Americans of German descent

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List of German Americans

This is a list of notable German Americans.

German Americans (Deutschamerikaner) are citizens of the United States of ethnic German ancestry and form the largest ancestry group in the United States, accounting for 17% of US population. The first significant numbers arrived in the 1680s in New York and Pennsylvania. Some eight million German immigrants entered the United States since then. Immigration continued in substantial numbers during the 19th century; the largest number of arrivals came 1840–1900, when Germans formed the largest group of immigrants coming to the U.S., outnumbering even the Irish and English. Some arrived seeking religious or political freedom, others for economic opportunities greater than those in Europe, and others simply for the chance to start afresh in the New World. California and Pennsylvania have the largest populations of German origin, with over six million German-Americans residing in the two states alone. Over 50 million people in the United States identify German as their ancestry.

Americans of German descent live in nearly every American county, from the East Coast, where the first German settlers arrived in the 1600s, to the West Coast and in all the states in between. German-Americans and those Germans who settled in the US have been influential in most every field, from science, to architecture, to entertainment to commercial industry.

List

Art and literature

Architects

Dankmar Adler - steel framed skyscrapers, leader of Chicago school of architecture
Julius Berndt - artist, architect and entrepreneur
Adolf Cluss - architect, builder of numerous public buildings in Washington D.C.
Walter Gropius - pioneering master of "modern" architecture, founder of Bauhaus
John A. Roebling - architect, best known for designing the Brooklyn Bridge
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe - pioneer of "modern" architecture, second Chicago school of architecture
August Schoenborn - U.S. Capitol Dome

Artists

Anni Albers - printmaker, textile artist
Albert Bierstadt - painter, best known for his large landscapes of the American West
Rudolph Dirks - comic strip artist who created The Katzenjammer Kids
Alfred Eisenstaedt - photographer and photojournalist best remembered for his photograph capturing the celebration of V-J Day
Andreas Feininger - photographer and writer on photographic technique
Lyonel Feininger - painter and caricaturist
Steven Fischer - film producer; cartoonist
George Grosz - prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity group, known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s
Uli Herzner - fashion designer
Hans Hofmann- abstract expressionist painter
Ubbe Ert Iwwerks - Academy Award-winning animator, cartoonist and special effects technician, famous for his work for Walt Disney
Harold Knerr - illustrator of The Katzenjammer Kids until 1949
John Lewis Krimmel - America's first genre painter
Fritz Lang - film director, screenwriter and occasional film producer
J. C. Leyendecker - cartoonist
Emanuel Leutze - history painter best-known for his painting Washington Crossing the Delaware
Nicola Marschall - artist, designed the first Confederate flag and the Confederate uniform
Louis Maurer - lithographer
Thomas Nast - political cartoonist

Erwin Panofsky - art historian
Louis Prang - printer, lithographer and publisher, one of the famous "Forty-Eighters"
Vinnie Ream - sculptor, famous for her work of Abraham Lincoln in the U.S. Capitol rotunda
Severin Roesen - still life painter
Charles M. Schulz - cartoonist best known worldwide for his Peanuts comic strip
Christian Schwartz - type designer
Otto Soglow - cartoonist best known for his comic strip The Little King
Alfred Stieglitz - photographer instrumental in making photography an acceptable art form alongside painting and sculpture
Christopher Sauer - earliest type founder in America, published the first German Bible, 1743, and the first religious magazine in America, 1764
Henry William Stiegel - glassmaker and ironmaster
Kat Von D (Katherine von Drachenberg) - tattoo artist
Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven - avant-garde, Dadaist artist and poet
Carl von Marr - painter
Baroness Hilla von Rebay - abstract painter, helped establish the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City

