The calendar is about to flip to July. Most sports other than baseball are currently on pause. What better time is there to break out Mount Rushmore-themed sports talk?

Cooper Flagg captured the attention of the basketball world last Wednesday as the NBA's No. 1 overall pick and brought with him onto the national scene a sense of pride spanning our state from Fort Kent to Kittery.

The level of fame and attention Flagg has received thus far on his basketball journey is something unseen in these parts since the days of Cindy Blodgett, and at a level nationally which no Maine athlete has ever reached.

So, in terms of faces on the mountain, you know the deal. For our Maine Mt. Rushmore, however, there is one very strict guideline - the figure must be a Maine native. That is why you won't find familiar names like Mike Bordick, Shawn Walsh, Eric Weinrich, Seth Wescott, or John Winkin.

With that in mind, let's meet the candidates:

Joan Benoit - First women's Olympic marathon champion, winning gold at the 1984 L.A. Games.

Cindy Blodgett - Maine basketball legend. 4-time state champion at Lawrence, led Maine to their first four NCAA Tournament appearances before being drafted to WNBA.

Bill Carrigan - Won three World Series with the Red Sox (1912, '15, '16), two in the role of player/manager. He played 709 games for the team and managed the club for seven seasons.

Skip Chappelle - Starred at Old Town, MCI and Maine as a player and was drafted in the 11th round of the 1962 NBA draft. He coached the Black Bears from 1971 to 1988 and remains the program's winningest coach.

Ricky Craven - NASCAR driver and Hampden Academy grad from Newburgh, Maine with two career victories and 41 top 10's.

Marcus Davis - "The Irish Hand Grenade," born in Houlton, raised in Bangor, 17-1 career professional boxing record, 23-11-1 career MMA record.

Brian Dumoulin - Led Biddeford to back-to-back state hockey championships before spending three years at Boston College and the last dozen in the NHL, where he's won a pair of Stanley Cups.

Cooper Flagg - The reason why we're doing this. Has put Maine on the map in a way no athlete has before.

Ed Flaherty - You may know him best for the 39 years spent as University of Southern Maine baseball head coach, which included 1,133 wins, seven trips to the College World Series and a D-III title in 1991. But before that, Flaherty was a standout on the diamond for UMaine, helping guide the Black Bears to the College World Series while hitting .388 as an All-American in 1975.

John Huard - A Waterville native, Huard was a standout linebacker at Maine from 1964-66. He was drafted in the 5th round of the 1967 NFL/AFL draft, played in the league until 1972, and became the first Black Bear elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

Matt Kinney - Drafted by the Red Sox in the 6th round of the 1995 MLB draft out of Bangor High School. Played five seasons in MLB.

Dick MacPherson - A standout athlete at Old Town, MacPherson went on to coach UMass Football from 1971-77, Syracuse from 1981-90, and the New England Patriots from 1991-92.

Louis Sockalexis - a talented natural athlete, Sockalexis played three seasons for the Cleveland Spiders from 1897-99 and is commonly identified as the first Native American to play in MLB.

Tim Sylvia - A former two-time UFC heavyweight champion from Ellsworth with a career record of 31-10-1.

Bill Swift - the 2nd overall pick in the 1984 MLB draft, Swift led the Black Bears to four consecutive College World Series appearances from 1981-84. A member of the '84 Olympic team, Swift pitched 13 seasons in MLB and was a 21-game winner in 1993.

Amy Vachon - A two-time state champion at Cony, Vachon played four years at UMaine as was a part of the squad the captured the program's only NCAA Tournament win. Since taking over as Black Bears head coach, Vachon has compiled 158 wins and positioned Maine as a yearly contender for America East titles.

 

 

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