was a three-time All-Star, won the 1991 AL batting title and accumulated more than 2,000 hits.
After stints in Japan, Mexico and Korea, Franco hit .285 in in parts of seven seasons with the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets. He played his final MLB game at age 49 in 2007. He played in the Mexican League in 2008 and appeared in seven games for the independent Fort Worth Cats in 2014. Last year, Franco served as a player/manager in a Japanese independent league at age 57. Said Franco in 2005: "If you're a certain age, they want to run you out. It's simple. Don't stereotype. Can you do the job? Yes or no? Look at the ability.''
Martina Navratilova, Tennis
During her prime, Navratilova dominated women's tennis, winning 18 Grand Slam titles in singles, 31 in doubles and seven in mixed doubles.
After retiring from singles in 1995, Navratilova returned for a second act in 2000 at age 44, joking, "The ball doesn't know how old I am." She won 12 more doubles titles and three more mixed doubles Grand Slam titles -- the last one in 2006, a month shy of her 50th birthday. "Every time we walked on the court, it was like a rock concert," said Lisa Raymond, one of Navratilova's doubles partners.
Bernard Hopkins, Boxing
Hopkins had been at least one organization's world middleweight champion for 10 years when he hit 40 and carried a career mark of 45-2-1 with 32 KOs.
In 2011, at 46, The Executioner surpassed George Foreman atop the list of oldest world champions by beating Jean Pascal for the WBC light heavyweight title. Three years later, a 49-year-old Hopkins unified the WBA and IBF light heavyweight titles with a split-decision win against Beibut Shumenov. "Money is great, but history is something that you can never get rid of and act like it didn't happen," Hopkins said afterward. Hopkins hasn't retired and hopes to fight one more time.
Gordie Howe, Hockey
Mr. Hockey helped lead the Detroit Red Wings to four Stanley Cup championships and won six Hart trophies as the NHL MVP.
Howe earned his 20th and 21st NHL All-Star selections after turning 40. He also played alongside sons Mark and Marty in six World Hockey Association seasons and made his final NHL appearance at age 52 after the WHA's Hartford Whalers joined the NHL. At age 69, Howe skated one shift for the IHL's Detroit Vipers in 1997, marking the sixth decade in which he had played professionally.
Satchel Paige, Baseball
Paige played 18 seasons in the Negro Leagues, including stints with the Birmingham Black Barons, Pittsburgh Crawfords and Kansas City Monarchs.
After MLB was desegregated, Paige was finally afforded the chance to play in the majors at 42 and went 28-31 with a 3.29 ERA in six seasons with the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns and Kansas City Athletics. At age 59, he pitched three innings -- giving up only one hit -- for the A's in 1965. In all, Paige pitched professionally for 40 years. "Age is a question of mind over matter; if you don't mind, it doesn't matter," he once said.
Diana Nyad, Swimming
Nyad first gained national notoriety for record-setting endurance feats such as swimming the 28-mile perimeter of Manhattan in 1975 and a 102-mile path from the Bahamas to Florida in 1979.
Nothing in Nyad's extreme sports career captivated followers like her five attempts between 2011 and '13 to finish a 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida (a route she first attempted in 1978 at age 28 but failed after 76 miles). CNN provided live coverage throughout. When Nyad rose unsteadily out of the water on Sept. 2, 2013, at Key West's Smathers Beach she'd been swimming 53 consecutive hours. She was 64 years old. Said Nyad: "Never, ever give up on your dreams."
Jack Nicklaus, Golf
The Golden Bear had won 15 of his record 18 majors and staked his claim on the title of greatest golfer in history.
Nicklaus won two majors in 1980, the year he turned 40, but managed just two PGA Tour victories from 1981 to '85. At the 1986 Masters, however, vintage Jack was back. The 46-year-old Nicklaus shot a blistering 6-under 30 on the back nine in the final round to become the oldest winner in the tournament's history. "I might have been 46, but my nerves were still good." Nicklaus told Golf Digest in 2011. "And I did not want to leave the game playing poorly."
Sam Snead, Golf
Slammin' Sammy's 1952 Masters victory a month before his 40th birthday was his sixth career major.
Snead added a seventh major at the 1954 Masters, but that might not be his most impressive post-40 victory. Snead was less than two months shy of his 53rd birthday when he won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open. "I don't feel very old," Snead said afterward. "In fact, right now I feel pretty young." More than 50 years later, he's still the oldest golfer to win a PGA Tour event.
ESPN.com's Arash Markazi, Thomas Neumann, Paul Lukas, Johnette Howard and Kevin Stone contributed to this story.
