You're forgetting his key role in reforging Whelm into Overwhelm by shoving his hands into the forge to hold it steady for the dwarven artificers! (Hard level 16 Endurance check, from memory)
A bit more seriously, I think the relationship between the battle grid and the use of Athletics during tactical movement resolution is actually one of the bigger problems for fighter versatility. If movement in combat was "theatre of the mind", then a good Athletics bonus would be a much more flexible resource in the hands of fighter players. Whereas at present, in order to keep it balanced with the rest of the movement mechanics, all it gives you is a rather inferior substitute for flying over pits.
In a recent session, the PCs wiped out Torog's Soul Abattoir. The bulk of this was a skill challenge:
* The Soul Abattoir (located in the Shadowdark) consisted of a series of buildings located in an icy, Vault-of-the-Drow-style Underdark cavern, into which souls "flowed" in a fashion analogous to rivers;
* The entrance to the Soul Abattoir, at which the PCs had arrived, was an icy tunnel floor, ending at a cliff overlooking the cavern - the river of souls was flowing some way beneath the ice, and flowed out from the base of the entrance cliff into Torog's various machines;
* The drow sorcerer and tiefling paladin flew to the bottom of the cliff, where the paladin blew his Fire Horn to render the ice more susceptible to heat, the drow cast Flame Spiral to melt some of the ice, and then cast Wall of Water to block the flow of souls (check-wise, this was an Arcana check by the player of the drow, with a buff from the melting of the ice and use of the wall);
* The paladin and invoker then headed to the largest building, at the other end of the cavern, while the cleric-ranger on his flying carpet provided archery cover and the sorcerer flew above them maintaining concentration on his wall spell (check-wise, this was an Acro check for the archer and the sorcerer, and an Intimidate check from the paladin assisted by the invoker to make their way through Torog's minions);
* Once they got to the far building, the paladin and invoker sought the intervention of the Raven Queen to redirect the flow of souls directly to the Shadowfell rather than via Torog's infernal machines (one failed and one successful Religion check);
* Meanwhile, with the flow of souls stopped, the fighter fought his way through the other (lesser) buildings, destroying the machinery inside them (Athletic check buffed by expenditure of a close burst encounter power to fight through the minions from building to building, and Dungeoneering to wreck the machinery);
* When the PCs has all regrouped at the furthest (and most important) building resolution then switched from skill challenge mode to tactical combat mode, as they stormed the building and fought with Torog's shrivers plus a death titan;
* After the (very challenging) fight, during which the last machine was turned off by the sorcerer (the player made a successful Thievery check as a standard action once the PCs had finally fought their way along the central gantry that ran above the pool of souls), the skill challenge then resumed as the Soul Abattoir itself started to collapse;
* The ranger and sorcerer flew out of the cavern (successful Acro checks) while the paladin ran out beneath them, but was struck by falling rocks (failed Aths check, making the 3-person group check a success altogether as a majority succeeded, but costing the paladin damage for the failure);
* The fighter shielded the invoker (Endurance check) as the latter held off the powerful soul energy while the others made their escape (Religion check);
* The invoker noticed that Vecna was trying to take control of the soul energy via the invoker's imp familiar that has the Eye of Vecna implanted in it (Insight check; fuller discussion of this apparently controversial event can be found here);
* The invoker made sure that the Raven Queen and not Vecna got the souls (decision on the basis of the earlier Religion check with no further check required; there may have been some damage taken from this decision, and Vecna in anger shut down the offending imp via his Eye);
* The invoker and fighter then ran out of the collapsing cavern behind their companions (Athletics checks, with the fighter doing well enough to grant an "aid another" bonus to the invoker, so from memory neither took any damage).
* The entrance to the Soul Abattoir, at which the PCs had arrived, was an icy tunnel floor, ending at a cliff overlooking the cavern - the river of souls was flowing some way beneath the ice, and flowed out from the base of the entrance cliff into Torog's various machines;
* The drow sorcerer and tiefling paladin flew to the bottom of the cliff, where the paladin blew his Fire Horn to render the ice more susceptible to heat, the drow cast Flame Spiral to melt some of the ice, and then cast Wall of Water to block the flow of souls (check-wise, this was an Arcana check by the player of the drow, with a buff from the melting of the ice and use of the wall);
* The paladin and invoker then headed to the largest building, at the other end of the cavern, while the cleric-ranger on his flying carpet provided archery cover and the sorcerer flew above them maintaining concentration on his wall spell (check-wise, this was an Acro check for the archer and the sorcerer, and an Intimidate check from the paladin assisted by the invoker to make their way through Torog's minions);
* Once they got to the far building, the paladin and invoker sought the intervention of the Raven Queen to redirect the flow of souls directly to the Shadowfell rather than via Torog's infernal machines (one failed and one successful Religion check);
* Meanwhile, with the flow of souls stopped, the fighter fought his way through the other (lesser) buildings, destroying the machinery inside them (Athletic check buffed by expenditure of a close burst encounter power to fight through the minions from building to building, and Dungeoneering to wreck the machinery);
* When the PCs has all regrouped at the furthest (and most important) building resolution then switched from skill challenge mode to tactical combat mode, as they stormed the building and fought with Torog's shrivers plus a death titan;
* After the (very challenging) fight, during which the last machine was turned off by the sorcerer (the player made a successful Thievery check as a standard action once the PCs had finally fought their way along the central gantry that ran above the pool of souls), the skill challenge then resumed as the Soul Abattoir itself started to collapse;
* The ranger and sorcerer flew out of the cavern (successful Acro checks) while the paladin ran out beneath them, but was struck by falling rocks (failed Aths check, making the 3-person group check a success altogether as a majority succeeded, but costing the paladin damage for the failure);
* The fighter shielded the invoker (Endurance check) as the latter held off the powerful soul energy while the others made their escape (Religion check);
* The invoker noticed that Vecna was trying to take control of the soul energy via the invoker's imp familiar that has the Eye of Vecna implanted in it (Insight check; fuller discussion of this apparently controversial event can be found here);
* The invoker made sure that the Raven Queen and not Vecna got the souls (decision on the basis of the earlier Religion check with no further check required; there may have been some damage taken from this decision, and Vecna in anger shut down the offending imp via his Eye);
* The invoker and fighter then ran out of the collapsing cavern behind their companions (Athletics checks, with the fighter doing well enough to grant an "aid another" bonus to the invoker, so from memory neither took any damage).
I don't know how much that counts as an example of a fighter's versatility, but I've posted it to try and show how a fighter's skills and class abilities can be used to support a more open-ended approach to action resolution once you start adjudicating things in a more "free-descriptor" style, as in a skill challenge. Different people might read the above report differently, and different participants in the actual play experience might see it differently too, but my own view is that the invoker was probably more central than the fighter, but the fighter no less central than the sorcerer. And in combat the fighter in question is definitely more central than the invoker - the invoker is as close to a skill-based, non-combat PC as you can get in 4e (eg two or three skill training feats, skill focus, linguistics, book imp familiar, lots of rituals and ritual use, etc).
In combat, though, the mechanics for the Athletics skill, and the general lack of relevance of the Endurance skill, tie the fighter rather tightly to the tactical movement mechanics.
