For the second straight Feb. 1, Tom Brady retired from the National Football League. His first retirement lasted all of 40 days, coming back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers minutes after the NCAA Tournament field was chosen on Selection Sunday. He’s now retired “for good” and the entire sports world knows there’s no substance behind those pair of words. You’ll know Brady is officially done with football when two straight regular seasons take place without him putting on a helmet.
Brady is far from the only athlete to have retired from professional sports on multiple occasions. Something about another large paycheck, or thinking there’s enough gas in the tank to hang with your peers, draws big-name athletes from the golf course and their homes and back into our lives. Alongside Brady, here’s a list of athletes who said their final goodbyes to spots multiple times.
Here’s the definitive example of retiring and trying other things, only to return to the court. And on either side of Jordan’s first retirement, there was a three-peat. Then came his second retirement and return to the court three years later as part of the Wizards, but most basketball aficionados like to forget those two seasons as Washington failed to make the playoffs in either. He tried baseball and made it to the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. Jordan only played in one MLB game, but it was an exhibition contest in 1994.
Arguably the most popular American male soccer player of all time hung up his cleats four times. After his first official retirement in 2014, months after being snubbed from the United States men’s national team’s World Cup roster, Donovan returned to the field in 2016 with the L.A. Galaxy, again in 2018 with Club Leon, and an arena league team in San Diego in 2019. Now he’s the executive vice president of Soccer Operations for the San Diego Loyal after three seasons coaching the team.
How many NFL offseasons in a row was the main topic Brett Favre’s retirement? Too many. Well, five to be exact. Every single one from 2006-10. Favre only officially hung up his shoulder pads twice, both with teams in the NFC North. His first was with the Packers after the 2007 season and then finally with the Vikings after the 2010 campaign. He was asked to join the St. Louis Rams in 2013 and also turned down that offer. Nowadays… well, let’s not get into that.
Here we have someone that’s retired from multiple sports on multiple occasions. The current head football coach at Colorado was one of the best two-sport athletes to ever walk the planet. He retired from baseball twice, once with the Cincinnati Reds and the final time as part of the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Sanders retired from football twice, once per each of the NFL’s teams that play in Maryland — the now-Commanders and Ravens.
The one-time most dominant athlete in the world first hung up his bicycle after his seventh straight Tour De France title in 2005, but returned to competitive cycling shortly in 2009. Yet, none of those prestigious titles are currently his, as all those yellow jackets were taken away after a USADA investigation found a career-long pattern of using performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong is serving a lifetime ban from all sports from the World Anti-Doping Code.
The longevity of Michaels’ professional wrestling career is outstanding. He was the then-WWF’s best performer for the latter part of the 1990s, but was forced to retire at the height of his career due to a back injury. The “Heartbreak Kid” returned to the ring in 2002 and in his second match back, won the World Heavyweight Championship. Michaels retired once again in 2010 after two straight phenomenal years of WrestleMania matches against The Undertaker. Even though HBK stated he’d never wrestle again the night after WrestleMania 26, he did have one more match in him in November 2018 as part of D-Generation X against The Brothers of Destruction.
Hard to believe Hingis will only be turning 43 in September. She did set a bunch of the youngest to ever do (fill in cool tennis thing) accomplishments and was established enough to have a full professional career and leave tennis at 22 in 2003. Hingis retired again in 2007 and 2017 after several more successful years in the sport.
One of the longer periods between a first retirement and a second retirement belongs to who many feel is the second greatest hockey player of all time. Lemieux first retired in 1997 and then became the Pittsburgh Penguins owner in 1999. A year into ownership, Super Mario wanted to return to the ice and did so until 2006. He’s won three Stanley Cups as the Penguins owner in addition to two as a player.
For the love of Tom Brady, The Masked Singer wasn’t good enough to handle Gronk’s competitive spirit, although he lasted longer on season three than Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan. Gronkowski played for eight years in New England and then came out of retirement in 2020 to help best buddy Brady in his new adventure in Tampa Bay. Gronkowski won four Super Bowls and is considered one of the greatest tight ends of all time.
