On March 3, 2024, Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark passed “Pistol” Pete Maravich for the all-time NCAA scoring record. This record stood at 3,667 points for 54 years. Another all-time scoring record was set last year when Lebron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for most points in NBA history. On March 2, 2024, Lebron became the first player to ever score 40,000 points in his career. With the recent trend of records being broken, let’s take a look at some of the most unbreakable records in sports.
Jerry Rice– 22,895 career receiving yards
The first unbreakable record in sports belongs to Jerry Rice. Throughout his 20-year career, Rice accumulated an astounding 22,895 yards. Many factors come into play when talking about this record. Of course, longevity is important when talking about career records. Rice played in less than 16 games only two times in his 20-year career.
Another major factor when it comes to wide receiver records is quarterback play. Rice was fortunate enough to play with two hall-of-fame quarterbacks (Joe Montana and Steve Young) for the majority of his career.
Jerry Rice also holds the record for most 1,000-yard receiving seasons in a career. In his 20 seasons, Rice topped 1,000 receiving yards in 14 of them. Among active players, the closest to breaking Rice’s career receiving yards record is Julio Jones. However, when I say close it’s not actually close at all. Jones currently has 13,703 yards. This record has stood for 20 years and is not in jeopardy of being broken any time soon.
Emmitt Smith– 18,355 career rushing yards
Another record that relies heavily on longevity is Emmitt Smith’s career rushing yards record. Smith broke the record on Oct. 27, 2002. By the end of his career, Smith surpassed the previous record holder (Walter Payton) by 1,629 yards. Over his 15-year career, Smith racked up 18,355 rushing yards. This averages out to roughly 1,224 yards per season. As NFL offenses rely much more on the passing game it is unlikely this record will be broken anytime soon. This is without a doubt one of the most unbreakable records in sports.
Smith was probably the most consistent running back in NFL history. He led the NFL in rushing yards for a season four times throughout his career. He also rushed for over 1,000 plus yards in 11 straight seasons from 1991 to 2001. This includes two 1,700-yard seasons in 1992 and 1995.
Another key to his longevity was a lack of injuries. Over the course of his 15-year career, Smith never played in less than 10 games in a season. He also played in all 16 regular season games eight times throughout his career.
The closest active player to surpassing Emmit Smith is the Titans Derrick Henry. In eight seasons Henry has accumulated 9,502 yards. This leaves him 8,853 yards short of tying the record. I think it’s safe to say Emmitt Smith’s record will stand for a long time.
Wilt Chamberlain– 50.4 points per game in a season
I could write an entire article with Wilt Chamberlain’s records being the topic. He holds records such as most 60-point games, most points per game by a rookie, most rebounds per game in a season, and most points scored in a game. And this doesn’t even scratch the surface of the records he holds. However, in my opinion, one record stands out more than any of the others. During the 1961-1962 season, Wilt averaged 50.4 points per game. This is so impressive that it is unfathomable to think any player will ever come close to breaking this record.
During the 1961-1962 season Wilt averaged 39.5 field goal attempts per game with a field goal percentage of just over 50 percent. He also shot 17 free throws per game shooting 61.3 percent on his free throw attempts. Another impressive feat he accomplished in the 1961-1962 season was grabbing an astounding 25.7 rebounds per game. Wilt played in all 80 games during the season. He also averaged 48.5 minutes played in those games.
The closest any active player has come to matching Wilts 50.4 PPG was in the 2018-2019 season. In 2018-2019 James Harden averaged 36.1 points per game. Only one person in NBA history finished closer to Wilts record than Harden. The closest a non-active player has come to breaking the record was Michael Jordan in 1986-1987 when he averaged 37.09 points per game.
The only player to finish within ten points per game of this record was also Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-1963. Nobody in the near future will come close to averaging 50.4 points per game. This record has stood for 62 years now and is without doubt one of the most unbreakable records in sports history. I can’t possibly imagine this record ever being broken.
Cy Young– 749 complete games
This is the oldest record that will appear on this list. Cy Young played from 1890 to 1910 and accumulated 749 complete games in his illustrious career. This is one of the most unbreakable records in sports for one simple reason. Pitchers simply do not pitch entire games anymore unless they are on the verge of setting a record. Even then, in recent years we have seen many pitchers getting pulled amid no-hitters.
With the risk of Tommy John surgery being more eminent than ever, it is no wonder why pitchers no longer pitch complete games. However, it was a different story in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Back then it was not abnormal for the starting pitcher to finish the game.
In 2023 the most starts by a pitcher was Miles Mikolas of the St. Louis Cardinals with 35. Of those 35 starts, Mikolas finished zero of them. The leader for complete games in 2023 was Jordan Lyles of the Kansas City Royals and Sandy Alcantara for the Miami Marlins each with three complete games. For reference, Cy Young started more than 35 games 13 times in his career. He also had more than 35 complete games 11 times in his career.
Rickey Henderson– 1,406 career stolen bases
The most stolen bases in MLB history belongs to Rickey Henderson with 1,406. Henderson played in the MLB for 25 seasons. Of those 25 seasons, he led the MLB in stolen bases 11 times. He stole over 100 bases three times in his career (1980, 1982, and 1983). Henderson was quite possibly the fastest player to ever play major league baseball. Of his 1,741 steal attempts, he was only caught stealing on 335 of them. This is over an 80 percent success rate on stolen base attempts.
The closest player to Henderson’s record was Lou Brock who played from 1961 to 1979 and accumulated 938 stolen bases. That is a 468 difference in stolen bases between Henderson and the next closest player. And when you look at active players this number becomes even more ridiculous. The closest active player to Henderson’s record is Elvis Andrus who has 347 career steals. That puts him 1,059 stolen bases behind Rickey Henderson.
Over the last 20 years there has been only three players to top 70 stolen bases in a season. Henderson accomplished this seven times throughout his career. Nobody comes close to the productivity that Henderson had on the base paths. His dominance on the base paths has led to one of the most unbreakable records in sports.
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