Every Monday, Nevada Sports Net will post a weekly poll question on its main Twitter account. On Tuesday’s NSN Tonight, we’ll reveal the final poll results and discuss the topic during a segment. On Wednesday we will post the results and the NSN Daily segment as I offer my vote on the matter.
This week’s poll
This week’s NSN Tonight segment
Murray’s view
It was difficult to narrow our options down to four athletes, but I settled on Andre Agassi, Bryce Harper, David Wise and Julia Mancuso. The impetus for this question was Harper’s impact on this year’s MLB playoffs, but I voted for Agassi and, frankly, it was an easy selection despite the majority fan vote in favor of Harper.
Agassi, the Las Vegas-born tennis star, won eight major championships (tied for ninth all-time), an Olympic gold medal, three Davis Cups and was the second tennis player to achieve the Grand Career Slam in the Open era. He is the second best American tennis player of all time and generally ranks in the top 10 to ever play the sport. The International Tennis Hall of Famer won 61 career titles. Harper, another Vegas native, may one day catch up to Agassi since he’s well on his way to a Hall of Fame career, but for now, it’s Agassi.
Wise and Mancuso were both born in Reno and won three and four Winter Olympic medals, respectively. Other potential options included basketball player Gabby Williams, cyclist Inga Thompson, baseball player Kris Bryant and NASCAR drivers Kyle and Kurt Busch. Some of the most well-known “Nevada athletes” like Greg Maddux, Greg LeMond, Matt Williams and Patty Sheehan were born outside the state and did not qualify for this list.
Columnist Chris Murray provides insight into Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.
