The Mt. Rushmore of Boston College Athletics

Brian: Today we unveil our BC Mt. Rushmore. But first, let’s take a look at the final standings from our reader sidebar poll:

1. Doug Flutie – 201 votes (85%)
2. Jerry York – 166 votes (70%)
3. Matt Ryan – 125 votes (52%)
4. William J. Flynn – 85 votes (36%)
5. Troy Bell – 70 votes (29%)
6. John "Snooks" Kelley – 37 votes (15%)
7. Bill Curley – 30 votes (12%)
8. Frank Leahy – 30 votes (12%)
9. Tom O’Brien – 26 votes (11%)
10. Al Skinner – 24 votes (10%)
11. Write-In Vote – 21 votes (8%)
12. Charlie O’Rourke – 13 votes (5%)
13. Art Donovan – 10 votes (4%)
14. Mike Mottau – 8 votes (3%)

Thanks to our readers for the over 200 votes we received on this poll. So the reader’s version of Mt. Rushmore ended up being Flutie, York, Ryan and Flynn.

• Doug Flutie – mmb1980 wrote "... there's no way Flutie doesn't make the cut."
• Jerry York – Christian wrote "As good as some guys like Gionta, Gerbe, and Mottau were, they were only on for a max of 4 years. York has led BC to 2 National Titles and 5 title game appearances in the past 9 years. He IS BC hockey."
• Matt Ryan – furrer4heisman wrote "I'm an outsider, but I would vote yes simply because Matt Ryan made me question my belief in God."
• William J. Flynn – Ed wrote "If the criterion is impact on Boston College athletics, Flynn is #1 and #2 is not even in the picture. The reason there are blogs about BC sports, multiple internet message boards about BC sports, and Big Least fans bitter about BC moving to the ACC, is because of Bill Flynn. If not for Bill Flynn, BC is Holy Cross."

An admirable mountain of four, but my largest gripe with this list is the inclusion of Matt Ryan. Readers were split on voting Ryan onto the mountain. In the pro-Ryan camp, mmb1980 wrote "To me, Ryan's a no-brainer. But some may argue against having two former QBs."

In the anti-Ryan camp, Lally wrote "I'd view the BC Mt. Rushmore as a testament to who built the school's sports and solidified their reputation. Therefore, while Ryan is on the short list of the 'Best Evers' when it comes to BC, I'd have to place Snooks Kelley on the mount ahead of him."

Reader Erik added to this anti-Ryan sentiment: "I would like to put up a "VOTE NO" on Matt Ryan argument. I haven't thought it all the way through, I love the guy and he was really good here, but there's gotta be 4 better in the history in the entire school. If he makes it, its only because of the additional off-field achievements related to hype, PR, draft success, etc."

It's a tough call for Ryan. I’m just not sold on the impact Ryan will have on the football program going forward ... even if ESPN's Merrill Hoge thinks Ryan will be the most dominant athlete over the next 10 years.

Jeff, you and I had some lengthy discussions about who to include on the mountain. Never did we question including Flutie or York and much of the debate revolved around the final two BC greats.

If I had to construct my own BC Mt. Rushmore, it would have been:

• Doug Flutie - again, a no-brainer
  
• William J. Flynn - saved the football program from going the way of the dinosaur and Boston University football
  
• Al Skinner - the most successful men's basketball coach in program history
  
• Jerry York - accomplishments speak for themselves
  

I was not very sold on including Al Skinner, given the relative importance of Boston College basketball over the entire life of the athletics department. I could have easily replaced Skinner with "Snooks" Kelley. Kelley not only won the National Championship in 1949, but he also coached Len Ceglarski and Jerry York, thus beginning our succession of three great, great BC ice hockey bench bosses.

I ultimately settled on Skinner over both Matt Ryan and Troy Bell. Skinner has proved that he can do it more than once without Troy Bell, recruiting Craig Smith, Jared Dudley and Tyrese Rice and sustaining great success in both the Big East and the ACC. Judging by the fan vote, Skinner would be a controversial pick given that he finished 10th in the fan voting.

Jeff: If I were posting my own BC Mt. Rushmore, it would go something like this:

• Doug Flutie – Flutie for obvious reasons. It is ridiculous that he wasn’t 100% in our poll.
• Al Skinner – Skinner for bringing BC men’s basketball to a sustained level of excellence never seen before at BC
• Jerry York – York for bringing 2 national championships to the Heights along with many Frozen Four appearances.
• The entire Hasselbeck family?? Tom O’Brien?? Probably a football player?? Spaziani??

