Favorite Michigan Minor Sport Athlete Ever?
The success of wrestler Adam Coon this year got me to pondering: Who are our favorite Michigan minor sport athletes of all time?
For purposes of this discussion, let's say that baseball is NOT a minor sport. So, not counting football, men's basketball, hockey or baseball, who's your favorite Michigan athlete ever?
I'm going to say a guy from back in my day - wrestler Steve Fraser. He was a stud at U-M, and he won a gold medal in Greco-Roman at the 1984 Olympics. Here's his gold medal match.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Pn72-yr2o
How about you?
but mine is Brandon Minor!
Emina Bektas or MaliVai Washington
Emina is the cornerstone of the current tennis team, and has done a lot to help get and keep Michigan competitive with the national powers.
MaliVai is easily the best tennis player Michigan has ever had, reaching #1 in the country at the end of his sophomore year before turning pro. Also really amazing that he became that good while growing up in Flint.
Joel Patterson.
Haha was not expecting to see this name on here. She went to my high school (though I graduated the year before she got there so I follow her career at UM. Especially cool as my high school doesn't produce a ton of D-1 atheletes (though an increasing number since they starting *recruiting*)
Can ya... Can ya introduce us??
Sam Mikulak has been pretty great too.
and national champion and Olympian, he's stayed at Michigan to be a volutneer assistant coach while he continues training for the Olympics and finishing his degree. And even the other members of the national team have told interviewers of what a great teammate Sam is, and commentators always taking about his positivity and good nature.
I went to the NCAA championships a couple years ago when they were at Penn State, which was then ranked #1 before Michigan upset the home team. I read a girl's T-shirt which made it clear she knew one of Penn State's top gymnasts. Asked if she was related, she said she was his girlfriend. When I mentioned Sam Mikulak, she told me her boyfriend thought he was just the nicest guy. And Sam had already beaten her boyfriend for All-Around champion. So even his rivals like him.
As for the current gymnasts, Stacey Ervin has become a big favorite.
I'm pretty sure the Mechanical Man played at Michigan, too.
Sam Mikulak is an amazing athlete.
From Wikipedia Men's Gymnastics Article (parsed):
The 2011 Wolverines finished second in the Big Ten and fifth at the NCAA men's gymnastics championship. The highlight of this season was freshman Sam Mikulak who won both the Big Ten and NCAA all-around titles. Sam was the first freshman in NCAA history to win the all-around title. The 2013 Wolverines won their 16th Big Ten Championship behind an NCAA record-setting 15.95 performance on parallel bars from junior Sam Mikulak and a 1-2 all-around competition finish from Mikulak. On April 20, 2013, behind Sam Mikulak's second career NCAA all-around crown, the team claimed the program's fifth national title. The 2014 Wolverines captured their 17th Big Ten Championship to become the first back-to-back conference champions since the 1999-2000 team. Senior Sam Mikulak broke two NCAA records with a 93.70 all around score and a 16.1 parallel bar score.
The answer, now and forever, is the Steiner Brothers.
Hey, he ran track for two years. (And not just against Notre Dame)
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Romero for sure!
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distance runner, all american and eventually winner of the Boston Marathon
He was a beast in IM sports.
1982 Lacrosse Club. Went on to a cup of coffee with the Detroit pro club.
She was a gritty volleyball player who was very nice off the court. Loved watching her and the teams of the early aughts play.
Otto Olson, my dad used to take me to Cliff Keen to watch us wrestle as a kid. He was a 2x Big Ten Champ, 3x All American, had a record of 175-26(87%) and was a 3x Captain as well. He wrestled from 1999 through 2002.
I'd like to keep up my track record as a sexist jackass when it comes to such questions and pick some hottie off the women's teams ... but there really were none that stand out from my vintage (early-mid 90s). Though a couple were kind of cute, the teeny little gymnasts never rang my bell. The women's hoops, softball, volleyball, field hockey and T&F teams were pretty barren in those days. Maybe the McCorkel twins on the golf team?
Absent a knockout chica, I'll change up my criteria entirely and vote for pure sports awesomeness and say that the Olympian swimmers of that era that John U recruited (Barrowman, Borges, Wunderlich, Namesnik (RIP) and Dolan) were a mighty crew. It was pretty amazing to have that group of super-accomplished athletes on campus together (more or less -- Dolan and Barrowman didn't overlap). Heckuva run for the Maize & Blue.
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