Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas
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Notable Sports Figures<br />
Howlett, Debbie. “Some in Minnesota Irked By Tamer<br />
Ventura: Governor Elect Sounds More and More Like<br />
a Politician.” USA Today (December 23, 1998): 1A.<br />
Jeter, Jon and Jim Mone. “In Minnesota, the ‘Body’<br />
Goes Public—and Wins.” Chicago Sun-Times (November<br />
5, 1998): 2.<br />
Smith, Dane. “Ventura Joins the Fray in Race to Follow<br />
Carlson; the Reform Party Gets a Colorful Candidate<br />
to Take on the DFL and GOP.” Star Tribune (January<br />
27, 1998): 1A.<br />
Other<br />
Ebert, Roger. “Predator.” Chicago Sun-Times. http://<br />
www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1987/<br />
06/237873.html. (January 24, 2003).<br />
“Jesse Ventura.” Internet Movie Database. http://us.<br />
imdb.com/Name?Ventura+Jesse. (January 24, 2003).<br />
Kumar, Kavita. “Old News about Ventura Travels Fast.”<br />
Star Tribune. http://www.startribune.com/stories/<br />
(February 11, 2003).<br />
“Predator (1987)—Movie Info.” Yahoo! Movies. http://<br />
movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1800107656&<br />
cf=info&intl=us. (January 24, 2003).<br />
Georges Vezina<br />
1887-1926<br />
Canadian hockey player<br />
Sketch by Michael Belfiore<br />
Because of a trophy given out by the National Hockey<br />
League (NHL) to the best goalie in the league in his<br />
honor, the name of Georges Vezina remains alive to this<br />
day. Many consider Vezina—who played for 15 seasons<br />
(1910-25) all for the Montreal Canadiens—the NHL’s<br />
first great goaltender. Playing in 328 straight games, Vezina<br />
was an innovative goalie who mastered and defined<br />
the early stand-up style of play. Nicknamed the<br />
“Chicoutimi Cucumber” for his hometown and calm<br />
coolness during games, Vezina’s career was cut short by<br />
several seasons when he developed tuberculosis. Though<br />
he played for at least two seasons while in the early<br />
stages of the disease—holding the league’s lowest goals<br />
against average and backstopping the Canadiens to one<br />
of the two Stanley Cups they would win with him in<br />
goal—Vezina played his last game at the beginning of<br />
the 1925-26 season, dying several months later. As Stan<br />
Fischler wrote in The All-New Hockey’s 100: A Personal<br />
Ranking of the Best Players in Hockey History, “Georges<br />
Vezina … was a nonpareil athlete whose ability was<br />
matched only by his infinite sportsmanship.”<br />
Georges Vezina<br />
Vezina<br />
Early Years<br />
Vezina was born on January 21, 1887 in Chicoutimi,<br />
Quebec, Canada, a small town located on the Saguenay<br />
River. He was the son of Jacques Vezina and his wife,<br />
who were both employed as bakers. Vezina played hockey<br />
from his youth when the game was still in its infancy.<br />
He might have played on his town’s first hockey team<br />
ever. The game probably had been brought to Chicoutimi<br />
by some employees of Price Bros. who had attended<br />
McGill University in Montreal. Price Bros. was a local<br />
company who built a rink in town, which Vezina’s father<br />
later bought.<br />
While playing the goalie position for amateur teams<br />
in his youth, Vezina wore boots instead of skates, a common<br />
practice of goalies in this time period. When Vezina<br />
was 18 years old, he learned to skate and wore skates<br />
while playing after that. By 1909, he was the goalie for<br />
the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, an amateur team that<br />
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