The 21 Great Sports Quotes You’ll Find at Loveland’s Sports Station

Loveland's Sports Station restaurant/bar has been in Downtown for years. The amount of softball teams that have come in after games must reach into the hundreds.

Within the walls of the old building, which used to be the town's actual depot, they have quotes from sporting professionals. They're scattered about, here and there, to entertain and inspire you while you grab a bite to eat or just a beer.

The quotes come from baseball, basketball, football, golf, and tennis. No bowlers. Not that professional bowlers haven't said notable things, it's just that these are the major sports in America. Players and coaches get their say on the Sports Station's walls.

My first job, actually, was at Sports Station, back in the mid-1980's when it was known as The Depot. During my interview, a train went by and shook a lot of plates downstairs in the office area. I said, "I guess that's why the call it The Depot..." I started that week.

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It's a great idea to have these quotes up at a sports bar; you don't see this much. Let's take a look at these 21 notable quotes.

Highlights from Joe Montana’s 15 seasons (between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs) include him throwing for 40, 551 yards, and 273 touchdowns. He won three Super Bowls, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

Pippen is most-notable for playing for the Chicago Bulls from 1987-1998, alongside Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman. Pippen won six NBA Championships with the Bulls. Both the Central Arkansas Bears and the Chicago Bulls have retired Pippen’s #33 jersey.

Among other coaching achievements, Ralph ‘Shug’ Jordan was the Head Football Coach for Auburn from 1951-1975, going undefeated (10-1) in the 1957 season and holding the record as the coach with the most wins in Auburn history. The Tigers play at Jordan-Hare Stadium, named partly after Coach Shug.

Williams played 19 years for the Boston Red Sox, and is regarded as one of the best players of the game and the greatest hitter ever in baseball. He holds many records including the MLB’s on-base percentage record: .482. The Red Sox retired William’s number (9) in 1984.

The iconic Jordan (MJ) often tells the story on how, as a sophomore, he was cut from his high school’s varsity team.

Sandy Koufax, one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball, pitched for the Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. In 1972, at the age of 36, Koufax became the youngest player elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Hank Aaron, The Hammer, did indeed do a lot of swinging in his 23 years in Major League Baseball. He hit 755 home runs, which broke Babe Ruth’s record, and is one of only two players to ever hit more that 30 home runs in a season at least 15 times. Aaron was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1982.

Riley was Head Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers from 1981-1990. It was during the 1989-1990 season, after winning back-to-back NBA Championships that Riley registered and trademarked the phrase, ‘Three-Peat.’ Though committed to the phrase, the team did not win that third NBA Championship to ‘Three-Peat’ after all.

Chuck Noll was the Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1969 to 1991. His tenure included winning four Super Bowls. Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Jack Lambert and Mike Webster are notable players that Noll coached.

Earvin Johnson, ‘Magic,’ was one of the best point guards to ever play in the NBA during his 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. He helped the Lakers win five NBA Championships, and is a 12-time NBA All-Star. Both Michigan State and the Lakers have retired the numbers that Johnson wore.

John ‘Long John’ Daly certainly has his own style of play. He’s noted as being the first PGA player to average 300 yards per drive over a full season. In 2021, Daly released a song: “I Hit It Hard.”

Coach Holtz is the only NCAA College Football Coach to lead six different football programs to bowl games (including Notre Dame going 12-0 and winning the Fiesta Bowl in 1988) and the only coach to lead four different programs into the final top 20 rankings. Holtz was a longtime commentator for ESPN.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points. He won six NBA Championships while he played 19 seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. He won many, many accolades as a defensive player. His number has been retired from UCLA, the Bucks, and the Lakers.

Arnold Palmer, ‘The King,’ was one of golf’s first superstars when matches began being televised in the 1950’s. Palmer played for six decades and won 62 PGA Tour titles, and was one of the very first 13 players inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. The Arnold Palmer drink, sold by AriZona drinks today, takes in about $100 million in sales every year.

Get into Sports Station and see if you can find all of these quotes.