Athletes who were stars for their hometown pro teams

Hutchinson has not needed to leave the state of Michigan to enjoy a stellar football career. Hailing from suburban Detroit, Hutchinson starred at Divine Child High School in Dearborn, Mich., before going on to play for the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. Hutchinson then made the local folks proud by being selected No. 2 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft by the hometown Lions. In two seasons with Detroit, Hutchinson has been key to the franchise’s recent resurgence, totaling 21 sacks, 23 tackles for loss and recording four interceptions while being named to the Pro Bowl in 2023.

The All-Star pitcher was born and raised less than 20 miles from downtown San Diego in El Cajon, Calif. And after playing his first five major-league seasons with Houston, where he was part of the 2017 World Series championship team, and Pittsburgh, the right-hander was dealt to his hometown Padres before the 2021 campaign. In his second start with San Diego, Musgrove tossed a no-hitter. In addition, Musgrove won at least 10 games in each of his first three seasons with the Padres and was named to his first All-Star team in 2022.  

Born in Los Angeles, Leonard attended high school in the Riverside area, where he was a star, along with fellow NBA player Tony Snell, at King High School. One of the best all-around small forwards for more than a decade, the six-time All-Star won an NBA title with San Antonio (2014) and Toronto (2019) — earning Finals MVP honors in both years. Following that one-season run with the Raptors, Leonard joined the Los Angeles Clippers. Though he has not yet been able to help one of his hometown teams to a title, Leonard has remained solid, averaging more than 24 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists per game and still remaining an elite defender while being named to three more All-Star squads.

By the time Parker signed with the Chicago Sky — roughly 30 miles from the suburb of Naperville, where she was raised — she was already a WNBA legend, having spent the first 13 seasons of her career with the Los Angeles Sparks, who she helped lead to the 2016 title. Yet, it was major news when Parker joined the Sky in 2021, and made even sweeter when she averaged 13.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists while leading the franchise to its first WNBA championship in her initial season there. Parker spent one more season in Chicago before heading to Las Vegas, where she won a third WNBA title with the Aces in 2023.

Born in 1987, Ryan and his family moved to Alvin, Texas — located in the Houston area — when he was six weeks old. However, it wasn’t until 1980, 14 years into his major-league career, that he finally suited up for those hometown Astros. The Hall of Famer played nine seasons with Houston (1980-88), where he threw one of his MLB-best seven no-hitters, before pitching the final five years of his legendary career up the way in the Metroplex for the Texas Rangers. Ryan also spent time as an executive for both the Rangers and Astros and is perhaps the greatest baseball player ever to hail from the state of Texas.

Whalen prepped roughly an hour away from Minneapolis in Hutchinson, Minn. However, she became a national household name within the realm of women’s basketball in the Twin Cities, starring at the University of Minnesota. Then, after spending her first six WNBA seasons with Connecticut (2004-09), she truly made her bones with the Minnesota Lynx. Playing in front of fans that already loved her, Whalen spent her final nine years in the WNBA with the Lynx, helping them win four titles while making four of her five All-Star teams, and earning a spot on the league’s 20th anniversary team (2016) as one of its all-time great guards.

Hailing from the gritty steel town of Bethlehem, Penn., a little less than 50 miles north of Philadelphia, Bednarik then starred in the City of Brotherly Love; first at Penn, then with the Eagles, for whom he was a two-way standout at linebacker and center. One of the toughest players the NFL has ever seen, Bednarik spent his entire 14-season career with the Eagles (1949-62), starting 166 of the 169 games he played. The Hall of Famer won two NFL championships with Philadelphia (1949, ’60), was a 10-time first-team All-Pro, and was named to eight Pro Bowl squads.

While playing for Houston’s Sterling High School, Drexler didn’t really gain national recognition until his senior season. He stayed close to home to star for the University of Houston and enjoyed a majority of his NBA success as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers, beginning in 1983. Drexler earned eight of his 10 All-Star nods with Portland, but during the 1994-95 campaign, was traded to his hometown Houston Rockets. And, in fitting fashion, Clyde ‘the Glide’ helped the Rockets win what would be his only NBA title that season, while averaging 20.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists during the ’95 playoffs. Drexler played the next three seasons with Houston before calling it a career in 1998. 

One of Detroit’s favorite sons in terms of sports stardom, DeBusschere was a prep legend at the Motor City’s famed Austin Catholic during the mid-to-late 1950s, then starred for the University of Detroit before landing with his hometown Pistons. DeBusschere, who embodied the physical, hard-nosed spirit of Detroit basketball, made three All-Star teams with the Pistons, and was even named player-coach in his second season of 1964-65. That didn’t last long, and amid his sixth season with the club in 1968-69, DeBusschere was traded to the New York Knicks, with whom he helped win two NBA championships, made five more All-Star teams and remained one of the game’s best defensive players before ending his Hall of Fame career.

