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A blog about Sports & Recreation and Kern County.
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Bakersfield's Mount Rushmore of Sports
On Sunday, ESPN will unveil its latest gimmick to kill the time between the Super Bowl and start of spring training. The all-sports network is asking readers/viewers to nominate, then vote for, each state's own Mount Rushmore of Sports. ESPN's definition is vague but from what I've gathered it's the four greatest sports icons that were either born or made a name for themselves in that state. Columnists Rick Reilly, along with PTI's Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser and one Associated Press writer from each state will debate the merits of each of the nominees. After a 30-minute discussion between staffers Zach Ewing, Todd Camps, Tony Lacava, Mike Griffith and I, we decided that picking just four would be an injustice for California's rich sports tradition. So, I decided to take it a step further and bring the list closer to home. What about Bakersfield's Mount Rushmore of Sports? The two names that come to mind that would be no-brainers are: Pro Football Hall of Famer Frank Gifford and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears. Don't even try to argue that those two don't belong. You can't do it. Now here's the hard part. Who are the other two? Here are few names that were mentioned as possibilities: Johnny Callison, baseball, Philadelphia Phillies, 3-time NL All-Star, 1964 All-Star Game MVP Joey Porter, football, 4-time All-Pro linebacker, 4-time AFC Pro Bowler Dennis Ralston, tennis, 1960 Wimbledon doubles champion, two-time NCAA singles championship Dawn Dumble, track and field, four-time NCAA champion (2 indoor shot, 1 outdoor shot, discus), 7-time Pac-10 champ Lisa Kiggins, women's golf, 1990 World Junior champion, 1991 Pac-10 champion, NCAA All-American first team, LPGA Rookie of the Year, 1 LPGA tour event victory Kevin Harvick, auto racing, 2007 Daytona 500 winner, two-time Busch Series champion Jeff Siemon, Minnesota Vikings lineman, inducted into 2006 College Football Hall of Fame Larsen Jensen, swimmer, 2004 and 2008 Olympic swimmer Louis Wright, football, Denver Broncos defensive back, member of NFL 1970's all-decade team 8 comments from 5 users
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posted by
adampayne
on Jan 18, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Thanks for the post, LastRites. I would give the nod to Jeff Siemon over Joey Porter. Siemon was a Pro-Bowl player four times in his career and appeared in three Super Bowls with the Minnesota Vikings. He dominated the game locally like no other player in his era. I will say that one name is conspicuously absent from your list, Lonnie Shelton, the finest basketball player to ever come from Bako-land. Lonnie went to Foothill in the late 1960s. I can't remember the year he graduated but he owned hoops in this city like no other player ever has. He was a big man in high school at 6'8" and well over 230 lbs but was amazingly quick and agile. He was a far superior player to Robert Swift, who sadly decided against college and finds his career going nowhere. Lonnie went to Oregon State and was an outstanding collegiate player in the 1970s and went on to play 10 seasons in the NBA making the all-star game once and was honored as an all-defensive player in the NBA playing for the Sonics in the early 1980s. He also is the father of the Chargers offensive tackle L.J. Shelton. posted by
Lingtaowoo
on Jan 18, 2009 at 11:27 AM
How MANY still live in Bakersfield.... posted by
jfrancais
on Jan 18, 2009 at 12:05 PM
...Joey Porter has a house (and bought his mother one) on the outskirts of Bakersfield. posted by
Lingtaowoo
on Jan 18, 2009 at 12:15 PM
And racing fans are stuck with the 'okie bowl' in Oildale while the Multi-millionares Nascar heros live where....No more Mesa Marin..no more hard track racing..unless they want to DONATE money to finish the track...but why posted by
LastRites
on Jan 18, 2009 at 09:25 PM
This isn't about who still lives in Bakersfield. The Mount Rushmore of Sports is for icons that called Bakersfield home during their days (past or present) as an athlete. Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears currently reside in North Carolina but on both NASCAR.com profiles they list Bakersfield as their hometown. As does David Carr and Joey Porter, who also have homes elsewhere. That argument is rather tiresome. adampayne I completely left off Lonnie. Mike Griffith and Tony Lacava nominated him and I wrote him down, I just didn't type up a bio on him. Thanks for the addition, Lonnie has some great numbers and is worth considering. Also Zach and I were looking into Fresno's Mount Rushmore. Have to say, they don't have much unless I'm missing someone.
posted by
Rickldo
on Jan 18, 2009 at 09:57 PM
Fresno's got Tom Seaver posted by
Rickldo
on Jan 18, 2009 at 10:07 PM
Any one else remember Ken Ruettgers? 7th pick in the 1985 draft. Garces HS, USC, GB Packers? posted by
LastRites
on Jan 20, 2009 at 10:58 AM
Seaver and Gifford cancel each other out...after that Fresno's sports icons drops off.
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