The Poll Wyomingites weigh in on sports*
Favorite major league baseball team:
Colorado Rockies.....29%
New York Yankees.....9%
Favorite NFL team:
Denver Broncos........34%
Oakland Raiders........9%
Favorite NBA team:
Utah Jazz...................18%
Los Angeles Lakers...11%
No favorite.................34%
Favorite NHL team:
Colorado Avalanche...44%
Detroit Red Wings.....5%
No favorite.................35%
Favorite pro team:
Denver Broncos.......26%
Oakland Raiders.........9%
Colorado Avalanche...7%
Favorite announcer:
John Madden............24%
Curt Gowdy..................6%
Terry Bradshaw..........5%
Enthuse-o-meter
On a scale of 1 to 100, how would you rate your state's
enthusiasm for sports, relative to other states'?
68.8
Greatest athlete who ever lived in or played for a team in
Wyoming:
Fennis Dembo............13%
Rulon Gardner............11%
(tie) Jim Kiick
Jay Novacek...............9%
State's biggest rivalry:
Wyo.-Colo. St...........27%
Wyoming-BYU...........16%
Natrona County High-Kelly Walsh High.........4%
Favorite sport to participate in:
Fishing........................25%
Golf...............................12%
Swimming...................10%
Bicycling.......................9%
Favorite sports to watch on television:
Football.......................78%
Winter Olympics.......52%
Summer Olympics....44%
Basketball..................37%
ENEMY OF THE STATE
Rick Majerus..................19%
LaVell Edwards..............12%
Al Davis...........................10%
Majerus's Utah basketball teams have been a Wyoming nemesis, just
as former Brigham Young football coach Edwards's teams used to
be. Wyomingites' choice as their state's most villainous
opponent: BYU (39%), Colorado State (25%) and Colorado (6%).
*Harris Interactive poll, conducted online, of 385 Wyoming
residents who identified themselves as sports fans. Margin of
error +/-5.0% Multiple responses allowed
WHO WHERE
Ryan Bolton
The colorful triathlete from Gillette used to wear ant-print
undershorts, believing he would run faster with ants in his
pants; he finished 25th in the 2000 Olympic triathlon.
HOT SPOT
Devils Tower
Not just the aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind find
this 1,267-foot-high monolith irresistible--it's also a magnet
for rock climbers. Since 1937, 52,659 people have ascended to the
summit, including 1,875 last year. In 1906 Devils Tower became
America's first national monument.
Fennis Dembo
The sweet-shooting 6'6" forward from Texas headed up to Laramie
and led Wyoming to the 1987 NCAA Sweet 16; he spent one season in
the NBA.
Jim Kiick
Before rushing to fame--and earning two Super Bowl rings--with
the Miami Dolphins, the New Jersey-born running back starred for
Wyoming.
Jay Novacek
The Nebraskan set an NCAA yards-per-catch record for tight ends
and became an All-America decathlete for Wyoming before playing
for the Dallas Cowboys.
Casper
Besides being home to the Class A Casper Rockies and the National
Indoor Football League's Wyoming Cavalry, the city of 50,000 is
the state's SI Sportstown, for having Wyoming's best community
sports programs. Public facilities include an ice arena,
recreational trails along the Platte River, and the Mike Lansing
Baseball Field, named for the former big league second baseman,
who played American Legion ball here.
Theo Ratliff
The Atlanta Hawks' center, who led the NBA in blocked shots last
season, left his native Alabama to play college ball in Laramie.
Curt Gowdy
The famed announcer from Green River earned three college letters
in both tennis and basketball (as a 5'10" forward) for Wyoming. A
state park in the foothills of the Laramie Mountains is named
after him.
Heather Moody
The center from Green River was a 2000 Olympian in women's water
polo and is now the U.S. team captain.
Todd Skinner
The world-renowned rock climber from Pinedale has completed more
than 300 first ascents in 26 countries.
Jesseca Cross
In 2000 the 5'10", 193-pound track and basketball star from
Powell became the first athlete since 1912 to make the U.S.
