List of top 25 athletes of the last 25 years is impressive. Assembling it was a task.

The past few months have been busy, even if the games have concluded.

There is a reason, of course.

Fellow sports writer Brandon Hannahs and I have spent the last few months formulating the area’s top 25 athletes of the last 25 years. It took hours of researching archives, searching for old photos and reading stories that we had forgotten existed.

Between us, we have just shy of 50 years of experience covering the schools in Morgan, Muskingum and Perry counties. That makes us among the most qualified to make these judgments.

That said, to say it has been an arduous, often frustrating experience would be like saying the 1979 Ford Grenada left owners feeling their lives should be simpler.

Let’s put this in perspective.

Some Southeast Ohio mathematics figures that the top 25 on this list comprise roughly the top 1% of the total athletes that have participated in a sport since January 2001. We're talking some 30,000 athletes.

As for a timeline, those eligible must have graduated between the 2001-02 and 2023-24 school years. That meant the spring sports kids in 2001 are in the mix.

Of course, there are ground rules. Much emphasis was placed on those who excelled in multiple sports — the true essence of an athlete. Those in the Division I scholarship pantheon — ever rare in our parts — also check plenty of boxes. So did winning.

Then there is the look test.

Statistics and postseason accolades are one thing; the judgment of our eyes carries its own weight in this matter. It is, after all, our list, and we’ve earned our stripes.

That being said, scouring the talent in the last two-plus decades has been quite a ride. Seeing the games change through the years and, frankly, how the athlete has evolved, has been one of the more fascinating elements of the job.

Judging a football player from the early 2000s, during an era when the wing-T and I-formations were still king, against the power spread formations of today's game is a trying task. Frankly, it's unfair.

For that matter, judging basketball talent from that era — when two big men still ruled the roost for most teams — against today's four-out, one-in sets built around guards and the 3-pointer, is even more unfair.

Baseball teams of today hit with bats that are as dead as late-80s Dallas. In the old days, with 2 3/4-inch barrels and bats so hot they burned your fingers, the offensive numbers were often astronomical in comparison. It's why in many cases, as former Zanesville basketball coach Scott Aronhalt used to say, "stats are for losers."

Even golf has changed. While most anyone in the last 25 years has hit with titanium drivers and forged irons, the equipment has evolved radically since the turn of the century. Sure, good players are good players. But it's easy now as it has ever been to become a good ball striker.

But even as time passes and the games change, the essence of the competitive spirit remains. The same life lessons taught during hard times by coaches back then still happen now. There are just way more outlets for parents and fans to voice their opinions.

We truly hope you enjoy the list. Qualified candidates were left off, including some state champions, as outlandish as that seems. That's how hard it was to make the cut.

And it's why everyone on it should be proud.

sblackbu@gannett.com; X: @SamBlackburnTR