Economist Dan McFadden: Nobel Prize in 2000 … Heisman in 2007?

I honestly couldn’t tell at first if this was a joke or not. Economists can have a strange sense of humor. The Web site Year 2 is reporting that Berkeley economist Dan McFadden has scored a rare double: first a Nobel Prize and then a vote for the Heisman Trophy.

It turns out it is a joke.

Reading this, though, raises another question of interest to me and perhaps about seven other economists: who among the list of notable economists was the best athlete in their prime?

I have an academic all-American athlete on my faculty, but his best sport was golf. Another one of my colleagues, Tom Philipson, was on the Swedish national volleyball team. Can anyone name a leading economist with more impressive athletic credentials?

(Hat tip: Dean Strachan)