Famous Sports People from Your Town

[REDophile2]

Me (Santa Barbara, Cali):

- Todd Rogers (Olympic gold- medal-winning volleyball player)
- Brook Billings (USA Olympic volleyball player)
- Randall Cunningham (NFL QB, most notably with the Vikings in '98)
- Alex Mack (Browns C), I went to high school with the guy, graduated in the same class
- Bradlee van Pelt (back-up or third-string QB for the Broncos a few years back)
- Don Ford (UCLA and Lakers forward)
- Jamaal Wilkes (teammate of ^ at UCLA and the Lakers)
- Ben Howland (UCLA basketball coach), went to h.s. there freshman year than moved back and played at our community college
- Taylor Rochestie (Washington State basketball)
- Eddie Mathews (Hall-of-fame third-baseman with 500+ homers), his h.s. ballpark is named after him
- Jesse Orosco (all-time MLB leader in games pitched)
- Ryan Spilborghs (Rockies OF)
- Virgil Vasquez (Pirates pitcher), was my friend's babysitter
- Ryan Church (Braves OF), err he's from Lompoc, just north of town

Any of yours?

 

[Jimbo]

Rick Upchurch - Bronco's

Nate Washington - Steeler's / Titians

Big Ben is from Findlay Ohio, 40 minutes down the road.

There have been a LOT of major league guys that have played in Toledo, but they are not FROM Toledo, Ohio.

Chad Billingsly - Dodgers Pitcher is from Defiance Ohio, 30 minutes away.

Jim Leyland is from the suburbs of Toledo, Perrysburg, Ohio

Jerry Glanville also from Perrysburg


Urban Meyer (born Toledo, lived on E. Rowland Rd., Ashtabula (OH) St. John's HS) (Cincinnati) (Head Coach Bowling Green 2001-02,
Utah 2003-04, Coach of the Year 2004, Florida 2005-present, National champions 2006, 2008)

Jon Gruden is from the area, Sandusky, Ohio

Orlando Pace also from Sandusky

Myron Bell - Steelers

Jeremy Lincoln - Tennessee - Bears
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Others, some may know.
Fred Davis - USC - Redskins

Rob Chudzinski - Miami, Fl.

Chuck Webb - Tennessee
Len Matusak Phillies
Jim Joyce - MLB Umpire
Bill Laskey - Giants, Indians
Rufus Mays - Bears
Mel Long - Browns
John Harbaugh - Ravens
Brad Hennessey - Giants
Rob Lytle - Michigan , Bronco's ... 1 players to score a TD in the Rose Bowl and the Super Bowl

 

[The Insider]

Not sure about ones born here, but we have a huge number who live here. Biggest being Tiger woods who lives about 10mins from me.

 

[Ramy]

Me (Ashland, KY)

Brandon Webb (Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher)
Charlie Reliford (MLB umpire)
Drew Hall (Texas Rangers pitcher)
Greg Gibson (MLB Umpire)

Also real close to where I live are:
Don Gullett (Greenup, KY) (Pitcher for Reds and Yankees)

 

[Claude Greiner]

I used to play little league with Prince Fielder. Man that kid was fat, but could really hit the ball back then!

His dad used to come to the games, but got tired of being pestered for his autograph every 5 minutes!

 

[wlwgampa]

Not in my town, but in our county, we have baseball Hall of Famer Nellie Fox from the White Sox, and Tom Brookens from the Tigers.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Carl Pavano
Rob Dibble

 

[hancox]

Mike Gminski is from my town. Played for Dook, though, so I spit on him

 

[Jimmy 440]

James Van Riemsdyk of the Philadelphia Flyers . Middletown NJ.

 

[HD MM]

Cleveland, Ohio

Just a few from glorious Cleveland, Ohio and nearby subhurbs....

Jesse Owens- Track
Bo Schembechler- College Coach
John Heisman- Player/Coach. College Football's prestigious trophy is named after him.
Jim Tressel- tOSU Coach
Don Shula- NFL Coach
LeBron James- NBA
Larry Csonka- NFL
Don King- Boxing
Ben Curtis- PGA
Rollie Fingers- MLB
Chuck Noll- NFL Coach
Bernie Kosar- NFL
Jack Lambert- NFL
Ray "boom boom" Mancini- Boxing
LeCharles Bentley- former NFL OT
Bob Golic- NFL/ Actor
Mike Golic- NFL/ Radio
Chris Chambers- NFL
Anthony Gonzalez- NFL
James Posey- NBA
Ted Ginn Jr.- NFL
Desmond Howard- College/NFL
Troy Smith- NFL
Paul Warfield- NFL
Mario Manningham- NFL

 

[AntAltMike]

Olympic swimmer Jenny Thompson lived in Dover, New Hampshire and calls it her hometown, but she wasn't born there.

