Before the trophies, before they were famous, and before photos of these iconic athletes were taken over and over again came their high school yearbooks, where they posed for pictures alongside their classmates.
These pictures came before the paparazzi followed them around and before photographers were assigned to snap their every movement on the court and elsewhere.
The well-known faces for their athletic careers include a Super Bowl winner, one of the premier tennis players in history, and a basketball legend.
The quintet below have been involved in some of the grandest moments in sports history, representing both their teams and their country.
Even some of the most famous faces of went to high school before their incredible success, each from the class of 1979.
Can you name who these athletes are by their high school yearbook photos?
Dan Marino
The Miami Dolphins legend did not keep the big poufy hair for long after this yearbook photo from 1979 was taken.
Marino was an All-American at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh and stayed in town to play college football for Pitt.
After staying for his senior season with the Panthers, Marino barely stayed a first-round draft pick of the Dolphins in 1983.
Marino is widely regarded as the best quarterback of all-time to never win a Super Bowl, having only appeared in the NFL’s biggest game once, during his second professional season.
Marino officially retired from football in 1999 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
Since 2014, he has been a special advisor to the Dolphins.
Carl Lewis
One of the greatest track and field stars of all-time had to get his reps in somewhere before dominating on the world stage for over a decade.
Lewis was a star at Willingboro High School, located in a Philadelphia suburb in south New Jersey.
His first Olympic success came five years after graduation, winning four gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics.
Lewis would have competed as a 19-year-old in the 1980 Olympics if the United States and dozens of other countries did not boycott the games.
Lewis ended up winning the long jump at four straight Summer Olympics, one of six athletes in history to pull off that feat.
The former sprinter is now 63 years old and is currently the head track and field coach at Houston.
John Elway
The Denver Broncos’ best quarterback of all-time nearly looks the same in this photo from 45 years ago at Granada Hills High School in California.
It was taken three years before ‘The Play’, where Elway was Stanford’s quarterback in 1982.
Elway was the top overall draft pick in the 1983 NFL Draft, 26 picks ahead of Marino, to the Broncos, where he had to wait over a dozen years to win a Super Bowl.
Yet, Elway is best remembered for his late career triumphs in 1998 and 1999, winning back-to-back Super Bowls after a long period without one for the AFC.
Elway’s post-football career also had him involved with the Broncos as a member of their front office from 2011 through 2021.
Recently, Elway appeared as the ‘Leaf Sheep’ on ‘The Masked Singer’ and as eliminated in the season premiere in September.
Isiah Thomas
Before he was a bad-boy Detroit Piston, Thomas was a younger bad boy at St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois.
Thomas played for Bob Knight at Indiana and was one of the legendary coach’s biggest stars in Bloomington.
After being drafted No 2 overall in the 1981, Thomas spent his entire NBA career in Detroit, making a dozen straight All-Star games from 1982 through 1993.
Thomas tried his hand at coaching after retiring from the NBA, first with the Indiana Pacers.
The lifetime Piston then coached for the rival Knicks before his only stint as a college coach at FIU.
Thomas’ career as a coach was rather uneventful, never leading any of his teams to much success.
Pam Shriver
Arguably one of the most underrated athletes of the 20th century, who had the most success of her professional career as Martina Navratilova’s doubles partner, is Shriver.
She attended the McDonogh School in the Baltimore suburbs and had already appeared in a major-tournament final by the time she got her diploma.
That was the 1978 US Open against Chris Evert. Shriver lost the next eight Grand Slam semifinals she played in, four coming to Navratilova herself.
Her final appearance in a Grand Slam tournament was the 1996 US Open, where she lost in the first round.
Shriver did win 21 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and one mixed doubles title.
Shriver may now be best known for her broadcasting career, with many appearances for ESPN.
