These Are The Most Wikipedia’d Famous People In Southwest Michigan

Wikipedia has become the go to site to quickly learn everything about anything, and anything about everything. This includes people of course, as you try to remember where your favorite actor or actress was born, what bands your favorite singer was in before fame, or where your favorite athlete played sports in high school.

So which people in our local communities are the most searched for on Wikipedia? There is zoomable that map called The Pudding that allows you to find out who receives the most traffic on the site for nearly every city in the country. So we wanted to find out who gets the most action in some of our Southwest Michigan communities.

Here is what we found:

ALBION - Bill Laswell - A bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner who has been in thousands of recordings with collaborators all over the world. His early years were spent on the road with his parents, moving frequently throughout the Midwest. They eventually settled in Albion when Bill was 6-years-old.

ALLEGAN - Benjamin D. Pritchard - A United States Army officer from Allegan, most known for leading the regiment which captured the fugitive Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, during the close of the American Civil War.

BATTLE CREEK - Rob Van Dam - The professional wrestler and actor was born in Battle Creek in 1980 and graduated from Pennfield High School.

COLDWATER - Dan Severn - A semi-retired mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and occasional actor. Severn grew up on a farm in Coldwater before launching his fighting career during his teenage years there.

MARSHALL - Jamie Hyneman - A special effects expert who is best known as the co-host of the series MythBusters alongside Adam Savage. Hyneman was born in Marshall in 1956.

KALAMAZOO - Derek Jeter - The former New York Yankees all-star played baseball for Kalamazoo Central High School before his hall-of-fame professional career.

PAW PAW - Loretta Long - An actress, voice artist, singer, media personality and educator. She has played the character of Susan Robinson on Sesame Street since its debut in 1969. Long was born in Paw Paw in 1938.

PORTAGE - Peter Metzelaars - The former NFL player played tight end for several teams in his sixteen year career, including the Detroit Lions. Metzelaars graduated from Portage Central High School. 

THREE RIVERS - Daniel Booko - An actor and model who had roles in The O.C., Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Booko was born in Three Rivers in 1983 and his father is the pastor at Riverside Church there.

These are just some of the communities in Southwest Michigan represented on the interactive map. If you want to navigate the site yourself and look up more cities CLICK OR TAP HERE