The exact page text, read by your browser's voice.
Sports Players · the athletes of this ground
South Bend's playing record is wider than its team record. A Hall of Fame pitcher chose this city to live in for fifty-five years and lies in its ground. A Hall of Fame outfielder played his first professional games in a South Bend uniform, under a borrowed name, while still a seminary student. The city's own daughters and sons run from a Studebaker factory hand who reached the major leagues off the company team, to a boxer who won 105 professional fights out of this city and twice fought for a world championship, to two basketball players taken in the first round of the same NBA draft, on the same night, in 2022 — the first first-round picks the city had ever produced. This record takes the players whole. Every tie is printed at its exact strength — born here, raised here, formed here, played here, lived here — and the four are not interchangeable: some of the greatest names below were gone from South Bend in infancy, and the record says so. Careers are taken from the registers and the halls of fame, and where the registers disagree, both figures stand.
Stan Coveleski: The Hall of Famer Who Chose This Ground
1889–1984 · South Bend from 1929
Stanislaus Anthony Kowalewski was born July 13, 1889, in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, the youngest of five boys, four of whom played professional baseball; his brother Harry won 81 major-league games. Stan was a coal miner at twelve…
Max Carey: Formed Here, Under a Borrowed Name
1890–1976 · South Bend, 1909–1910
Maximilian George Carnarius was born January 11, 1890, in Terre Haute, Indiana, and was a pre-ministerial student — Concordia College in Fort Wayne, then Concordia Seminary in St. Louis — when baseball took him. In the summer of…
Ted Strong: Born Here, Gone in Infancy, Great in Two Sports
1917–1978 · born in South Bend
Theodore Relighn Strong Jr. was born January 2 in South Bend — 1917, on the SABR biography's and the Baseball-Reference Bullpen's dating; one widely used reference prints 1914, and the conflict stands here rather than under the…
Ollie Bejma: The Studebaker Team's Own Major Leaguer
1907–1995 · born, formed and died in South Bend
Aloysius Frank Bejma — Ollie — was born September 12, 1907, in South Bend, quit school at sixteen, went to work for Studebaker, and played five years on the company's baseball team, in the factory game the Sports leg records. The…
Dickie Thon: Born Here, and the Fastball
born 1958 · South Bend by birth
Richard William Thon was born June 20, 1958, in South Bend, because his father Fred — a Puerto Rican whose own playing career in the Dodgers' organization had ended with an arm injury — was finishing a business degree at Notre…
Craig Counsell: Born Here, Formed at Notre Dame, Twice a Game 7 Hero
born 1970 · South Bend by birth, Notre Dame by formation
Craig John Counsell was born August 21, 1970, in South Bend, the only child of John Counsell — captain of Notre Dame's 1964 baseball team and a former minor-league outfielder — and Jan Counsell. He grew up in Whitefish Bay…
Niko Kavadas: The Newest Name on the Register
born 1998 · South Bend by birth, Granger by upbringing
Nikolos Siade Kavadas was born October 27, 1998, in South Bend, grew up in Granger, and went to Penn High School — which stands in Mishawaka, and is printed as Mishawaka's here as everywhere in this history. At Notre Dame he…
The Born-Here Register: Fourteen Names
1902–2025
The Baseball Cube's city register counts fourteen men born in South Bend who played in the major leagues of white organized baseball. Four of them — Bejma, Thon, Counsell and Kavadas — stand at full size above, and Ted Strong…
Jean Faut: The League's Greatest Pitcher, Eight Years a Blue Sox
1925–2023 · South Bend, 1946–1953
Jean Faut was born January 17, 1925, in East Greenville, Pennsylvania, and every one of her eight professional seasons was played in a South Bend uniform, 1946 to 1953 — the tie is played here, and it is total. Her career line is…
Lib Mahon: Eight Seasons, Then a South Bend Life
1919–2001 · South Bend, 1945–1952
Lib Mahon was born November 18, 1919, in Greenville, South Carolina, and came to South Bend in Marty McManus's 1945 trade with Kenosha — the trade that sent Dottie Schroeder the other way. She played eight South Bend seasons, and…
