Tina Bosworth became the first woman and the first non-bass angler to win an ESPY Award in the "Best Outdoors Athlete" category. The 12th annual ESPY Awards will be telecast on ESPN from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre this Sunday, July 18, at 9 p.m. ET.
Shooting sports to broadcast on ESPN July 15-16
The Great Outdoor Games have begun, and Shotgun and Rifle events, sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, will be broadcast July 15-16. These exciting shooting events are expected to reach 80 million homes worldwide.
Talented TV crew behind the Great Outdoor Games
NFL commentator Merril Hoge and ABC's first female pit reporter for the Indianapolis 500, Jamie Little, are the host and co-host for the 2004 telecast. The pair lead a list of well-known commentators who will appear July 14-19 on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.
Little Morgan tops Big Air, again
Little Morgan was positively dragging his handler, Mike Jackson, to the dock for one last jump in the Big Air finals. Jackson lined the dog up and sent him off for a jump of 22 feet, 9 inches — longer than any other pooch.
Big Air: Little Morgan is back
Little Morgan finally got a chance to get back to the top of Big Air at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.
Wisconsin women roll
Tina Bosworth of Lake Geneva, Wis., the undefeated champion in the Women's Log Rolling competition at the ESPN Great Outdoors Games presented by Dodge, extended her reign as the event's Michael Jordan on Sunday at the Alliant Energy Center.
Salzman takes Log Rolling gold
JR Salzman of Rochester, Minn., enhanced his collection of precious metals today with the gold medal in the Men's Log Rolling competition at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.
Salzman, who is also the 2004 gold medalist in Men's Boom Run,
Texas tornadoes rule Agility finals
Rain and a deteriorating course didn't deter Juice from winning the Sporting Dogs Agility competition in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge at Madison's Alliant Energy Center.
Disney creates Games magic
Through the coordination of Team ESPN and Wonderful Outdoor World (WOW), sponsored by the Walt Disney Company, 20 lucky children from the Salt Lake City, Utah, chapter of WOW traveled to Madison, Wisc., this past weekend.
Hamlet, Juice win Agility gold
Hamlet, a pint-sized Jack Russell Terrier and Juice, a Border Collie, competed in separate Sporting Dog events at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games. Yet both dogs scored gold medals after posting perfect scores in the rain-soaked finals.
Salzman ships off in style
Twenty-five-year-old J.R. Salzman may be overseas in a U.S. Army uniform during next year's ESPN Great Outdoor Games. If so, Salzman shipped off in style.
Make it five golds for Bosworth
Tina Bosworth is Log Rolling by this point. Sunday she won her fourth straight gold medal in the event and is the only athlete with a gold medal from each of the five Great Outdoor Games.
Team Zalewski takes relay gold
The final event for the timber sports was the Team Relay, in which eight separate teams are put together of competitors from all fields of the timber events. Team Zalewski, captained by Nancy Zalewski of Plymouth, Wis., took the gold medal.
Endurance pays off for Wynyard
Jason Wynyard of Auckland, New Zealand, took on 16 other lumberjacks in the Men's Endurance competition at the Great Outdoor Games in and is bringing the gold home Down Under.
Boom! Salzman, Martin mix it up
J.R. Salzman of Rochester, Minn., collected his second gold medal of the day Saturday when he and his teammate, Shana Martin of Madison, Wis., blew through the competition at the Mixed Doubles Boom Run contest at the Great Outdoor Games.
Shotgun gold to Texas teen
Seventeen-year-old Travis Mears of Burleson, Texas, became the youngest shooter to ever win a gold medal in target sports at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games when he won a dramatic triple-overtime shoot-off Saturday with veteran Robbie Purser of Macon, Ga.
Mears, 17, sweeps up Shotgun
When 17-year-old Travis Mears stepped to the awards stand to receive the gold medal he earned in Saturday night's ESPN Outdoor Games shotgun competition, he looked like he'd been there before. And he had, if only in his mind.
Stewart speeds to Climb title
In the final match between Brian Bartow, who is known for flying up the 65-foot pole as fast as any arachnid, and Wade Stewart, who bails out so fast it looks like he is skydiving, went head-to-head Saturday in the Speed Climbing event.
Lock-Eye Razzle takes Disc Drive
Tim Geib of Atlanta had four of the seven longest throws in three rounds of competition and Lockeye Razzle caught every one of them Saturday evening to win the first Disc Drive gold medal at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games.
Bow Wow Boom Run? Wow!
