Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of famous American sports figures who became politicians


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   keep. Keeper |  76  04:58, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

List of famous American sports figures who became politicians

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POV & OR - there is nothing limiting "famous" and what elective office held by the person - it's subjectively chosen (e.g., where is Gerald Ford?) and when precisely did Byron White run for the Supreme Court? Carlossuarez46 (talk) 22:16, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Move to Notable American sports figures who held elective office or American professional sports figures who held elective office. The concept is OK, but "famous" is a bit too POVish. And yes, I understand that this still means removing Byron White. Rklear (talk) 23:03, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Lists of people-related deletion discussions.   -- • Gene93k (talk) 23:35, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Athletes-related deletion discussions.   -- • Gene93k (talk) 23:35, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions.   -- • Gene93k (talk) 23:35, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Keep and rename The word famous should go but it's otherwise fine. A sports figure is a person who is Wikipedia-notable for their sporting achievements or their sporting career. Politician is a little less clear, so changing that to elective office would perhaps be better, but if all that is changed, I no longer see how it can't be subjective. - Mgm|(talk) 09:59, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Comment. I have no opinion on whether this should be kept or deleted, but I would invite people commenting here to consider whether they would support the inclusion of a list of, say, Liberian, Russian or Vatican politicians who had a past life in sport. Phil Bridger (talk) 20:17, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I would support any such list involving elected politicians. Sports celebrity, like military reputation, has an effect on voter attitudes toward candidates. There is a reasonable association between sports success and political success, so a list of such associations has meaning. Rklear (talk) 20:30, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Keep and move to something like List of sportspeople who became politicians. On further reflection I agree that this is a notable intersection, but, unless or until the list becomes too long for a single article, I think that this would be better as a world-wide list including people such as George Weah, Gary Kasparov and Sebastian Coe. I would add that it's not necessary to hold elective office to be considered notable as a politician - neither George Weah nor Gary Kasparov has done so but their political activities are notable. Phil Bridger (talk) 20:37, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Delete Less indiscriminate than List of sportspeople who served or are serving in political office, but the days of introducing unsourced "everybody knows this already" lists are over as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure this will probably end in a no consensus, and maybe it will be improved, but lists of American athletes who served the American government have been published before; there's no excuse for not citing to something.   To set it apart from the usual "Did you know that Steve Largent was also a......" list, expand beyond the limits of American athletes.  Mandsford (talk) 21:19, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Keep If there's evidence for the notability in both sports and politics the entry is justified. Personally, I consider the existence of a WP article on the person showing both aspects as sufficient justification and sourcing, in spite oft he general rule against using Wikipedia articles for sourcing, because the conditions are usually perfectly objective and sourced in the article. But if the consensus remains against this, they can all be sourced to suitable news sources; there is no difficulty in demonstrating, for example, both Bradley's basketball career and senatorship. We m,ay have problems with intersections relying upon less obvious things, like a person's religious beliefs. But political office? Olympic/professional sports? DGG (talk) 03:19, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Delete as redundant with the list Mandsford mentioned. Benefix (talk) 22:12, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Keep, I don't think "needs citations" is a good reason to delete it as long as citing is possible. I think it should be regarded as a sublist of List of sportspeople who served or are serving in political office, maybe merged there or at least renamed for consistency. Brownsnout spookfish (talk) 19:40, 25 January 2009 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.