The Olympics arrive with the US a favorite, rekindling fond memories of 1980's 'Miracle on Ice'

From the coffee shops and bars to the local grocery stores, the neighbors know all about Mike Eruzione, Buzz Schneider and John Harrington for their roles in one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports.

They are long since retired, now more focused on their golf games than their legacies. But with the Americans among the favorites to win gold for the first time since 1980, they and their teammates know they will the subject of beloved remembrances across the country even if the young men on the ice know more about the “Miracle on Ice” from a movie than real life.

“It’s been a great run,” Eruzione said. “And it’s going to continue.”

Eruzione and other members of the gold-medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic team recently received Congressional Gold Medals, and their legend only grows with time. They are in their 60s and 70s now, long removed from beating the Soviet Union and then gold in Lake Placid, New York, 46 years ago and yet their names are still spoken with reverence because the accomplishment in the middle of the Cold War transcended hockey.

“What’s amazing to me is we still carry this aura,” Rob McClanahan said. “It blows me away what continues to exist."

When Eruzione, McClanahan and the other surviving players get together at an event, a wedding or when their group chat lights up, the conversation is rarely, if ever, about the tournament that made them famous.

“We talk about whose golf game sucks, who’s a sandbagger, who’s fat, who s bald, who’s divorced: stupid, immature stuff,” Eruzione said. “Forty-five years seems like a long time ago, but when we’re together, sometimes it seems like it was yesterday.”

Bill Baker was 23 when he scored the tying goal against against Sweden. Eruzione was 25 when he scored the go-ahead goal against the heavily favored Soviets. McClanahan had turned 22 five weeks before scoring the game-winner against Finland that sealed gold.

In some ways, they are still kids.

“Everybody dumps on everybody, just like you were back 45 years ago: Nothing’s really changed, and everybody’s pretty much the same guy,” said Schneider, the oldest of the bunch, born a month before Eruzione. “Locker room banter is what it is. And it’s great fraternity."

Schneider recalled Jack O'Callahan once saying that no one else really knew what the players on that team went through, and that shared experience is a bond that still connects them. Decades later, numerous players unprompted share the same recollection about when they realized winning was a point of national pride.

That was a visit to the White House to see President Jimmy Carter.

“There’s 3,000 people waiting in the airport,” O'Callahan said in a video interview promoting the new documentary, “Miracle: The Boys of ’80" produced by Netlfix. “We fly to D.C., people have pulled off the highway as the buses are coming into the district — thousands. We get into the district, it’s mayhem, a madhouse, media, people, hanging Russians in effigy. Crazy, right?”

Each February in the years that followed, O'Callahan's phone would ring as the anniversary approached. He and some of his teammates played in the NHL, while others moved on to jobs outside hockey.

“It was always kind of in the background,” O'Callahan said. “People would talk about it. Even when I was playing in Chicago and New Jersey, people would talk to me as much about that as anything.”

Nearly a quarter-century after the flag-waving celebration and Al Michaels' iconic call, “Do you believe in Miracles? Yes!” came a cinematic rebirth. Disney released the feature film “Miracle” in 2004, with Kurt Russell starring as the late coach Herb Brooks.

“The movie resurrected Mike Eruzione’s career as a speaker," McClanahan said. “The movie does a great service to what we did. I think it made Herb look a little softer than he was in reality, but the message is great.”

Schneider, whose son Billy portrayed him, said, “That movie gave us another generation of fans.”

Some of those new fans are wearing “USA” on their jerseys at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Defenseman Noah Hanifin still remembers his parents taking him to the theater to see it when he was 7.

“It had a huge impact on USA Hockey and the youth of the country kind of wanting to play the game,” Hanifin said.

Current U.S. coach Mike Sullivan turned 12 a few days after the “Miracle on Ice." Sullivan has some connections from his time playing college hockey at Boston University, and now his players who weren't born yet have gotten to know the guys from 1980 through visits from players like Eruzione and McClanahan during the 4 Nations Face-Off last year in Montreal.

“When Mike Eruzione came and had dinner with us last year, when he was speaking, the guys were so locked in on him,” U.S. general manager Bill Guerin said. “They’re connected to it, just in a different way. But it’s still something that means something to them.”

