Top 6 Greatest LDS Athletes

[clbent04]

1. Steve Young

2. Danny Ainge

3. Bryce Harper

4. Dale Murphy

5. Mel Hutchins

6. Dennis Eckersley

agree/disagree?

Edited March 5, 2019 by clbent04

[LadyGunnar]

There have been some amazing world champions bronc riders in the church.  I am asuming there are many others in all of rodeo too.

[Guest MormonGator]

On 3/5/2019 at 2:31 PM, clbent04 said:

1. Steve Young

2. Danny Ainge

3. Bryce Harper

4. Dale Murphy

5. Mel Hutchins

6. Dennis Eckersley

agree/disagree?

I know he's an older athlete, but Jack Dempsey was LDS. 

[ephedra]

The late Paul H Dunn was a pro baseball player! 

[Just_A_Guy]

I’m not a sports guru, but should Kyle Van Noy be on that list?

[mirkwood]

Thurl Bailey and Eric Weddle.  There are lot of great LDS athletes.

[Guest Godless]

1 hour ago, mirkwood said:

Thurl Bailey and Eric Weddle.  There are lot of great LDS athletes.

Weddle will be sorely missed in Baltimore. 

[Guest MormonGator]

11 hours ago, ephedra said:

The late Paul H Dunn was a pro baseball player! 

Not to break hearts and bring up dirty laundry, but his story is actually more complicated than that. Much, much more complicated. I know it's like talking about your uncle who was in prison and it's a source of family shame, but his stories were fabricated. 

Edited March 9, 2019 by MormonGator

[clbent04]

11 hours ago, MormonGator said:

I know he's an older athlete, but Jack Dempsey was LDS. 

I had to look up Jack Dempsey. Hadn’t heard of him before. Definitely belongs on this list. Heavyweight champion for 7 years in a row

[Guest MormonGator]

Just now, clbent04 said:

I had to look up Jack Dempsey. Hadn’t heard of him before. Definitely belongs on this list. Heavyweight champion for 7 years in a row

My grandfather-a lifelong atheist-was a big boxing fan and told me stories about Dempsey. Even though Dempsey was even a bit before his time! 

[clbent04]

27 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

My grandfather-a lifelong atheist-was a big boxing fan and told me stories about Dempsey. Even though Dempsey was even a bit before his time! 

Dempsey has a cool story. Read several articles about him today. Did your grandfather have a favorable impression of him? I was reading something about some critics suspecting foul play with Dempsey plastering his fists before the fights, but I think that theory was debunked 

[clbent04]

3 hours ago, mirkwood said:

Thurl Bailey and Eric Weddle.  There are lot of great LDS athletes.

I’d put Weddle before Bailey. Weddle is definitely a top 10. Bailey I’d say maybe a top 10 at best

[Guest MormonGator]

2 minutes ago, clbent04 said:

Dempsey has a cool story. Read several articles about him today. Did your grandfather have a favorable impression of him? I was reading something about some critics suspecting foul play with Dempsey plastering his fists before the fights, but I think that theory was debunked 

My grandfather had great respect for all the boxers of that age, and he thought Dempsey was among the best fighters of all time. I agree with you, Dempsey did not plaster his fists before fights. 

[ephedra]

1 hour ago, MormonGator said:

Not to break hearts and bring up dirty laundry, but his story is actually more complicated than that. Much, much more complicated. I know it's like talking about your uncle who was in prison and it's a source of family shame, but his stories were 

Do you mind sharing?

[Vort]

2 hours ago, MormonGator said:

12 hours ago, ephedra said:

The late Paul H Dunn was a pro baseball player! 

Not to break hearts and bring up dirty laundry, but his story is actually more complicated than that. Much, much more complicated. I know it's like talking about your uncle who was in prison and it's a source of family shame, but his stories were fabricated. 

Pretty sure ephedra was trying to be funny.

[Vort]

36 minutes ago, ephedra said:

Do you mind sharing?

Hmmm. Maybe not.

Elder Dunn exaggerated and lied about many of his exploits and experiences, calling them "parables" and such. When this was made known, Elder Dunn was publicly disgraced. He had already been granted emeritus status, but he largely lost his aura and status of beloved authority among the Latter-day Saints. Some said he suffered from some mental illness that led him to take liberties with the truth. In any case, his stories are rarely mentioned any more, and his legacy in the Church is mostly forgotten.

[pam]

5 hours ago, mirkwood said:

Thurl Bailey and Eric Weddle.  There are lot of great LDS athletes.

