Famous athletes from Louisville, Kentucky
From baseball to golf, Louisville has a strong presence in some of the country’s biggest sports.
Athletes like D’Angelo Russell and Nate Hobbs wore their hometown with pride and even returned home to give back to the place where their careers took place.
Here are some athletes who hail from Louisville:
Muhammad Ali
Sports: Boxing
Cassius Marcellus Clay. Muhammad Ali. “The Greatest.”
Ali, a 20th-century sports icon with countless accolades, died in 2016, but his name and legacy are still alive in Louisville – from the Muhammad Ali Center at 144 N. Sixth Street to the “Boxing Gloves” sculpture in Louisville’s Smoketown neighborhood, which was erected to honor athletes like Ali, the Courier Journal previously reported.
Brandon Pfaadt
Sports: baseball
Team: Arizona Diamondbacks
The pitcher is a Louisville native who attended Trinity High School and Bellarmine University, the Courier Journal previously reported, and was called up to his current team in 2020.
More: Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers is one of Kentucky’s best players to make it to the MLB All-Star Game
D’Angelo Russell
Sports: basketball
Team: Los Angeles Lakers
According to his NBA profile, Russell was selected second in the 2015 NBA Draft. He plays at the guard position.
In addition to sports, he runs a foundation, the D’Angelo Russell Foundation, with which he recently donated $100,000 to improve Algonquin Park.
More: Louisville native D’Angelo Russell’s foundation donates $100,000 to modernize Algonquin Park
David Griffith
Sports: basketball
Team: Utah Jazz
After leading the University of Louisville to an NCAA championship, Darrell “Dr. Dunkenstein” Griffith was selected No. 2 in the first round of the 1980 NBA Draft and named Rookie of the Year in 1981, the Courier Journal previously reported.
Griffith retired after the 1990–91 season and his former team retired the number 35 in his honor two years after his departure from the league.
More: From Darrell Griffith to Lamar Jackson: Louisville’s Sports Illustrated cover in retrospect
Justin Thomas
Sports: golf
Justin Thomas is a Louisville native and two-time PGA champion, but before competing in the big leagues, he played for the Saint Xavier High School golf team.
According to WDRB-TV, he was recently honored with a Hometown Hero banner placed on the Watterson City Park Towers on Bishop Lane in the Bashford Manor neighborhood.
More: Justin Thomas’ journey from St. Xavier golfer to pro in search of his third PGA Championship
Mary T. Meagher
Sports: Bathe
Mary T. Meagher, a multiple Olympic medalist and record holder, is one of the best athletes to ever represent the state at the Summer Games, the Courier Journal previously reported. She was known as “Madame Butterfly” after Puccini’s opera.
She has been honored in several ways in Louisville. The Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center, 201 Reservoir Road, is an indoor swimming pool in Crescent Hill Park and was honored with a Hometown Hero banner at the Norton Suburban Hospital Building in St. Matthews.
Nate Hobbs
Sports: football
Team: Las Vegas Raiders
Nate Hobbs is a cornerback for the Las Vegas Raiders after being selected by the team in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft, according to the Raiders website.
For the past four years, Hobbs has hosted a summer camp for Louisville children. The most recent camp on July 13 at Waggener High School had over 80 participants and included activities such as team stretching, drills and individual competitions.
“I want them to remember where they came from,” Hobbs told reporters after the camp. “And wherever they go, I want them to remember who they are.”
More: Nate Hobbs, Las Vegas Raiders player and Louisville native, hosts youth football camp
Rondo District
Sports: basketball
Team: Several, including the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers
Rajon Rondo is a well-known name in the sports scene, and his beginnings lie right here in Kentucky. Originally from Louisville, he was a UK Wildcat when he played for the team in the mid-2000s.
He was inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.
More: Rajon Rondo, former guard for Kentucky Basketball, inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame
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