Tonight after someone mentioned all of the guys named Ryan (six of them total) on the USA Olympic hockey team it reminded me of when the team was announced and I was impressed that there were five guys on the roster that were born in Michigan.

So it inspired me tonight to do some research on all the Olympians with Michigan connections. There are a lot of them! It’s great to see so many from Michigan and who have came to Michigan to train, thanks in part to the United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette. We’re fortunate to see some of the best speedskaters come to Marquette to train, many others like Apolo Ohno and J.R. Celski have come through Marquette to train.

Congratulations to all the Michigan Olympians who participated at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and pretty cool to see so many with medals around their neck.

If you know of some others that aren’t on this list please leave a comment and I’ll add them.

Born in Michigan

Name	Medal	Home	Sport	Bio
Nick Baumgartner		Iron River, MI	Snowboard cross	Yooper, attended school at NMU where he played football
Mickie Rzepka		Novi, MI	Bobsleigh	Pole vaulted on Michigan State’s track and field team 2002-04
Ryan Miller		East Lansing, MI	Hockey	Played hockey at Michigan State 1999-2002
Tim Thomas		Davison, MI	Hockey	Played hockey at University of Vermont 1993-97
Tim Gleason		Clawson, MI	Hockey	Played for the Ontario Hockey League starting at age 16
Brian Rafalski		Dearborn, MI	Hockey	Played for University of Wisconsin hockey team where he was the WCHA defenseman of the year in 1995
Ryan Kesler		Livonia, MI	Hockey	Played for Detroit Honeybaked in 1999 then played for the Under 18 U.S. National Team
Charlie White		Bloomfield Hills, MI	Figure skating	Graduated from Roeper School and attends the University of Michigan
Meryl Davis		West Bloomfield, MI	Figure skating	Graduated from Wylie Groves High School and attends the University of Michigan
Evan Bates		Ann Arbor, MI	Figure skating	Graduated from Huron High School and attends the University of Michigan
Emily Samuelson		Novi, MI	Figure skating	Graduated from Novi High School and attends the University of Michigan

Northern Michigan University Connections

Name	Medal	Home	Sport	Bio
Allison Baver		Reading, PA	Speedskating	Attended NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Kimberly Derrick		Blytheville, AR	Speedskating	Attended NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Katherine Reutter		Champagne, IL	Speedskating	Attended NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Ryan Bedford		Yuma, AZ	Speedskating	Attended NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Shani Davis		Chicago, IL	Speedskating	Attended NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Travis Jayner		USA	Speedskating	Attended United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Simon Cho		VA, USA	Speedskating	Attended Marquette Senior High, NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Caitlin Compton		NY, USA	Cross country skiing	Former All-American nordic skiier at NMU

Michigan Tech University connections

Name	Medal	Home	Sport	Bio
Jarkko Ruutu		Vantaa, FIN	Hockey	Played hockey for Michigan Tech 1995-96

Michigan State University connections

Name	Medal	Home	Sport	Bio
Duncan Keith		Winnipeg, CAN	Hockey	Played hockey at Michigan State 2001-03

University of Michigan connections

Name	Medal	Home	Sport	Bio
Jack Johnson		Indianapolis, IN	Hockey	Played hockey at Michigan  2005-07

On January 26 it was announced that Yooper Nick Baumgartner made the Olympic team for the snowboard cross. Baumgartner hails from Iron River and is making his first Olympic appearance at age 28.

Tune in today (Feb 15) to watch the men’s snowboard cross competition.   Check out the complete schedule at Vancouver2010.com.

Nick’s biggest accomplishment to date is winning a bronze medal at the FIS Snowboarding World Championships 2009.  He has also competed in the Winter X Games the last few years.

Before taking on snowboarding full-time Nick was a state champion wrestler in high school and went on to play football at NMU.

If you know of any other Yoopers who have compete in the Olympics please send me a message or leave a comment.

**UPDATE**

After a crash Nick’s gold medal hopes came to a halt during the 1/8 finals.  He finished 20th overall with a starting field of 34 racers.