From Chicago’s South Side and basketball powerhouse Simeon High School, Rose was taken No. 1 overall in 2008 by his hometown Chicago Bulls after one season at Memphis. Rose hit the ground running with the Bulls, winning NBA Rookie of the Year while averaging 16.8 points and 6.3 assists, and made his first of three straight All-Star Games in 2010. In 2010-11, Rose averaged career highs of 25.0 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds to earn NBA MVP honors and help Chicago reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the Bulls’ second three-peat. However, after seven seasons playing in front of his hometown fans, Rose left for New York in 2016-17.

Hailing from Mountain View, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area, Crawford was fortunate enough to get his major-league shot with his local team. A fourth-round pick of the San Francisco Giants in 2008, Crawford broke into the majors three years later and blossomed into one of the game’s best shortstops. A four-time Gold Glove Award winner, an All-Star three times and member of two Giants World Series-winning clubs (2012, ’14), Crawford played 13 seasons in San Francisco before signing with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2024.

A native of the East Bay, Eckersley’s road to eventually pitching for the Oakland A’s was rather long and trying — both on and off the field. And, for those baseball fans of certain age, well-documented. After breaking in with Cleveland in 1975, Eckersley was a starter for the first 12 years of his career, and won 20 games in 1978 for Boston. However, by the late 1980s, Eckersley was at a crossroads in his career, which was eventually revived with Oakland, when manager Tony La Russa turned him into a closer. From 1988-97 — all nine seasons spent with the A’s — Eckersley was one of baseball’s elite closers. He’s one of two pitchers to post both a 20-win and 50-save season (51 with Oakland in 1992) en route to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004, his first year of eligibility.

Growing up in Oakland, Henderson gravitated to baseball at a young age. And to most baseball fans of a certain age, Henderson’s career is known for his time spent with the A’s — four different stints spanning three decades during a major-league run that lasted from 1979-2003. The greatest base stealer of all time, Henderson recorded an MLB-best 1,406 steals, was named to 10 All-Star teams, and won two World Series titles — his first coming with the A’s in 1989, when he was MVP of both that series and the ALCS. Henderson was named AL MVP with Oakland in 1990.

A three-sport standout at Saint Paul, Minn.’s Cretin-Derham Hall Catholic High School (which also produced fellow Hall of Famer Paul Molitor), Mauer was the first overall pick in the 2001 draft by his hometown Minnesota Twins. And, it was only a matter of time before this local boy made good. A .306 hitter for his 15-year MLB career, all spent with the Twins, Mauer is considered, by many baseball analysts and historians, to be the greatest hitting catcher of all time. He won the 2009 AL MVP, was a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, three-time batting champ and named an All-Star six times. Mauer was recently elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2024.

Messier grew up outside Edmonton in St. Albert, Alberta, and attended high school in the city at St. Francis Xavier High School. Of course, Messier didn’t have to go far to enjoy NHL stardom, spending his first 12 seasons with the Edmonton Oilers (1980-’91). Among the greatest to ever lace up the skates in the NHL, Messier won five of his six Stanley Cups with the Oilers, and also recorded five of his six 100-point seasons in Edmonton, highlighted by a career-high 129 in 1989-90. Half of his 16 All-Star nods came as a member of the Oilers. Messier was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007, his first year of eligibility.

The epitome of the Chicago Bears’ “Monsters of the Midway” mystique and the city’s blue-collar South Side were he grew up. Tough, hard-nosed, Butkus was mean, and one of the most fierce linebackers in NFL history. He learned those skills and built his legacy at Chicago Vocational High School, then the University of Illinois before joining the Bears, for who he played his entire NFL career (1965-73). Butkus was twice named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year (1969, ’70) and to eight Pro Bowls and first-team All-Pro five times.

Born in Philadelphia and starring at Overbook High, the legendary Chamberlain began his NBA career, following a stint with the Harlem Globetrotters, in his hometown with the Philadelphia Warriors. The 7-foot-1 Chamberlain averaged 37.6 points and 27.0 rebounds as a rookie in 1959-60 to earn the first of his four NBA MVP awards. On March 2, 1962, against the New York Knicks in a neutral-site game at Hershey, Penn., Chamberlain posted his famed 100-point game for the Warriors. After the franchise moved to San Francisco in 1962, Chamberlain returned to Philly during the 1964-65 season to play for the 76ers. He helped the Sixers win the 1967 NBA championship, but two seasons later was beginning the final stretch of his playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The pride of the Cincinnati suburb of Silverton and famed Archbishop Moeller High School, the Hall of Fame shortstop had the pleasure of playing all 19 major-league seasons with his hometown Reds (1986-2004). A 12-time All-Star, three-time NL Gold Glover, a World Series champion (1990), the league’s MVP in 1995 and honored with his No. 11 retired by the franchise, Larkin had the career any major-league ballplayer would envy — achieving that much success, building a lasting professional legacy and doing it all with your hometown team. 

