List of people from Appleton, Wisconsin

Last updated September 18, 2025

The following notable people are from or have been associated with Appleton, Wisconsin.

Artists and performers

Judah Bauer, guitarist
Willem Dafoe, actor^[1]
Theodore Hardeen, magician
Harry Houdini, illusionist and stunt performer ^[1]
Lynn Kellogg, singer
Steven Krueger, actor
Maury Laws, composer^[1]
Jeff Loomis, guitarist
Michael Patrick McGill, actor
Roy Purdy, rapper
Brenda Rae, operatic soprano
Mark Stewart, musician
Mary Ann Wells, dancer and ballet dance teacher
Terry Zwigoff, filmmaker

Athletes and sports personnel

Esmir Bajraktarevic, soccer player
Myrt Basing, NFL player
Rocky Bleier, NFL player, four-time Super Bowl Champion
Brian Butch, NBA player
Mark Catlin Sr., football coach
Clarence Currie, MLB player
Christopher DeMarco, basketball coach
Matt Erickson, MLB, Manager Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
Royal T. Farrand, physician and college football player
Sarah Hagen, NWSL player
J. P. Hayes, PGA golfer
Joe Hietpas, baseball player
George Hogreiver, MLB player
Danny Jansen, MLB player
Roger Jenkins, hockey player
Erik Jensen, NFL player
Swede Johnston, NFL player
Ross Kenseth, America Stock car racing driver
Cole Konrad, first-ever Bellator Heavyweight Champion
Ron Kostelnik, football player
Tony Kubek, World Series champion baseball player and Hall of Fame broadcaster
Stu Locklin, baseball and educator
Garrett Lowney, Olympic medalist
Jack Mead, NFL player
Chester J. Roberts, head coach of the Miami RedHawks football and men's basketball teams
Paul Schommer, Olympic biathlete
Don Werner, MLB player
Silas Young, professional wrestler

Authors and journalists

Mary Agria, author
Gary Arndt, travel photographer and writer
Lan Samantha Chang, author and director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop
Edna Ferber, author^[1]
Alfred Galpin, correspondent of H. P. Lovecraft
Henry Golde, author and Holocaust survivor
William Norman Grigg, author
Kristine Jarinovska, legal scientist,^[2]^[3] Secretary of State, Latvia ^[4]
Walter Havighurst, author
Gladys Taber, author
Greta Van Susteren, journalist, Newsmax television anchor^[1]

Businesspeople

William Beverly Murphy, ex-president of Campbell Soup Company
Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer at Microsoft ^[5]
Travis VanderZanden, founder of Bird Rides ^[6]
Walter B. Wriston, banker

Military personnel

John Bradley, Iwo Jima Navy flag-raiser^[1]
Zuhdi Jasser, doctor, former lieutenant commander in the United States Navy
John S. Mills, U.S. Air Force major general
Erik M. Ross, U.S. Navy rear admiral
William J. Van Ryzin, U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant general

Politicians

George Baldwin, politician and businessman
Clinton B. Ballard, Wisconsin State Representative
Mark Catlin Jr., speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly
William F. Cirkel, Wisconsin politician and businessman^[7]
Bob Corbin, former member of the Ohio House of Representatives
Lorenzo E. Darling, Wisconsin State Representative
Catherine Ebert-Gray, U.S. diplomat
Harold Froehlich, U.S. Representative and Outagamie County Circuit Judge
Charles J. Hagen, Wisconsin State Representative
David Hammel, Wisconsin State Representative
Leopold Hammel, Wisconsin State Representative
William E. Hoehle, Wisconsin State Representative
Steve Kagen, U.S. Congressman
David M. Kelly, Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly and a Wisconsin State Senator
William Kennedy, Wisconsin State Senator^[8]
George Kreiss, Wisconsin politician
August W. Laabs, Wisconsin State Representative
John F. Lappen, Wisconsin State Senator
James Lennon, Wisconsin State Representative
James E. Lyons, Wisconsin State Representative
Sue R. Magnuson, Wisconsin State Representative
David Martin, Wisconsin State Representative
Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator
C. E. McIntosh, Wisconsin State Representative
Talbot Peterson, Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman
David Prosser Jr., Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice
William J. Rogers, Wisconsin State Representative
Sue Rohan, Wisconsin State Representative
James Ryan, Wisconsin politician
Samuel Ryan Jr., Wisconsin State Representative
Oscar J. Schmiege, Wisconsin State Representative and jurist
George J. Schneider, U.S. Representative
Charles M. Schrimpf, Wisconsin State Representative
David Schutter, criminal defense attorney^[9]
Henry Clay Sloan, Wisconsin State Representative
Perry H. Smith, Wisconsin politician
John Tracy, Wisconsin State Representative
William Smith Warner, Wisconsin State Representative
Alexander B. Whitman, Wisconsin State Senator
Jerry L. Wing, Wisconsin State Representative
Bernard C. Wolter, Wisconsin State Representative

