Sports · born 1984Jonathan Ericssonice hockey defencemanSwedish defenceman who was the very last pick of the 2002 NHL draft, yet spent his entire NHL career with the Red Wings and won the Stanley Cup in 2008.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,940 famous people
- 366 Detroit places
- 22 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
450 people · 5/10 page
Clear filtersSports · born 1984Jonathan Ericssonice hockey defencemanSwedish defenceman who was the very last pick of the 2002 NHL draft, yet spent his entire NHL career with the Red Wings and won the Stanley Cup in 2008.
Sports · born 1991Langston Gallowaybasketball player, guardUndrafted guard who earned a three-year, $21 million contract with the Pistons in 2017 and spent three seasons as a steady bench scorer in Detroit.
Sports · born 1994Jared GoffAmerican football quarterbackQuarterback traded to Detroit in 2021 for Matthew Stafford who revived his career, ending the Lions' decades-long playoff-win drought and leading them to consecutive division titles.
Sports · born 1986Thomas Greissice hockey goaltenderGerman goaltender who signed with Detroit in 2020 and posted back-to-back shutouts during his two seasons with the Red Wings.
Sports · born 1973Darvin Hambasketball coach, former playerReserve forward on the Pistons' 2004 championship team who went on to a long coaching career, including as Los Angeles Lakers head coach.
Sports · born 1997Filip Hronekice hockey defensemanCzech defenseman drafted and developed by the Red Wings who was named the team's top rookie in 2019 before being traded to Vancouver in 2023.
Sports · born 1984Brad KeselowskiNASCAR driver and team ownerRochester Hills-born NASCAR champion who grew up in a Michigan racing family and has called winning at Michigan International Speedway more meaningful than winning the Daytona 500.
Sports · born 1976Kate Markgrafsoccer player and executiveBloomfield Hills-born defender who starred at Detroit Country Day School before a decorated international career that included three Olympic medals and a World Cup title.
Sports · born 1983Jason Maxiellbasketball player, coachPower forward who spent his entire eight-season NBA career with the Pistons, drafted in 2005 and retiring as a Piston in 2017.
Sports · born 1964Tomas Sandströmice hockey right wingerSwedish power forward whose brief 1997 trade to Detroit paid off immediately: he assisted on Darren McCarty's championship-winning goal in the Red Wings' first Stanley Cup in 42 years.
Sports · 1937–2017George Steeleprofessional wrestler, teacher, actorDetroit-born wrestler and Madison Heights schoolteacher whose 'George the Animal Steele' character, born out of the local Detroit wrestling scene, became a national WWE star.
Sports · born 1990Tomáš Tatarice hockey forwardSlovak forward drafted by Detroit in 2009 who developed into a top-line scorer for the Red Wings across five NHL seasons.
Sports · born 1984Peter Vanderkaaycompetition swimmerFour-time Olympic medalist swimmer born in Royal Oak who won relay gold for the United States and later worked in Detroit-area commercial real estate.
Sports · 1917–2002Byron WhiteAmerican football halfback; later U.S. Supreme Court justiceHeisman runner-up and NFL rushing leader who played two seasons for the Detroit Lions while attending Yale Law School, before becoming a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Sports · born 1973Corliss Williamsonbasketball player, coach"Big Nasty" was the Pistons' Sixth Man of the Year in 2002 and a key bench scorer on Detroit's 2004 NBA championship team.
Sports · 1932–2015Al Arbourice hockey defenceman, later coachFuture Hockey Hall of Fame coach who began his pro playing career with the Red Wings and won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 1954, decades before building a coaching legacy with the New York Islanders.
Sports · born 1954Kent Bensonbasketball playerFormer No. 1 overall pick and 1976 NCAA champion who anchored the Pistons' center position for six seasons in the early 1980s.
Sports · born 1968Jud Buechlerbasketball player, coachRole player from Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls championship teams who spent three seasons with the Pistons at the end of his NBA career.
Sports · born 1987Joe Cadaprofessional poker playerPoker pro from Shelby Township in Macomb County who won the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event at 21, then the youngest champion ever.
