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| Thursday, September 7 Milestone marks are a stubborn group By Rob Neyer ESPN.com | |||||
| A year ago, Texas running back Ricky Williams broke Tony Dorsett's 23-year-old Division I-A rushing record. How long did Williams' record last. Exactly one year, as Wisconsin's Ron "Great" Dayne topped Williams in the Badgers' final regular-season game. He now has 6,397 career rushing yards.
How rare is it for a major record to be broken twice in as many years? It's extraordinarily rare. Below are some of the most significant records in the major sports, along with the number of years between the last two times they were broken. Career Passing, NCAA (4 Years) It should come as no surprise that this category represents the best of the aerial circus that was the Western Athletic Conference in the late 1980s and early '90s. And given the trend toward pro-style offenses at the college level, it's also no surprise that the record stood for a relatively short period of time. San Diego State's Todd Santos finished a relatively obscure career as the leading passer in NCAA history with 11,425 yards. Santos, who never took an NFL snap, set the mark between 1984 and 1987. But BYU's Ty Detmer broke it in 1991, finishing his Cougar career with 15,031 yards -- and a Heisman Trophy. Last Saturday, Louisiana Tech's Tim Rattay moved into the No. 2 position on the all-time yardage list. Rattay now has 12,341 yards passing. Career Passing, NFL (17 Years)After 30 years of three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football, the passing game became an integral part of most teams' offenses in the 1950s. Predictably, a procession of prolific passers took turns setting the records for career passing yards. In 1959, Bobby Layne broke Sammy Baugh's record, which had lasted seven years. In 1965, Johnny Unitas broke Layne's record, which had lasted only three years. And in 1976, Fran Tarkenton broke Unitas's record, which had also lasted only three years. And then & nothing. Tarkenton retired after the 1978 season with 47,003 passing yards, and it wasn't until 1995 that Dan Marino broke Tarkenton's record. At this writing, Marino's got 60,001 career passing yards. How safe is his record? Well, consider that among currently-active quarterback, only one -- Steve Young -- has even half as many yards as Marino. And Young's nearly 30,000 yards behind Marino. Career Rushing, NFL (19 Years) When Steve Van Buren retired with 5,860 yards after the 1951 season, he owned the career rushing record. Ten years later, Jim Brown, in just his fifth pro season, topped Van Buren, and when he retired in 1965 his 12,312 yards were easily the most in NFL history. Brown's record lasted until 1985, when Walter Payton passed Brown. Payton finished his career with 16,726 yards. It looked like Barry Sanders would shoot past Payton, either this season or next, but with Sanders retiring, at least temporarily, Payton's record appears safe for now. Career Hits, MLB (57 Years) Ty Cobb, meet Pete Rose. The Georgia Peach collected his 4,191st hit in 1928, and Charlie Hustle his 4,192nd in 1985, 57 years later. Unless Alex Rodriguez decides to stop hitting home runs and he plays until he's 42, Rose's record looks awful safe. Career Home Runs, MLB (39 Years) Babe Ruth hit his 714th and last home run in 1935. That record would, of course, stand until 1974, when Hank Aaron blasted his 715th. Aaron finished with 755 homers in 1976, and no player has reached even 600 home runs since. Career Points, NBA (11 Years) Wilt Chamberlain retired after the 1972-73 season as the NBA's all-time leading scorer. But 11 years later, another big center took over, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired with 38,387 points, nearly 7,000 more than Chamberlain. Before his early retirement, Michael Jordan was on track to dethrone Abdul-Jabbar, but now there's nobody who looks like a good bet. Career Rebounds, NBA (3 Years) This one didn't last long, essentially because the NBA's two greatest rebounders, at least in a purely statistical sense, played at the same time. Bill Russell retired with the record in 1969, and longtime nemesis Chamberlain passed him during the 1971-72 season. Chamberlain finished with 23,924 rebounds, and nobody's come close in the 26 seasons since he retired. Career Goals, NHL (14 Years) When it comes to record-setters, few can measure up to Gordie Howe when it comes to longevity. He played his first NHL game in 1946 ... and his last in 1980, after two years of "retirement" and six more in the World Hockey Association. Howe scored 15 goals in that last season, when he was 51 years old, thus finishing his career with 801. Wayne Gretzky passed Howe during the 1993-94 season, and ended his career with 894 goals. We've not checked every career record, of course. But from those we have checked, it's clear that seeing the same record broken twice in two years is indeed a real rarity. And while we may see it this year, it's unlikely that we'll see it again soon. In the professional ranks, there are currently no obvious opportunities for such a thing. And on the collegiate scene, it seems that fewer records will be broken than ever before, because so many of the top players don't spend four years in school. In fact, it's this last that makes Williams' and Dayne's feats all the more impressive. Rob Neyer once briefly considered employment as a long-snapper. You can e-mail him at Rob.Neyer@infoseek.com. | ALSO SEE Harig: Coincidence drew Dayne, Williams together ESPN's experts remember Ron Dayne A jagged journey led Dayne to greatness A day of Ron and Roses for Wisconsin Wisconsin's Dayne runs past Williams to become No. 1 Badgers fans greet Dayne's day with emotion Dayne through the years Badgers clinch Big Ten title on Dayne's big day AUDIO/VIDEO   Ron Dayne makes history with a 31-yard run.avi: 897 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Dayne goes untouched into the endzone.avi: 512 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   Ron Dayne is the new NCAA all-time rushing leader.wav: 480 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 | ||||
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