Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
Starr among top icons in state sports
With the death May 26 of Bart Starr, Wisconsin fans bid farewell to one of the biggest icons — perhaps the biggest — in the state’s sports history.
Starr, 85, will forever be associated with the first two Super Bowls, both wins for Green Bay, as well as the Ice Bowl triumph that earned the Packers a spot in the second of those games. For local fans, he’ll also be remembered as a kind and charitable person off the field.
If we created a Mt. Rushmore of the four biggest sports figures in Wisconsin history, he’d almost certainly be on it. We won’t try to narrow it down quite that far, but if someone knew nothing of the Badger State’s sports history, here’s a take on 15 icons who stand out (listed alphabetically):
Hank Aaron
Aaron may be primarily associated with the Atlanta Braves; it’s the team for which he played when he broke baseball’s home run record. But he spent more time playing in Milwaukee than outside of it. For 12 seasons, he was the pride of the Milwaukee Braves, making the All-Star team every year after his rookie season and earning MVP honors in 1957. Though the franchise relocated, he spent the final two years of his career back in Milwaukee as a Brewer, in 1975 and ’76. In the years since, he has been a remarkable ambassador for the game and his legend has only grown.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
When Milwaukee won a coin flip for the right to pick first in the 1969 NBA draft, the franchise’s fortunes were instantly altered. He came into the league as Lew Alcindor and led the Bucks to their first and only title in 1971, plus a return to the Finals in 1974. He is still one of the most iconic players in league history and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. The majority of his career was spent with the Los Angeles Lakers, but for six years, Milwaukee was home to the most dominant center in hoops history.
Barry Alvarez
When Barry Alvarez became head football coach at the University of Wisconsin, the Badgers hadn’t had a winning season since 1984. But from 1990 to 2005, he turned the program around, bringing it to its first Rose Bowl in 30 years and winning that game in 1993 and then two more. Today, he’s the UW athletics director, overseeing a program that has enjoyed sustained success in football and basketball, along with cross country and women’s hockey.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Too soon? He’s only 24 years old after all, but already, Milwaukee has seen the teenager from Greece rise from an unknown No. 15 overall pick into one of the most dominant forces in the NBA. He’ll likely be given his first MVP award in June and followed up his sensational season with a trip to the Eastern Conference finals for a franchise that had gotten out of the first round of the playoffs just once since 1989. There’s no telling where the ceiling is for a player who has become the face of a Milwaukee basketball renaissance.
Bonnie Blair
Wisconsin doesn’t lack for great Winter Olympians, from the sheer dominance of five-time gold medalist Eric Heiden to the redemption arc of Dan Jansen to Mark Johnson, the face of Wisconsin hockey who also played a prominent role in the Miracle on Ice. But Blair, who moved to West Allis to train for her biggest events, may be the most revered as a five-time gold medalist and six-time Olympic medalist, with appearances in four Olympiads. She was one of Sports Illustrated’s Sportsmen of the Year in 1994 and became the national face of speedskating for a generation.
Ron Dayne
From 1996-’99 at the University of Wisconsin, Dayne captivated college football and became the NCAA Division I all-time leading rusher — and still is, if you ignore the NCAA’s unwillingness to calculate bowl statistics prior to 2002. He was taken 11th overall by the New York Giants in the draft, but his career will always be tied to his days as a Badger, when he racked up 7,125 yards and earned Rose Bowl MVP when Wisconsin triumphed in 1999 and 2000. He also won the 1999 Heisman Trophy.
Brett Favre
The three-time NFL Most Valuable Player emerged from relatively humble beginnings to captivate a fan base with his “gunslinger” style of quarterbacking. He made 11 Pro Bowls, led the team to two Super Bowls and won one of them. Though his exit was complicated, he engineered countless memorable moments in his Packers career, became the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns and helped resuscitate a long-struggling franchise.
Vince Lombardi
The bespectacled Brooklyn native became the archetype for an era of football. The hard-nosed head coach led the Packers to six NFL championships (five victories), including wins in Super Bowl I and II. The Super Bowl trophy and the street on which Lambeau Field resides are both named for him.
Eddie Mathews
Mathews made nine all-star teams during his 13 seasons with the Milwaukee Braves, during which he became regarded as one of the top third basemen in baseball. The Hall of Famer was central to the team’s 1957 World Series championship and twice finished as MVP runner-up in the National League.
Paul Molitor
Side-by-side with Robin Yount, he was the face of Milwaukee’s arrival as a bona fide threat in the 1980s, and he became one of the great hitters in the game. The MLB Hall of Famer engineered a memorable 39-game hitting streak and made five all-star teams in Milwaukee before the club let him walk away. He won a World Series in Toronto in 1993 (and was World Series MVP).
Aaron Rodgers
Brett Favre was a seemingly impossible act to follow, and yet the Packers struck gold again. Rodgers led the Packers to a Super Bowl triumph and became the best passer in football after famously falling to the 24th overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft. He has two MVP trophies of his own and stands as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing rating.
Bo Ryan
He may be a native of Chester, Pennsylvania, but he’s the perfect Wisconsin story, finding success in the UW system at Platteville (four Division III national championships) and Milwaukee before becoming Badgers head basketball coach in 2001. Though the program had reached a Final Four in 2000, Ryan took Wisconsin to a new level, never missing an NCAA tournament and winning four Big Ten regular-season titles. The crown jewel was consecutive trips to the Final Four in 2014 and 2015, including a win over undefeated Kentucky in the latter year to reach the NCAA championship game.
Bart Starr
From 1956-’71, Starr wore Green and Gold, earning MVP in each of the first two Super Bowls and helping to solidify tiny Green Bay as a football powerhouse. He’s a five-time NFL champion and MVP (1966), with a post-playing career that included eight seasons as head coach in Green Bay.
Bob Uecker
It could be argued the face of the Milwaukee Brewers has ironically always been its voice. The charismatic and comically gifted Uecker has been involved in acting, other TV appearances, commercials and even professional wrestling, but he’ll always be the radio voice of the Brewers — as he has been since 1971. Even through the leanest of seasons, Milwaukee fans always had Uecker to entertain them throughout the summer.
Robin Yount
He is the only member of the Baseball Hall of Fame who spent his entire playing career with the Milwaukee Brewers. From an exciting 18-year-old infielder in 1974 to a 37-year-old veteran in 1993, his 20 years in the organization made him the quintessential Brewer, with two MVPs and the franchise’s lone World Series appearance mixed in.
Bonus: Al McGuire
One of the state’s most colorful characters, McGuire was head coach of Marquette basketball from 1964-’77, reaching the Final Four twice and capping his run with the 1977 national championship. He went into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992 and established a career in broadcasting after he finished coaching. Even today, he’s the biggest name in Marquette basketball (sorry, Dwyane).
Others
Ray Allen, Alan Ameche, Dick Bennett, Ryan Braun, Cecil Cooper, Rollie Fingers, Eric Heiden, Elroy Hirsch, Paul Hornung, Don Hutson, Bob Johnson, Mark Johnson, Frank Kaminsky, Sidney Moncrief, Ray Nitschke, Oscar Robertson, Bud Selig, Warren Spahn, Jim Taylor, Joe Thomas, Dwyane Wade, J.J. Watt, Reggie White, Christian Yelich.