This Day in Sports: Celebrating the life of an Idaho icon

BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…Might 17, 2011:

Probably the most prolific skilled athlete ever to come back out of the state of Idaho passes away on the age of 74. There was no brighter beacon from the Gem State in professional sports activities than Harmon Killebrew — on so many ranges. He grew up in Payette, starring in a number of sports activities. The truth is, Killebrew may have been a quarterback at Oregon, however he declined the Geese’ soccer scholarship supply. Baseball was his old flame. With assist from Idaho Sen. Herman Welker, Killebrew broke into the majors as a 17-year-old in 1954 with the Washington Senators.

The Senators finally turned the Twins, and Killebrew turned Minnesota’s hottest participant. He had a traditional compact swing that generated large energy, and he turned recognized for his tape-measure residence runs. Killebrew smashed the longest homer within the historical past of previous Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington—520 toes—and he was the primary participant ever to hit a ball over the leftfield roof at Tiger Stadium. His finest season got here in 1969 when he was named American League MVP after belting 49 residence runs and amassing 140 RBI.

Killebrew completed his profession in 1975 with 573 residence runs and stood fifth on baseball’s all-time listing for the subsequent 25 years. He was additionally the highest right-handed residence run hitter in American League historical past till being handed by Alex Rodriguez. Inexplicably, Killebrew reached his fourth 12 months of eligibility earlier than lastly being elected to the Baseball Corridor Of Fame in 1984. His No. 3 was retired by the Twins in 1975, and the road alongside the Mall Of America on the previous website of the Met is known as Killebrew Drive.

However Killebrew additionally left a legacy of caring, typified by the golf occasion he based in 1977 honoring a Minnesota Twins teammate, the Danny Thompson Memorial Match in Solar Valley. The occasion is now often called the Killebrew-Thompson Memorial, and it has donated greater than $15.6 million to most cancers and leukemia analysis. Killebrew was often called one of many kindest males ever to play Main League Baseball. Many people right here in Idaho skilled it.

 (Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant phase in the course of the soccer season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports activities Further. He additionally anchors 4 sports activities segments every weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on Information/Speak KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs each Wednesday.)

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