YES Eric Weddle.  #32.    

[pam]

I kinda liked Brett Keisel as well.  And there is also Todd Christensen and Merlin Olsen.

[Guest MormonGator]

10 hours ago, ephedra said:

Do you mind sharing?

Hi @ephedra!

@Vort beat me to it, but it turns out Paul Dunn lied about playing pro baseball, calling it a "parable". When you play professional baseball at any level, there will be documents and records showing it. In his case, no one could find them. He eventually admitted to this, and many other fabrications. 

[ephedra]

48 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Hi @ephedra!

@Vort beat me to it, but it turns out Paul Dunn lied about playing pro baseball, calling it a "parable". When you play professional baseball at any level, there will be documents and records showing it. In his case, no one could find them. He eventually admitted to this, and many other fabrications. 

Yea I went and read up on it last night. Wasnt just about baseball either. Growing up he was the only apostle I didn't regard as boring. Too bad he is a liar.

I do find it odd though that as an apostle he spends a couple decades lying to the entire world and the reporter who exposes him gets fired by the church for doing so. Then Dunn gets emeritus status and full retirement. Who gets a deal like that?

Edited March 9, 2019 by ephedra

[ephedra]

Ok strike my rec for dunn...neither a great athlete or famous, just infamous

[Vort]

13 minutes ago, ephedra said:

I do find it odd though that as an apostle

Correction: Elder Dunn was a member of the First Quorum of Seventy, not of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.

15 minutes ago, ephedra said:

the reporter who exposes him gets fired by the church for doing so.

Not sure what you mean. The reporter was Lynn Packer (who incidentally is a nephew of Boyd K. Packer, a now-deceased apostle). At the time, Lynn Packer worked for the Arizona Republic, not the Church. The Church could not have "fired" him. I find no indication that he was otherwise disciplined by the Church for his actions, so I don't understand what you're trying to say.

42 minutes ago, ephedra said:

Then Dunn gets emeritus status and full retirement.

Elder Dunn was given emeritus status at age 70, the same as every other full-time General Authority who isn't an apostle, more than a year before the news story broke. I know of no evidence that Elder Dunn's Church leaders knew of his duplicity before emeritus status was granted—though even if they had, I don't know how that would have made a difference. As for "full retirement", that was a benefit Elder Dunn had earned from his years of administrative duties with the Church.

53 minutes ago, ephedra said:

he spends a couple decades lying to the entire world

This is a harsh take, accurate in a legalistic sense but IMO lacking in balance or sense of fairness. Elder Dunn's falsehoods damaged his reputation and reflected negatively on the good name of the Church; "holy lies" are still lies, even when well-meant. Insofar as Elder Dunn was trying to aggrandize himself, his lies served as a form of priestcraft, so my sympathies lie with your opinion. But I choose to believe that Elder Dunn was not primarily seeking to puff himself up with false importance and lying claims, but trying to teach principles using impactful (if false) stories. Such a misguided effort is not justified, but is understandable on a human level. I want to give Elder Dunn the benefit of whatever doubt exists about his motives for lying, and leave the judgment of his personal moral character to the Lord.

[Guest MormonGator]

1 hour ago, ephedra said:

Yea I went and read up on it last night. Wasnt just about baseball either. Growing up he was the only apostle I didn't regard as boring. Too bad he is a liar.

I do find it odd though that as an apostle he spends a couple decades lying to the entire world and the reporter who exposes him gets fired by the church for doing so. Then Dunn gets emeritus status and full retirement. Who gets a deal like that?

I undersand, but the reporter who found him out didn't get fired by the church. Also, Dunn wasn't an apostle.

I understand your anger towards him. My good friend @mirkwood is a cop, and I think he dislikes corrupt/dirty cops more than we do, because they give all cops a bad name. We are all sinners, and Dunn is human-so we should understand his frailties and weaknesses. That said, his scandal did damage the good name of the Church a bit. 

It's tough, because we want to defend any member of church leadership who gets caught doing something wrong. What I'm disturbed about is if (and no, I don't see it here) we would be quick to crucify Pastor John Doe from the pentecostal church for resume fraud but we'd bend over backwards to defend Elder Dunn. Again no, I don't see it here. 

[ephedra]

7 hours ago, Vort said:

Correction: Elder Dunn was a member of the First Quorum of Seventy, not of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.

You are correct, he was ONLY a General Authority and not an Apostle.