Authors and writers

Kathy Acker - author
Sade Baderinwa - news reporter/journalist

Monika Bauerlein - co-editor of Mother Jones magazine
L. Frank Baum - author, actor, and independent filmmaker best known as the creator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Vicki Baum - writer
Richard Bock - sculptor and associate of Frank Lloyd Wright
Charles Bukowski - poet and novelist
August Derleth - author of Sac Prairie saga, science fiction, mystery
Theodore Dreiser - author of the naturalist school, known for dealing with the gritty reality of life
Gottfried Duden - travel author
Roger Ebert - Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic
Martin Ebon - author of non-fiction books from the paranormal to politics
George DiCaprio - writer, editor, and major west coast underground comic book distributor
Charles Follen - poet and patriot
Bruno Frank - author, poet, dramatist and humanist
Isaac Kaufmann Funk - editor, lexicographer, publisher, and spelling reformer
Cork Graham - screenwriter, war correspondent, and author
Ursula Hegi - novelist
Patricia Highsmith - novelist known for her psychological thrillers
Friedrich Hirth - sinologue
Julia Kasdorf - poet
Siegfried Kracauer - film historian, sociologist and author
Howard Kurtz - journalist, blogger, author and media critic
Thomas Mann - Nobel prize-winning author
Walter Lippman - writer, journalist, and political commentator
H. L. Mencken - journalist
Henry Miller - writer and painter
Anna Balmer Myers - author of Mennonite (Pennsylvania Dutch) novels
Sylvia Plath - poet, novelist, and short story writer
Joseph Pulitzer - publisher best known for posthumously establishing the Pulitzer Prizes and for originating yellow journalism
Heinrich Armin Rattermann - author, poet, and historian
Wolfgang Reitherman - Disney animator and director
Erich Maria Remarque - German-born author, naturalized U.S. citizen
Conrad Richter - Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist
Mary Roberts Rinehart - author

Hope Rockefeller Aldrich - journalist
Charles Sealsfield - the pseudonym of Austrian-American author of novels and travelogues, Carl (or Karl) Anton Postl
Curt Siodmak - screenwriter
Gertrude Stein - author
John Steinbeck - Nobel prize-winning author, one of the best-known and most widely read American writers of the 20th century
Dr. Seuss (born Theodor Seuss Geisel) - writer and cartoonist
Henry Villard - journalist
Kurt Vonnegut

Entertainment

Actors and actresses

Eddie Albert - (born Edward Albert Heimberger) Oscar and Emmy Award-nominated American stage, film, character actor, gardener, humanitarian activist, and World War II hero.
Edward Albert - (born Edward Laurence Heimberger) film and television actor
Edward Arnold - actor
Fred Astaire - actor
Mary Astor - actress
Lauren Bacall - actress
Catherine Bach - actress
Maxine Bahns - actress
Jaid Barrymore - actress
Chris Bauer - actor
Carl Betz - actor and World War II Veteran
Curt Bois - actor
Eric Braeden - actor
Victor Brandt - actor
Felix Bressart - actor
Agnes Bruckner - actress
Sandra Bullock - actress
Carol Channing - actor
Kevin Costner - actor
Helmut Dantine - actor
Doris Day - actress, singer
Johnny Depp - actor
Cameron Diaz - actress of Cuban-American and German-American ancestry.
Leonardo DiCaprio - actor
Marlene Dietrich - actress
Phyllis Diller - entertainer, comedienne and film, television, and stage actress
Robert De Niro - actor
Haylie Duff - actress and sister of Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff - actress
Kirsten Dunst - film actress & former model
George Dzundza - actor known for his role as Sgt. Max Greevey in the first season of the TV crime drama Law & Order
Douglas Fairbanks - actor of the silent era
Dakota Fanning - child actress (I Am Sam, Uptown Girls, Taken)
Fritz Feld - actor
Tina Fey - writer, comedian and a Prime Time Emmy-nominated actress
William Fichtner - actor
Harrison Ford - actor
Clark Gable - actor
Mitzi Gaynor - born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber -- Actress, singer, and dancer
Lillian Gish - actress
Harry Groener - three-time Tony Award nominee
Uta Hagen - actress
David Hasselhoff - actor
Katherine Heigl - actress
Marg Helgenberger - actress
Paul Henreid - born Paul Georg Julius Hernried Freiherr von Wassel-Waldingau
Edward Herrmann - television and film actor
Emile Hirsch - actor
Tab Hunter - film actor and singer
Emil Jannings - the very first actor to receive the Academy Award for Best Actor
Leatrice Joy - (born Leatrice Joy Zeidler) silent film era actress
Werner Klemperer - actor
Sarah Kozer - television personality
Peter Krause - actor
Kurt Kreuger - actor
Berry Kroeger - actor
Veronica Lake - actress and pin-up model
Cyndi Lauper - singer, actress
Hedy Lamarr - actress

