List of people from the Lehigh Valley

Allentown, Pennsylvania, 2010

The following is a list of notable people who were born, or who have lived a significant portion of their lives, in the Lehigh Valley, referred to informally and locally as The Valley, around Allentown, Pennsylvania in the United States.

Athletics

Mario Andretti

Chuck Bednarik

Larry Holmes

Varvara Lepchenko

Matt Millen

Andre Reed

Brian Schneider

• Chuck Amato, former head football coach, North Carolina State University
• Jeff Andretti, professional race car driver
• John Andretti, professional race car driver in NASCAR and the IndyCar Series
• Mario Andretti, former professional race car driver
• Michael Andretti, professional racing team owner, former professional race car driver
• Afa Anoaʻi Jr., professional wrestler
• Steve Aponavicius, former placekicker, Boston College
• Chuck Bednarik, former professional football player, Philadelphia Eagles, Pro Football Hall of Fame member
• Charlie Berry Sr., former professional baseball player, Union Association, and father of Charlie Berry
• Charlie Berry, former professional baseball and umpire, Major League Baseball
• Jim Booros, professional golfer, former PGA Tour player
• Tom Brennan, radio and television sportscaster, former men's basketball head coach, University of Vermont
• Ian "Rocky" Butler, professional football player, Canadian Football League
• Pete Carril, former professional and collegiate basketball coach
• Francesco Caruso, former professional soccer player, Harrisburg City Islanders and Otago United
• Chris Creveling, Olympic speed skater
• George Daniel, Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, National Lacrosse League
• Parke H. Davis, football coach and lawyer
• Keith Dorney, former professional football player, Detroit Lions
• DC Drake (Don Drake), former professional wrestler, former world champion for National Wrestling Federation and heavyweight champion for Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, later known as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)
• Slim Emmerich, former professional baseball player, New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals
• Peter Gruner, former professional wrestler known as Billy Kidman
• Bob Heffner, former professional baseball player, Boston Red Sox, California Angels and Cleveland Indians
• Ty Hildenbrandt, college football broadcaster, Fox Sports
• Larry Holmes, former boxing heavyweight champion (fought under nickname "The Easton Assassin")
• Brian Knobbs, former professional wrestler
• Dan Koppen, professional football player, Denver Broncos
• Noel LaMontagne, former professional football player, Cleveland Browns
• Gary Lavelle, former professional baseball player, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays
• Varvara Lepchenko, professional tennis player
• Jonathan Linton, former professional football player, Buffalo Bills
• Tommy Litz, Olympic figure skater
• Kristen Maloney, gymnast, medalist in 2000 Summer Olympics
• Michelle Marciniak, co-founder of SHEEX, Inc.; former women's basketball coach, University of South Carolina; and former professional basketball player, WNBA's Portland Fire and Seattle Storm
• Ed McCaffrey, former professional football player, Denver Broncos, New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers
• John Meister, former professional baseball player, New York Metropolitans
• Joe Milinichik, former professional football player, Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers
• Matt Millen, former professional football player, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins, former President and General Manager, Detroit Lions and broadcaster, NFL on Fox
• Jeff Mutis, former professional baseball player, Cleveland Indians and Florida Marlins
• Marty Nothstein, Olympic gold medal winner, track cycling
• Billy Packer, CBS basketball analyst
• Andre Reed, former professional football player, Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins
• Zach Rey, amateur wrestler, competed in the 2015 World Wrestling Championships
• Matthew Riddle, professional UFC mixed martial fighter
• Jim Ringo, former professional football player, Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles, Pro Football Hall of Fame member
• Eddie Sachs, United States Auto Club driver
• Jerry Sags, former professional wrestler
• Jimmie Schaffer, former professional baseball player, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals
• Dave Schneck, former professional baseball player, New York Mets
• Brian Schneider, former professional baseball player, Montreal Expos, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies
• Larry Seiple, former professional football player, Miami Dolphins
• Curt Simmons, former professional baseball player, California Angels, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals
• John Spagnola, former professional football player, Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks
• Tony Stewart, professional football player, Oakland Raiders
• Carl van Horn, former dirt track racer
• Dave Van Horne, Major League Baseball broadcaster, original voice of the Montreal Expos
• Cheryl Van Kuren, former Olympic field hockey player
• Bobby Weaver, 1984 Summer Olympics gold medal winner, freestyle wrestling
• Brant Weidner, former professional basketball player, San Antonio Spurs
• Bob Weiss, former professional basketball player, head coach of four NBA teams
• Cindy Werley, former Olympic field hockey player
• Andre Williams, American football running back, New York Giants
• Joe Wolf, former professional football player, Arizona Cardinals
• Jason Yeisley, professional soccer player, Dallas FC
• Dan Yochum, former professional football player, Montreal Alouettes and Edmonton Eskimos
• Walt Zirinsky, former professional football player, running back, won 1945 National Championship with Clevland Rams