Sports · born 1990Will Clyburnbasketball playerDetroit-born forward who starred at Romulus High School before a college career at three schools and a long professional career in Europe, winning EuroLeague Final Four MVP in 2019.
Sports · born 1988Jordan Crawfordbasketball playerDetroit-born guard who attended a Detroit public high school before a college and NBA career that took him to Washington, Boston and several other franchises.
Sports · 1957–2015Darryl Dawkinsbasketball player, centerPowerful dunker famous for shattering backboards who joined the Pistons late in his career and earned a championship ring with the 1989 "Bad Boys."
Sports · 1912–1995Richard DegenerdiverDetroit-born diver who won an Olympic bronze in 1932 and gold in 1936, trained at the Detroit Athletic Club, and was honored in his hometown as one of the era's "City of Champions" stars.
Sports · born 1971Kris Draperice hockey forward and executiveFour-time Stanley Cup champion who spent 17 seasons with the Red Wings as part of the famed "Grind Line," then stayed on in the front office as assistant general manager.
Sports · 1911–1986Hank Greenbergbaseball first baseman, team executiveHall of Fame slugger and two-time American League MVP who spent twelve of his thirteen major league seasons with the Tigers and led Detroit to two World Series titles.
Sports · 1931–2026Glenn Hallice hockey goaltenderHall of Fame goaltender who broke in with the Red Wings and later set the NHL's iron-man record of 502 consecutive games, mostly earned after leaving Detroit.
Sports · born 1992Tomáš Jurčoice hockey forwardSlovak winger drafted by Detroit who spent parts of several seasons with the Red Wings, shuttling between the NHL club and its Grand Rapids farm team.
Sports · born 1982Tomáš Kopeckýice hockey forwardSlovak forward drafted by Detroit in 2000 who won the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 2008 after working his way up through the organization's minor-league affiliate.
Sports · born 1965Pat LaFontaineice hockey centerHall of Fame center who grew up in Waterford, Oakland County, after 1972 and became one of the highest-scoring American-born players in NHL history.
Sports · born 1958Rick Mahornbasketball player, coach, broadcasterEnforcer on the late-1980s "Bad Boys" Pistons who won the 1989 NBA title in Detroit and has stayed connected to the city for decades as a coach and broadcaster.
Sports · born 1985David Pricebaseball pitcher2012 Cy Young winner who anchored the Tigers' rotation for a season and a half, clinching a division title and later leading the league in ERA.
Sports · born 1966Luc Robitailleice hockey executive and former playerHighest-scoring left winger in NHL history who capped his long career with a two-season stint in Detroit and his only Stanley Cup, in 2002.
Sports · born 1971Iván Rodríguezbaseball player, catcherHall of Fame catcher who signed with Detroit in 2004 and helped rebuild the Tigers into a 2006 American League pennant winner.
Sports · born 1988Matthew StaffordAmerican football quarterbackFirst overall pick of 2009 who quarterbacked the Lions for twelve seasons at Ford Field and holds the franchise's career passing records.
Sports · 1944–2012Emanuel Stewardboxing trainer, commentator, former boxerThe 'godfather of Detroit boxing', who built the Kronk Gym into a world-famous training ground and coached forty-one world champions, among them Thomas Hearns, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko.
Sports · born 2003Ausar Thompsonbasketball player, guard/forwardAthletic young guard-forward selected fifth overall by the Pistons in 2023, one pick behind his twin brother Amen, who has grown into one of the league's top perimeter defenders.
Film & TV · 1903–1954Tom Tylerfilm actor, weightlifterHamtramck-raised B-Western star and screen Captain Marvel, who came home to Hamtramck to die and is buried in Detroit's Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Sports · born 1990Lawrence Warbasseroad racing cyclistDearborn-born professional road cyclist and University of Michigan graduate who won the 2017 U.S. national road race title.
Sports · born 1997Zach Werenskiice hockey defensemanGrosse Pointe-born defenseman who trained with Detroit's Belle Tire youth club and the University of Michigan before becoming one of the NHL's top blueliners with the Columbus Blue Jackets.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