I am not placing an athletics director on my Mt. Rushmore because an AD is rarely the face of your athletic department. Stars are the face of your AD. Coaches nowadays are stars too as they have become household names with the internet and ESPN. Hell, even assistant coaches are household names now. Coaches also last longer than 4 years.

Brian: I agree with what you said generally about ADs but I feel like Flynn is our George Washington/founding father. Without him, like Ed said, we are Holy Cross. For that, I can make an exception.

Jeff: My Mt. Rushmore is very modern perhaps because of my ignorance of not knowing the former greats at BC. But it was thought out and I think anyone's Mt. Rushmore should be frontloaded because BC is currently going through its greatest era of sports ever - only one losing season in the three major sports since 2000 and two men’s ice hockey national championships.

Brian: Since life is all about compromise, we agreed on 3 of 4, and you couldn’t make up your mind on the fourth BC great, we settled on these four BC greats to be chiseled onto the Mt. Rushmore of BC Athletics. Drumroll please.

Doug Flutie, William J. Flynn, Al Skinner, Jerry York

To a fault, perhaps we went too heavy on the coaches and administrators, but at the end of the day, student athletes only have four years max to make an impact on the university. And really, all Boston Coll. student athletes live in the shadow of Doug Flutie. Coaches and administrators have a bit of a leg up on athletes given that they can leave a more lasting mark on the school and our athletics programs.

Thanks for everyone's comments and contributions to our BC Mt. Rushmore. Also, special thanks to Christian for the Rushmore graphic. Feel free to chime in on our mountain in the comments section.

Mt. Rushmore: William J. Flynn

We continue our profile of Boston College sports greats to arrive at our BC athletics make-believe Mt. Rushmore...

Name: William J. Flynn
Died: June 1997 in Brighton, MA (age 82)
Sport: Three Sport Athlete (football, baseball and hockey)
BC Era: 1935-1939 (student), 1957-1991 (A.D.)

Current Standings: Currently in 4th place with 35% of the vote. Trailing Doug Flutie (93%), Jerry York (78%), and Matt Ryan (60%).

Why He's In

For all you young Eagles fans out there, if you only know the name "William J. Flynn" because its the name of the 'Plex or the name of our student-athlete scholarship fund, you are doing yourself a disservice. This man did his fair share of good things for the Boston College athletics department.

Full disclosure: I didn't know nearly the number of things Flynn did for Boston College until I started researching this post ...

• At B.C., Flynn was a three-sport athlete, ultimately earning 9 varsity letters
• Became the first BC hockey player to score 20 goals in a season
• Captain of the 1938 Eagles football team during his senior season
  
• Returned to the University in 1945 as a mathematics teacher and assistant football coach
  
• Appointed Athletics Director in 1957 and served in that position for 35 years
  
• In 1957, the future of our athletics programs was in question: the basketball teams played in a quonset hut, football played games off-campus and at Fenway Park, and the hockey team played its games on Huntington Avenue
  
• The football team's off-campus playing fields became unavailable in 1957, and instead of shuttering the program, Flynn helped raise $370,000 to build Alumni Stadium
  
• In the 1960s, oversaw the construction of a new hockey rink (McHugh Forum), a basketball court (Roberts Center), and a new baseball field
  
• Raised money to build a new student recreation complex; the 'Plex was opened in 1971 and dedicated to Flynn in 1979
• Presided over renovation projects for Alumni Stadium in 1971 and 1986
  
• In 1988, raised funds and oversaw construction of Silvio O. Conte Forum, which replaced the old McHugh Forum and Roberts Center
  
• Expanded the number of women's varsity sports from four teams in 1972 to 15 teams in 1985
  
• Served as Athletic Director during the Kelley/Ceglarski hockey years, the 1960s golden years of basketball with Bob Cousy as coach and the Flutie era of B.C. football
• Under his watch, the Eagles were one of the founding members of the Big East conference in 1979
  
• Also in 1979, elected to serve as President of the NCAA (at the time, only the second school A.D. to hold that post)
• Inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 1971

Maybe Not?

• The only thing we can come up with was that Flynn also presided over the Athletics department during one of the darkest periods of BC history - the 1978-1979 basketball point-shaving scandal
  

X-Factor

• After graduation, the man worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation during World War II, so he probably had dirt on everyone

YouTube ... not yet invented.


So does a Boston College A.D. of 35 years who helped shape the Athletics Department into what it is today make our Mt. Rushmore?