40.3596° N, 82.2875° W
SPRINGFIELD
Most Famous People Born in Springfield, United States
- Notable people
- 936
- Peak decade
- 1950s
- Median birth year
- 1933
- Most distinctive
- Baseball 9.5×
There are several Springfields in this dataset and they blur together statistically, which is the point - the 9.5× Baseball over-index is small-town America's pre-television obsession crystallized, the era when every Midwestern Springfield fielded a semi-pro team and a few of those kids made the Cardinals or Reds. The 2.6× Lawyer ratio is the Lincoln-era Springfield, IL signal still echoing through the data.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Springfield during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 90 notable births.
What Springfield Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Politician is Springfield's biggest profession — 13% of all notables (124).
Springfield over-indexes on baseball — 9.5× the global rate.
Springfield under-produces football — only 0.7× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Springfield's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Music
- Writing
- Science
- Other
- Filtered to 1920s Clear ×
Timothy Leary
1920 - 1996
Virginia E. Johnson
1925 - 2013
Herbert Blomstedt
Born 1927
Joe Morello
1928 - 2011
June Christy
1925 - 1990
Robin Roberts (baseball)
1926 - 2010
Ernest Becker
1924 - 1974
George S. Irving
1922 - 2016
Martin Malia
1924 - 2004
Jim Lowe
1927 - 2016
Eddie Fontaine
1927 - 1992
Paul Leder
1926 - 1996
Angelo Bertelli
1921 - 1999
Speedy West
1924 - 2003
John E. Franz
Born 1929
Adele Addison
Born 1925
Theodore Shackley
1927 - 2002
Gene Winfield
Born 1927
Sam Hunter
1923 - 2014
Arvonne Fraser
1925 - 2018
Georgia Davis Powers
1923 - 2016
Howard Clinebell
1922 - 2005
Saul David (producer)
1921 - 1996
Ray Ramsey
1921 - 2009
Richard W. Mallary
1929 - 2011
Edward C. Taylor
1923 - 2017
Lowell North
1929 - 2019
James A. Redden
1929 - 2020
Coleman Dowell
1925 - 1985
Dale Long
1926 - 1991
Lou Papan
1928 - 2007
George Keymas
1925 - 2008
Norbert Dorsey
1929 - 2013
James L. Oakes
1924 - 2007
Frank O'Neal
1921 - 1986
William Luers
Born 1929
Joseph F. Holt
1924 - 1997
Claude Fredericks
1923 - 2013
Herbert E. Douglass
1927 - 2014
Brooks Lawrence
1925 - 2000
Marjorie Hughes
Born 1925
Chuck Niles
1927 - 2004
John R. Gibson
1925 - 2014
Norm Dussault
1925 - 2012
Paul Walker (American football)
1925 - 1972
Roy Smalley Jr.
1926 - 2011
Lillian Gallo
1928 - 2012
Virginia Hunter
1920 - 2012
Harlington Wood Jr.
1920 - 2008
Paul LaPalme
1923 - 2010
Porky Cohen
1924 - 2004
James R. Ward
1921 - 1941
Donald W. Davis
1921 - 2010
Dick Teed
1926 - 2014
William C. Heiss
Born 1923
Robert C. Henry
1921 - 1981
Frank E. Maestrone
1922 - 2007
Frank Harlan Freedman
1924 - 2003
Roy Wise (baseball)
1923 - 2008
Jewel Freeman Graham
1925 - 2015
Alice Hohlmayer
1925 - 2017
Paul Busiek
1923 - 2016
Boots Faye
1923 - 1999
Hugh Montgomery (diplomat)
1923 - 2017
Nancy Warren (baseball)
1921 - 2001
William W. Gullett
1922 - 2015
Ted Gray (politician)
Born 1927
Helen Westerman
1926 - 2006
Philip I. Marcus
1927 - 2013
Rose Folder
1926 - 2014
Betty Ann Keegan
1920 - 1974
Betty Wanless
1928 - 1995
Agnes Scanlon
1923 - 2018
Orvis Sigler
1922 - 2016
James T. Londrigan
1925 - 2019
Frank Quinn (pitcher)
1927 - 1993
Ellen M. Bozman
1925 - 2009
Helen Longley
1922 - 2005
May W. Newburger
1920 - 2012
Elizabeth Connell (doctor)
1925 - 2018
Billie Heller
1928 - 2018