Three time world champion An Olympian and a national champion A two-time NCAA all-around champion The 1979 recipient of the prestigious Sullivan Award as the country's amateur athlete-of-the-year A university assistant coach A television star, commercial spokesman and public celebrity

Name the greatest American star in the history of any sport Babe Ruth in baseball? Or Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Pete Rose or someone else' Bill Russell in basketball? Or perhaps Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Jerry West? Joe touis in boxing? Then again, there's Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Inonard and Jack Dempsey John McEnroe in tennis? How about Chris Evert-Lloyd, Jimmy Connors, Billie Jean King or Bill Tilden' Dorothy Hamill in figure skating? Don't forget Peggy Fleming, Carol Heiss and Dick Button Kurt Thomas in gymnastics?

Kurt Thomas in gymnastics For most sports, fans can debate the merits of which superstar is the greatest of all time all day But, for American gymnastics, there's no argument, no discussion, no question Kurt Thomas is the greatest gymnast in United States history Period

There have always been challenges for the native of Hollywood, Florida, and Kurt Thomas has scored well whenever he's met them From Miami Central High School to Indiana State University to sites all over the world, Kurt has been blazing trails throughout his distinguished career for which countless future
gymnasts will always be grateful.

Thomas became the first American in 46 years to win a gold medal at a World Championship when he captured the floor exercise title in 1978 at Strasbourg, France The following year at Forth Worth) Texas, he garnered two more world crowns - successfully defending his floor exercise title and winning the horizontal bar - added silvers in two other individual events and finished as the all-around silver metalist to lead the United States men to a best-ever team bronze medal.

Thomas retired as an amateur when he could not compete in the 1980 Olympics due to the United States boycott His last individual amateur competition was the 1980 American Cup Gymnastic Championships at Madison Square Garden, where he won the all-around men's title for the third consecutive year Thomas dominated the American Cup, setting numerous meet records in each of his three title-winning years and capped his amateur career by scoring a perfect 10 in his final event, the horizonta1 bar

Kurt is a graduate of Indiana State, which he led to the 1977 NCAA gymnastics team co-championship.
Just for the sport of it, he's back performing, now as a professional, still the greatest American gymnast ever.