On Christmas Day 1999, the Newspaper of the Twin Cities ran a comprehensive list of the top 100 Minnesota sports figures of the 20th century. It was a massive undertaking that involved several staff members and folks outside the newsroom. In looking back at it recently, we couldn’t help but wonder two things: 1) If it was to be updated to reflect the past 8.5 years or so, how would it change? 2) If we were to project another 5-7 years into the future, how might it change even more. As an exercise, we thought we’d throw out those questions to you this morning — for both a fun sports debate and to see how all of you view the term “sports figure.” So: Here’s the original list (points were accumulated based on voting).

Rank Name Points
1 Kirby Puckett 893
2 Bronko Nagurski 877
3 George Mikan 873
4 Bud Grant 865
5 Patty Berg 852
6 Harmon Killebrew 822
7 Calvin Griffith 785
8 John Mariucci 762
9 Rod Carew 750
10 Fran Tarkenton 728
11 Herb Brooks 727
12 Bernie Bierman 724
13 Alan Page 699
14 Janet Karvonen 671
15 John Mayasich 665
16 Max Winter 655
17 Bruce Smith 641
18 Kevin McHale 628
19 John Gagliardi 621
20 Dave Winfield 598
21 Neal Broten 580
22 Chris Voelz 568
23 Paul Molitor 564
24 Kent Hrbek 558
25 Tom Kelly 537
26 Verne Gagne 528
27 Paul Giel 521
28 Tony Oliva 520
29 Carl Eller 508
30 Sandy Stephens 493
31 Sid Hartman 489
32 Walter Bush 484
32 Tom Lehman 484
34 Jeanne Arth 479
35 Vern Mikkelsen 468
36 Lou Hudson 461
37 Murray Warmath 459
38 Dan Patch 456
39 Lou Nanne 455
40 Carl Pohlad 449
41 Dick Siebert 430
42 Joe Hutton 427
43 Charles Johnson 425
44 Kevin Garnett 414
45 Willard Ikola 413
46 Clem Haskins 388
47 Henry Boucha 382
48 Bill Goldsworthy 381
49 Bev Vanstrum 377
50 Halsey Hall 368
51 Bobby Marshall 364
52 Linda Roberts 361
53 Cindy Nelson 355
54 Ray Dandridge 346
55 Joe Hauser 336
56 John Kundla 334
57 Briana Scurry 333
58 Francis (Pug) Lund 328
59 Moose Goheen 313
60 Bill Musselman 310
61 Phil Housley 306
62 Kelly and Coco Miller 303
63 Bobby Bell 299
64 Chief Bender 293
65 Jack Morris 290
66 Larry Ross 273
67 Ken Bartholomew 268
68 Dick Beardsley 263
69 Carrie Tollefson 262
70 Ernie Nevers 257
71 Buzz Lagos 253
72 Oscar Almquist 248
73 Toni Stone 247
74 Johnny McNally 246
75 Ed Widseth 244
76 Mychal Thompson 243
77 John Roethlisberger 230
78 Jean Havlish 229
78 Cris Carter 229
80 Chuch Foreman 228
81 Annie Adamczak 218
82 Les Bolstad 217
83 Dorothy McIntyre 215
84 Ralph Samuelson 210
85 Winny Brodt 207
86 Jim Finks 203
87 Norm Green 202
87 Ron Johnson 202
89 Mike Lynn 190
90 Mark Olberding 186
91 Dennis Koslowski 185
92 Janis Klecker 183
93 Eddie Lacy 182
94 Khalid El-Amin 180
95 Tommy Williams 178
96 Harry Davis 165
97 Fortune Gordien 164
98 Paul Krause 161
99 Anne Govednik 158
100 Bob Johnson 157

Who would you add? (Does Adrian Peterson already make the cut? Randy Moss didn’t by December 1999). How would you reshuffle the deck? (Kevin Garnett, for instance, was already No. 44 by then, about eight years before he left the Twin Cities). Does anybody shoot into the top 10? Top 5? Have at it.

Fasola-link! Preventative medical testing? Boo-ya!

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