41.7994° N, 87.4912° W

MADISON

Most Famous People Born in Madison, United States

Notable people
567
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1950
Most distinctive
Skater 9.5×
Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Madison during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 80 notable births.

What Madison Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Madison's biggest profession — 13% of all notables (73).

Madison over-indexes on skater — 9.5× the global rate.

Madison under-produces writer — only 0.7× the global rate.

  1. Politician73
  2. Football54
  3. Actor36
  4. Baseball33
  5. Lawyer28
  6. Hockey26
  7. Basket21
  8. Business14
  1. Skater139.5×
  2. Baseball335.1×
  3. Hockey263.9×
  4. Basket212.9×
  5. Lawyer282.8×
  6. Novelist62.7×
  7. Physicist62.5×
  8. Business142.5×
  1. Writer130.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Madison's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Science
  • Music
  • Writing
  • Other
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Showing 31 of 567 notable people

0012 POET

Robert Bly

Born 1926

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0030 BASEBALL

Don Newcombe

1926 - 2019

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0079 COMPOSER

Lee Hoiby

1926 - 2011

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0127 OFFICER

Robert A. Rushworth

1924 - 1993

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0172 BOTANIST

Estella Leopold

Born 1927

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0179 POLITICIAN

Leonard G. Wolf

1925 - 1970

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0194 SAXOPHONIST

Floyd "Candy" Johnson

1922 - 1981

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0197 BASKET

Paul Cloyd

1920 - 2005

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0275 ART HISTORIAN

Howard Hibbard

1928 - 1984

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0291 PHYSICIAN

Jay P. Sanford

1928 - 1996

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0304 SENATE

Fred Risser

Born 1927

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0314 DANCER

D. Ray White

1927 - 1985

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0323 COACH

Shirley Wilson

Born 1925

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0340 COACH

Jim Myers

1921 - 2014

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0370 LAWYER

Donald James Porter

1921 - 2003

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0378 OFFICER

Donald S. Jones

1928 - 2004

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0433 LAWYER

Aubrey Eugene Robinson Jr.

1922 - 2000

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0437 TRADE UNION

George Becker (labor leader)

1928 - 2007

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0439 MILITAR

Samuel S. Coursen

1926 - 1950

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0446 FOOTBALL

Clarence Esser

1925 - 2009

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0456 POLITICIAN

Scott Kelly (politician)

1927 - 2005

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0457 BUSINESS

John Geisse

1920 - 1992

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0468 BASKET

Ted Scalissi

1921 - 1987

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0480 SURGEON

Henry D. Messer

1927 - 2014

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0487 POLITICIAN

Jay P. Rolison Jr.

1929 - 2007

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0500 OFFICER

Norma Elaine Brown

1926 - 2003

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0510 BASEBALL

Phyllis Koehn

1922 - 2007

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0520 OFFICER

John R. Burke

1924 - 1993

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0522 FOOTBALL

Bob Stefik

1923 - 2008

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0527 POLITICIAN

Robert Watson Landry

1922 - 2017

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0534 ACTIVIST

Gertrude Newsome Jackson

1923 - 2019

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