The Netflix documentary took players back to Lake Placid to reminisce at the scene of their great triumph. A gala raising money for a cause in Mark Pavelich's memory in October and a return to the White House to receive Congressional Gold Medals from President Donald Trump in December bring them together — and more gatherings are in the offing.

“It’s amazing how it’s flown by,” Harrington said. “It’s crazy to think back that it was that long.”

In daily life, it comes up in passing. McClanahan isn't followed around by paparazzi, but he gets recognized on occasion, as do his old teammates.

“People know who I am around here, but they’re very nice to me,” said Schneider, who now calls Shoreview, Minnesota, home. “They talk a little bit and stuff, but I’m not hounded or anything like that and I just fit right in."

Schneider remembers Pavelich wondering about all the attention by saying, “We just played well for 15 days.” In the thousands of days since, the lore has only grown tenfold.

“As time has gone on, it’s become even bigger,” O'Callahan said. “The putt that I made is a lot longer in memory than it was in reality.”

Whenever the U.S., now a global hockey powerhouse and no longer an underdog, wins gold at the Olympics again, those players will join their counterparts from 1980 in the history books. But the mismatch on the ice and everything the “Miracle on Ice” meant to people who had never watched the sport will keep them on a different level.

“I’m very humbled by it, and I am very proud that I can represent my country and us guys acted like good citizens,” Schneider said. “They did books on us, they did two movies, red carpets, Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, now the Netflix thing. We can’t complain. It’s been pretty special.”

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

FILE - In this Feb. 22, 1980, file photo, an American flag and Soviet team banner are shown above the hockey rink where the the United States and Soviets played a medal round hockey match at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this Feb. 22, 1980, file photo, U.S. hockey players Mark Johnson, left and Bill Baker, right, battle Soviet Union's Vladimir Petrov (16) for the puck during a medal round match at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this Feb. 22, 1980, file photo, the U.S. ice hockey team rushes toward goalie Jim Craig after their 4-3 upset win over the Soviet Union in a medal round match at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this Feb. 22, 1980, file photo, the U.S. hockey team pounces on goalie Jim Craig after a 4-3 victory against the Soviet Union in a medal round match at the the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/File)

PHOENIX (AP) — Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw and the 1996 U.S. Olympic women's basketball team will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.

Parker, Holdsclaw and members of the 1996 Olympic team were all in attendance as well as Amar’e Stoudemire and Mike D’Antoni.

They will be joined by longtime NBA official Joey Crawford, NBA coach Doc Rivers and Gonzaga coach Mark Few.

The group was announced at halftime of the women's Final Four with many members in attendance.

Parker won three titles in the WNBA with three teams: Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas. She's the only player in league history to win both the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season.

She also won two titles while playing in college for Tennessee under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, two Olympic gold medals and two WNBA MVP awards.

Delle Donne won two league MVP awards in 2015 and 2019, the second of which came when she led the Washington Mystics to their lone WNBA championship. Delle Donne became the first player in league history to shoot over 50% from the field, 40% from behind the 3-point line and 90% from the free throw line.

Holdsclaw won three straight titles at Tennessee from 1996-98, the first team to accomplish that. The 1998 championship was Tennessee’s first undefeated season at 39–0 and the Vols also set an NCAA record for the most wins in a season. Holdsclaw went on to an 11-year WNBA career.

Stoudemire, who was the only NBA player in this year's class, was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2003 and six-time All-Star. He spent the first eight years of his career with the Phoenix Suns, where he teamed with D'Antoni.

Rivers got nearly 1,200 victories on his resume which puts him eighth on the all-time wins list. He led the Boston Celtics to the NBA championship in 2008 and was also in charge of the Los Angeles Clippers during their Lob City era.

Few has won over 770 games at Gonzaga in his career at the school. He set the NCAA Division I men's coaching record by winning 81 games in his first three years at the school.

Crawford officiated 2,561 regular-season NBA games and 50 Finals games over his 39-year career. He retired in 2016.

The enshrinement ceremony will take place in August at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

FILE - Tennessee's Candace Parker (3) passes around North Carolina's La'Tangela Atkinson in the first half of the NCAA college basketball tournament regional final, Tuesday, March 28, 2006, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta, File)