In the late summer of 2006, we called out for AskMen.com readers to submit their nominations for the inaugural edition of our Top 49 Men list. The evaluation criteria was withheld because it had yet to be determined - we wanted you to supply it, so as to help shape, and not just populate, the list. So we kept the request simple: Provide us with the names of those men that you consider to be the best representatives of the male gender, along with the reasons why you deem them so.
Who Created the Top 49 ?
More than 15,000 nominations flooded in, and plenty of supporting explanations with them. And while we managed to hone the nominees down to a final list of 100, refining the defining criteria proved much more difficult. After all, how does one summarize the accomplishments and influence of one man, let alone 49, with a mere few traits?
In the end, we decided to let the list speak for itself. The Top 49 Men of 2006 is the product of more than one million votes cast by AskMen.com readers, and every guy on it possesses some quality, characteristic or virtue that we men prize and strive to cultivate in ourselves. You, the AskMen.com reader, built this list; now get on with reading it. Start with number 49.