Jessica Lange - actress
Taylor Lautner - actor/martial artist
Justin Lazard - actor, model
Allison Mack - actress
Fredric March - actor
Rudolf Martin - actor
Marx Brothers - actors
Ray Mayer - actor
Helen Menken - actress, born Helen Meinken
Candice Michelle - model/actress/WWE diva
Heidi Montag - entertainer
Nick Nolte - actor
Chris O'Donnell - actor who played Robin in two Batman movies
Lotte Palfi - actress
Lilli Palmer - (born Lillie Marie Peiser) actress
Michelle Pfeiffer - actress
Amy Poehler - actress and comedian
Erich Pommer - actor and film producer
George Raft - (born George Ranft) actor
Luise Rainer - actress
Donna Reed - actress
Elisabeth Röhm
Sig Ruman - actor
Roy Scheider - actor
August Schellenberg - actor
Helen Schneider - actress and singer
John Schneider - country singer and actor
Michael Schoeffling - actor
Josef Sommer - actor
Matt Schulze - actor
Nick Stahl - actor
Eric Stoltz - actor
Ludwig Stossel - actor
Charlize Theron - actress
Tiffani Thiessen - actress
Liv Tyler - actress
Alida Valli - actress, born Alida Maria Laura von Altenburger
Conrad Veidt - actor
Mike Vogel - actor
Erik von Detten - actor
Angelina Jolie - actress , born Angelina Jolie Voight
Jon Voight - actor.
Jenna von Oÿ - actress and singer
Christopher Walken - actor
Paul Walker - actor
Erin Wasson - actress/model
Johnny Weissmuller - Olympic swimmer, actor, best known as Tarzan
Mae West - actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol
Bruce Willis - actor
Katie Wuhrer - actress
Wolfgang Zilzer - actor

Celebrities

Paul Burmeister - analyst for the NFL Network

Siegfried Fischbacher - magician
Paris Hilton - Hilton Hotel heiress
Nikki Hilton - Hilton Hotel heiress
Roy Horn - magician
Stacy Keibler - World Wrestling Entertainment diva, model and ex-cheerleader of the Baltimore Ravens
Jimmy Kimmel - comedian, writer, talk show host, game show host, and producer
Heidi Montag - reality television celebrity
Keith Olbermann - news anchor, commentator and radio sportscaster
Stefani Schaeffer - named Season 6 Apprentice
Ruth Westheimer - media sex educator “Dr. Ruth”

Directors/producers

Woody Allen - (born Allen Stewart Königsberg) actor, film producer
Harry Cohn - founded C.B.C. Films in 1920, later Columbia Pictures
Peter Douglas - Emmy award winning director and producer
Roland Emmerich - Hollywood film director; born in Stuttgart
Steven Fischer - producer/director; two time Emmy Award nominee
Marc Forster - director
John Frankenheimer - film director
Mark Hellinger - producer
Werner Herzog - film director, screenwriter, actor, and opera director
Carl Laemmle - pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios
Ernst Lubitsch - acclaimed film director, special Academy Award winner
Anthony Mann - film director and actor
F. W. Murnau - film director of the silent era
Harold Nebenzal - film producer and screenwriter
Seymour Nebenzahl - film producer
Mike Nichols- Academy Award winning film director, writer and producer
Arch Oboler - scriptwriter, novelist, producer and director who was active in films, radio and television
Wolfgang Petersen- director
Gottfried Reinhardt - producer and director
George Schaefer - director of television and Broadway theatre
Eric Schaeffer - actor/writer/director in film and television
Victor Schertzinger - composer, film director, film producer, and screenwriter
Eugen Schüfftan - cinematographer and inventor
Reinhold Schünzel - director and actor
Robert Siodmak - director
Irving Thalberg - film producer, the 'Boy Wonder'
Paul Vogel - cinematographer
Wim Wenders - film director
William Wyler - film director
Darryl F. Zanuck - producer, writer, actor and director who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system

Humorists

Matt Groening - cartoonist, The Simpsons and Futurama creatorand creator of the comic strip Life in Hell.

