It's Final Four week for both men's and women's basketball and that got me thinking in fours, and that got me thinking about Mount Rushmore. The Mount Rushmore of something is a big thing in our culture. Give me your Mount Rushmore of left-handed pitchers... Sandy Koufax. Give me your Mount Rushmore of lead guitarists... Duane Allman. So, today, not long after the Eagles' Super Bowl victory and the start of the Phillies' season, I'm going to offer my Mount Rushmore of Philadelphia athletes.
So, what factors go into a Mount Rushmore? Well, the greatest part has to be ability, accomplishment, where you rank in the sport. But, since it's Philly-specific, part of the consideration must be that home town element; that almost ineffable quality of being "Philly."
Let's start with the easy one. Mike Schmidt is on the Mount Rushmore of Philly athletes, period; end of story. If he's not the greatest third baseman in history, then he's in every conversation. Twelve-time All Star, three-time MVP, one-time World Series MVP, ten Golden Gloves, sixteenth on the all-time home run list.
Second, it's gotta be Bobby Clarke from the Flyers. I will cop to not watching as much hockey as I should, but it's still an easy pick. Clarke is the Flyers' all-time leader in points, assists, and games played. From '73 to '76, Clarke won three MVPs and back-to-back Stanley Cups in '74 and '75. He was the best player by far on the most beloved Flyer teams ever, the Broad Street Bullies. Furthermore, he stuck around as GM of the Flyers for 22 seasons. True, he never won a Stanley Cup as an exec, but neither has anyone else since those two championships a half century ago.
Now we come to the hard ones. Julius Erving is one of the greatest things to ever happen to Philadelphia. He showed up in 1976, afro intact, and over the next ten seasons, turned the 76ers into much-watch hoops. He led them to three championship finals and won one of them in 1983. But, nope, third spot on Rushmore has to be Wilt Chamberlain. He didn't win as many championships as we wanted him to, but he holds 72 NBA records, and most will never be broken. Plus, he's a Philly product. When Wilt was at Overbrook High School, he became the first famous high school athlete. This was in the early 1950s, 40 years before Kobe Bryant at Lower Merion.
Now, the fourth and final Rushmoreite would figure to be the easiest — just pick an Eagle! But it's hard. Saquon is too new, quarterbacks McNabb, Cunningham, Hurts, and ancients like Norm Van Brocklin aren't quite good enough. The best Eagle in history is probably defensive end Reggie White, but, though he divided his time between Philly and Green Bay, somehow I think of him as a Packer. I can't help it. So I gotta turn to Lehigh Valley. Concrete Charlie. Chuck Bednarik, the last of the 60 minute men, the title of Chuck's biography written by... wait a minute, me.
Chuck does not have what might be called the civic presence of recently-retired Jason Kelce, who dressed himself like a Mummer for the Super Bowl parade in 2018, but what helps Chuck get the edge is his four years at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an All-American back when Ivy League football was among the best in the nation.
So, that's my mountain: Schmidt, Clarke, Chamberlain, Bednarik, who down the road might be on my Mount Rushmore of Lehigh Valley athletes when I get to it. And remember, if you want to challenge me by writing an email to info@wdiy.org, don't just start naming names. You have to figure out who shouldn't be on there, too.
