cruzelady24
New member
Chad brinker , martins ferry
Lou groza, martins ferry
Who is on your county’s Sports Mt Rushmore?
- Thread starter PGEMF
- Start date
Lou groza, martins ferry
Stirred not Shaken
Well-known member
ST. Henry pretty much dominates this list (mostly in football with the exception of Post in baseball0. The well has pretty much dried up in Mercer Co. when it comes to elite talent with Homan graduating 20 years ago.
Big Lex Fan
Well-known member
I would also add Jamie Feick of Lexington, Michigan State basketball and NBA with New Jersey Nets.
Thavoice
Well-known member
Wow..that was 20 yrs ago.........if hadn't retired before even his first NFL season maybe he makes the list
Eagle_62
Building Tradition
I thought Munson was from Canton. You learn something new every day.
Whasup
Active member
Auglaize -
Three off the top of my head with some legit pro experience -
Evan Eschmeyer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Eschmeyer
Bob Ewing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ewing
Galen Cisco - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen_Cisco
After that it can get hard to decide
I'm not familiar enough with St Marys Roughrider football during the Skip Baughman days but there's GOT to be some legit dudes out of that program.
But one of the best athletes to come out of the Minster girls running dynasty should probably be on there as well
Sunni Olding - https://fightingirish.com/roster/sunni-olding/
I figured a Minster female runner of some sorts should be on the list.
1. Agree with Rex Kern. MUST be on Mt. Rushmore for Fairfield County. Was All-Ohio in three sports at LHS, drafted for MLB baseball out of HS, D-1 scholarship offers in both basketball and football). Led Buckeyes to undefeated '68 National Championship and Rose Bowl win as a sophomore QB. His OSU teams were 27-2 over his 3 years - should have beat Stanford his senior year in Rose Bowl, would have been a second Natty and second undefeated season. His NFL career was as a defensive back, albeit a short career hampered by injuries.
Three choices that differ from yours:
2. Ike Kelley (even mostly before my time) was Bremen HS stud, OSU great (2x All-American and captain in mid-60's); played LB and special teams for the NFL Philadelphia Eagles at 5'11" 224 pounds, from 1966-73, was named a captain of the Eagles with famous (at least in Philadelphia) followings of 'Captain Crunch' with Kelley's number 51, and 'Kelley's Killers.'
3. Rob Carpenter - Lancaster HS and Miami (OH) stud (All-MAC, honorable mention All-American, Miami HOF), with a memorable 10-yr NFL career as RB for the Oilers, Giants (my favorite years) and the Rams. Followed that up with a 30-year football coaching career, with 23-years as HC of the Lancaster Gales. AND father to four sons, Bobby, Jonathan, George and Nathan – all who played Division I college football, and one who also played in NFL.
4. Joe Ogilvie - Lancaster HS, State Champion golf. All-American at Duke. 15-year career on PGA Tour, 5 professional wins (1 on PGA Tour, 4 on what is now the Korn Ferry Tour, with over $10M in official earnings from 1998-2014). But it's the behind-the-scenes stuff that gets him on my Mt. Rushmore. During his playing career, Ogilvie was a member of the tour's 16-man Player Advisory Council, and a player-director on the nine-member PGA Tour Policy Board. He was and is viewed as understanding the business of professional golf better than anyone else on tour during his run AND now. More recently, and maybe in the long run will prove more importantly, Ogilvie was appointed earlier this year as a Director for PGA Tour Enterprises (the entity tasked with working out the financial investment structure for the PGA Tour and whether a deal can be made with PIF/LIV Tour) as a Director of the traditional PGA Tour , and as the "director liason" between those two boards. He's already had a huge behind-the-scenes influence over the game, but if Ogilvie becomes the next PGA Tour commissioner (as is often rumored), he will have had as much influence as anyone on professional golf not named Tiger, Jack or Arnie, albeit more from the management of the game than as a player.
I like your choice of Dave Butcher, but he graduated from Toronto HS - his presence, while immense, was only in the coaching arena in Fairfield County. Thus I put Joe Ogilvie ahead of him, but not by much. 700+ wins and 23 out of 24 years with a District title is impressive. You could argue some of the reasoning for Ogilvie has not happened yet. We will agree to disagree on that one. Allan Anderson - great dude, but imo leading the AL in ERA for one season and an overall record under .500 for his 5+ year career with the Twins puts him behind the others on the mountain. Helluva an arm, class act - and I get your baseball slant! Caris LeVert - not yet - but still has time to make a bigger statement.