Models

Carol Alt - supermodel and actress
Megan Ewing
Jinx Falkenburg - model
Julia Schultz - model and actress

Music

Bix Beiderbecke - jazz cornet player and a classical and jazz pianist
Frank Heino Damrosch - conductor and educator
Leopold Damrosch - conductor
Walter Johannes Damrosch - conductor
Glenn Danzig - singer, songwriter and musician
Carlos Dengler - Interpol guitarist
John Denver - musician
Howard Dietz - publicist, lyric writer and librettist
Adolph Deutsch - Academy Award-winning composer, conductor and arranger
Fred Durst - musician, director, and actor, known primarily as the founder of nu metal band Limp Bizkit
Antje Duvekot - singer, songwriter, and guitarist
Chris Fehn- percussionist Slipknot
Lukas Foss - conductor
Daryl Hall - (born Daryl Franklin Hohl) singer/songwriter
James Hetfield - singer/rhythm guitarist of Metallica
Elbert Joseph Higgins - songwriter
Paul Hindemith - composer, violinist and influential teacher.
Hanya Holm - choreographer
Horst P. Horst - photographer
Elizabeth Hummel - singer-songwriter
Jonas Brothers - musicians
Norman Frauenheim - acclaimed pianist and music teacher
Hugo Friedhofer - Film music composer
Dave Grohl - rock musician and songwriter
Gus Kahn - musician, songwriter and lyricist
Edd Kalehoff - music composer who specializes in compositions for television
Jerome Kern - composer
Jewel Kilcher - singer, songwriter, actress, poet and philanthropist, generally known just by her first name, Jewel
Henry Kleber - influential performer, composer, music merchant, impresario, and teacher.
Johnny Klein - drummer for Lawrence Welk on the The Lawrence Welk Show
Otto Klemperer - conductor
Alison Krauss (Krauß) - bluegrass-country singer and fiddle player
Nick Lachey - pop singer
Tallan Latz - blues guitar prodigy
Charles Martin Loeffler - composer
Marilyn Manson- singer
Christian Frederick Martin - guitar maker, founded C. F. Martin & Company

Jaco Pastorius - musician and songwriter widely acknowledged for his virtuosity of the fretless bass
Elvis Presley - singer
Linda Ronstadt - singer, songwriter.
Bruno Walter Schlesinger - conductor and composer
Jeff Schroeder - guitarist, Smashing Pumpkins
Theodore Thomas - conductor
Dee Dee Ramone - Bassist for The Ramones
Heinz Eric Roemheld - Academy Award-winning composer
Arnold Schoenberg - expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School
Max Steiner - composer of music for theater and films
Zacky Vengeance - Rhythm Guitarist for Avenged Sevenfold
Kurt Weill - composer
Pete Wentz - Bassist for the band Fall Out Boy
Lawrence Welk - bandleader
Hugo Winterhalter - easy listening arranger and composer
Ace Young - singer

Entrepreneurs

John Jacob Astor - merchant
William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor - financier and statesman

