LOVE/HATE

Some of the most beloved, and despised, sports figures in Philadelphia sports history, in no particular order.

Loved

Richie Ashburn (Phillies): The late “Whitey” was a favorite of several generations

of fans, first as a member of the vaunted “Whiz Kids” as an eventual Hall Of Fame

player, then as a longtime broadcaster.

Bernie Parent (Flyers): The Hockey Hall Of Famer, and two-time Stanley Cup

goaltender with the Flyers’ “Broad Street Bullies” teams, was beloved for his

on-ice skills as well as his off-ice personality.

Billy Cunningham (76ers): Not only did he play on a powerful Sixers championship team (1966-67) alongside Wilt Chamberlain, Cunningham coached the team to the 1983 NBA Championship.  A member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as well as the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. 

Julius “Dr. J.” Irving (76ers): One of the most explosive players in pro basketball history, Dr. J. helped launch the above-the-rim style of play.  He led the Sixers to the NBA title in 1982-83.

Wilt Chamberlain (Warriors, 76ers): A star for Overbook High School, the old Philadelphia Warriors and the 76ers, “Wilt The Stilt” is the only player in NBA history to average more than 50 points a game over a full season, or score 100 points in a single game, but his most famous statistic may be 20,000: the number of women he claimed to have slept with in his 1991 autobiography A View from Above.

Hated

Von Hayes (Phillies): The outfielder never lived up to his potential after being acquired in a five-for-one trade with the Indians before the 1983 season. Dick Jerardi of the Philadelphia Daily News noted that he attempted to interview the moody Hayes after the ballplayer hit his 25th home run during one of his seasons with the Phillies by asking “Do you have a minute?”

 “He said ‘No,’” Jerardi recalled. “I was actually trying to give the guy some positive press.”

Shawn Bradley (76ers): The second pick in the 1993 NBA Draft, the 7-foot-6-inch former Brigham Young star was pretty much a giant bust in Philly, averaging no more than 10.5 points per game in a season before going to the New Jersey Nets.

“He really started to bother people,” says WIP radio host “Big Daddy” Graham.

Allen Iverson (76ers): The mercurial guard brought excitement to the Sixers, but never led them to an NBA title. “There’s a lot of people who conveniently forget that they won a lot of games with him,” says Graham.

“During the year they ran to the championship (NBA Finals: 2000-01), he was loved and was able to have that gunslinger attitude,” says fan Rick Monterosso. “Once it stopped working, people started to see the flaws.”

Terrell Owens (Eagles): The short-lived, but dramatic, T.O. era in Philadelphia needs no rehashing.

“If he led the Eagles to a Super Bowl win, he would’ve been in that class with Dr J. He would’ve been in the pantheon,” Monterosso says. “But what he did, he’s probably in the top five most hated athletes.”

Graham thinks so little of Owens that he doesn’t even feel the temperamental wide out deserves to be included on a hate list. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about T.O. He’s just a giant buffoon. There’s egomaniacs, and then there’s T.O. He’s barely a good wide receiver.”

Pat Burrell (Phillies): Nicknamed “Pat the Bat” for his power numbers coming out of the University of Miami, Burrell has rubbed fans the wrong way with prolonged slumps, the inability to hit in the clutch and an attitude that is perceived as lackadaisical.

-- Michael Lello