I’m back with the men’s sports version of my Mount Rushmore of Northwestern athletics.

If you missed my women’s sports version last week, I looked at the best four women in Wildcats history, and I’ll attempt to do the same with the men. Much like the women, there are plenty of people who could make this list, but only four will earn this highly prestigious honor. Keep in mind this only takes into account what was accomplished at NU.

I’ll start by naming the three people I strongly considered for the No. 4 position but ultimately didn’t make the cut.  John Shurna is NU basketball’s leader in career points, blocks and games played, but failed to get NU to the Big Dance. Mark Loretta, the only NU player to be named Big Ten Player of the Year in baseball, doesn’t make it because his 1993 season didn’t break any single-season records. Matt Grevers won three individual NCAA titles, a title in a team medley and propelled NU to a sixth-place finish as a team in 2007. He misses out on this list by a whisker on a literal coin flip.

Coming in at No. 4 is Luke Donald, the most famous golfer NU has ever had. Most people know what the Englishman has accomplished as a professional, but his success could have been predicted by his collegiate results.

The only four-time All-American in program history, Donald won the 1999 national title as an individual, helping the Cats to a third-place finish. He won three consecutive Big Ten team titles from 1999-2001 with NU and took home the Big Ten individual crown in 2000 and 2001. He also has the top three season scoring averages and holds the career record by nearly two strokes.

So what can beat one national title? Two, of course. That’s how many Jake Herbert won during his wrestling career and why he edges out Donald for the No. 3 spot. Herbert was also a four-time All-American, and he and Donald are the only two NU athletes to win the Jesse Owens Award as the Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year. 

Even more impressive is the fact that he lost just four matches in his entire career, for a .971 winning percentage, the best in NU history. He went unbeaten his final two years en route to national titles at 184 pounds, and he took home the 2009 Dan Hodge trophy for the most dominant college wrestler.

This sentence serves as a warning that the final two names are extremely predictable. I try hard not to be predictable, but there is no way around these two topping this list.

Sliding in at No. 2 is probably the greatest athlete ever to wear purple – Otto Graham. He was an All-America halfback for the football team and an All-America as a basketball player while also hitting .300 as an outfielder on the baseball team. He was named the Big Ten’s most valuable football player in 1943, the same year he finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting. 

The final metaphorical head on this Mount Rushmore is the most recognized face on campus. Pat Fitzgerald is the best football coach NU has ever had, and his 55 wins on the sideline alone would earn him a spot on this list. However, as an added bonus we also get to consider his playing days.

His statistics were not gaudy, but he was the heart and soul of the teams that won back-to-back Big Ten titles and brought the purple back to Pasadena after the 1995 season. He won both the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik awards in 1995 and 1996 in addition to being named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and earning All-American honors in both years. He will go down as the best defensive player NU has ever had despite not ranking in the top 10 in tackles.

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