South Dakota's Mt. Rushmore of Sports
ESPN reviewed the submissions and discussions on your state/region's conversation page. The four figures on South Dakota's Sports Rushmore are below:
Billy Mills (Pine Ridge) - He won the 10,000M title in a then Olympic-record in 1964 and set a world record for six miles in 1965.
Sparky Anderson (Bridgewater) - The Hall of Famer won five pennants and three World Series titles.
Brock Lesnar (Webster) - The 2000 NCAA Wrestling Champion at Minnesota is now the current UFC Heavyweight Champion.
Adam Vinatieri (Yankton) - The four-time Super Bowl Champion is a two-time Pro Bowler after playing 13 seasons in NFL.
Other standouts (even more nominees in conversation)
Dave Collins (Rapid City) - 16-year MLB career, 395 career SB, hit .300+ 3 different times, Led AL in triples (15) in 1984
Justin Duchscherer (Aberdeen) - 2-time All-Star with Oakland A's, 3.14 career ERA in 7 MLB seasons
John Dutton (Rapid City) - 14 full seasons in NFL, 3-time Pro Bowler, 1976 First-Team All-Pro
Garney Henley (Hayti, Huron University) - CFL All-Star for 10 straight years, 1972 CFL MVP, member of College Football HOF
Josh Heupel (Aberdeen) - Heisman runner-up in 2000, All-American QB led OKLA to national championship
Jack Manders (Milbank) - 8 seasons in NFL, 2-time First-Team All-Pro, played in 4 NFL title games
Lincoln McIlravy (Philip) - 5-time HS state wrestling champ, 3-time NCAA champ at Iowa, Olympic Bronze medalist
Mike Miller (Mitchell) - 2001 NBA Rookie of the Year, 2006 6th Man of the Year,
Casey Tibbs (Fort Pierre) - 9-time World Champion All-Around Cowboy, won Rodeo Cowboys Assoc. world title as teen
Other potential nominees: Jim Scott (Deadwood), Eric Piatkowski (Rapid City), Tom Byrum (Onida)


