Sporting News Mount Rushmores: See the iconic athletes for our 13 pro cities

07-26-2022
3 min read
Sporting News

The SN Rushmore project named four pro athletes from the 13 cities that have had at least four of the following five leagues represented for at least 20 years – NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, WNBA. While there were no hard-and-fast rules pertaining to the athletes selected, our panel of experts considered individual resumes, team success and legacy within the sports landscape of each city. Multiple players from the same franchise were allowed, and not every franchise needed to be represented. All sports fans have an opinion on this topic. This is ours.

We formed committees, settled on athletes, then contacted local experts/historians to get their takes on the iconic players who have defined a city's professional landscape. Each city has four essays on the athletes, in addition to Sporting News' amazing archive content written as far back as the 1920s to the modern day. We also sprinkled in highlights to celebrate the high points of these legends.

Here are our results of a project that can pretty much spark a debate at any gathering of more than one sports fan.

BOSTON: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Brady, Russell, Williams, Orr

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PHILADELPHIA: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Schmidt, Erving, Clarke, Iverson

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CHICAGO: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Jordan, Payton, Banks, Hull

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DALLAS: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Staubach, Lilly, Nowitzki, Smith

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BAY AREA: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Rice, Curry, Bonds, Montana

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LOS ANGELES: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Magic, Koufax, Kobe, Abdul-Jabbar

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DETROIT: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Gordie Howe, Barry Sanders, Al Kaline, Isiah Thomas

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DENVER: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of John Elway, Joe Sakic, Nikola Jokic, Todd Helton

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MIAMI: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Dan Marino, Dwyane Wade, Bob Griese, Alonzo Mourning

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MINNEAPOLIS: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Harmon Killebrew, Fran Tarkenton, Kirby Puckett, Kevin Garnett

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PHOENIX: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Larry Fitzgerald, Randy Johnson, Steve Nash, Diana Taurasi

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WASHINGTON: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Darrell Green, Alex Ovechkin, Wes Unseld, Walter Johnson

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NEW YORK: Essays, highlights, TSN archives of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Lawrence Taylor, Walt Frazier

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