http://greenbuzzz.com/entertainment/famous-athletes-who-dont-eat-meat/
Famous Athletes Who don’t eat Meat
It’s still a typical dilemma: could vegetarians be as good as their meat-eating counterparts in physical competition? Check out each of the top level athletes in this article, and you should get your answer. These 10 vegetarian athletes rose to the top of the sports world–without any help from meat.
Bill Pearl
image credits Critical Bench
Probably the world’s best known vegetarian bodybuilder, Bill Pearl is a 4 time Mr. Universe winner. He was infamous for his bombastic strongman manoeuvres: He had a penchant for tearing license plates and twisting penny spike nails. Pearl became a vegetarian at age 39–and won his last Mr. Universe title at age 41 two years later. His books on bodybuilding are still viewed as essential reading for aspiring bodybuilders, and his vegetarianism is an inspiration to healthy athletes everywhere.
Joe Namath
image credits Impact Lab
The famous quarterback Joe Namath has become the most famous vegetarian football player. Inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1985, he was also among the best players, period. In his words, “I have been a vegetarian for a few years. Fred Dryer of the Rams has been one for ten years. It shows you don’t need meat to play football.” Namath serves as a role model for aspiring gridironers everywhere.
Martina Navratilova
image credits: franz88
The Czech superstar Martina Navratilova is one of the best tennis players of the 20th century. She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and 31 doubles titles a record she still keeps today. A vegetarian for nearly all of her career, she’s a vocal PETA supporter, however recent reports find her occasionally venturing into fish meals.
Robert Parish
One of the best NBA basketball players in history, vegetarian Robert Parish played center for the Boston Celtics together with Larry Bird. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003. Measuring above 7 feet tall, he was an impacting force on the court, yet was famous for his versatility as well and his high release jump shot was legendary.
Prince Fielder
Photo credit: Fighting Dobermans
Prince Semien Fielder is an American professional baseball player for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball, joining the team in 2012 as a free agent. He has been a strict vegetarian since early 2008–and hasn’t looked back since. His father was also a baseball player in the MLB, and they’re the only father-son duo to each have scored more than 50 home runs in their careers–and at a scant 28 years old, Prince Fielder is just getting warmed up.
Dave Scott
Photo credit: Get Boulder
Dave Scott keeps the record for most Iron Man World Championship wins ever (along with his rival Mark Allen, who managed to rack up an equal number of wins). The Iron Man competition, which consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a 26 mile marathon run, is one of the most strenuous physical feats in the world. And Scott won six of them, all while vegetarian. He even came out of retirement at 40 to compete again, and took second place.
Billie Jean King
Two females vegetarian tennis superstars on this list? Certainly both deserve it fully. Billie Jean King, a longtime vegetarian, is also an inspiring force against sexism. Along with wining 12 Grand Slam titles and 16 Doubles titles, she’s famous for her Battle of the Sexes match, in which she defeated former men’s Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs.
Tony Gonzalez
Photo credit: The Scores Report
A superstar Tony Gonzales tight end for the Atlanta Falcons, isn’t necessarily a strict vegetarian. He holds NFL records for most single season receptions and most touchdowns by a tight end, and most career receptions and reception yards by a tight end. And he did it during various experiments with veganism and cutting red meat out of his diet entirely. Though he eventually decided to eat chicken and fish, he still gets kudos here for giving veg a go.
Carl Lewis
Celebrated track star Carl Lewis was not always a vegetarian. However he eventually went even further: he implemented a vegan diet to prepare for the World Championships in 1991, where he states he ran the best meet of his life. And he wasn’t the only one who held that opinion–after seeing the results of his race, Track & Field magazine remarked, “It had become hard to argue that he is not the greatest athlete ever to set foot on track or field.” He won ABC’s Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year in 1991 as a result. Carl Lewis earned a total of 10 Olympic medals over his career, nine of them gold medals.
