HOUSTON, TX -- (Marketwire) -- 06/17/10 -- Tops In Texas announced today voting has begun statewide on the Top Texas Sports Hero of All Time Contest. The contest voting lasts until the end of the year. Noticeably absent from the ten nominees are people such as Roger Clemens, Lance Armstrong and Carl Lewis. "They certainly meet the 'sports' litmus test to deserve to be a nominee on this list," said Tim Dillard, site host for Tops In Texas. "As we researched our top ten nominees, we felt that the three men notably left off the list have pressing questions regarding their potential to be immortalized as Top Texas Sports Hero of All Time."

The list includes the following nominees: Nolan Ryan, Michael Johnson, Ben Hogan, George Forman, Earl Campbell, Tom Landry, Emmitt Smith, Bum Phillips, Hakeem Olajuwon and Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton. "Any list is going to leave someone off. We felt Babe Didrickson Zaharias and basketball star David Robinson both deserved to be on the list. The thing about the way Tops In Texas works," said Dillard, "is that all lists are fluid. Nominees can come and go based on public participation."

Voters are encouraged to visit www.topsintexas.net or www.topsintexas.com to get to the contests, of which Tops In Texas is planning to run more than 150 such contests this year. "We started off doing things like this and we had a blast," stated Dillard. This is a way for small businesses to compete with big businesses by winning Top Taco In Texas or Top Hair Stylist or whatever. The contests are built to feed the Social Media machine and cause networks of people to participate in the free marketing of businesses who want to own the title, "Tops In Texas 2010."

Tops In Texas is owned by Domain Marketing Resources. Tops In Texas was founded in 2004. In the past, winners of Tops In Texas contests have also appeared in Tops In Texas advertising including regional editions of national magazines such as Time, Newsweek, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit and several others. Contests included are Top Realtor, Top Romantic Restaurant, Top Beef Fajita and many more. Tops In Texas is primarily in Houston only this year and plans to expand to other Texas cities in 2011.