“I came here for the gold,” Baumgartner said between qualifying runs. “I am definitely taking the experience in. But the gold is what I worked so hard for. I set a goal four years ago.”  — From the examiner.com

Medals

Gold - Seth Wescott - USA
Silver - Mike Robertson - Cananda
Bronze - Tony Ramoin - France

Congrats Nick! Great job representing the country, but even more so thanks for representing the Upper Peninsula. We hope to see you back in 4 years with a world championship between now and then.  Keep up the hard work.

Good to see Nick get some press in Sports Illustrated as well.

New products are in…

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Since I was recently taking a look at Michigan historical film clips, you’ll definitely want to take a look at this one.

MUNISING, MICHIGAN, early part of 1960’s

Munising Michigan, Elm Avenue, Weiland’s Grill, the original Alger County Courthouse….all of it is here in this exciting compilation of Wally Ahlborn’s 8mm home movies taken in a blinding blizzard!

Thanks to @UpOverland for sharing this.

A must watch tourism documentary about Michigan from 1949.

I love my state!

Thanks @brockter for sending it my way.

Photo by The Photom on Flickr

1. Why the Upper Peninsula is Not Part of Wisconsin
   Learning more about the Upper Peninsula’s history has been quite helpful. I couldn’t be happier about this post being the most popular post of 2009. What was particularly cool is that this same topic ended up being featured on NPR after they did a feature titled A Trip U.P. North. Was great having national exposure for the Upper Peninsula and was fun to do a small interview with them.
2. Upper Peninsula Twitter Accounts to Follow
   Twitter seemed to be one of the top news story across the entire year. Every day another celebrity’s Twitter feed is talked about, or a news breaks on Twitter, and of course the growth in social media as a whole.  The greatest thing… using Twitter to connect with Yoopers who are now dispersed all over the world.
3. 2009 Midwest Super Park - Marquette Mountain
   This past Sunday I was watching snowboard cross on NBC and sure enough there was Nick Baumgartner from Iron River, competing and hopeful for a shot at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Nick is seen in the 3rd photograph on this post pulling a rodeo flip. There is some serious talent always coming out of skiers, snowboarders and other winter sports in the Upper Peninsula.
4. How…? Questions About the Upper Peninsula Answered
   I was determined to answer as many user questions as possible, and there is still a big list of them to go. I hope everyone else learned as much reading this post as I did writing and researching it.  Feel free to leave your comment with some more questions and input.
5. Biggest April Snowstorm in 10 Years
   Over the course of three days it went from a beautiful 75 degree day to a 12-inch snowstorm.  Twelve inches of snow during January or February is to be expected, but even in the Upper Peninsula 12 inches of snow is a rare thing in April.  Thanks to my mom for supplying some great photos. You can share your Upper Peninsula photos on the Yooper Steez Flickr group.
6. Final Four Basketball Floor, Made in the Upper Peninsula
   As a Michigan State alum I was happy to see my alma mater playing for the national title.  But wow, it went a lot deeper than that this year.  They were playing in Detroit, coached by Yooper Tom Izzo and the floor they were playing on was assembled in the Upper Peninsula.
7. Another Map Missing the Upper Peninsula
   Nothing new here, we’re all familiar with maps missing the Upper Peninsula, or sometimes labeled incorrectly.  In fact I just saw a Biggby billboard that used the phrase “Michigan based”.  Too bad the graphic on the billboard only had the lower peninsula of Michigan.  But, at least the government won’t make that mistake anymore thanks to Mike Lahti.
8. NMU Closes Again Due to “Inclement” Weather, Really?
   C’mon NMU, this is the Upper Peninsula. In my opinion if it’s 1 degree with a windchill of -14, school better be open.  Sure, elementary schools should have a different set of rules.  But really, a college student in the Upper Peninsula should know how to dress for winter.  What’s your take?
9. Bird’s Eye View of the Upper Peninsula
   A look at the Upper Peninsula from Google Maps and the satellites. We’re used to seeing the beauty of the Upper Peninsula from ground level.  What most impresses me (especially after having been to the top) is how fragile the Mackinac Bridge looks from far above. From that angle it looks like it could be snapped like a twig.

Thanks for all the help in 2009 to everyone who submitted potential blog topics, articles to read, posted comments, ordered shirts, joined the Facebook page, subscribed to the blog, took photos, and all sorts of other things.  There are some great plans to grow Yooper Steez further in 2010.  Make it a great year.