History, Miscellaneous, WGOM

Mount Rushmore of MN Sports

26 Comments

Alright, let's do this. Nibs dropped Lindsey Whalen as a suggestion for the MN Sports Mount Rushmore, and I find myself curious what others would come up with.

The rules are simple: you get 4 people (no less, no more). You can only use athletes who played for Minnesota teams (we'll keep out the Sid Hartmans and Bud Grants), but can include non-athletic factors in your decision (Kent Hrbek now advertises for a local company, Alan Page was a MN Supreme Court Justice!). This is not limited to athletes from Minnesota, though I think most people would agree that being from MN probably helps.

I'm gonna kick it off:

Whalen, KG, Dave Winfield, Mauer

(Wow, this was way tougher than I expected.)

26 thoughts on “Mount Rushmore of MN Sports”

  1. First I think you should take nominations and then have a vote so that there is an official Half Baked MN Sports Mount Rushmore.

    Whalen
    Alan Page
    Kirby Puckett
    KG

      1. Yes. Polls can be set to be able to only choose up to some number of votes, such as say four, out of the overall group. Maybe come up with ten and I can create a poll about it.

  3. Born in Minn:
    Phil Housley
    Dave Winfield
    Bronko Nagurski
    Lindsey Whalen

    Played for a Minn team:
    Carl Eller
    Harmon
    Kevin Garnett
    Randy Moss

  4. I'm going to say Alan Page, Harmon, Whalen, KG.

    I'll concede "top 20" WNBA player for Whalen, rather than top 10.

    If the North Stars hadn't moved, Modano would be a lock for this.

  7. My nominations:

    Harmon
    Tony Oliva
    Mandowescence aka Charles Albert "Chief" Bender
    Neal Broten

    I'm confused why Bud Grant is disqualified, considering he played in the NBA, NFL, CFL, and for the UofM. Similarly, Herb Brooks played for the UofM & was cut from the 1960 US Olympic team weeks before the Games.

    1. I missed the U for Bud and Herb. Idea was really to stick to athletes though. Much like Rushmore is Presidents, not great Americans.

    1. And runners up for the Crazy Horse monument:
      Herb Carneal
      George Mikan
      TonyO
      Herb Brooks
      Bud Grant
      Gpa Sports
      Dick Beardsley

  10. this article from 1999 has some strong suggestions on Minnesota natives.

    The key is a clear Minnesota identity. The problem is how to represent Minnesota sports history in only four picks.

    Minnesota is hockey, but who would you pick? And Minnesota has provided both the most important figure in modern pro basketball (Mikan) and one of the twenty or thirty greatest players ever in women's basketball (Whalen). Minnesota also has a claim on four of the most important coaches in their respective sports (Herb Brooks, Bernie Bierman, J Robinson, John Kundla).

    Harmon. Bierman. Whalen. Mikan.

    Two who were all time greats in their sports IN Minnesota and two who were/are legends both FROM and IN the state (I forgot that Bierman was a native also).

    I would replace Harmon with someone from hockey, but who? Herb? Neal Broten? Brad Frost?

    1. Mentioning Brad Frost reminds me that Krissy Wendell is arguably the Lindsey Whalen of women’s hockey. Led gophers to championships, gold medal winner. Plus played in the little league World Series.

      1. Yea, I was trying to figure out who the heaviest hitters were/are with Gopher hockey. I just don't know enough about those women.

    2. Joe Mauer. If you are going to put an NBA player who played in Minnesota on the list, it HAS to be KG.

      1. Dude, no. KG was great. Mikan changed the game profoundly.

        "Mikan was so dominant that he caused several rule changes in the NBA: among them, the introduction of the goaltending rule, the widening of the foul lane—known as the "Mikan Rule"—and the creation of the shot clock.[2]"

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