Just for fun: My Top 6 Big Ten Icons

troy

Well-Known Member
Just for fun: Big Ten Icons- My picks for the final 6 icons. I got a lot of the information from Wikipedia.

6. Michigan- Gerald Ford- Ford played center and linebacker for the school’s football team, and helped the Wolverines to undefeated seasons and national titles in 1932 and 1933.
5. Minnesota- Tony Dungy- He entered the starting lineup as a quarterback during his freshman year and after playing for four years finished as Minnesota's career leader in pass attempts (576), completions (274), touchdown passes (25), and passing yards (3,577). He also finished fourth in career total offense in the Big Ten Conference. He received Minnesota's Most Valuable Player award twice. Dungy also played basketball as a freshman, and was a teammate and roommate of current Washington Wizards head coach Flip Saunders.
4. Michigan State- Magic Johnson - 1979 Final Four Most Outstanding Player. Won a Big Ten Championship in 1978.
3. Michigan- Tom Harmon - 1940 Heisman trophy winner, Maxwell Award winner, led nation in scoring in '39 and '40, 2 time All-American.
2. Ohio State- Archie Griffin - 2 time Heisman trophy winner, 4 conference titles, started in 4 Rose Bowls.
1. Ohio State- Jesse Owens - set 3 world records and tied a 4th at the 1931 Big Ten Meet.


Honorable Mention - not on the top 50 list (I am sure that I missed a lot of others)

Minnesota
*Bud Wilkinson- as a guard and quarterback for head coach Bernie Bierman, Wilkinson helped lead the Golden Gophers to three consecutive national championships from 1934 to 1936. He also played ice hockey for the University of Minnesota.
*Bud Grant - was a three sport, nine letterman athlete in football, basketball, and baseball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, earning All-Big Ten honors in football twice.
*Kevin McHale - He was named All-Big Ten in 1979 and 1980 and still ranks second in school history in career points (1704) and rebounds (950).
In 1995, to coincide with the University of Minnesota's 100th anniversary, he was selected as top player in the history of University of Minnesota men's basketball.
*Herb Brooks- Brooks played hockey at the University of Minnesota from 1955-1959.[6] He almost made the 1960 Olympic team, only to be cut the week before the Games started. Three weeks later, Brooks sat at home with his father and watched the team he almost made win gold. That night Herb Sr. told his son, "looks like Coach Riley cut the right guy"; this humbling moment served as motivation for an already self-driven person.

Iowa
*Calvin Jones- Jones is one of only two Iowa football players (along with Nile Kinnick) to have his jersey number retired by the school. Jones became the first Hawkeye, and the first African-American, to win the Outland Trophy in 1955.
*Ronnie Lester - basketball
*Murray Wier - basketball
*Mike Boddicker - baseball
*Tim Dwight - football and track
*Terry Brands- wrestling
*Chris Campbell - wrestling

Purdue
*Len Dawson - During three seasons with the Boilermakers, Dawson threw for over 3,000 yards, leading the Big Ten Conference in that category during each campaign. As a sophomore in 1954, Dawson put together an outstanding first season as the NCAA's leader in pass efficiency, while also playing defense and serving as the Boilermaker kicker.
*Mike Phipps - football
*Mark Herrmann - football

Michigan
*Rudy Tomjanovich - basketball
*Phil Hubbard - basketball
*Chris Webber - basketball
*Ricky Green - basketball
*Barry Larkin - baseball

Michigan State
*Steve Garvey - baseball and football player
*Kirk Gibson - baseball player and football All-American
*Earl Morrall- He capped his senior year with a victory over the UCLA Bruins in the 1956 Rose Bowl game. Morrall also played baseball at Michigan State and played in the College Baseball World Series as a shortstop and third basemen.
*Mateen Cleaves - basketball
*Steve Smith - basketball

Wisconsin
*Gene Englund- Basketball All American - Led Wisconsin to NCAA title in 1941
*Al Toon- football and track
*Michael Finley- basketball
*Alando Tucker - basketball

Illinois
*Ray Nitschke - football
*Dick Butkus - football - Actual Big Ten # 6
*Steve Stricker - football
*Johnny "Red" Kerr - basketball
*Nick Anderson - basketball
*Deron Williams - basketball

Northwestern
*Joe Girardi - Baseball

Ohio State
*Ohio State - Vic Janowicz- A tailback in the single wing, he won the Heisman Trophy in 1950 as a junior. Woody Hayes, who coached Janowicz's senior year, said of him, "He was not only a great runner, but also passed, was a placekicker and punter, played safety on defense and was an outstanding blocker. Janowicz epitomized the 'triple-threat' football player." After college, Janowicz passed up offers to play professional football in order to pursue a baseball career. He reached the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but hit only .214 over two seasons as a bench player.
*Katie Smith - 3 Gold Medals in Women's Basketball
*Frank Howard - baseball and basketball
*Bob Knight - basketball

Indiana
*Antwaan Randle El - football
*Kent Benson - basketball
*Walt Bellamy - basketball
*Mike Woodson - basketball
*Randy Wittman - basketball
*Ted Kluszewski - baseball

Penn State
*Lydell Mitchell - football
*Franco Harris - football
*Matt Millen - football
*Ki-Jana Carter - football
 
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6. Chris Kingsbury
5. Dallas Clark
4. James Moses
3. Chad Greenway
2. Tim Dwight
1. Bob Sanders
 
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