When ESPN this spring asked Great Outdoor Games timber sports organizer Rob Scheer to suggest new sports, he thought of his black Labrador Tucker. The result is the Bow Wow Boom Run, which debuted as a demonstration event Saturday at the Games.
Doubles kings: Brauer & Gofron
Anglers in the new Freshwater Doubles fishing competition needed to catch both bass and walleye to be successful. Denny Brauer of Camdenton, Mo., and Mike Gofron of Antioch, Ill., leaned heavy on the bass side to win gold medals Saturday in the event.
Cumming bags Rifle title
Mike Cumming of Altoona, Pa., won his first gold medal Saturday in the rifle event at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games V by tuning out the two-time gold medalist shooting beside him — Jerry Miculek of Princeton, La.
Lock-Eye Razzle golden at first Disc Drive
A typical afternoon for Tim Geib and canine Lock-Eye Razzle is spent tossing the Frisbee. This afternoon was different. When the game was over, it was a Disc Drive gold medal that was hanging around the neck of the Border Collie.
Salzman, Martin take Mixed Boom
Speed is a virtue, but it ain't everything in the Mixed Doubles Boom Run. Jamie Fischer is faster across floating logs than most people are jumping out of planes, but he lost his balance in his first-round race when he tried to make up distance.
Taylor has edge in Endurance
Sheree Taylor didn't know if she would be able to make the trip from New Zealand for the ESPN Great Outdoor Games because of her mother's lingering illness. Taylor did, though, and won the Women's Timber Endurance event.
Daisy June capitalizes on final Big Air jump
Daisy June gets better with each Big Air jump, so on her last chance Saturday to make the second round of competition she had to leap at least 21 feet, 8 inches to get off the bubble and into the finals at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games.
Stewart fastest man up a tree
In the time it takes a Wisconsin Badger fan to down a brat and a beer, gold medalist Wade Stewart made it to the top of the tree and back again in the Speed Climbing event.
Wynyard withstands a challenge
Jason Wynyard holds three gold medals in the Men's Endurance event at ESPN's Great Outdoor Games. However, two years ago, it was his brother-in-law, Dion Lane, who gave him his only semifinal defeat in the event.
Walleyes take the day off
Listen closely and you may just hear the sighs of some of the best walleye pros in the country feeling a bit dejected over the less-than-stellar walleye production during the final day of fishing at the 2004 ESPN Great Outdoor Games.
Egan 'flies' into fishing first
Lance Egan appeared as "Superfly" in a promotional campaign for the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge. The angler from Sandy, Utah, lived up that moniker in the Fly Fishing competition Friday.
Ransom wins Superweave
Showing consistency in her times through four rounds, 4-year-old Ransom won the Agility Superweave gold medal in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge at the Alliant Energy Center Saturday.
Salzman takes Boom Run
It took a swimming lesson and a lot of time away from practice for J.R. Salzman of Rochester, Minn., to reclaim his gold medal at Boom Run competition in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.
"My expectations were to run the boom and not get
Erdmann earns Boom crown
Mandy Erdmann of LaCrosse, Wis., jumped out to a quick start in the Women's Boom Run at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.
She landed at the top of the medal podium with a new record for the event.
Brauer, Gofron hook up gold
The sport's top BASS pros discovered a bane of walleye fishing already recognized by their peers who joined them in the Freshwater Doubles event of the ESPN Great Outdoor Games. And that is the walleye bite generally goes south under calm, sunny skies.
Cumming shoots to Rifle title
Mike Cumming has been on the medal stand before at the Great Outdoor Games — he won the bronze in the rifle event last year. But when he defeated Doug Koenig and Jerry Miculek in the finals to win the gold it was nothing less than an upset.
Boom Run: It's all Erdmann
Not that Mandy Erdmann needs a head start. The world-record holder in the women's Boom Run already has five Games medals in the event, and she credits her bowlegs with helping her grip the sides of the pitching, yawing logs.
Mellowed Salzman wins Boom Run
Two things conspired Saturday for J.R. Salzman to depose Jamie Fischer's reign atop the Boom Run podium. Fischer, for the first time in five Games, fell. And Salzman has found focus and peace in the possibility he may go to war.
Ransom weaves to Games win
In sporting dog agility competition, bullying through the course of 13 narrowly-spaced weavepoles is not a prerequisite to gaining peak performance.
Young guns shoot to top
Clay targets weren't the only things blown away during the opening round of the Shotgun event. Along with the orange targets cast to the wayside are some of the top shooters in the nation, the old dogs if you will. All of them shot down by the young guns.
