With his place in cycling history now set in stone thanks to a rousing victory in the Tour de France, American cyclist Floyd Landis is hoping his big win will be enough to fulfill a dream he had since he was a boy growing up on his parents’ Mennonite farm in rural Pennsylvania.

            “As exciting as it was to win the Tour de France,” said Landis, “it will mean nothing if I don’t get elected into the Mennonite Sports Hall of Fame. That has always been my dream and it’s the dream of any Mennonite athlete, and it would mean so much to me to be able to stand alongside the best of the best.”

            The Mennonite Sports Hall of Fame, located on the second floor of a barn in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a “who’s who” of outstanding Mennonite athletes. All the greats are there. Samuel Stoltzfus, the legendary cow milker, who once milked a world record 25 gallons of milk from 19 different cows in less than two minutes; Daniel Hofstetter, the running star, who was undefeated racing farm animals until a tragic steer trampling incident killed him in 1988; Eli Lapp, the boxer known as the “Mennonite Mauler,” who legend says could kill a horse with one punch; and Rebecca Beiler, the greatest female Mennonite athlete of all-time, who was briefly ex-communicated from the church for racing an elder to church while wearing an ankle-revealing skirt.

            “I remember seeing Lapp box,” said Landis. “He is what made me want to be an athlete. And trust me, it’s not an old wives’ tale about him being able to kill a horse. I saw him do it. My sister got kicked once while trying to shoe a horse and old Eli walked right over and dropped it with a single uppercut to the neck. The horse didn’t whinny or anything. It just fell dead in a huge heap. Of course, that left my family destitute for a time because that was our only horse and we used him for a lot of plowing, but it didn’t make me want to be an athlete any less.”

            Landis will learn his fate in regards to induction when the Hall’s board of directors meets for their annual vote in late August. The Hall admits only one athlete per year, and Landis is facing tough competition with champion cow-chip hurler Amos Fisher also on the ballot.

            “I’d love to get in, but I know this might not be my time. Amos can really throw a cow-chip. I’ve seen him throw one all the way over the Kleinfesser’s barn and silo, if you can believe that,” said Landis. “So I’ll be surprised if I make it in before him. Someday, though, I hope.”