Additional Honorable mentions:
John Zishka (X-country & track); Rob Myers (X-country & track); Gene Cole (LHS track, national HS record for 440 yd (now 400m), semifinalist 1952 Helsinki Olympics in 400, silver medalist 4x400 1952 Helsinki Olympics). It's that Olympic medal thing that gets my attention. LHS's primary invitational meet is still named after him.
Good discussion. Sorry, couldn't let discussion stop at 4. And we still missed a few, I'm sure.
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Whasup
Active member
Sunni might be the best single athlete to come out of the MAC. 12 individual State Championships and 7 teams State titles. That's insane. She has more State medals hanging on her wall as a player than Goodwin has State rings on his shelf as a coach.
That is an AWESOME list. Hard to leave any of those off to make 4. Probably Munson, but that doesn't seem right either.
Not from Champaign County, but I agree with the bolded. In my mind, influence on a sport carries as much value as athletic achievement, if not more. Pete Dye would be at the top of this list, realizing that this thread is within the football forum!
pcbuck
Well-known member
-Jesse Owens
-Chuck Noll
-Harrison Dillard 4 Time Olympic Gold Medalist
-Rube Marquard Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher
Mr.wrsln2
Well-known member
Heisman grew up and played in Titusville Pa..im sure you know,this goes back to the Massillon claiming Paul Brown question.
Scipio
Well-known member
Don Shula?
I've been in awe of him for 17 years. He's a special man with a unique presence. We've been fortunate to have him all these years.
pcbuck
Well-known member
I thought he went to Painesville Harvey and was from Lake County.
Gbulldog
Well-known member
I think you're correct. From the Mentor Headlands area.
SayMyName
Well-known member
Alvin Robertson?
Sykotyk
Well-known member
Well aware. Seen high school games at Carter Field where he played high school football.
Still born in Cleveland, though.
The Dock
Good Takes; Even Better Picks
I can’t believe I forgot Ogilvie! He’s without a doubt Mt. Rushmore worthy. Move over, Caris!
That one is eating at me! I knew he was from Lancaster, but I was just… never aware… of him being an LHS alum.
I’d still keep Allan on there. I realize that arguing anachronisms is frowned upon, but had the postseason reforms that would later come in 1994 been there in 1988, he plausibly could’ve had an AL Pennant as a feather in his cap. Those stats that year were generally solid and not only do I think they’ll be impossible to overtake by any possible county native in my lifetime, but it plausibly is one of the best single season performances of a pro athlete from the county. JMO
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A few years ago I would’ve put Rob Carpenter, and not Caris. I felt Caris has since overtaken Rob.
Maybe it’s the case that the NFL stats of an era of yesteryear just do not translate well today (that maybe there needs to be some context provided, or general qualitative measures and information that gets across how the NFL of the 80’s was different from the NFL of the 90’s, 00’s, 10’s etc), maybe I’m just wrong on the stats appreciation here. When I look at his career, the only thing that stands out as a “oh!” was Parcells having him run the ball 250 times in his seventh year in the league. I don’t see John Riggins level stats on his sheet, and maybe that isn’t fair to Rob (as in it isn’t a fair standard of comparison) but that’s a name my generation would more easily identify as a “really good” RB regardless of era.
Caris, I just see more productivity and IMO the longevity at this point is more remarkable in my eyes in an ‘Association where the careers over here are getting shorter & shorter. And he’s a dude whose position leverage to have that long of a career has dwindled due to the influx of backcourt Euro talent in this generation that wasn’t there 15-20-25 years ago.
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I love the Ike Kelley selection. I’d be willing to put him over Allan, TBH.
Rob Myers was without question my unstated Honorable Mention #2, with Carpenter at #1. Happy to see him get his fill on here.
hubman
Well-known member
Steph Curry??? Him and Lebron were both born at Akron City Hospital (now Summa).
Anthony Morgan and Jim Tressel for starters.
hubman
Well-known member
Next time you talk to John Tompkins tell him somebody from Buchtel called him a tough old buzzard and sorry I missed him at this years state track meet (I believe his granddaughters were competing).
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Whasup
Active member
Oy vey!
How could I forget?! I see her about every week! The PIONEER of Minster girls sports dynasty. Yes, a very obvious yes. Good catch!