Everybody loves lists! We all do. We have Top 10 lists for everything. A couple of times a year, I write up profiles for my Top 50 Twins prospects. Lists are everywhere!
Last week, I wrote about parents and coaches. I mentioned that less than 5% of parents are the ones that give a bad name to the other 95% of parents who do things the right way. One example of this from my coaching days back in Perham was Cory Hepola. I think I coached him in baseball from when he was eight years old to 13 years old. He was one of the good kids, and as you would expect, his parents were excellent as well. As you would also expect, Cory Hepola has become a success. He is current a sports anchor at WROC-TV in Rochester, New York.
What does that have to do with anything, you ask? Well, in addition to his regular duties, Cory maintains a blog at www.coryhepola.com. You can learn a lot more about his impressive resume, but today I would encourage you to click on his link to his Blog. Yesterday, he wrote an article on the Top 10 Famous Minnesotans. It is a very interesting list, and as with all lists, creates plenty of discussion. Be sure to leave some comments there.
So, as a Minnesotan, I thought it would be fun to blatantly steal Cory's great idea and research who else could or should be included in a list of great Minnesotans. "Great" is obvously a word that means a little something different to everyone. Baseball fans all have individual thoughts on what makes a great baseball player. Music lovers have varying opinions on what makes great music. What makes a great politician, a great American, a great writer, a great scientist? It's all up for debate and discussion. And what better place to do that than this blog where you can feel free to add your comments whether you agree or disagree, or if you think I missed names or now. Hopefully this topic can create a lot of debate.
For me, I tried to do a ranking of Great to include areas such as how famous the person was or is, how talented or noteworthy the person was or is, how influential the person was or is. Again, please feel free to add your thoughts.
Honorable Mention - broken out by disciplines:
Sports -
Roger Maris - Baseball - Hibbing
Phil Housley - Hockey - St. Paul
The Broten Brothers (Aaron, Neal, Paul) - Hockey - Roseau
Chief Bender - Baseball - Crow Wing County
Paul Molitor - Baseball - St. Paul
Kevin McHale - Basketball - Hibbing
John Mariucci - Hockey - Eveleth
Coaches -
John Madden - Football - Austin
Herb Brooks - Hockey - St. Paul
Bob Johnson - Hockey - Minneapolis