Every State’s Sports Mount Rushmore, Ranked

Washington. Jefferson. Roosevelt. Lincoln. Those are the four presidents’ heads engraved into Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. They represent the birth, growth, development and preservation, respectively, of our country, and without them, our nation wouldn’t be what it is today.

But what if we applied a sports theme to Mount Rushmore? Which four sports figures — whether they be athletes, coaches, administrators or CEOs — would represent their respective states? We went through all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and selected the four figures to represent those regions. Each figure could only be used in one state and one state only. Also, favoritism was given to those figures who were involved in a sport that is especially popular within the state (i.e., auto racing in North Carolina or horse racing in Kentucky). 

The hardest part was limiting it to just four for some states, but unless there’s a fifth president carved into Mount Rushmore any time soon, those are the rules. Here is every state’s Mount Rushmore, ranked.

Top sports: Mushing, Hockey

Honorable mention: Mario Chalmers

Bottom line: In high school at East Anchorage High, Randall won 10 state titles in track/cross country. A coach then recommended she take up cross-country skiing to stay fit during the offseason, and that hobby would eventually become her career. She won an Olympic gold medal in the team sprint event in 2018 and has also won three World Championships.

Just over a dozen Alaskans have made it to the NHL, and Gomez was the best of them as a two-time Stanley Cup winner and the 2000 Rookie of the Year.

No state embraces mushing and the Iditarod quite like The Last Frontier, and Mackey is a four-time winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He also won the Yukon Quest four times and that’s a 1,000-mile trek between Alaska and the Yukon.

Born in Germany, raised in Alaska and prepped at Duke, Carlos Boozer is well-traveled and narrowly beats out Mario Chalmers as the NBA’s best Alaskan. Booz was an NCAA Champion and two-time All-Star with the Utah Jazz.

Top sports: Rodeo, Football

Honorable mention: James Johnson

Bottom line: Former NFL players Brett Keisel and Boyd Dowler are two of the less than two dozen Wyoming-born players to make it to the highest level of pro football. They each won two Super Bowls — Keisel with the Steelers and Dowler with the Packers — and the latter also won an additional three NFL Championships with Green Bay.

Gardner was a Greco-Roman wrestler who shocked the world at the 2000 Olympics by defeating Aleksandr Karelin who was on a 13-year undefeated streak. Gardner would win the gold medal at 130 kg and add a bronze Olympic medal four years later.

Frost was a Hall of Fame rodeo cowboy who was killed in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1989 due to injuries from a bull. He was competing at the Cheyenne Frontier Days and successfully rode a bull before it then hit him with his horn, leading to broken ribs that punctured his organs and led to his death.

Top sports: Hunting, Fishing

Honorable mention: Jim Kleinsasser

Bottom line: Phil Jackson is the unofficial Lord of the Rings in the NBA, as he owns 13 NBA championships as both a player (2) and coach (11). This came after an amateur career in North Dakota when he was a four-sport star at Williston High School and then twice made the NCAA Division II Tournament while at the University of North Dakota.

Maris was born in Minnesota but raised in North Dakota, which helped launch his professional baseball career. He is best known for breaking Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in 1961 when Maris smacked 61 homers — a record that stood until 1998.

Erstad was born and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota, although his high school didn’t have a baseball team. Thus, he played in a local amateur league that led him to play both baseball and football at the University of Nebraska. Erstad actually won a national championship in football at Nebraska but knew his pro prospects were on the diamond. He became a three-time Gold Glove winner and two-time All-Star during his 14 MLB seasons.

Wentz was the major cog in an FCS dynasty at North Dakota State. He redshirted, so he ended up spending five years in college and the Bison won the FCS Championship all five years. He then won a Super Bowl with the Eagles during the 2017 season.

Top sports: Football

Honorable mention: Sadie McMahon

Bottom line: Born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Delle Donne is one of six players in WNBA history to win multiple MVP awards. She won her first with the Chicago Sky in 2015 but missed being around her family back home in Delaware. Thus, she asked to be traded to the Washington Mystics, the closest team to her hometown. She was dealt to Washington in 2017 and won her second MVP two years later.

Flacco and Gannon were both born outside of Delaware, but their ties to the state are from playing with the Blue Hens’ football team. They were both afterthoughts when first showing up on campus, as Flacco was a transfer from Pittsburgh while Gannon’s first position was as a punter. But their time with Delaware was a springboard to NFL success with both winning MVPs — Flacco was Super Bowl XLVII MVP while Gannon was MVP of the 2002 regular season.

Hall of Famer Randy White attended high school in Wilmington before a stellar 14-year career with the Dallas Cowboys. He was a nine-time All-Pro, one-time Super Bowl champion and was named to the NFL’s 100th Anniversary Team.