We’re not surprised at all that Olympic hockey captain Mike Eruzione’s inspirational talk to the U.S. Ryder Cup team is being credited with helping the team win the Ryder Cup this past weekend at Hazeltine in Minnesota. Mike spoke to the captains and players prior to the Deutsche Bank Championships in Boston in September and team captain Davis Love III invited Mike to the team dinner Saturday night before the Ryder Cup singles competition held the next day. Mike also spoke to the vice captains, including Tiger Woods, and the players, reminding them of the great honor it is to represent your country in international competition and instilling in them the team spirit that propelled Mike and the 1980 team to the gold medal at Lake Placid.
Mike’s words and presence in the galleries at the Ryder Cup helped the team defeat Europe and bring the Ryder Cup trophy to the our country. Of course, Mike was invited to the team dinner Sunday night at the team hotel where he joined the players and their wives for a gala celebration.
Anyone who has heard Mike deliver a talk to business leaders, company executives, trade conventions, colleges, high school athletes — and we remember his words at the 2012 Republican National Convention — knows that his story — the story of a hometown kid from Winthrop scoring the most important goal in Olympic history and leading the team to a monumental upset of the Soviet Union hockey team — just a couple of weeks after the Soviet Union had blitzed the Americans at Madison Square Garden — is one that inspired us in Lake Placid and continues to give people across the country some of their best sports memories of all time.
Mike Eruzione is a celebrity and a hockey star and to have him talk to the best golfers in the world — and in the case of Phil Mickelson, one of the best golfers of all time — and give them the added edge they needed to defeat the European team, we say, thank you, Mike, for being instrumental in another superb victory by a team wearing the Red, White, and Blue.