 

[iammike]

Here's a few that I know are from Roanoke:

Tiki and Ronde Barber (N.Y. Giants and Tampa Bay Bucs)
J.J. Reddick (Orlando Magic)
Lee Suggs (Cleveland Browns)

 

[geonaz]

Tommy Lasorda
Mike Piazza
Horace Ashenfelter - 1952 Olympic Steeplechase Gold Medal Winner and neighbor.
Geonaz - Oh wait, that's me. I can dream can't I?

 

[Pete K]

Athens, Ga:

From here:

Brian McCann-MLB
Dunta Robinson-NFL
Chuck Smith-NFL
Fran Tarkenton-NFL
Jake Westbrook-MLB

Played here:

Shandon Anderson- NBA
Boss Bailey- NFL
Champ Bailey- NFL
Chip Beck- PGA
Gordon Beckham- MLB
Kendrell Bell- NFL
Kim Black- Olympic swimmer
Kara Braxton- WNBA
Reggie Brown- NFL
Quincy Carter- NFL
Lisa Coole- swimmer
Terrell Davis- NFL
Pat Dye- Coach/AD
Teresa Edwards- WNBA
Vern Fleming- NBA
La'Keshia Frett- WNBA
Vicki Goetze- LPGA
Bill Goldberg- wrestler
Charles Grant- NFL
David Greene- NFL
Forrest Griffin- Martial arts
Len Hauss - NFL
Verron Haynes- NFL
Jarvis Hayes- NBA
Garrison Hearst- NFL
Terry Hoage- NFL
Reese Hoffa, shot putter ranked #1 in the world
Buckshot Jones- NASCAR
Jeff Keppinger- MLB
Alec Kessler- NBA
Kristy Kowal- Olympic swimmer
Franklin Langham- PGA
Tommy Lyons- NFL
Randy McMichael- NFL
Reid Patterson - Olympic swimmer
Mikael Pernfors- Tennis
Billy Payne- 1996 Olympic organizer
David Pollack- NFL
Larry Rakestraw - NFL
John Rauch, NFL/Coach
Nolen Richardson - MLB
Freddy Sale - MLB
Theron Sapp- NFL
Richard Seymour- NFL
D.J. Shockley- NFL
Frank Sinkwich- Heisman Trophy winner
Matt Stinchcomb- NFL
Jon Stinchcomb- NFL
Sheila Taormina, Olympic gold medalist
Fran Tarkenton-NFL (see "from here")
Christi Thomas- WNBA
Odell Thurman- NFL
Charley Trippi- NFL
Herschel Walker- NFL/ Heisman Trophy winner.
Hines Ward- NFL
Bubba Watson- PGA
Jermaine Wiggins- NFL
Dominique Wilkins- NBA
Damien Wilkins- NBA

 

[salsadancer7]

I have lived in so many places....I will ONLY go with those that were born in the same city I was born...San Juan, Puerto Rico(and surrounding towns within a 10 mile radius....in Puerto Rico, the don't have counties).

These are the baseball players:

Roberto Clemente .....probably the greatest latin baseball player of all time.
Carlos Baerga ...former pro baseball player
Ivan DeJesus...former pro baseball player
Mike Lowell....present day Red Sox
The Molina brothers....Benji, Jose and Yadir...present day pro baseball players
Luis Rodriguez Olmo....great uncle and former Brooklin Dodger. Probably, the BEST Puerto Rican player before Clemente to play in the Majors.
Jorge Posada...current Yankee
Ruben Sierra ......former pro baseball player
Bernie Williams... former Yankee

Other athletes:

Chi Chi Rodriguez....golfer
Angel "Junior" Cordero....hall of fame jockey
Gi Gi Fernandez....former pro tennis player
Hector "Macho" Camacho...former multiple world champ boxer
Felix "Tito" Trinidad .....former multiple world boxing champ


If we were to go out another 5 mile radius...it would be bigger....!

 

[Jimmy 440]

Vince Lombardi is burried in one of our local cemetaries.Does that count ?

 

[dfergie]

Regionally...
Brian Erlacher
Nancy Lopez

Local town
Shane Andrews
Gary Tucker (RCA Bull Rider)
a couple others that escape me right now...

 

[Will94]

I was born and raised in Beaumont, TX.

Babe Zaharias
Kevin Millar (played college baseball at Lamar in Beaumont)
Jerry Ball
Bubba Smith
Frank Robinson (born in Beaumont)

 

[yaz96]

Goose Gossage - MLB
Jill Trenary - Olympic skater
Vincent Jackson - NFL
Roc Alexander - NFL
Bob Sapp - Kickboxer
Jack Dempsey - from south of here

lots call this home, but not many FROM here

oh yeah, Elvira is from here also!!

 

[hallrk]

Vince Lombardi is burried in one of our local cemetaries.Does that count ?

That's what I would call a permanent resident.

I'm originally from a very small town in Kentucky,Cumberland. No one really famous on a national scene. UK had a starting QB from there named Freddie Maggard back in the late 80's I think. He was probably the best athlete to ever come out of there.