At the end of our June 6 story, we provided a survey of more than 20 Cavalier legends – both student-athletes and coaches – across all sports and asked you to select four for your blue-and-orange-clad Mount Rushmore.
The results are in and, as it turns out, ChatGPT and the UVA Today readers think somewhat alike.
After more than 3,750 votes, the Mount Rushmore of UVA sports, according to our readers, is Sampson, Staley, men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett and women’s swimmer Kate Douglass.
Sampson, a three-time national player of the year in the early 1980s, received the most votes with 685.
Bennett, the current coach of the Hoos who passed Holland last season as the winningest coach in program history, was next with 558 votes.
Staley, a three-time All-American in the early 1990s, was third with 499 votes.
Douglass, who amassed a combined 15 individual and relay NCAA championships in a storied UVA career that ended in March, was fourth with 269 votes.
Baseball player Ryan Zimmerman (234 votes) finished fifth followed by football coach George Welsh (218) and Holland (196).
Our survey also allowed for readers to submit names that didn’t appear on the list. More than 90 submissions were entered with baseball coach Brian O’Connor (14 votes), men’s basketball player Barry Parkhill (12) and football player Ronde Barber (eight) appearing most.
