Which American States Produced the Best Male Athletes in the Top Team Sports?

Ask any person in any state where the best athletes come from, and you’re opening yourself up to a spirited debate.

Locals from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Florida, and of course California, will swear their state produces the best football players. New Jersey, New York, Illinois, California, or Indiana will say they own basketball.

Californians believe the best baseball players come from the Golden State and there’s no debate. But that won’t stop those from the south or southwest from pushing back.

And, in hockey, the three Ms — Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Michigan — have long produced a long list of great players. But, they have company now too from New York and others.

We’ve curated a list of the 50 best American-born players of all time in each major men's pro sport, then analyzed where each has come from. While this list doesn't show all of the amazing athletes at every level in the U.S., it helps settle the great state debate once and for all.

The results may surprise you. Here is everything Pat Pickens found.

Hometown States with the Best Players

It may only rank fifth in the United States in population, but Pennsylvania is the state from which the best male athletes in the core major league sports come. The Keystone State produced the most pro athletes who are in the top-50 in his sport, with 18, narrowly edging out Northeast rival New York (17) and Texas, which was third with 14.

Pennsylvania had at least two of the top-50 U.S.-born athletes in each of the four major sports while producing six NFL players and five apiece in Major League Baseball and the NBA.

California produced 13, including an MLB-high seven of the top-50 players of all time, ranking fourth. Ohio, who produced at least one all-time great in each of the four sports, was fifth with 12, and Massachusetts, keyed by its nine NHL players among the top-50, followed with 10.

Thirty-four states have produced a player who is top-50 in his respective sport, and Washington, D.C. also had four natives on the list. Tim Duncan, the former NBA player from the San Antonio Spurs, was the lone athlete from a U.S. territory, and former NHL player Scott Gomez was the only other player from outside the contiguous 48 states.

NFL’s Best Players

Of the 50 greatest players in NFL history, 20 states were represented, led by Texas (7), Pennsylvania (6), and Florida and California (4 each).

Texas produced the most successful NFL players, but not by a wide margin. But the Lone Star State did have two towns with multiple NFL greats, with Tyler having natives Earl Campbell and Patrick Mahomes and Joe Greene and Sammy Baugh each hailing from Temple.

Temple and Tyler were two of the five U.S. towns that had multiple natives on the list, joining Wichita, Kansas, Saint Rose, Louisiana, and Pittsburgh. Destrehan High School in Louisiana was the only high school with multiple football entries, with Ed Reed and Justin Jefferson serving as the high-profile alums.

It’s been said that Pittsburgh is “drinking town with a football problem," which might explain why of Pittsburgh had multiple natives among the top-50. Of Pennsylvania’s six players in the top-50, three hailed from Western PA, and the University of Pittsburgh leads the way with three former Panthers among the top-50 players in NFL history.

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MLB’s Best Players

Baseball has undergone the most seismic shift demographically of any sport over the past century. It used to be that baseball was born from inner-city parks, but now players tend to hail from the suburbs and more rural areas in the Southern and Western U.S.

Thus, New York City led the way with three MLB greats who hailed from within the five boroughs, followed by Los Angeles, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Mobile, Alabama, and Dayton, Ohio, which each had two.

California featured seven all-time greats from within its borders, four in Southern California, two from the north, and Tom Seaver hailing from Fresno in Central California. Texas followed California with six all-time greats, and Pennsylvania and Ohio each had five natives among the MLB’s top-50 players.

MLB had by far the most non-college attendees of each of the four major sports, with more than half (56 percent) eschewing higher learning to instead play pro ball. But the University of Southern California and Arizona State, both known as baseball-producing factories, led the way with two attendees among the top-50 of all-time players.

NBA’s Best Players

Unsurprisingly, the NBA’s all-time greats were less spread out than those of the NFL and MLB. Six cities had multiple players among the top-50, led by New York City. New York, arguably basketball capital of the U.S., had five players among the top-50 in NBA history, edging out Philadelphia (4) and Washington, D.C. (3).

However, the leading state, in terms of all-time basketball greats, was Louisiana, which featured seven of the top-50 NBA players, each from a different city within the Bayou State. New York had the second-most (6), followed by Pennsylvania (5), Ohio (4), and Michigan (3).

Akron, Ohio featured the most all-time greats per capita and also had the most active greats. Of course, everyone knows LeBron James hails from Akron and that he attended St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High School in the city, but Steph Curry was also born in Akron.

James spearheads a list three top-50 players that did not attend college, yet no college on the list was represented more than two times. North Carolina, with Michael Jordan and Sam Jones, and LSU, with Shaquille O’Neal and Bob Pettit, were those schools.

NHL’s Best Players

Just 40 years ago, nearly every NHL player hailed from Canada, and the ones who came from the United States were either from Massachusetts, Michigan, or Minnesota. Yet, thanks to NHL expansion and franchise relocation, the sport has a broader audience in the U.S., with more players hailing from more parts of the country than ever.

The three Ms still led the way, with Massachusetts (9), Michigan (8), and Minnesota (6) accounting for 46 percent of the top-50 players in U.S. history. But New York actually was actually ahead head of Minnesota for all-time greats, with seven. Connecticut has three natives, but really has a fourth in Brian Leetch, who played the bulk of his youth hockey in the Nutmeg State after moving from Texas as a boy.

Wisconsin has four, with three hailing from the capital of Madison. New York City was the only other single municipality with three NHL all-time greats, though six of the nine players from Massachusetts hailed from Greater Boston.