Sue Kidd: From a Boys' Team in Arkansas to the Staff Ace
1933–2017 · South Bend, 1950–1954
Glenna Sue Kidd was born September 2, 1933, in Choctaw, Arkansas, and was pitching for the Clinton High School boys' team at fifteen when the Springfield Sallies' touring side signed her after a Little Rock tryout in June 1949.…
Dottie Schroeder: All Twelve Seasons
1928–1996 · South Bend, 1943–1945
Dorothy Schroeder was born April 11, 1928, in Sadorus, Illinois, and signed with South Bend at fifteen, for fifty-five dollars a week, the youngest of her league's founding players. She played in the league's first game, on May…
Bonnie Baker: The Face of the League
1918–2003 · South Bend, 1943–1950
Mary Geraldine Baker — Bonnie — was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, on July 10, 1918, on the register's dating; the Canadian references give 1919, and the variant stands. Recruited out of Canadian softball by the scout Hub Bishop…
Charlene Pryer: The Fastest Blue Sox
1921–1999 · South Bend, 1950–1952
Charlene Barbara Pryer — later Mayer — was born September 24, 1921, stood five feet one and weighed 105 pounds, and at her peak was the most disruptive offensive player in her league. She came to South Bend in 1950 after…
The Supporting Cast, and the City's Own Daughters
1943–1954
A twelve-year club is more than its stars. Shirley Stovroff, Faut's battery mate in the title years, hit .500 across the last three games of the 1951 final. Lil Faralla went 19–9 with two no-hitters in 1949 and 15–4 in 1951, and…
John Wooden, the Player: The Streak That Still Stands
1910–2010 · South Bend Central, 1934–1946
John Wooden's coaching belongs to the People and Schools records of this history; his playing career belongs here, because it ran alongside his South Bend years, and because it was, on its own, a Hall of Fame career. Born October…
Ed "Bulbs" Ehlers: The Celtics' First Draft Pick, Raised Here
1923–2013 · raised in South Bend
Edwin Sheffield Ehlers — "Bulbs" — was born March 10, 1923, in Joliet, Illinois, and raised in South Bend, where he attended South Bend Central and played basketball for John Wooden: the coach's own pupil, from the coach's own…
Tom Abernethy: The City Scoring Record and the Perfect Season
born 1954 · South Bend by birth and formation
Thomas Craig Abernethy was born May 6, 1954, in South Bend, and at St. Joseph's High School he set the city's scoring record: 648 points in his senior season of 1971–72, 25.9 a game, for a third-ranked Indians team that won 22…
John Laskowski: The Super Sub
born 1953 · South Bend by birth and formation
John Laskowski was born June 7, 1953, in South Bend, and played at St. Joseph's High School — class of 1971, a year ahead of Abernethy, the two overlapping in the same program — before joining Bob Knight's first recruiting class…
Lee Nailon: From Clay's State Title to an MVP in Israel
born 1975 · South Bend by birth and formation
Lee Nailon was born February 22, 1975, in South Bend, and at Clay High School, alongside the sophomore Jaraan Cornell, he led the Colonials to the 1994 Indiana state championship. His road ran the long way: Southeastern Iowa…
Skylar Diggins: Cross-Reference
born 1990 · South Bend by birth and formation
Skylar Diggins is profiled at full depth in this history's Famous People record, and this entry holds only the tie and the civic record. She was born August 2, 1990, in South Bend; at Washington High School her teams went 102–7…
Jaden Ivey: The Fifth Pick
born 2002 · South Bend by birth
Jaden Edward Dhananjay Ivey was born February 13, 2002, in South Bend, the son of Niele Ivey — Notre Dame's women's basketball coach, herself a Fighting Irish champion and a WNBA player — and he was schooled at Marian High School…
Blake Wesley: Riley High School to the First Round
born 2003 · South Bend by birth and formation
Blake Carrington Wesley was born March 16, 2003, in South Bend, and played at James Whitcomb Riley High School, four miles from the campus he would join — the first South Bend public-school basketball player to sign with Notre…
Demetrius Jackson: The County's Scoring King
born 1994 · South Bend by birth
Demetrius Jackson Jr. was born September 7, 1994, in South Bend, and played at Marian High School in Mishawaka — the boundary printed as everywhere in this history — where he concluded his career as the all-time leading scorer in…
