Wisconsin and Sports Trivia Quiz

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals defeated the Brewers in Game 7 by a score of 6 to 3. It was the first appearance of the Brewers in the World Series (joined MLB in 1969). The Brewers (W-L 95-67) finished one game ahead of the Orioles (94-68) to win the AL East. They beat the Angeles to win the American League pennant. The Cardinals defeated the Braves to win the National League pennant.

Answer: Bart Starr

Quarterback Bart Starr led the Packers to their first two Super Bowl victories. In Super Bowl I, the Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10. In Super Bowl II, they defeated the Oakland Raiders 33-14.

Starr was the league MVP in 1966, and Taylor had been MVP in 1962. Starr had a QB rating of 116.2 in Super Bowl I. Max McGee ran in two touchdowns and Jim Taylor ran in another. Kicker Don Chandler scored five extra points. In Super Bowl II, Starr had a QB rating of 96.2. Don Chandler kicked four field goals, Boyd Dowler, Donny Anderson and Herb Adderly ran in touchdowns for Green Bay.

Answer: Bob Johnson

"Badger Bob" Johnson was coach of the UW hockey team from 1966 to 1982. He led the team to national championships in 1973, 1977 and 1981. Johnson's record at Wisconsin was 367-175-23 and he built Wisconsin into a major hockey powerhouse. The team has appeared in the Frozen Four (the final four of the NCAA hockey tournament) five times in the 1970s.

Jeff Sauer took over in 1982 and led Wisconsin to victory in 1983 and 1990. Eaves took over in 2003 and took the 2005 team to a national championship. Tony Granato took over the team in 2018.

Answer: 1941

Wisconsin was one of the early winners of the NCAA championship, winning the third version of the event. They defeated Washington State 39-34. Wisconsin had home court advantage in the early games; the final was held in Kansas City.
Their second appearance in the Final was 70 odd years later, in 2015, where they lost the Championship Game to Duke 68-63.

Answer: 1980 Lake Placid

Eric Heiden delivered one of the most amazing performances in the history of sports at the 1980 Winter Games. On the way to five gold medals, he broke four Olympic records and one world record. Heiden started things off on February 15, setting an Olympic record of 38.03 sec in the 500m (a full second faster). The next day, he won the 5000m in an Olympic record time of 7:02:29, almost 20 seconds faster. On February 19, Heiden set an Olympic record in the 1000m, with 1:15.18, shaving 4 seconds off the record. On February 21, he won the 1500m with another Olympic record, 1:55:44, almost 4 seconds faster. And he wrapped things up by breaking the world record in the 10,000m in 14:28:13, a full 6 seconds faster.

After retiring from sports, Heiden went to medical school and became an orthopedic surgeon, and he often works with world class athletes. Heiden is a native of Madison, Wisconsin. His sister Beth is also an extremely talented skater, winning a bronze at the 1980 Olympics in the 3000m.

Answer: Giannis AntetoKounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo was born in Athens, Greece in 1994 to Nigerian immigrants. For much of his youth, Giannis was stateless. He only obtained Greek citizenship in 2013. He was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks during the first round of the 2015 draft.

He took off as a player in 2016, and became integral to the Buck's success, especially the Championship in 2021. He is the third person to win two MVPs before his 26th birthday - Kareem Abdul Jabbar and LeBron James are the others. Giannis is widely regarded as one of the best players in the NBA, and an almost certain future Hall of Fame player.

Answer: Paul

Paul Hamm was the first American male gymnast to win the World Championship (2003) and the Individal All-Around at the Olympic Games. Hamm led off strong in the floor exercise and pommel horse, but a disastrous vault left him way behind in the standings. Remarkable performances in the parallel bars and horizontal bar led him to a narrow 0.011 point victory over South Korean Kim Dae-Eun. The result remains controversial decades later.

Morgan and Paul led the US team to a silver medal behind the Japanese team, who won 173.821 to 172.933. Romania was a close third.

Answer: Lew Burdette

Burdette pitched in the second, fifth and seventh games, and won all three - two in shutouts - which is why he was named MVP of the 1957 Series. Spahn pitched in the first game (lost 1-3) and fourth game (won 7-5). Burdette had a WPA (win probability added) of 1.32 during the 1957 series. Burdette spent most of his career with the Braves, in Boston, then Milwaukee.

Henry Aaron, who would go on to be one of the greatest home run hitters of all times, hit three home runs during the series. Matthews, one of the Braves leading players, actually beat Aaron with his On Base Percentage, .433 to .414.

Answer: American Family

From 2001 to 2020, the baseball stadium in Milwaukee was known as Miller Park, after the brewing company. In 2020, American Family Insurance purchased a 15 year naming rights deal and the stadium changed names at the start of 2021 season. American Family Field was built between 1996 and 2001. The stadium is distinctive as it has the only fan-shaped convertible roof in North America. Seating capacity was 41,900 in the year it changed its name. One of the truly unique attractions at Milwaukee Brewers games is a race between people dressed in sausage costumes.

Northwestern Mutual Life is based in Milwaukee, but apparently does not want to invest in baseball. All State is headquartered in suburban Chicago. Progressive, which is based in Ohio, has naming right to the former Jacobs Field in Cleveland (home to the MLB team Cleveland Guardians).

Answer: Japan

Danica Patrick broke many barriers in auto racing, including being the first women to lead in both the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500, She won one race during her career, the Japan 300 in 2008, when she beat out Brazilian driver Helio Castroneves.

Patrick set numerous records during her racing career. Along with being the first to win an open wheel race, she was also first to claim pole position (in the Indianapolis 500) and had the most starts, most laps led and most top ten finishes in NASCAR. Patrick retired from racing after the 2018 Indianapolis 500.