George Frederick Baer - lawyer, Social Darwinist railroad baron (former President of the Reading Railroad)
Ralph Baer - father of the home video game consule
John Jacob Bausch - optician who co-founded Bausch & Lomb
Andy Bechtolsheim - co-founder of Sun Microsystems and one of the first investors in Google
Joseph Augustus Biedenharn - credited with first bottling the popular soda fountain drink Coca-Cola in the summer of 1894
Maximilian Berlitz - Berlitz Language School
William Edward Boeing - aviation pioneer who founded The Boeing Company
Henry Buhl Jr. - entrepreneur and public science educator
Walter Chrysler - Chrysler automobile developer
Noah Dietrich - CEO of the Howard Hughes empire
Walt Disney - film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, and philanthropist
John Doerr - venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
August Duesenberg - automobile pioneer manufacturer
Fred Duesenberg - automobile pioneer designer, manufacturer and sportsman
Harvey Firestone - founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
August Charles Fruehauf - blacksmith who invented the tractor trailer or semi-trailer (Sattelschlepper in German) in 1914 and founded the Fruehauf Trailer Corporation
Gustav Goelitz - candy and ice cream merchant whose endeavours led to candy corn and the Jelly Belly candy company
Theodor August Heintzman - piano manufacturer (Heintzman & Co.) and inventor
Henry J. Heinz - H. J. Heinz Company ketchup founder
H. J. Heinz II - best known as Jack Heinz, a business executive and CEO of the H. J. Heinz Company
Milton S. Hershey - Hershey chocolate founder
Barron Hilton - chairman of the Hilton Hotel chain and grandfather of Paris Hilton
Conrad Hilton - founder of the Hilton Hotel chain and great grandfather of Paris Hilton & Nicky Hilton
Richard Hilton, Businessman and father of Paris Hilton
Max Kade - pharmaceutical industry tycoon, endowed the Max Kade foundation
Otto Hermann Kahn - investment banker
Edgar J. Kaufmann - department store entrepreneur
John W. Kieckhefer - pioneer in the use of fibre shipping containers and one of the wealthiest men in America in 1957
John Kluge - television industry mogul
William Knabe - industrialist and piano-manufacturer
Johan Adam Lemp - the father of modern brewing in St. Louis, started the William J. Lemp Brewing Company
Alfred Lion - co-founder of Blue Note Records
Solomon Loeb - banker, co-founder of Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
William H. Luden - developer of the menthol cough drop, the first ever, Luden's Menthol Cough Drops
Peter Luger - steak restauranteur
Abby Rockefeller Mauzé - philanthropist
Oscar Mayer - meat entrepreneur
F. L. Maytag - founded the Maytag Company
George W. Merck - scientist and former president of Merck & Co.
Adolph Ochs - newspaper publisher and former owner of The New York Times and The Chattanooga Times (now the Chattanooga Times Free Press)
Hermann Oelrichs - businessman, multimillionaire, and owner of Norddeutsche Lloyd shipping
Fabian Pascal - consultant to large software vendors
Charles Pfizer - founded the Pfizer Inc. pharmaceutical company
George Remus - famous Cincinnati lawyer and bootlegger during the prohibition era
Adolph Rickenbacher - created the electric guitar manufacturer, Rickenbacher Manufacturing Company
William Rittenhouse - built the first paper mill in America

David Rockefeller - prominent banker, philanthropist, world statesman, and the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family
John D. Rockefeller - industrialist and philanthropist
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. - industrialist and philanthropist
John D. Rockefeller III - industrialist and philanthropist
Laurance Rockefeller - venture capitalist, financier, philanthropist and major conservationist
John Augustus Roebling - civil engineer, one of the pioneers in the construction of suspension bridges
Washington Augustus Roebling - civil engineer best known for his work on the Brooklyn Bridge
Jim Rohr - Chairman and CEO of PNC Financial Services Group (PNC Bank)
August Schell - founded The August Schell Brewing Company in 1860, the second oldest family-owned brewery in America
Jacob Schiff - banker and philanthropist
Eric E. Schmidt - chairman and CEO of Google Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc.
Steve Schwarzman - billionaire, owner of Blackstone Group
Isaac Singer - inventor, actor, and sewing machine entrepreneur
Claus Spreckels - industrialist
Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg - Steinway pianos manufacturer
Henry William Stiegel - glassmaker and ironmaster and an active lay Lutheran and associate of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, arrived in Philadelphia in 1750 on a ship known as the Nancy

Chris Strachwitz - founder and president of Arhoolie Records
Levi Strauss - creator of the first company to manufacture blue jeans.
Clement Studebaker - founded Studebaker, a wagon, carriage and car manufacturer
John Sutter - pioneer settler/colonizer
Donald Trump - real estate developer
William Utz - snack food entrepreneur
Charles von der Ahe - founder of the Vons Supermarket chain
The Warburg Family - bankers
George Westinghouse - engineer and electricity pioneer
Friedrich Weyerhäuser - timber mogul and founder of the Weyerhaeuser
Rudolph Wurlitzer - musical instrument entrepreneur
William Zeckendorf - prominent real estate developer

