Sports Illustrated has been the nation’s No. 1 sports magazine for a long time and a part of our American culture since its first issue in 1954. That’s a lot of magazine covers and SI just completed a contest in which it asked its readers what was the most iconic cover of all time — and the winner was our Olympic hockey captain Mike Eruzione and the 1980 gold-medal winning team. The winning cover showed Mike and his teammates celebrating after their 4-2 win over Finland in the gold medal game. The photo said it all about this incredible victory — so much so, that it is the only SI cover on which no words appear.
Mike’s teammates won this recognition over some of the most memorable covers in the magazine’s history. For the record, Brandi Chastain’s reaction to the U.S. women’s soccer team winning the World Cup finished as the second best SI cover of all time.
Thank you, Sports Illustrated and its readers for recognizing again that what Mike Eruzione and his teammates accomplished in Lake Placid truly was one of the greatest moments in all of sports history.