The Slice: And the silver medal goes to …

Last Saturday, The Slice wondered who was the second-most famous person closely associated with Spokane.

No. 1, most might agree, would be Bing Crosby.

Slice readers had a few ideas about who would be No. 2.

Jan Hubbard, Marilyn Othmer and others suggested the late opera star Patrice Munsel.

Bill Stimson nominated writer Pat McManus. “Years ago my wife and I were in a bookstore in Annapolis, Maryland, and I said ‘Hey, look at this huge display of Pat’s books!’ The store owner overheard and rushed over to us, saying ‘You know Patrick F. McManus! What’s he like?’ Try it in any bookstore. Beyond Spokane, McManus is considered the Mark Twain of the Northwest.”

Bob Hyslop and Nancy Chevigny-Dahlke suggested homegrown track star Gerry Lindgren.

“Spokane has always been known as a runner’s town,” wrote Hyslop. “It is because of Gerry Lindgren.”

Hyslop remembers watching a high-profile U.S./U.S.S.R. meet in Los Angeles in 1964. “When he ran in the 10,000 meters in Los Angeles we all were on the edge of our seats and rallied around him and his victory. He was representing Spokane and we all knew how he did it – through super hard work and dedication. It was simply tremendous.”

Marje Peterson put forward the name of actor Craig T. Nelson.

Gary Roberto said No. 2 might be James Glover, often referred to as “the father of Spokane.”

Thomas Kinsella made a good case for legendary jazz singer Mildred Bailey.

Peggy Smith endorsed operatic singer Thomas Hampson.

Lynda Post suggested astronaut Michael P. Anderson.

Pam Jamieson Yarwood said you couldn’t go wrong with basketball coach Jud Heathcote, writer Sherman Alexie or actress Patty Duke.

Elaine Gotfredson mentioned Chad Mitchell of the Chad Mitchell Trio, basketball player John Stockton, and politician Tom Foley.

Others submitted the names of actress, comedian and author Julia Sweeney, football player Mark Rypien and baseball player Ryne Sandberg.

The list goes on.

And then there were nominations that could only be described as unconventional.

“Rachel Dolezal,” wrote Melody Faris. “Or is saying so too mean? I don’t want to be mean.”

Charley McKetta suggested someone you might not know. “My nominee is little remembered here, but had a worldwide influence on the quality of the human environment. George Nakashima was a Spokane born (1905) architect/designer on Frank Lloyd Wright’s design team in the 1930s–1940s. He combined Japanese woodworking with Amish simplicity to start a furniture style now known as mid-century modern.”

So who should be No. 2? As my mother used to say, we don’t have to decide this today.

Today’s Slice question (fill in the blank): I stopped watching local TV news when ( _______ ) left.

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Lots of Slice readers are old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.