Authors, journalists, playwrights, and poets

• Christian Bauman, novelist
• Stephen Vincent Benét, author
• Charles Bierbauer, journalist
• Clair Blank, author, Beverly Gray
• H.D., writer, poet
• John Birmelin, Pennsylvania German dialect poet and playwright
• Katherine Boehret, technology journalist
• Russell Davenport, publisher and writer
• Solomon DeLong (pen name Obediah Grouthomel), Pennsylvania German language columnist for The Morning Call
• Michael F. Flynn, science-fiction writer
• Matthew Giobbi, author
• Alfred Hassler, journalist and author
• J. Robert Lennon, novelist
• Randall Munroe, writer, XKCD comic series
• Sandra Novack, author
• Alix Olson, spoken word artist
• Michael Pocalyko, business executive and financial novelist
• Ian Riccaboni, author, sports broadcaster for Phillies Nation TV and Ring of Honor Wrestling
• Marci Shore, author and historian
• Jennifer Storm, author
• Lauren Weisberger, author, The Devil Wears Prada

Business and politics

Michael Johns

Charles Schwab

• Roy C. Afflerbach, lobbyist and politician
• William F. Andrews, former member of Congress
• James Soloman Biery, former member of Congress
• William F. Birch, former member of Congress
• Joseph Force Crater, Associate Justice, New York Supreme Court
• James B. Cunningham, diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Afghanistan
• Charlie Dent, member of Congress
• Wayne Dumont, former New Jersey Senate Majority Leader and Senate President
• Charles L. Gerlach, former member of Congress
• Fred Benjamin Gernerd, former member of Congress
• Rick Glazier, Democratic member of the North Carolina House of Representatives
• Eugene Grace, industrialist, President of Bethlehem Steel, 1916–1945
• David W. Hess, Republican member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
• Lee Iacocca, former chairman of Chrysler Corporation
• Michael Johns, health care executive and former White House speechwriter
• John Kline, member of Congress
• Marcus C.L. Kline, former member of Congress
• Fred Ewing Lewis, former member of Congress
• Norton Lewis Lichtenwalner, former member of Congress
• John E. McGlade, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Air Products & Chemicals
• Helen Stevenson Meyner, former member of Congress
• Robert B. Meyner, former Governor of New Jersey
• Peter Newhard, former member of Congress
• Jerry Oberholtzer, mayor of Snellville, Georgia
• Ed Pawlowski, mayor of Allentown
• Andrew Horatio Reeder, former Governor of Kansas
• Donald L. Ritter, former member of Congress
• James Ritter, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
• Charles M. Schwab, industrialist, former President of U.S. Steel (later incorporated as Bethlehem Steel)
• Charles Sitgreaves, former member of Congress and former Mayor of Phillipsburg
• Samuel Sitgreaves, former U.S. commissioner to Great Britain and former member of Congress
• Richard A. Snelling, former Governor of Vermont
• Andrea Tantaros, political analyst and commentator
• George Taylor, signator to the Declaration of Independence
• Charles A. Wikoff, most senior ranking U.S. Army officer killed in the Spanish–American War