That's Fly: Egan toughs it out
A year ago, Lance Egan was shocked when an 11-inch brown trout earned him a Fly Fishing gold medal on the Truckee River. But Egan felt confident Friday when he landed a 13¾-inch trout less than halfway through his afternoon session.
Bartow captures Tree Topping
Tree Topping lumberjacks sit on top of the world and bring the crowd to their feet at the Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge. At the highest point over Willow Island, Brian Bartow won the Tree Topping event over Greg Hart.
Taylor's Endurance earns win
Over the past two years, the Women's Endurance title has passed back and forth between Peg Engasser and Sheree Taylor. The cycle continued this year, when the two faced each other in the gold medal round of the hotly contested event.
Bartow takes gold by a hair
Greg Hart was in light spirits, considering that he had just passed a torch to a man 18 years his junior, 65 feet above the Great Outdoor Games timber stage.
Disc Drive enjoys grass roots
German dog lover Marcus Wolff's introduction to the sport of Disc Drive reads like the profiles for most of the dozen entries in the debut event at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games.
Mens' Endurance: All in the family gold?
The possibilities are endless in the Men's Endurance race for gold at the Great Outdoor Games. It could be an all American final or an all in the family feud. And if an American even makes the final, then that will be the big story.
Hendrix captures 3rd Archery gold
Randy Hendrix of Clemons, N.C., overcame frequent rain and erratic winds Friday to capture his third archery gold medal in the past four years during Great Outdoor Games V.
Freshwater Doubles: Gofron, Brauer nab walleyes, bass
It's been a long time since professional bass angler Denny Brauer seriously attempted to troll for walleyes, but the familiar feeling didn't go away Friday in the first round of the Freshwater Doubles fishing competition at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games.
It's Hendrix again in Archery
Once again, ugly doesn't matter as long as there's a little gold involved. Randy Hendrix narrowly missed two upsets during the course of the day but still won his third gold medal in the last four years in the Archery competition.
Walleye whackers defy pre-tournament hype
Walleye anglers are notorious for fibbing when it comes to the conditions prior to the start of a tournament. This week was no different at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games. Dock talk indicated the fishing was tough at best, but that seems to be mostly hype.
Heavyweights dominate Freshwater Doubles
One angler dominates the pro bass tour while the other commands respect on the walleye circuit. And these two formidable forces have become one to own the lead in the Fishing Doubles competition of the ESPN Great Outdoor Games.
Arkansas flyangler posts record qualifying score
John Wilson of Russellville, Ark., cast his way into the top qualifying spot for fly fishing Thursday at the Great Outdoor Games. He did it in record fashion, too.
Top seeds advance to Women's Endurance finals
A penalty cost Erin LaVoie a shot at a gold medal and put the top-seeded Women's Endurance timber specialists in Friday's championship at Willow Island at the Alliant Energy Center.
Hot Saw: Bush gold this time
Each of the last four years, something has gone wrong for Matt Bush in the Hot Saw. The six-time Great Outdoor Games medalist had never placed higher than fourth in the event, despite having a universally feared saw and skills to handle it.
Hot Saw: Bush gets gold wish
With the roar of a custom made chain saw and the smell of wood cutting, the finals of the 2004 ESPN Great Outdoors Game Hot Saw competition became a New York challenge.
Women's Endurance: Familiar foes in final
No matter how you stack it, a win is a win. And that's how it went for Peg Engasser at the Women's Endurance semifinals of the ESPN Great Outdoor Games.
Down Under sweeps Spring
The official opening of the 2004 ESPN Great Outdoors Games in Madison, Wis., brought the rhythmic crack of axes to Willow Island at the Alliant Energy Center.
Untidy finish in Springboard
It wasn't pretty, but Dale Ryan's final cut in the Springboard still had a tint of gold. "My old man used to say, 'It don't matter if you are tidy or not; it is the one who finishes first that gets paid the most,'" Ryan said.
Wilson wins casting competition
First-time qualifier John Wilson made his presence known in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games Fly Casting event Thursday.
Wilson, a fly fishing guide from Russellville, Ark., compiled the highest score ever in the casting event with 2,464.6 points.
Strategy key to Fishing
The Freshwater Doubles is a contest melding traditional pro bass and walleye tournaments into one competition — with a twist. The new rule is a no-cull stipulation keeping athletes from releasing a fish once placed in the livewell.
Finding competition-grade wood
If the Timber events in the Great Outdoor Games seem to be a throwback to yesteryear's decidedly low-tech origins of lumberjacking, the methods of procuring the wood used in competition has become more high tech with every year.
Archery: 'Second place sucks'
Randy Ulmer has earned silver medals in each of the last two ESPN Great Outdoor Games Archery Events. He can sum up his feelings about those silver medals in three words.