Other

Stephanie Chasteen (1972–2024), physics education researcher and science communicator
Anthony Czarnik, chemist and inventor
Emanuel Gerechter, rabbi and professor
August Knuppel, mason and contractor
Ann McKee, neuropathologist specializing in traumatic brain injuries
John Benjamin Murphy, surgeon
Larry Rosebaugh, Roman Catholic priest
James Zwerg, civil rights activist

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 "General Facts about Appleton, WI". Lawrence University. Archived from the original on November 26, 2010. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
↑ Capps, Patrick «Metgodological Legal Positivism in Law and International Law.» In Himma, Kenneth Einar, Ed. Law, Morality, and Legal Positivism: Proceedings of the 21st World Congress of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR); Lund, Sweden, 12–18 August 2003, ARSP Beiheft Nr. 98, Archiv für Rechts- und Scozialphilosophie, Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, Stuttgart, 2004. ISBN 3-515-08513-0 Volume 3, p. 12.
↑ Dr. iur. Ivans Jānis Mihailovs, Mg. iur. , Bc. paed. Rihards Erdmanis "The Doctrine of “in Loco Parentis” in Anglo-Saxon Legal Systems and in the Republic of Latvia", Journal of the University of Latvia. Law, No. 15, 2022 pp. 293–308
↑ Latvia Secretary of State Archived January 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
↑ "Brad Smith". news.microsoft.com. Microsoft. Retrieved December 9, 2016. Smith grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin
↑ "How Bird scooters CEO Travis VanderZanden went from Appleton to the head of a company valued at $2 billion". www.postcrescent.com. Retrieved September 22, 2021.(subscription required)
↑ 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1885,' Biographical Sketch of William Fredeick Cirkel, pg. 437-438
↑ Wisconsin Blue Book 1893, p. 671.
↑ Kampfer, Donald (August 16, 1981). "Schuetter is real". archived.

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[LawrenceNotableResidents-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 "General Facts about Appleton, WI". Lawrence University. Archived from the original on November 26, 2010. Retrieved November 24, 2010.

[2] Capps, Patrick «Metgodological Legal Positivism in Law and International Law.» In Himma, Kenneth Einar, Ed. Law, Morality, and Legal Positivism: Proceedings of the 21st World Congress of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR); Lund, Sweden, 12–18 August 2003, ARSP Beiheft Nr. 98, Archiv für Rechts- und Scozialphilosophie, Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, Stuttgart, 2004. ISBN 3-515-08513-0 Volume 3, p. 12.

[3] Dr. iur. Ivans Jānis Mihailovs, Mg. iur. , Bc. paed. Rihards Erdmanis "The Doctrine of “in Loco Parentis” in Anglo-Saxon Legal Systems and in the Republic of Latvia", Journal of the University of Latvia. Law, No. 15, 2022 pp. 293–308

[4] Latvia Secretary of State Archived January 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

[Brad_Smith_Microsoft-5] "Brad Smith". news.microsoft.com. Microsoft. Retrieved December 9, 2016. Smith grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin

[6] "How Bird scooters CEO Travis VanderZanden went from Appleton to the head of a company valued at $2 billion". www.postcrescent.com. Retrieved September 22, 2021.(subscription required)

[7] 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1885,' Biographical Sketch of William Fredeick Cirkel, pg. 437-438

[8] Wisconsin Blue Book 1893, p. 671.

[Schuetter-9] Kampfer, Donald (August 16, 1981). "Schuetter is real". archived.

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