Brewers

Eberhard Anheuser - soap and candle maker, president and CEO of Eberhard Anheuser and Company, which eventually became Anheuser-Busch
Phillip Best - founder of Pabst Brewing Company (with Frederick Pabst)
Valentin Blatz - beer baron, started the Valentin Blatz Brewing Company
Adolphus Busch - Anheuser-Busch brewing company founder
Adolphus Busch III - brewing magnate who was the President and CEO of Anheuser-Busch from 1934-1946
August Anheuser Busch, Sr. - brewing magnate who served as the President and CEO of Anheuser-Busch from 1913-1934
August Busch IV - president and CEO of Anheuser-Busch
Gussie Busch - brewing magnate who built the Anheuser-Busch Companies into the largest brewery in the world as company chairman from 1946-75, and became a prominent sportsman as owner of the St. Louis Cardinals franchise in Major League Baseball
Adolph Coors - Coors beer empire founder
George Ehret - beer baron, started The Hell Gate Brewery
Edward Frauenheim - beer baron, started Iron City Brewing Company in 1861
Theodore Hamm - founder of Hamm's Brewery
Jacob Leinenkugel - beer baron, started the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company
Frederick Miller - Miller beer creator
Frederick Pabst - founder of Pabst Brewery (with Philip Best)
Tom Pastorius - founded Penn Brewery (Pennsylvania Brewing Co.)
Conrad Pfeiffer - beer baron, started Pfeiffer Beer Company
Frederick Schaefer - beer baron, started F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company
Joseph Schlitz - beer baron, founded Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company
Peter P. Straub - founder of Straub Brewery
Bernhard Stroh - founder of Stroh Brewing Company

Historical figures

Neil Armstrong - astronaut, first human on the moon
George Atzerodt - assassin

Laura Bullion (1876-1961) female Old West outlaw
Warren E. Burger (1907 - 1995) Chief Justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986
Hendrick Christiansen - trader and explorer
Willard Eratus Christiansen aka Matt Warner - Old West outlaw, deputy sheriff
Nicholaus de Meyer - 1676 burgomaster of New York
Dr. Carl Adolph Douai - educational reformer, abolitionist, newspaper editor, and labor leader
Fred and August Duesenberg - car builders
Friedrich Ernst - "Father of German Immigration to Texas", arriving in 1831
Henry Francis Fisher - notable German Texan in Houston, Texas, where he was consul for the Hanseatic League, became acting treasurer of the San Saba Company
Meyer Guggenheim (1828 - 1905) statesman, patriarch of what became known as the Guggenheim family
Ernst Gruene - founded Gruene, Texas
William Hanhardt - was the highest ranking associate of the Chicago Outfit inside the Chicago Police Department
Bruno Hauptmann - Lindbergh kidnapper

Friedrich Hecker - revolutionary
Michael Hillegas - first Treasurer of the United States
Lena Kleinschmidt - jewel thief
Fritz Kuhn - German American Bund leader
Maria Kraus-Boelté - pioneer of Froebel education in the United States, and helped promote kindergarten training as suitable for study at university level
Johann Lederer - explorer
Jacob Leisler - colonist
Frank J. Loesch - law enforcement official, reformer and a founder of the Chicago Crime Commission
Kurt Frederick Ludwig - head of the "Joe K" spy ring in the United States in 1940-41
Paul Machemehl - German-Texan, rancher and civic leader
Fredericka Mandelbaum - entrepreneur and criminal
Nicola Marschall - designer of the first national flag and uniform of the Confederacy
Christene Mayer - aka "Kid Glove Rosey", famous thief and associate of "Black" Lena Kleinschmidt
Christian Ludwig Meyer - founded New Ulm, Minnesota in 1854
Benjamin Kurtz Miller - philanthropist
Burchard Miller - Texas land pioneer
Peter Minuit - Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Netherland
Charles Mohr - pharmacist
Pat Nixon - former First Lady of the United States

Franz Daniel Pastorius - pioneer and founder of Germantown, Pennsylvania
Charles Reiser - safecracker
Walter Reuther - labor leader
Reinhold O. Schmidt - 1950s UFO "contactee"
August Schrader
Carl Schurz - politician, newspaper editor, Civil War general
Margarethe Meyer Schurz - established the kindergarten system in the United States.
Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr. - Lindbergh kidnapping investigator
Dutch Schultz - New York City-area gangster
Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels - "Texas-Carl" was an Austro-Hungarian Lieutenant General and founder of the town New Braunfels, Texas
Benjamin Steitz - Cincinnati, Ohio land pioneer
Jacob Sternberger - historian and one of the original Forty-Eighters
Ida Straus - victim of the sinking of the RMS Titanic
Isidor Straus - former co-owner of Macy's and victim of the sinking of the RMS Titanic
Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss - prolific contract killer for Murder, Inc
John Sutter - settler/colonizer
Count Ludwig Joseph von Boos-Waldeck - German noble descended from a line of Rhenish Knights and nobles dating back to the thirteenth century, organized the Adelsverein, to promote German emigration to Texas
Andrew Von Etter - Boston mobster
Berthe von Ronge - established the kindergarten system in the United States
Johann Printz von Buchau - successor of Peter Minuit in New Sweden
Paul Warburg - banker
Louis J. Weichmann - chief witnesses for the prosecution in the conspiracy trial of the Abraham Lincoln assassination
Conrad Weiser - pioneer, farmer, monk, tanner, judge, and soldier
Lewis Wetzel - frontiersman and Indian fighter
Gus Winkler - St. Louis mobster
Adam Worth - gentleman criminal
David Ziegler - first mayor of Cincinnati. Revolutionary War Veteran and aide to president George Washington
John Peter Zenger - printer, publisher, editor and journalist in New York City

