Hakeem Earl Biggio Watt You only get on my Mount Rushmore is you played all of, or the great majority of your career in Houston. That disqualifies Nolan Ryan and Moses Malone. Like someone else said, Carl Lewis didn't represent Houston as much as the USA. You don't instantly think of Houston when you think of Lewis. I picked Biggio over Bagwell just because of the HOF. I didn't put them both on there because I want all 4 of our major sports teams (Oilers, Rockets, Astros, Texans) represented.
Hakeem - Multiple final 4's for UofH, NBA MVP, 3 time WCF Champ, 2 time NBA Champ, 2 time NBA MVP, all time shot block leader, universally regarded as a top 5 all time center, Hall of Fame member. Carl Lewis - attended UofH, winner of 9 olympic gold medals and 1 silver medals. He is still widely regarded by many as the greatest Olympic Athlete of all time. Earl Campbell - Lead the NFL in rushing multiple seasons, NFL MVP, Multiple Pro-Bowls and All Pro Teams, Hall of Fame member, widely regarded as the most dominant and punishing runner of his era and possibly all time. Nolan Ryan - MLB champion, all time leader in strike outs, 7 no hitters (no one else is close to 7), Hall of Fame member It has to be that four I think but there are others its easy to make a case for Rudy T, Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Guy V. Lewis, Larry Dierker, Craig Biggio and Clyde Drexler.
Man, I have to stop opening this thread. I open it, and see how many people not only don't have Bagwell on the list (I disagree, but understandable), but Bagwell is only occasionally even mentioned. Dream is on an island by himself. Earl and Nolan have a mystique about them, I disagree with Nolan being ahead of Bagwell based on Nolan not playing most of his career here, but I understand where they are coming from that those 3 are the dominant names. But it's clear the majority of posters in this thread didn't even consider Bagwell. An all time great in his sport, and he did all of it representing Houston, but most people in that city he played for don't even realize he was an all time great. Earl's brutal style created a very small window, so in terms of career greatness wearing a Houston uniform, he is second only to Dream. It's just frustrating given how the national media doesn't appreciate him, but it's more frustrating that most Houstonians don't seem to. I think most of the baseball fans do, and he's just getting squeezed to 5th behind Biggio, but the non baseball fans don't seem to.
Carl chose to come to Houston (as opposed to someone going to the highest bidder or getting drafted, etc) and spent the majority of his career training here and working with Tom Tellez (legendary UH track coach of 20+ years). I get that he wasn't a "big 4" athlete, but if Michael Phelps, for example, swam at UT, he'd absolutely be considered an Austin athletic legend. As an aside, I get why people love Earl Campbell. But is 5 years of production in your sport (with zero championships to show for it) enough? I get that when he was romping, he was absolutely unstoppable, but I think the portfolio is rather slim considering his college football wasn't in Houston. If he brought UH or Rice a Heisman or a natty, that would certainly help his case.
Where DID Michael Phelps train? I don't even know. Which kind of proves my point about Lewis. I just don't think most people know or care where Olympic heroes train. Hell, I would guess that a lot of native Houstonians don't even know that Lewis trained here, unfortunately. Well, for me at least, I considered cultural impact as much as on-the-field accomplishments. Of course, Earl's on-the-field accomplishments got him to the HOF, so he's no slouch in that category either. Earl was an absolute ICON in his time here and obviously long after. He was the face of the greatest time in the world to be a Houston sports fan (Luv Ya Blue). The city has never rallied around a team like it did around that team. IMO, not even our championships.
Olajuwon Cambell Bagwell Biggio Watt is on track to be up there with Hakeem, and already deserves to be on the list. But since he's still playing, I'll use that as a senseless arbitrary qualifier to leave him off at the moment.
3 of the 4 are easy as can be in my opinion. Olajuwon Earl Nolan Biggio? Moon? Rudy T? Lewis? Foreman? My pick for the 4th spot is probably Biggio.
Hakeem Biggio Bagwell Watt Possibly premature for Watt, but by the time it's all said and done he'll be the undisputed football icon in this town. Bagwell and Biggio are the baseball icons in this town, together, and the Dream is the Dream.