Film, television, and stage

Lisa Ann

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Amanda Seyfried

• Lisa Ann, adult film actress
• Althea Henley, actress
• Alexandra Chando, actress, As the World Turns
• Jack Coleman, actor, NBC's Heroes
• Michaela Conlin, actress, Fox's Bones
• Dane DeHaan, actor, In Treatment and Chronicle
• Devon, adult film actress
• Omar Doom, actor and musician
• Jonathan Frakes, actor, Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Mel Harris, actress, ABC's thirtysomething
• Tim Heidecker, actor and comedian, Cartoon Network's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
• Dwayne Johnson ("The Rock"), actor, former professional wrestler
• Daniel Dae Kim, actor, ABC's Lost
• Gelsey Kirkland, ballerina
• Carson Kressley, fashion consultant, Bravo's Queer Eye
• Christopher Lennertz, film, television, and video game music composer, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Supernatural
• Jayne Mansfield, 1950s-era actress and sex symbol
• William Marchant, playwright and screenwriter
• Michael McDonald, costume designer and 2009 Tony Award and Drama Desk nominee for Hair
• Kristen McMenamy, fashion model
• Kate Micucci, actress, comedian, artist, and singer-songwriter
• Lara Jill Miller, voice actress, Cartoon Network's The Life and Times of Juniper Lee
• Aimee Mullins, model and actress
• Robert Newhard, cinematographer
• Sally Jessy Raphael, television talk show host
• Lou Reda, documentary filmmaker
• Daniel Roebuck, actor, ABC's Lost
• Amanda Seyfried, model and actress, The CW's Veronica Mars and HBO's Big Love
• Sheetal Sheth, actress, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World
• Gary Mark Smith, artist, author, and global street photographer
• Dana Snyder, voice actor, Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force
• Sabrina Carpenter, actress, singer
• Sarah Strohmeyer, novelist, creator of Bubbles Yablonsky
• Christine Taylor, actress and wife of actor Ben Stiller
• Jonathan Taylor Thomas, actor, ABC's Home Improvement
• Yvonne Zima, actress, "Rachel Greene" on NBC's ER
• David Zippel, Tony-award winning lyricist, City of Angels

Music

Jimmy DeGrasso

Steve Kimock

• Rick Braun, Smooth jazz trumpet player
• Lillian Briggs, former rockabilly musician
• Leon Carr, Broadway composer and television advertising songwriter
• Jimmy DeGrasso, drummer for Alice Cooper band, former drummer for Megadeth
• Omar Doom, actor and musician
• Fiona, rock music singer
• Walt Groller, Grammy-nominated polka musician
• Sabrina Carpenter, Disney Music top 10 finalist
• George Hrab, rock and funk musician
• Chris Jarrett, pianist and composer
• Keith Jarrett, jazz musician
• Jay & the Techniques, sixties era pop/soul group
• Steve Kimock, rock musician
• Terry Kitchen, folk singer
• Ludwig Lenel, organist and composer
• Mulgrew Miller, jazz pianist
• Mike Portnoy, rock drummer
• Thom Schuyler, country music singer and songwriter
• Shadow Gallery, progressive metal band
• Donald Voorhees, Emmy-nominated orchestral conductor
• Jordan White, rock musician
• Stephanie Woodling, opera singer

Religion

• Frank N. D. Buchman, founder of the Oxford Group and Moral Re-Armament religious movement
• Timothy J. Keller, Christian pastor in of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, author of The Reason for God
• Nathan Homer Knorr, religious leader and 3rd president, Jehovah's Witnesses
• Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Science

• David A. Bader, Georgia Tech professor
• Michael Behe, biochemist at Lehigh University, advocate of intelligent design
• James McKeen Cattell, first United States psychology professor
• Richard Diehl, archaeologist, academic and Mesoamericanist scholar
• Edwin Drake, oil driller
• Terry Jonathan Hart, Space Shuttle astronaut
• Dennis Mammana, nationally syndicated astronomy columnist, lecturer and sky photographer
• Francis March, academic
• Aaron D. O'Connell, created the world's first quantum machine
• Beth Shapiro, evolutionary biologist, MacArthur Fellow
• Walter O. Snelling, chemist and explosives expert who discovered propane gas

Visual arts

• John E. Berninger, landscape painter and Pennsylvania impressionist, first curator of the Allentown Art Museum
• Karl Buesgen, landscape painter and Pennsylvania impressionist
• Mark Beyer, comic book artist
• Don Dixon, astronomical artist
• Peter Alfred Gross, landscape painter
• Ella Sophonisba Hergesheimer, illustrator, painter and printmaker
• Herman Leonard, photographer noted for jazz portraits
• Arlington Nelson Lindenmuth, landscape and portrait painter, photographer
• Grover Simcox, naturalist illustrator
• Gary Mark Smith, Global street photography pioneer, author, educator
• Boris Vallejo, fantasy artist
• Orlando Gray Wales, landscape painter and Pennsylvania impressionist

Other

Theo Tran

• Karen Bausman, architect
• Thom Browne, fashion designer
• Beth Doe, unidentified murder victim found in 1976
• Frank Reed Horton, founder of Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity
• Sarah Knauss, supercentenarian recognized as the "world's oldest person" by Guinness World Records from April 16, 1998 until her death at age 119 in 1999
• Timothy Krajcir, serial killer
• Martin O. May, Medal of Honor recipient in World War II
• Harvey Miguel Robinson, serial killer
• Robert Sun, inventor of 24 Game
• Ryo Tokita, artist
• Theo Tran, professional poker player

External links

• "Famous People from the Lehigh Valley," The Baltimore Sun