Inventors

David Alter - Inventor, physicist and doctor
Emile Berliner - disc record gramophone inventor
Ottmar Mergenthaler - linotype inventor
Gustave Whitehead - aviation pioneer, built first motorised plane
Dietrich Gruen - timepiece or wristwatch maker. Founded the Gruen Watch Company in Ohio

Military

Dankmar Adler - architect and Civil War participant who trained Frank Lloyd Wright.

Otto Boehler - United States Army private awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during the Moro Rebellion during the Philippine-American war
Johann August Heinrich Heros von Borcke - Major in the Confederate army
George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876) - United States Army cavalry commander
Konrad Dannenberg - rocket pioneer and member of the German Rocket Team, brought to the USA under Operation Paperclip
Walter Dornberger - leader of Germany's V2 rocket program and other projects at the Peenemünde Army Research Center, brought to the USA under Operation Paperclip
Johann de Kalb - Major General in the American Revolution
Paul A. Frank - Colonel of the German Rangers, 52nd New York Infantry
Thomas W. Hartmann - Brigadier General, lawyer and officer in the United States Air Force Reserve
Friedrich Hecker - lawyer, politician, revolutionary and Civil War colonel
Lewis Heermann - commissioned Surgeon's Mate in the United States Navy 8 February 1802. In 1942, the destroyer USS Heermann was named in his honor.
Daniel Hiester - political and military leader from the Revolutionary War period to the early 19th Century
John Hiester - military leader from the Revolutionary War period to the early 19th Century
Ralph Ignatowski - soldier,of polish descent, World War II veteran, best friend of John Bradley (Iwo Jima)
Herman Kahn - military strategist and systems theorist
August Kautz - Brigadier General /Union Army officer
Eugene H. C. Leutze - Admiral of the United States Navy, appointed to the United States Naval Academy by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863
Jerry M. Linenger - M.D., M.S.S.M., M.P.H., Ph.D. (Captain, Medical Corps, USN, Ret.) and a former NASA astronaut
Peter Muhlenberg - clergyman, a soldier and a politician of the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Post-Revolutionary eras in Pennsylvania.
Chester W. Nimitz - Commander in Chief of Pacific Forces for the United States and Allied forces during World War II.
John J. Pershing - officer in the United States Army, rose to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army - General of the Armies
Molly Pitcher (Mary Ludwig Hays) - American Revolutionary soldier
Friedrich Adolf Riedesel - regiment commander of the Duchy of Brunswick (Braunschweig) unit hired by the British during the American Revolution
Edward S. Salomon - a Union brigadier general in the American Civil War
Frederick C. Salomon - a Union brigadier general in the American Civil War
Alexander Schimmelfennig - American Civil War general in the Union Army
Harry Schmidt (USMC) - US Marine Corps general
Harold G. Schrier - officer in the United States Marine Corps, recipient of the Navy Cross, the nation's second highest award for valor, and a combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He is most noted as one of the six Marines who raised the first American flag on Mount Suribachi, during the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945.
Theodore Schwan - officer who served with distinction during the American Civil War, Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War
Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. - United States Army General
Albert Sieber - Chief of Scouts for much of the Apache Wars and tracked Geronimo

