- VINCE LOMBARDI
For this week's big list, I looked at NFL championships, from 1920 to the present, starting with AFPA/NFL championships, followed by Super Bowl championships beginning in 1967. Because franchises move and change names, I have credited championships to the city that the team resided in (with the exception of the ever in flux Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders... close enough), rather than to a specific franchise name. The top eleven cities are listed below. In cases where a city had the same number of championships, the year of their most recent championship decided the tie-breaker.
Additionally, Detroit's Red Wings (11), Tigers (4), and Pistons (3), have 18 championships between them. Oakland's Athletics's have won 9 world series and the Warriors have 2 NBA titles. Clint Eastwood, 5-time Oscar winner is from Oakland. Nobel Laureate Ralph Bunche and 13-Time Grammy winner Eminem are notable Detroiters.
In the other football, the DC United have claimed 4 MLS Cups. The Washington Bullets claimed 1 NBA title in 1978, and the NFL's Capitals and MLB's Nationals have yet to claim a title for the Federal City.
Snake-fighter and BAFTA award-winner Samuel L. Jackson is from the Capital. Nobel Prize and Academy Award winner Al Gore was born in Washington DC, and Pete Sampras, winner of 14 Grand Slam titles, is yet another winner from the District.
The City of San Francisco also has 5 NFL championships, and with its most recent in 1995, it makes the list at EIGHTH place.The success on the gridiron has been recently echoed by the city's Giants of baseball, making San Francisco home to 2 World Series titles since 2010.
Famous winners from the Bay Area include 4-time NFL rushing title winner, Hall of Famer, and serial criminal defendant O.J. Simpson. 1985 National Medal of Technology winner, and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was born in San Fran. 3-time Emmy nominee and TV Land award-winner Bill Bixby, TV's original (when not angry) Incredible Hulk was also grew up there.
Landing in the SEVENTH spot, the city of Dallas, Texas has also claimed 5 NFL Championships, edging out San Francisco by just one year with its most recent Bowl in 1996.Winning traditions are elusive for the rest of the city's professional sports. The Dallas Stars claimed their first and only Stanley Cup in 1999, and the Dallas Mavericks did the same in the NBA in 2011. The hometown Texas Rangers (MLB) and FC Dallas (MLS) are still chasing league titles after two appearances each in final series/games.
The (1978) television series Dallas won four Emmy Awards. Oscar nominee and 2-time MTV Movie Award winner Owen Wilson is from the Big D.
Similarly, Cleveland's Indians (2) haven't won a title since 1940 (though they reached the Series in 1997), and the Cavaliers have never won
The city is home, however to numerous winners in other areas of life. John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, the first American to orbit the earth and first human to walk on the moon (respectively) are both from Cleveland. College Football Hall of Famer, National Championship winner, and Trophy namesake John Heisman is also from The Forest City.
Steel City also lays claim to 5 World Series titles for the Pirates and 3 Stanley Cups with the Penguins, and 9 College Football titles with Pitt's Panthers.
Two-time Pulitzer winner and Presidential Medal of Freedom Laureate David McCullough is from the City of Bridges. Another Presidential Medal winner, multiple Emmy winner, and Senate testifier Mr. Fred Rogers was a a 'Burgher. Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Honus Wagner and AF Distinguished Service Medal winner and 2-time Oscar Winner and occasional poet Jimmy Stewart are both from boroughs (Carnegie/Indiana) of Pittsburgh.
In the FOURTH spot on the list, it's Charm City: Baltimore, Maryland. The most recent Super Bowl champion in the league, Baltimore has 6 NFL titles (4 as the Colts, 2 as the Ravens) to its name.The Orioles brought more winning tradition to Mobtown with 3 World Series titles. Baltimore was also home to the only American team (Stallions) to win the Canadian Football League's Grey Cup.
Notable winners from Baltimore: 7-time World Series Champion Babe Ruth, Peoples Choice Award-winner David Hasselhoff, Pulitzer Prize winner Upton Sinclair, and Michael Phelps, the winner of more gold medals (18) and total medals (22) than any other Olympian, ever.
New York City is home to two National Champion NFL teams, the Giants (8) and the Jets (1), making the Big Apple the THIRD place city on this list.
A city of New York's size has racked up the championships in other leagues as well. The NHL's Rangers have 4 Cups, MLB's Yankees (27) Mets (2) and Brooklyn Dodgers (1) add 30 to the total. The Knicks won 2 championships. The New York Red Bulls (MLS) have remained stymied by the Cup.
Native New Yorker Oscar Hammerstein II won 8 Tonys, 2 Oscars, and 1 Pulitzer for his musical writing. The only person to win 3 solo Academy Awards for screenwriting, Paddy Chayefsky, was from New York. New York is also home to the winners of 7 presidential elections: FDR, Teddy Roosevelt, Chester A. Arthur, and Martin Van Buren.
Coincidentally coming in SECOND, it's the Second City - Chicago, Illinois. Since the demise of the Akron Pros in 1927, Chicago is home to the oldest Championship win of any current NFL city. The Windy City's 11 NFL Championships came courtesy of its Bears (8), Cardinals (2), and Staleys (1).
Other Chi-Town teams have supplied lots of hardware in their time as the legendary 90's Bulls captured 6 championships, the Blackhawks brought 4, the White Sox have 3, the Fire 1, and even the Cubs won 2 World Series back in 1907-1908.
As for individuals, 26-time Oscar winner Walt Disney was born in Chicago, as were Golden Globe/BAFTA/Oscar winning actress/singer Jennifer Hudson, and the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Jane Addams.
Finally, in FIRST place on the list, its the little city of Green Bay, Wisconsin - the self-named Titletown, USA. Green Bay's other two professional teams, the IFL's Blizzard, and Legends Football League Chill have yet to claim a title. In this small city, the Green Bay Packers are one of the largest employers, and the team has made up for the lack of any other major professional league presence in the area by being the first Super Bowl winner and the overall champion of champions of the NFL.Some other stars in the city's crown are 3-time Emmy Award winner Tony Shaloub, as are Pulitzer winners Paul Gigot and Walter Wellesley Smith, and Olympic Gold Medalist canoer Rebecca Giddens. The city of Green Bay itself is a 2-time winner of "All-America City" in 1964 and again in 1969.
If you have any suggestions for a future list, let me know! More lists and news coming soon.
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