Professional athletes are mostly known for their athletic prowess, toned bodies, expert skill on the field, court, or rink, and often for just being not that smart. Stereotypes aside, we all know you can’t just lump all athletes into the “dumb jock” category. It probably wouldn’t surprise you to learn there are many smart and gifted former and current athletes playing on professional sports teams. What might surprise you is just how intelligent these folks really are! Some of these smartest athletes ever attended the world’s most prestigious universities, including Stanford Law School, Harvard Medical School, and Oxford University. Others were smart enough to invest their money into extremely lucrative businesses that continue to thrive.
For as many stories that you might hear about athletes going bankrupt or partying late into the night, there are some extremely brilliant athletes doing some amazing things. Here is a list of the smartest athletes in all of the professional sports community. It’s always good to be reminded that there are many amazing, talented, and intelligent professional athletes working every day outside their sport toward accomplishing a lot for the world.