Love him or hate him, the late Rose still might be the one player that first comes to mind when thinking about the Cincinnati Reds. From the city’s Western Hills area, Rose began (1963-78) and ended (1984-86) his major-league playing career with the Reds. He also managed the club from 1984-89. Baseball’s all-time hits leader (4,256), a mark he set as a Red at Riverfront Stadium on Sept. 11, 1985, Rose won two of his three World Series titles with Cincinnati. Though he enjoyed success during stops at Philadelphia and Montreal, Rose will always be a Red.

The legendary Ford was born in Manhattan, then moved to Queens before playing his entire 16-year, Hall of Fame career in the Bronx for the New York Yankees (1950-67). Truly one of Major League Baseball’s icons and perhaps the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time, Ford went 236-106 with a 2.75 ERA while making 498 regular-season appearance for the Yankees. He was a 10-time All-Star, six-time World Series champion and won both the Cy Young Award and World Series MVP in 1961. Many baseball historians consider Ford to be part of the Yankees’ Mount Rushmore.

Roughly 40 minutes south from Cleveland in Akron, Ohio, the foundation for James’ iconic basketball legacy was being laid at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School. There may never be a player to receive the level of hype James did during his senior season, and after being drafted by what was essentially his hometown team in the Cleveland Cavaliers, No. 1 overall in 2003. He wasn’t an All-Star as a rookie, but James has been every year since. Three times James was named NBA MVP with the Cavs — twice during his first seven-season stint (2009, ’10) and during the second of his four-season return, in 2015-16, when he joyously helped the aching city of Cleveland finally win the NBA championship.

With father Cal Sr., coaching in the Baltimore Orioles’ organization, Cal Jr. grew up in Aberdeen, Mary., fewer than 30 miles from Baltimore. It almost seemed destined that he would get his major-league shot with the Orioles. By the end of a big-league career that spanned 1981-2001, Ripken had become the greatest player in Orioles history — and perhaps the best shortstop of all time. Baseball’s modern-day “iron man,” Ripken played in 2,632 consecutive games, collected 3,184 hits with 431 home runs, and 1,695 RBIs. He also racked up a ridiculous 19 All-Star nods, two AL MVPs (1983, ’91) and a World Series championship from 1983 — all with his beloved Baltimore Orioles.

One of the first true superstars of the WNBA and among the greatest women’s basketball players of the all-time. Leslie, born in Compton, Calif., prepped at the famed Morningside High School near the Great Western Forum in the Inglewood neighborhood of Los Angeles. After starring at USC, Leslie played her entire 12-year WNBA career (1997-2009) with the hometown Sparks. She won two league titles, three MVPs (2001, 2004, 2006) and was an eight-time All-Star and eight-team all-league first-team selection. An inspiration for multi-generations of female athletes, Leslie certainly made her hometown proud.

Born and raised in Montreal (in the Nouveau-Bordeaux, north-end neighborhood of the city). From a large family, Richard’s upbringing was humble and hockey was a way of providing entertainment. When Richard earned a promotion to the hometown Canadiens, it was he who did the entertaining for the hockey-crazed city. One of the greatest to ever play the game, “Rocket” Richard spent all 18 of his NHL seasons with the Canadiens (1943-60), and was the first player to record 50 goals in a season, doing so in 50 games in 1944-45. He was also the first to post 500 goals in a career. Overall, Richard tallied 544 goals and 422 assists and was an eight-time Stanley Cup champion.

Not an easy selection, but when it comes to starring for one’s hometown — or home city — club, it’s hard to top the “Iron Horse.” Born on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Gehrig attended school in Washington Heights, Commerce High School and spent two years at Columbia University. Then it was time to focus on his professional baseball career — and most baseball fans know how that went. In 17 seasons with the New York Yankees (1923-39) Gehrig clubbed 493 homers, batted .340, recorded 1,993 RBI, and was a Triple Crown winner (1934), seven-time All-Star, two-time AL MVP, part of six World Series-championship teams, and the longtime record holder with 2,130 consecutive games played.