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The greatest Olympic athlete from every U.S. state

By Adam Strangis

16th October 1964: Alfred A Oerter, American winner of the Gold Medal in the Tokyo Olympics 1964 for Discus throwing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
16th October 1964: Alfred A Oerter, American winner of the Gold Medal in the Tokyo Olympics 1964 for Discus throwing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) /
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Massachusetts: Mike Eruzione

Sport: Ice Hockey

Olympics: Sarajevo 1984

The United States hockey team beating the powerhouse Russian squad in 1984 is perhaps the single greatest sports moment of all-time. It would never have been possible without a lot of people, but one of those is Mike Eruzione. Not only did he captain the US team but he scored the game-winning goal in the “Miracle on Ice” game that became a symbol during the height of the Cold War.

The Soviet team entered the 1984 games in Lake Placid looking for their sixth consecutive gold medal and were widely believed to be the favorites. They were full of accomplished and professional players that had been playing together for a long while. They crushed any team that they came up against until they played the United States in the semi-final round. The United States was able to keep the game close, largely due to the play of goaltender Jim Craig. With ten minutes left in the third period, Eruzione scored what would prove to be the decisive goal. The US held on to beat the Russians and many Americans held the victory as a great achievement over the Russians. Many folks forget that the United States still played another game after this match and were in a prime spot to not play well after their emotional victory. They still managed to beat Finland to win the gold and Eruzione calling his teammates to the medal stand is one of the best moments of any Olympic Games.

Even all these year later, it remains as one of the most incredible upsets in sports history. A ragtag bunch of amateur hockey players that had very little time playing together should not have been able to beat the Russian machine but that is what the Olympics are all about. Eruzione never played much hockey after the 1984 Games but he had a pretty good reason why:

"“I want to be remembered as Mike Eruzione, captain of the U.S. Olympic team,” he said after opting not to turn professional. “I do not want to be remembered as a guy who played in the NHL for a few games and then got sent to the minors. What more can I do in hockey? To me, the gold medal is just the greatest thing that can happen to an individual. I’m going out on top.”"

Honorable Mention: Tenley Albright, figure skating in Oslo 1952 and Cortina D’Ampezzo 1956

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