The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Cranston, Rhode Island.
Rhode Island is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound; and shares a small maritime border with New York, east of Long Island. Rhode Island is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020; but it has grown at every decennial count since 1790 and is the second-most densely populated state, after New Jersey. The state takes its name from the eponymous island, though nearly all its land area is on the mainland. Providence is its capital and most populous city.
Cumberland is the northeasternmost town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States, first settled in 1635 and incorporated in 1746. The population was 36,405 at the 2020 census, making it the seventh-largest municipality and the largest town in the state.
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). As of the 2024–25 AHL season, All 32 NHL teams held affiliations with an AHL team. Historically, when an NHL team does not have an AHL affiliate, its players are assigned to AHL teams affiliated with other NHL franchises.
The Providence Reds were a hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League (CAHL) between 1926 and 1936 and the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Reds. The team won the Calder Cup in 1938, 1940, 1949, and 1956. The Reds played at the Rhode Island Auditorium, located on North Main Street in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1926 through 1972, when the team affiliated with the New York Rangers and moved into the newly built Providence Civic Center. The team name came from the breed of chicken known as the Rhode Island Red.
The Maine Mariners were two separate professional ice hockey teams in the American Hockey League. They both played in Portland, Maine, at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
La Salle Academy is a private Roman Catholic college preparatory school run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded by the Christian Brothers in 1871. the Academy currently enrolls 1,478 students in the sixth through twelfth grades, with the majority of students coming from the Providence metropolitan area.
The New Haven Nighthawks were a professional ice hockey team that played in the American Hockey League from 1972 to 1992. They had affiliations with the New York Islanders (1972–1973), Minnesota North Stars (1972–1977), New York Rangers, and Los Angeles Kings (1981–1991). The team played their home games at New Haven Coliseum.
William Edwards Blackmon is a former American football safety and return specialist. He played college football for the Boston College Eagles, and was selected in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. He was also a member of the New York Giants, Arizona Rattlers, Seattle Seahawks, Jacksonville Jaguars, Washington Redskins, and Saskatchewan Roughriders. He is currently an analyst for the Boston College Football team.
Nehemiah Rice Knight was Governor of Rhode Island and United States Senator from Rhode Island.
Cranston High School West is a public high school located in Cranston, Rhode Island, United States. The school comprises five buildings; one of these buildings is the Cranston Area Career and Technical Center. The school grounds include six tennis courts, a baseball field, and a track and football field. West has 155 staff members who work with the student population of approximately 1850 daily. The program of studies encompasses 203 different courses. The Cranston Area Career and Technical Center offers 17 different courses. All courses are geared toward student academic abilities. Fifty-two percent of graduates go on to pursue a four-year degree while twenty-two percent pursue a 2-year degree.
Three popular American sports were invented in New England. Basketball was invented by James Naismith, a Canadian, in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891. Volleyball was invented by William G. Morgan in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1895. Paintball was invented in 1981 in Henniker, New Hampshire.
David K. Littman is an American former ice hockey goaltender. He played three games in the National Hockey League: two with the Buffalo Sabres and one with the Tampa Bay Lightning between 1991 and 1993. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1989 to 2000, was mainly spent in the minor International Hockey League. He was drafted in the eleventh round, 211th overall, of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft by the Sabres. Internationally Littman played for the American national team at the 1994 World Championships.
Joseph Lawrence Zanussi is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 149 games in the World Hockey Association and 87 games in the National Hockey League. Zanussi's skating ability and agility earned him the nicknames 'Crazy Legs' and 'Tazmanian Devil' and although small for a pro hockey defenseman, Zanussi was a good bodychecker and possessed a big shot.
The 2022 Rhode Island gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Rhode Island. Incumbent Democratic Governor Dan McKee became Rhode Island's governor on March 2, 2021, when term-limited Gina Raimondo resigned following her confirmation as United States Secretary of Commerce. McKee easily won a full term on election day, defeating Republican Ashley Kalus by more than 19 percentage points.
Rhode Island is one of the traditional centers of ice hockey in the United States. Located in New England, the font of American ice hockey, teams from Rhode Island have played organized hockey as far back as the late-19th century and many residents have played at the highest levels of the sport.
Richard Francis Canning was an American attorney who was the president of the American Hockey League from 1957 to 1961.