Javon Small: The Register's Newest Basketball Name
born 2002 · South Bend by birth and formation
Javon Unique Small was born December 19, 2002, in South Bend, and played at James Whitcomb Riley High School before a senior year at Compass Prep in Arizona. His college road ran through three programs — East Carolina, Oklahoma…
Joe Kuharich: Riley's Guard, Notre Dame's Coach
1917–1981 · South Bend by birth and formation
Joseph Lawrence Kuharich was born April 14, 1917, in South Bend, and played at James Whitcomb Riley High School before going to Notre Dame, where he was a guard from 1935 to 1937 under Elmer Layden — who rated him one of the best…
Steve Nemeth: Riley's All-State Quarterback
1922–1998 · South Bend by birth and formation
Steve Joseph Nemeth was born December 10, 1922, in South Bend — "a true son of Notre Dame," in the Canadian league record's phrase, born in the city itself — and at Riley High School he was named the All-State quarterback in both…
Ernie Zalejski: Washington High, Three National Titles
1925–2012 · South Bend by birth and formation
Ernest Raymond Zalejski was born November 23, 1925, in South Bend, and at Washington High School he earned all-state honors three straight years, 1942 to 1944. At Notre Dame from 1946 to 1949 he played on teams that won…
Anthony Johnson: Formed at Adams, the Panthers' First Thousand-Yard Rusher
born 1967 · South Bend by formation
Anthony Scott Johnson's tie is the schoolboy formation, and the record states it exactly: the registers give his birth as October 25, 1967, in Indianapolis, while the Jacksonville Jaguars' own signing release called him "a native…
Anthony Barr: Born Here, a Four-Time Pro Bowler
born 1992 · South Bend by birth
Anthony Barr was born March 18, 1992, in South Bend, and raised in Los Angeles, where he attended Loyola High School — the tie is birth, printed at that strength, and the formation was California's. At UCLA he began as a running…
Danny Pinter: Adams High School to the Colts' Line
born 1996 · South Bend by birth and formation
Daniel James Pinter was born June 19, 1996, in South Bend, "I've lived here my whole life, I have played football here my whole life," as he put it on draft day — and played at John Adams High School, a two-time All-State…
The Football Register: The Rest of the Born and Formed Line
1920–2024
Pro Football Reference's birthplace register for South Bend carries, beyond the entries above, a line that runs the whole century. Frank Bacon, wingback, played 1920–25 — 47 games, 410 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in the…
Harold Brazier: 105 Wins Out of South Bend
born 1955 · South Bend's fighter
The Sports record of this history left men's professional boxing beyond Johnny Nate's gym as a gap. The register closes it, and the name is Harold Brazier. Harold Leon Brazier was born October 22, 1955 — BoxRec gives Indianapolis…
Johnny Nate's Fighters: Emerick, Hagen and Kugler
1940s–1950s · South Bend
The documented center of South Bend boxing in the postwar years is a makeshift gym beneath Johnny Nate's tavern on North Hill Street. Nate himself had been a bantamweight Golden Glover, and he trained women when almost no one in…
Ike Bierwagen: The Factory Game's Ace
1940–1950 · Bendix Brakes
The factory softball game that the Sports record tells had a face, and it was Ike Bierwagen, the Bendix Brakes' fastpitch pitcher. The American Softball Association's champions list gives the Brakes the national championship in…
Mark Hazinski: The Table Tennis Olympian
born 1985 · South Bend by birth, formed at the South Bend Table Tennis Club
Mark Hazinski was born April 20, 1985, in South Bend — the Tribune's Athens photograph caption calls him "Mishawaka's Mark Hazinski," and both addresses stand, birth here and the neighboring city's claim beside it. He was formed…
The Olympians of This Ground
2004–2020
The Olympic roll of this city, as the registers reached by this history carry it, is short and is printed whole. Skylar Diggins won basketball gold at Tokyo 2020 — the first South Bend native to win an Olympic gold medal in…
Pointed Elsewhere: The Names This Record Does Not Hold
Cross-references
Three of the city's greatest sporting names are deliberately not profiled here, because this history keeps one full telling of each life. Ryan Newman — born and raised in South Bend, a LaSalle High School graduate who took an…