Everyone’s favorite entrepreneur held a boxing heavyweight title in the 1970s and 1990s. Considering Foreman took nearly 10 years off from fighting from 1977-87, that dominance is nearly unmatched. Following a religious epiphany, Forman won a world title at 45 before finally retiring at age 51 in 1997. Foreman finished with a professional record of 76-5. His only losses came to the likes of Muhammad Ali, Tommy Morrison, and Evander Holyfield.
Arguably the greatest professional wrestler of all time can’t stay out of the ring, even as he’s entered his mid-70s. Flair only needed three months out of the ring after breaking his back in a plane crash. Flair didn’t retire for the first time until he was 59 in 2008. After breaking ties with WWE, he returned to the ring with TNA briefly before officially retiring again in 2012. Flair returned to the ring last year for “Ric Flair’s Last Match” (pictured) at age 73 and has since claimed he will never retire, despite already doing so twice.
One of the most accomplished American female swimmers made a comeback to the pool twice, once in preparation for the 2000 Summer Olympics after seven years away from the sport and had the exact same time away from competitive swimming before trying to make the US Olympic team in 2008. Torres’ last attempt at the Olympics was in 2012, but didn’t make it past the Olympic Trials.
How many times did the hardcore professional wrestling legend retire? At least three, but it’s likely more as one of his retirements lasted 11 days. Take that, Brady! Funk wrestled his last match to date in 2017 at age 73, oddly enough, the same age Flair wrestled his last match to date. Funk wrestled for nearly every major American promotion of the last 50 years and is one of the highly cited influences of today’s top wrestlers.
One of the best catchers in the history of baseball is correctly remembered for his 18-year run with the Yankees. After his first retirement in 1963, Berra was New York’s manager for the 1964 season before trading in The Bronx for Queens and managing the Mets. Berra also briefly returned to the field to play for New York’s younger baseball team and last played in a Major League Baseball game in May 1965.
The oldest player to make his Major League Baseball debut at 42 had a five-decade professional career. Paige did take a hiatus from baseball in the 1950s after becoming the first Black pitcher to play in the American League and returned to the sport in September 1959 for one game before officially retiring for good. Paige was the first inductee from the Negro League Committee to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Earvin’s first retirement happened nearly in the blink of an eye when he tested positive for HIV in 1991. Magic was still named a starter for the 1992 All-Star Game and played in the contest despite objections from several contemporaries including Karl Malone. After retiring for four more years after the All-Star Game and the 1992 Olympics, Johnson returned to the court in 1996 and played one more season.
He retired for the first time in 1982, only to return to the ring a year later. Leonard again retired in 1987 and that time away from the ring only lasted 13 months. After a loss to Terry Norris in 1990 (pictured), he retired for a third time. That lasted until 1996, when he got back in the ring for one more fight, a fifth-round TKO loss to Hector Camacho. Leonard’s final fight was his only one as a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
One of the most notable heavyweight champions in UFC history retired twice. He did so the first time after UFC 57 in 2006 after a knockout loss to Chuck Liddell. In his return to The Octagon, Couture defeated Tim Sylvia for the company’s heavyweight championship in 2007. He lost the belt after one defense to Brock Lesnar in 2008. Couture retired for good in 2011 with a professional record of 19-11.
One of the longer retirements of a returning athlete ever happened when Hawk competed in the 2021 Summer X Games’ Vert Best Trick event, finishing fourth out of nine at the discipline. Hawk had not competed in a professional skateboarding event since 2003 before two summers ago. Hawk hasn’t competed since and has not stated any intention of returning to the X Games in the future.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 WNBA Draft to the Seattle Storm had already been playing professionally in her native Australia since 1997. She had a prolific WNBA career as a seven-time All-Star and a three-time league MVP. She was part of the WNBA’s 10th, 15th, 20th, and 25th-anniversary teams. After retiring in 2016, Jackson recently announced her return to the court for the Albury Wodonga Bandits.
The most decorated Olympian of all time just couldn’t stay out of the pool. Phelps retired after the 2012 Summer Olympics, but returned to competition in 2014 with hopes of making the U.S. squad for the 2016 Olympics. He easily did and won five gold medals and one bronze medal. He was only the most successful athlete at the 2016 Games. He’s still only 37. I bet Phelps could still be one of the best in the pool on Earth.