Not sure what you mean. The reporter was Lynn Packer (who incidentally is a nephew of Boyd K. Packer, a now-deceased apostle). At the time, Lynn Packer worked for the Arizona Republic, not the Church. The Church could not have "fired" him. I find no indication that he was otherwise disciplined by the Church for his actions, so I don't understand what you're trying to say.

Packer had been investigating this issue for several years while working at BYU. He allegedly was told by BoydKP to knock it off. Also the Tanners were after him (Dunn) for the same reason and this had been going on for several years. Packer gave the info to the AZ Republic who then published it. In the article cited below, Packer's boss at BYU admitted they terminated his contract because he was planning on publishing the information. Additionally, a church rep acknowledged there were accusations against Dunn at the time he was granted retirement. I also never said Packer was disciplined for his actions. A couple excerpts from the article below along with the source cited after that:

First Presidency statement - The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement Friday:  "In consideration of factors of age and health, Elder Paul H. Dunn was given emeritus status on Sept. 30, 1989, along with seven other General Authorties. "We have had no way of fully or finally verifying the accuracy of inaccuracy of the current allegations or accounts that are now under challenge. We are naturally concerned about the well-being of Elder Dunn and his family during his stressful time. "We appreciate the service Elder Dunn has given and the sacrifices he and his family have made, often at the cost of their own comfort and health."

 

"At the same time, however, the university terminated Packer's teaching contract, in part because he wanted to publish a story about his findings.Gordon Whiting, then chairman of the BYU communications department, had warned Packer in a memo that "publication of the Paul Dunn article will damage the church, will damage the university, will damage the department and will damage you." Whiting acknowledged the decision not to renew Packer's contract for the 1990-91 school year came, in part, because Packer was violating church and university policies that prohibit public criticism of church leaders, even if the criticism is true."

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/147438/ARIZONA-PAPER-ALLEGES-MANY-STORIES-WERE-EXAGGERATED.html?pg=all

 

7 hours ago, Vort said:

Elder Dunn was given emeritus status at age 70, the same as every other full-time General Authority who isn't an apostle, more than a year before the news story broke. I know of no evidence that Elder Dunn's Church leaders knew of his duplicity before emeritus status was granted—though even if they had, I don't know how that would have made a difference. As for "full retirement", that was a benefit Elder Dunn had earned from his years of administrative duties with the Church.

*** Dunn was granted Emeritus status in 1989 which makes him 65 years old at the time.  Dunn was born in April 1924 according to his wiki page.

This is a harsh take, accurate in a legalistic sense but IMO lacking in balance or sense of fairness. Elder Dunn's falsehoods damaged his reputation and reflected negatively on the good name of the Church; "holy lies" are still lies, even when well-meant.

**Agreed

Insofar as Elder Dunn was trying to aggrandize himself, his lies served as a form of priestcraft, so my sympathies lie with your opinion. But I choose to believe that Elder Dunn was not primarily seeking to puff himself up with false importance and lying claims, but trying to teach principles using impactful (if false) stories. Such a misguided effort is not justified, but is understandable on a human level. I want to give Elder Dunn the benefit of whatever doubt exists about his motives for lying, and leave the judgment of his personal moral character to the Lord.

***Agreed- messy story no doubt. I an just surprised the talks are still up on the church website. Oh well must still be ok I guess.

 

 

[ephedra]

 

7 hours ago, MormonGator said:

I undersand, but the reporter who found him out didn't get fired by the church. Also, Dunn wasn't an apostle.

I understand your anger towards him. My good friend @mirkwood is a cop, and I think he dislikes corrupt/dirty cops more than we do, because they give all cops a bad name. We are all sinners, and Dunn is human-so we should understand his frailties and weaknesses. That said, his scandal did damage the good name of the Church a bit. 

It's tough, because we want to defend any member of church leadership who gets caught doing something wrong. What I'm disturbed about is if (and no, I don't see it here) we would be quick to crucify Pastor John Doe from the pentecostal church for resume fraud but we'd bend over backwards to defend Elder Dunn. Again no, I don't see it here. 

Im not angry, I just find it interesting given the background on this that Dunn was allowed to retire, continue to get royalties and all that jazz. 

I will never make an effort to defend a church leader for wrong doing. There is no reason to. I mean look at the Bishop in Ut who just got busted for trying to hire a hooker and pimp some girls out. He will be exed for sure, but the gravity of his sin is far far less than being a GA and lying to the World audience. BTW- that Bishop needs to be in jail.