Who is the most famous person BORN in your state?

[BaneSidhe]

I’d like to add from WV:

Brad Paisley [Moundsville]
“Little” Jimmy Dickens [Bolt]
Kathy Mattea [Cross Lanes]
Frankie Yankovic [Davis]
Jennifer Garner [Charleston]

[Sami41]

@Little_Nemo

New Mexico is a tough one. Possibilities include Jeff Bezos, John Denver, Geronimo, Neil Patrick Harris, Ronnie Lott, Bill Mauldin, Demi Moore, and Al Unser - but nobody who seems to really stand out above the others.

My first thought was Billy The Kid, but I guess that’s still under debate.

Also Clyde Tombough (discovered Pluto) and Harrison Schmidt (astronaut turned politician). Politically speaking, there’s Bill Richardson who was Clinton’s Secretary of Energy and a one time Presidential candidate.

[Runs_With_Scissors]

I’ll go with Matt Groening for Oregon.

Runners up:

Beverly Cleary
Raymond Carver
Brent Musberger
Sally Struthers
Linus Pauling

If we ever have an “infamous” thread, I suppose Tonya Harding would top the list.

[Spoke]

@Colibri

Worldwide, most people don’t follow basketball either. So I’d take the bet that it would be FDR.

Basketball is popular worldwide, and Michael Jordan is the most famous basketball player in the world.

And you don’t have to follow basketball to know who Michael Jordan is. I don’t follow golf, and I know who Tiger Woods is, just via media saturation.

The question is about “fame,” not about importance or historical significance.

[Oakminster]

@Arnold_Winkelried

Do people think that he deserves to supplant Bill Clinton?

Pfui to Clinton. Bear Bryant was from Arkansas.

[Spoke]

@Oakminster

Pfui to Clinton. Bear Bryant was from Arkansas.

Yeah, but you have to think globally. Bryant is unknown outside the US.

[PeskiPiksi]

@Runs_With_Scissors

If we ever have an “infamous” thread, I suppose Tonya Harding would top the list.

Yeah, I’ll move Oral Roberts to that list as Oklahoma’s entry.

[Rand_Rover]

@StusBlues

Kentucky / Abraham Lincoln – or possibly Muhammad Ali worldwide

Hmm, I live in Illinois (i.e., the “Land of Lincoln”) and was going to say “Abraham Lincoln,” then saw this and googled it up and sure enough.

So, I got nothin’.

[Harmonious_Discord]

Edward Theodore Gein - Wisconsin

[FrancisCastle]

Oohhh notorious people? We’ve got plenty of those!! Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer and Kato Kaelin.

Damn, beat me by two minutes!

[Little_Nemo]

@Spoke

That’s great for people who know about history. But let’s face it: most people don’t.

We’re talking about the Second World War. You’d have to be pretty ignorant not to know that much history.

[Harmonious_Discord]

Orson Welles - Wisconsin

[Little_Nemo]

@Sami41

My first thought was Billy The Kid, but I guess that’s still under debate.

Same problem with Cochise. He may have been born in New Mexico. But his birthplace might have been Arizona or Sonora.

[Little_Nemo]

@BaneSidhe

I’d like to add from WV:

Brad Paisley [Moundsville]
“Little” Jimmy Dickens [Bolt]
Kathy Mattea [Cross Lanes]
Frankie Yankovic [Davis]
Jennifer Garner [Charleston]

And Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, although his birthplace (Clarksburg) was still in Virginia at the time he was born.

[Colibri]

@Spoke

Basketball is popular worldwide, and Michael Jordan is the most famous basketball player in the world.

If he were a soccer player I might agree with you. But basketball isn’t that popular in a lot of the world.

If you’ve ever had even a sketchy class in world or 20th century history you’ve heard of FDR. Sorry, people may be ignorant of history, but not that ignorant.

[Little_Nemo]

@Clothahump

Texas has Dwight Eisenhower. Sadly, we also have Lyndon Johnson.

We also have Farrah Fawcett, Janis Joplin and Buddy Holly. Sadly, we also have Willy Nelson.

And Texas has Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Beyonce Knowles. Sadly, you also have Anna Nicole Smith.

[CrazyCatLady]

@missred

My adopted home state of Tennessee is a bit harder. Most famous Tennesseans, historical or current, tend to have been born elsewhere. But for the extra points, Minnie Pearl (aka Sarah Cannon or Mrs. Henry Cannon) from Centerville, who became famous performing on the Grand Ol’ Opry.

There’s also the inimitable Dolly Parton, who was born and grew up in Sevierville.

In Kentucky, we have the already-mentioned Honest Abe and Cassius Clay, but in more recent fame we also have Johnny Depp. Depp was, in fact, born in my hometown, which means he was either born in the same hospital as me or in the one half a block from my grandparents’ house. Ditto Darryl Waltrip, who admittedly is the least famous person on the list.

[Spoke]

@CrazyCatLady

In Kentucky, we have the already-mentioned Honest Abe and Cassius Clay, but in more recent fame we also have Johnny Depp.

And I’m betting Depp is more famous than Lincoln worldwide.

[Spoke]

@Colibri

If he were a soccer player I might agree with you. But basketball isn’t that popular in a lot of the world.

Basketball is hugely popular. Not at the level of soccer, but it is popular WORLDWIDE. (Maybe you’re not aware of that? It’s why the Dream Team -featuring Michael Jordan- was such a big deal at the Olympics. It’s why there are so many foreign players in the NBA.)

Ask, say, a 30-year old in Brazil or the Sudan or Turkey if they’ve heard of FDR. Then ask if they’ve heard of Michael Jordan. I think you might be surprised.

[BigT]

@Arnold_Winkelried

For Arkansas, I can’t believe no one said Bill Clinton! I chose him over Johnny Cash because Bill Clinton is more closely associated with the state, for an almost equal amount of fame.

He was who I was going to pick.