"Second place sucks," said Ulmer.
Madison: Political party town a hotbed for radicals
Madison is, in short, a political party town, fittingly named for a president. It's also a famously hospitable; Money magazine in 1998 ranked it the country's best place to live — and a hotbed for rabble-rousers, radicals and revolutionaries.
You can teach an old dog new tricks
Eight-year-old Labrador retriever Achilles proved you can teach an old dog new tricks. In fact, during Wednesday's Retriever Trial, Achilles and handler J. Paul Jackson showed it might be easier to teach an old dog new tricks.
Tenn. team wins Retriever gold
MADISON, Wis. — J. Paul Jackson didn't give his Labrador retriever its name, but he helped the canine live up to it during Wednesday's final round in the retriever trials of the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.
Achilles retrieves gold
J. Paul Jackson finally feels vindicated. Jackson and Achilles won the gold medal Wednesday in the Retriever Trial, silencing the team's biggest critic on whether they were good enough to do it. Never mind that Jackson is his own biggest critic.
Retriever Trials, Round 1: N.C. team leads
Rankin is a relative newcomer to retriever trials, but the 3-year-old yellow Labrador retriever played the part of a cagey veteran in Tuesday's Retriever Trial preliminary round.
Retrievers: Washburn's Ready shakes off medical scare
Alex Washburn took the doctor's call around 3 o'clock Tuesday afternoon, standing among the long grass and wildflowers at the Retriever Trial venue. It was good news: Not cancer. If he could, Ready would run.
Retriever Trials: Round 1 upends Retriever field
The Games already are serving up athletes and setting others down. After the first round of the Retriever Trial, the last two years' gold medalists have barely survived, an alternate is one of the top dogs and the favorite is going home.
Retriever Trials preview: Milford Hills Hunt Club
When the Retriever Trials get underway, a gold medal will be won in the rolling hills of Milford Hill Hunt Club. And long after the Great Outdoor Games are over the hunt club will still be serving up golden opportunities for sportsmen.
Going for a golden retrieve
Chris Akin and Boomer the black Lab are the No. 1 seeds for the Retriever Trial heading into the Great Outdoor Games.
Rifle rematch on target
It was almost becoming old hat in the Rifle event. Jerry Miculek would fire off a bunch of rounds in a blinding hail of bullets and falling targets then walk away with the gold medal. And always behind him with the silver was Doug Koenig.
Small details key for Gofron
Mike Gofron of Antioch, Ill., is one of the top Professional Walleye Trail pros with victories during the regular season and a Championship under his belt. He will add his skills to the mix in Freshwater Doubles with legendary bass pro Denny Brauer.
Seelhoff, Ortiz thinking bass
"Bring it on!" is the general sentiment going around the Professional Walleye Trail tournaments when it comes to some of the top walleye fishing pros in the country teaming up with the elite BASS pros for the Great Outdoor Games.
Perry be good
The days of walleye pros simply dragging night crawlers in deep water is long gone and so is the myth that they don't make good bass busters. Perry Good of Brainerd, Minn., should prove he knows a few things about bassing at the Games.
Walleye pros ready to rumble
When Madison was announced as the venue for the 2004 Games, Tracker Boats pro Gary Parsons of Glidden, Wis., was less than impressed. He figured this would be another show featuring only Bassmaster anglers and not walleye experts. Boy, was he ever wrong!
Raising Mayhem
Chris Parker didn't count on the name for her border collie to describe so well what the two would eventually go through together. Parker's dog is Mayhem. The two will be competing in the Large Dog Agility and Large Dog Super Weave.
Wisconsin's timber history
When timber competitors come to Madison for pole climbing, log rolling and other competitions, it will be a return to a land where many of those events began. Wisconsin has a long, impressive history of logging.
Games deliver 21 hours of TV
Before the first dog leaps or the first ax falls, fans of Great Outdoor Games V presented by Dodge have something to anticipate: more than 21 original hours of programming anchored by four consecutive nights on ESPN.
"We're going to have four straight
Superstars? No, Superheroes
ESPN will take athletes from the Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge
and present them as superheroes who make up "The Outdoor League of
America" in a campaign supporting this year's Great Outdoor Games event,
scheduled July 8-11 from Madison, Wis
2004 Fishing preview
Wisconsin, which sells more than 1.3 million fishing licenses each year, is known for its angling opportunities, with 14,927 inland lakes, 2,674 trout streams (which end-to-end would stretch almost 10,000 miles) and another 5,000 warmwater streams that
Top shots thrive on pressure
For many folks, high-stress situations jumble thoughts and short-circuit performance, leaving them shaken and defeated. Yet the top shots and reigning champs of the archery, rifle and shotgun events crave the pressure greeting them at the shooting line.
