Cal Sports Report

Cal Athletes' Top 20 TV Commercials: No. 16 Missy Franklin

Franklin won five Olympic gold medals and won four individual NCAA titles while at Cal

Jake Curtis

Missy Franklin at the 2016 Olympics
Missy Franklin at the 2016 Olympics / Rob Schumacher-Imagn Images
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We are ranking the top 20 TV commercials featuring current or former Cal athletes. The rankings are based primarily on the appeal of the ad, but the number of commercials involving a given Cal athlete is given some weight as well.

Missy Franklin was a swimming star who won five Olympic gold medals (four in 2012 and one in 2016).  She spent her first two college years (2013-14 and 2014-15) at Cal, and won four individual NCAA titles while at Berkeley.  However, she graduated from the University of Georgia.

She has dual Canadian and American citizenship, and her actual first name is Melissa.

Franklin was a natural to do TV commercials before and during the 2016 Olympics after becoming famous in 2012. All the TV ads cited below aired in 2016.

No. 16 Missy Franklin

A heartfelt ad sponsored by Minute Maid. This is the longer version of the ad that ran.

Franklin TV commercials for Visa, Bridgestone and Speedo are available at iSpot.TV

Here is an excerpt from a March 2016 Associated Press report, via ABC 10 in Sacramento, on Franklin's endorsement deal with Visa:

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Missy Franklin will be one of the featured faces of Visa's campaign at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, replacing fellow swimmer Michael Phelps who is aiming to compete in his final games.

Franklin's contract with Visa announced Friday gives the four-time Olympic gold medalist her biggest endorsement deal outside the pool since she turned pro last year after competing for two years in college. The 20-year-old has deals with swimwear maker Speedo and Minute Maid.

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Cal Athletes' TV Commercials: No. 18 Jonny Moseley

Cal athletes' TV Commercials: No. 19 Natalie Coughlin

Cal Athletes' TV Commercials: No. 20: Nnamdi Asomugha

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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