COMMENTARY Mount Rushmore For Sports?

Recently I was asked to name the four American athletes who most deserve to be placed on a Mount Rushmore for athletes if such a shrine existed.

Mount Rushmore in South Dakota is, of course, where four outstanding U.S.

presidents (Can you name the four?) are memorialized with their 60-foot images carved in granite.

I knew that in accepting the invitation from KUAF, National Public Radio, it would be a difficult undertaking. And I have often warned students about the dangers of comparing those from different historical eras or proclaiming someone as the all-time best or greatest in whatever field.

However, having followed and been involved in sports all my life, I couldn’t pass up the challenge to designate the four athletes most deserving of having their likenesses sculpted into a mythical Mount Rushmore for sports.

My choices are based not just on achievements on the playing field or in the arena, but on contributions or impact that transcended their own athletic accomplishments.

And I tried to avoid any bias in favor of my own favorite sports figures. After long deliberation, these are my final four, not necessarily in rank order:

! Jim Thorpe - a NativeAmerican and the first real U.S. sports hero and international star. In the 1912 Olympics he amazingly won both the decathlon and the pentathlon. He was also a great football player, all-American and a pro star - runner, defender and kicker. He was also good enough to play Major League baseball for many years.

Unfortunately, he also knew some hard times in his life, and his Olympic gold medals were taken away from him because he had been paid small amounts for playing in minor league baseball games before the Olympics, violating what was then a rigid rule on “amateurism.” The medals were restored to him posthumously in 1982.

! Jackie Robinson - a truly historic figure who broke the color line in Major League baseball, a landmark in history that helped lead to change in many areas of American life. He was not only a great baseball player for the Brooklyn Dodgers, but a multi-sport star at UCLA and elsewhere, excelling in basketball, but especially in track and football and was one of thetop college football players in the country.

! Michael Jordan - became the personification of athleticism and high-flying basketball, a clutch player and a leader of multiple NBA and Olympic championships. He became a global figure, recognized around the world.

! Babe Ruth - probably did more than anyone to popularize baseball. One of the greatest home-run hitters, he made the “long ball” a central part of the game and its popular appeal.

He was also a great pitcher and star even before he became a renowned hitter.

And he was a colorful figure.

These are my four nominees for the sports equivalent of the real Mount Rushmore where Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt are honored. Work on Mount Rushmore’s “shrine of democracy” was completed in the 1930s and so no subsequent presidents are included. There have been efforts to generate support for adding more recent leaders, the most obvious candidate being Franklin D.

Roosevelt, but Eisenhower and Reagan have also had support.

There would be plenty of possibilities if the mythical “shrine of sports” was expanded beyond the first four. Among others deserving consideration for inclusion are (not necessarily in order) JimBrown, Bill Russell, Michael Phelps, Wayne Gretzky, Jack Nicklaus, Bo Jackson and Muhammad Ali. That’s just a partial list. The female candidates most deserving include Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Martina Navratilova, Wilma Rudolph and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

As mentioned, I tried not to let my personal preferences influence my choices. And although they didn’t make my “Mount Rushmore” four, I was pleased that two of my personal favorites, Stan Musial and Bill Russell, were recently presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama. That is the nation’s highest civilian award and both are fully deserving - two great athletes and citizens who have made exceptional contributions to society. They were recognized alongside GeorgeH.W. Bush, Maya Angelou, Warren Buffet and other notables at a White House ceremony. President Barack Obama said of the honorees, “They are the best of who we are and who we aspire to be.”

The “Mount Rushmore” of sports project was an enjoyable challenge. I’m sure you may disagree with my selections and I readily recognize that a strong case can be made for others. Who would you select?

HOYT PURVIS IS A JOURNALISM AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PROFESSOR.