Games digest for June 4, 2004
Games digest for June 4, 2004
Target qualifiers to air May 8 on ESPN2
Shooting and archery athletes battled rain, wind and cold last weekend and two of them marked perfect scores en route to earning a berth in this summer's ESPN Great Outdoor Games V.
Vegas hosts Games Target qualifier
In the late 1920s thousands flocked to Nevada in hopes of finding jobs with the federal government. More than 80 years later hundreds of competitive shooters will converge on the same area with hopes of finding a spot in the Great Outdoor Games.
Vegas shotgun qualifier final
Doctor bills being what they are these days, Richard Aitken's ophthalmologist has probably been well compensated for the cataract surgery he performed Oct. 29.
Vegas rifle qualifier final
Unheralded Rodriguez rifles to win
Western Fly Fishing Challenge qualifies four
Capsay, Barnes, Hickey and Wilson headed to Games
Eastern Fly Fishing Challenge qualifies four
Bechard, White, Dawes and Hartman headed to Games
Fly Fishing qualifier preview
Eastern and Western Challenges to fill out Games field
Virginia Super Retriever Series Big Air final
Little Morgan is back on track
Virginia Super Retriever Series final
Windy takes Games qualifier
Stuttgart Super Retriever Series final
Tennessee team wins SRS, Games berth
Vegas archery qualifier final
Gillingham wins archery with perfect round
Games garner sports Emmy
Last summer's coverage of the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge captured an Emmy in ceremonies held last night in New York.
Sporting Dogs: Ready to step up
Alex Washburn will be "Ticketless" in her third consecutive trip to the ESPN Great Outdoor Games when the retriever competition begins this summer in Madison, Wisc.
Madison, Wisc.: Perfect place for the Games
Talking 'bout Madison
What people are saying about the move to Madison
Wisconsin and the Games: A long history
Madison, Wisc., fact sheet
Wisconsin to host 2004 ESPN Great Outdoor Games
Wisconsin to host 2004 ESPN Great Outdoor Games
Flyfishing around Madison
Avid trout fishermen think fondly of the western trout rivers, but they also know that Wisconsin offers abundant opportunities for their favorite sport. The land mass is close to being surrounded by rivers or lakes, with some of the finest trout fishi
Athlete log, Peg Engasser
July 17, 2004 — Great Outdoor Games V is history, and I am proud to say that I brought home a silver medal in the Women's Endurance, and a Bronze in the Team Relay!
Dogs: No expiration date for Ticket
Jerry Day and Super Sue. Alex Washburn and Just The Ticket. The names are synonymous with the Retriever Trial competition of the ESPN Great Outdoor Games.
Stuttgart Super Retriever Series preview
Final Games qualifier looms
New Orleans Super Retriever Series Big Air final
Draco downs Little Morgan
New Orleans Super Retriever Series final
Golden finish at 'brutal' La. event
Controversy in the air
A bizarre, scandal-plagued year in sports has finally expired, bringing us ever closer to the purity of ESPN's 2004 Great Outdoor Games, which will be held in Madison, Wisc., this July.
Dogs: On a DeCaff high
Susan Garrett presents a good case for challenging the myth that dog owners mirror the behavior of their beloved pets. Garrett and DeCaff, her Jack Russell terrier-border collie mix, took the bronze medal in the Sporting Dog Small Agility competition a
Games digest for May 19, 2004
Games digest for May 19, 2004
Games digest for May 4, 2004
Games digest for May 4, 2004
Games digest, April 14, 2004
Games digest, April 14, 2004
Games digest, Mar. 31, 2004
Games digest, Mar. 31, 2004
Games digest, Mar. 17, 2004
Games digest, Mar. 17, 2004
Games digest, Mar. 3, 2004
Games digest, Mar. 3, 2004
Games digest, Feb. 18, 2004
Games digest, Feb. 18, 2004
Wisconsin to host 2004 ESPN Great Outdoor Games
Madison, Wisc.: Perfect place for the Games
Madison, Wisc.: Perfect place for the Games
Wisconsin and the Games: A long history
Wisconsin to host 2004 ESPN Great Outdoor Games
Talking 'bout Madison
Wisconsin to host 2004 ESPN Great Outdoor Games
Wisconsin to host 2004 ESPN Great Outdoor Games
Wisconsin to host 2004 ESPN Great Outdoor Games