Olympic team in the shot put and the hammer throw.
GREATEST MOMENT
After Wyoming finished the 1967 regular season as the nation's
only major undefeated team (10-0), 10,000 Cowboys fans--3% of the
state's population back then--trekked to New Orleans for the Jan.
1, 1968, Sugar Bowl. In the biggest game in state history, the
team went down valiantly: Receiver Gene Huey was tackled on LSU's
five-yard line on the final play in a 20-13 Wyoming loss.
NUMBERS
1
Four-year colleges in Wyoming.
25
Teams that competed in 2003 in western Wyoming's eight-day,
320-mile International Pedigree sled dog race, the largest such
event in the lower 48.
30,000
Three-day attendance at last year's 28th annual World
Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb in Jackson Hole, in which 250
competitors raced up 1,500 vertical feet at angles as steep as 45
degrees.
700,000
Fish, mostly trout, caught annually in Yellowstone National Park,
which has a catch-and-release policy.
THE ALLTIME BEST
Wyoming's greatest homegrown sports figures
Boyd Dowler Green Bay Packers receiver
The eight-time All-Pro from Cheyenne caught passes from Bart
Starr for 11 years, including a 62-yard touchdown in Super Bowl
II. The 6'5" Dowler was a college star at Colorado.
John Godina Shot-putter
The two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 1996, bronze in 2000)
from Cheyenne is one of three men (with Carl Lewis and Michael
Johnson) to have twice won the Jesse Owens award as the year's
outstanding U.S. track and field athlete.
Lance Deal Hammer thrower
The four-time Olympian from Casper took a silver medal in 1996
and holds the world indoor record in the 35-pound weight throw.
He has won 21 U.S. titles in the hammer and weight throw.
Kenny Sailors Jump shot pioneer
The 5'10" Hillsdale native and three-time All-America at Wyoming
is credited with inventing the jump shot. In 1943 he led the
Cowboys to the NCAA title and was unanimously voted college
player of the year.
Rulon Gardner Greco-Roman wrestler
The heavyweight from Afton pulled off one of the greatest upsets
in Olympic history in 2000, winning the gold-medal match against
Russia's Alexander Karelin, who'd been undefeated for the
previous 14 years.
Tom Browning Major league pitcher
One of only 16 big leaguers to have thrown a perfect game (1988),
the Casper native went 20-9 as a Cincinnati Reds rookie in '85
and started on the '90 Reds team that won the World Series.
COLOR CHART COLD HOT
COLOR PHOTO: JAKE SCHOELLKOPF/AP (MAJERUS)
COLOR PHOTO: CAROL POLICH/LONELY PLANET IMAGES (DEVILS TOWER)
COLOR MAP: MAP ILLUSTRATION BY JOE ZEFF CHEYENNE
COLOR PHOTO: COURTESY OF UW SPORTS INFO
B/W PHOTO: COURTESY OF SUGAR BOWL COMMITTEE WYOMING LINEBACKER JIM HOUSE (46)
B/W PHOTO: JOE MCNALLY
COLOR PHOTO: MANNY RUBIO
COLOR PHOTO: WALTER IOOSS JR.
B/W PHOTO: ED REINKE/AP
COLOR PHOTO: AL TIELEMANS
COLOR PHOTO: JAMES DRAKE
COLOR PHOTO: COURTESY OF UW SPORTS INFO
MEMORABLE QUOTE
"Hey, there aren't many times you get a chance to win the whole
thing--especially when you're in Wyoming."
--BENNY DEES, UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING BASKETBALL COACH, ON THE
STATEWIDE FERVOR OVER HIS 1987-88 TEAM, WHICH SI PICKED TO FINISH
NO. 4 AND FEATURED ON THE COVER OF ITS COLLEGE HOOPS PREVIEW
(LEFT). LED BY COVER BOY FENNIS DEMBO, THE COWBOYS WENT 26-6 BUT
LOST IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE NCAAS.