Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch towers at 1.83m, so it should come as no surprise that the Glee star was a super basketball and softball player before she hit our screens. While she was really good, especially due to her height, she actually wasn’t a big fan of basketball, but she did love softball.
She is a proud club fan these days, and by the looks of her character, Sue, from Glee, she’s probably a monster on the court.
Jon Stewart
Jon Stuart Leibowitz (just call him “Leibo”) was a William & Mary men’s soccer walk-on. With high expectations for varsity placement as an all-state player straight out of high school in 1980, the coach promptly rerouted Jon Stewart to the JV team. Coveting the varsity team’s “NCAA Regional Champs” hoodies, Stewart added this reminiscence to his former coach’s book, “I wanted only one thing at that point in life: to earn one of those damned sweatshirts . . . and to lose my virginity . . . but I assume that is for the foreword of a very different book.”
He played hard and won a spot on the varsity team as a tenacious wing. “Leibo” became a team star for his feisty athleticism on the field and for his rousing locker room pep talks off the field. A year before Stewart’s Daily Show launched, the William & Mary soccer program commemorated his contribution by creating the annual “Leibo Award.”
2 Chainz
Standing at 6 feet and 5 inches, it wasn't much of a stretch for the now rapper to entertain a life on the court. The rapper bagged himself a scholarship at the Alabama State Unversity and played basketball from 1996-1997. In fact, 2 Chainz (born Tauheed Epps) was actually a Division I basketball recruit in North Clayton High School in College Park, Georgia. The rapper also played one season at Alabama State University, where he played 24 out of 29 games.
The rapper's distinct voice is what really got him attention. Just as well. Before he knew it, he was being parodied on the number one comedy show in America, The Dave Chapelle Show. Countless rap hits later, 2 Chainz basketball stint is a distant memory.
Gwen Stefani
It's no accident that Gwen Stefani has one incredible body. While she may maintain it with a rigorous workout routine, the No Doubt solo-ist got her amazing stature and strength from being on the swim team at Loara High School.
These days, the 43-year-old religiously sticks to cardio exercises and jumping around on stage, admitting that the only way to maintain her body is "to eat healthily, work out, and torture yourself!" she told Harper's Bazaar ."
Ed O’Neill
In real life, Ed O’Neill’s football glory days were played on the college fields of Youngstown and Ohio University as a burly defensive lineman who got there on a scholarship. At his peak, the gifted athlete was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. When he was cut at training camp, O’Neill went for acting instead. On Married with Children, he was Al Bundy, the uproarious shoe salesman who, from his permanent position on the couch, bemoaned his glory days as a high school football star while his bimbo wife, Peg, never missed a chance to emasculate him with biting wit.
He bit back. O’Neill hit it big again as a different kind of dad with Modern Family, for which he has been nominated for three Emmys. As an athlete, he stays in shape, playing handball and practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He earned his black belt in 2007.