Eighteen different states were represented among the 50-best NHL players, including Texas, California, Washington, and Arizona, which shows how far the sport has grown.

Click here to find out which teams had the best players in all of sports.

NFL Head Coach Power Rankings 2023

Who the head coach of your favorite NFL team is can make quite the difference. Not every head coach manages their team the same way, but some coaches have a notable influence over the results of their team for that season.

There are a variety of factors that go into making a good head coach, such as approachability, hiring, management styles, scheme development, and play calling.

From the list of the five newly head coaches, we put the three coaches who have never held a head-coaching position at the bottom of the list since there is no basis to go off of. Meanwhile, the two coaches who have previously held HC positions are ranked based on previous experience.

Heading into the beginning of the 2023-24 league year, let’s determine who the best coach is in the NFL. Here are Sam Wagman’s head coach power rankings.

10. Brian Daboll, New York Giants

The 2022 Coach of the Year Award winner had to get into the top 10 here, even though there was a name we’ll get to soon who deserved it more. Daboll took a hapless Giants team that was totally devoid of talent on the offensive side of the ball apart from Saquon Barkley and turned them into a playoff team that took out the 13-win Vikings on the road in the NFC Divisional Round before falling to the Eagles.

He has always been a creative offensive play caller, but can Daboll truly do more than that with Daniel Jones as his franchise quarterback? I would put my money on no, but I’ve been wrong about franchise quarterbacks before.

9. Doug Pederson, Jacksonville Jaguars

Dougie P. made his return to the NFL head coaching ranks by making a playoff run that was absolutely thrilling, coming back from a 27-point deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers before falling to the Kansas City Chiefs in the following round. By doing so, he proved that his book of tricks had not run stale with the Eagles, and he was ready to dive back in.

Pederson has control of a fun offense with multiple weapons surrounding franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence, so expect him to keep creating fun things there with Lawrence looking better and better.

NFL Coach of the Year Bet: Doug Pederson (+2200) • DraftKings Sportsbook

8. Mike Vrabel, Tennessee Titans

Vrabel’s Titans tumbled down the stretch last season, a byproduct of his system that relied on role players playing like stars, running like you were being chased by a car, and a defense that played out of its mind. It was truly a house of cards, but it worked, up until it didn’t.

Now that the Ryan Tannehill era is coming to an end, how will Vrabel go about reconstructing an offense that is devoid of quite a few pieces, including complementary wide receivers and a truly solid offensive line? Derrick Henry can’t do everything himself, so Vrabel will have to drum up some truly special magic to get back to the top.

I believe he can do it.

7. Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams

The offensive wunderkind himself tumbles a bit in these power rankings after last season revealed just what happens when you run on fumes for years without having depth to restock the cabinets. Things had to come to a head at some point, and many thought McVay would depart LA for greener pastures (read: TV).

He didn’t, though, and came back, but one certainly could wonder what kind of timetable has McVay put on this semi-rebuild that the Rams have to go through in order to be a perennial contender again.

6. Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers

Shanahan is one of the best offensive play callers in the league, and somehow has been able to run deep in the playoffs with quarterbacks like Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy leading the way.

The question remains, though, if he can take his team over the top. The answer so far seems to be no, as his quarterbacks end up being the weakness that gets exploited on the biggest stage year after year.

Until that changes, we are unsure if he can get any higher than this.

5. Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles

I truly believe that Sirianni deserved the Coach of the Year Award last season, and it’s not because I’m an Eagles fan. It’s because Sirianni went 14-3, was the engine behind one of the three best offenses in the entire NFL, and truly showed that he had what it takes to manage a team to a Super Bowl appearance in only his second season on the job.

Some people take issue with his mannerisms or how he acts on the sideline, but Sirianni is a perfect fit for the Eagles’ culture, and it currently feels like he’ll be in Philadelphia for a long time.

4. Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers

The years continue to throw whatever they can at Tomlin, and he just responds the same way every season: by winning more games than he loses. He has not had a losing record in any of the 16 seasons that he has coached the Steelers, and he just keeps on pushing through in admirable ways.

He is a no-nonsense coach who always manages to do more with less, and despite the fact that deep playoff runs are probably out of the picture without an elite QB for this roster, Tomlin always has a shot.

3. John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens

Another coach that rises above issues, Harbaugh has only had two losing seasons in his 15 years as the head coach of the Ravens. The main issue with Harbaugh is that he has been too patient at times, an issue that reared its head with recently-fired OC Greg Roman, who stayed probably two years too long with an antiquated offensive system revolving around running the ball.

Harbaugh set out to fix this problem by hiring former UGA OC Todd Monken, whose high-flying passing offense could rejuvenate newly-signed Lamar Jackson to some career numbers. In any case, Harbaugh’s job security should be safe as long as he wants to stay.

2. Bill Belichick, New England Patriots

Many people will opine that Belichick is the greatest coach in modern NFL history, and there isn’t a disagreement for it. Tom Brady was the engine to his success, but Belichick was a master strategist and his defensive tendencies are among some of the best in football history.

Don’t ever count out Belichick, as even with Mac Jones bumbling around at the helm he has almost managed multiple playoff appearances. Still, eras come and go in the NFL, and despite the two coaches being from the same era, one has a quarterback that is able to do much, much more for his team currently.

Click here to find out who holds the No.1 spot.