For a record 59th time, Americans name Billy Graham one of the ten most admired men.
In 2015 Billy Graham was again among the 10 men most admired men by Americans, according to the Gallup polling organization.
Graham, now 97, has made the list 59 times. That’s a record and way ahead of anybody else and in spite of the fact that Graham last crusade was 10 years ago. The evangelist’s first appearance on the list came in 1955.
This year, Graham extended his record for Top 10 finishes, as did Queen Elizabeth II of England, who has made the list of Most Admired Women 47 times.
Graham’s closest competitor for number of times on the Most Admired Men list is former President Ronald Reagan, who made it 31 times.
A pastor to presidents, Graham held crusades all over the world during a career that spanned 60 years. The last crusade, his 417th, was in New York in 2005.
Graham, who lives in a mountaintop home in Montreat, has never finished first in the Most Admired list – U.S. presidents historically get that spot – but he was runner-up from 1969 through 1974 and again in 1997 and 1999.
President Barack Obama was the most admired man in 2015, for the seventh consecutive year. The most admired woman was former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.