Franz Sigel - teacher, newspaperman, politician, and served as a Union general in the American Civil War
Carl Andrew Spaatz - general in World War II
Adolph von Steinwehr - served as a Union general in the American Civil War
Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben - German-Prussian General who served with George Washington in the American Revolutionary War and is credited with teaching the Continental Army the essentials of military drill and discipline.
Gustav Tafel - colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War
Max Weber - Brigadier General in the Union army during the American Civil War
Godfrey Weitzel - Major General in the Union army during the American Civil War
August Willich - general in the Union Army during the American Civil War
Jurgen Wilson - Union Army officer during the American Civil War
Henry Wirz - (born Heinrich Hartmann Wirz) Confederate officer tried and executed in the aftermath of the American Civil War
Elmo Zumwalt - Admiral and later the 19th Chief of Naval Operations in the U.S. Navy, playing a major part in the Vietnam War

Philosophers

Felix Adler - rationalist intellectual
Hannah Arendt - political theorist
Ernst Bloch - Marxist philosopher
Rudolf Carnap - philosopher
Adolf Grünbaum - philosopher
Francis Lieber - jurist/political philosopher
Nicholas Rescher - philosopher

Politicians

John Peter Altgeld - former Union troop, Illinois governor and leading figure of the Progressive Era movement
Gary Bauer - politician
Martin Baum - former mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, fought with General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers
John Boehner - Republican House Majority Leader in the 109th Congress, and a U.S. Representative from Ohio's 8th congressional district
William C. Bouck - governor of the New York from 1843 to 1844
Louis Brandeis - United States Supreme Court justice
Martin Grove Brumbaugh - Pennsylvania's 25th Governor (Republican)
Warren E. Burger - Former Chief Justice of the United States

Henry Burk - former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
Earl Lauer Butz - Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford
Hiester Clymer - former political leader from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Kent Conrad - United States senator from North Dakota
William Q. Dallmeyer - Missouri politician
Tom Daschle - U.S. Senator from South Dakota from 1987 to 2005, former Senate Majority Leader
Gerhard Anton (Anthony) Eickhoff - journalist, editor, author, lawyer, United States Congress representative of New York City, United States Treasury auditor and New York City Fire Commissioner
Dwight Eisenhower - US President
Jesse E. Eschbach - judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana and a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Dick Gephardt - U.S. congressman from 1977 to 2005
James Lawrence Getz - member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
William Goebel - controversial politician who served as Governor of Kentucky for a few days in 1900 before being assassinated
Richard W. Guenther - nineteenth century politician and pharmacist from Wisconsin
Chuck Hagel - senior United States Senator from Nebraska
Julius Heil - Governor of Wisconsin from 1939 to 1943
Isaac Ellmaker Hiester - political leader in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Joseph Hiester - governor of Pennsylvania from 1820 to 1823
William Muhlenberg Hiester - political and military leader in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
H. John Heinz III - politician from Pennsylvania, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives (1971 – 1977) and the United States Senate (1977 – 1991) and son of H. J. Heinz II (heir to the H. J. Heinz Company)
Herbert Hoover - US President
Arthur W. Hummel, Jr. - former U.S. Ambassador
Don Hummel - businessman and politician
Philip Mayer Kaiser - former US diplomat
Vera Katz - the 45th mayor of Portland, Oregon
Henry Kissinger - former Secretary of State
Gustav Körner - Lieutenant Governor of Illinois from 1853 to 1857 and one of the original Forty-Eighter
John Christian Kunkel - former Whig and Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
Tom Loeffler - former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from central Texas
Baron Otfried Hans von Meusebach - Prussian bureaucrat, later an American farmer, politician, and member of the Texas Senate
Frederick Muhlenberg - minister and politician who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Peter Muhlenberg - clergyman, a soldier and a politician of the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Post-Revolutionary eras in Pennsylvania
Paul Henry Nitze - Presidential Medal of Freedom
Horace Porter - decorated Union soldier and diplomat, the son of David Rittenhouse Porter, a wealthy ironmater who later served as Governor of Pennsylvania
Luke Ravenstahl - Pittsburgh mayor
Jim Risch - former Governor of Idaho
Nelson Rockefeller - forty-first Vice President of the United States
Winthrop Rockefeller - politician and philanthropist who served as the first Republican Governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction
Brian Roehrkasse - spokesman at the United States Justice Department under the administration of George W. Bush
Dana Rohrabacher - Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1989, currently representing California's 46th congressional district
Theodore Roosevelt - US President
Donald Rumsfeld - former Secretary of Defense

Pierre Salinger - former White House Press Secretary to U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson who served in the U. S. Senate as a Democrat from California briefly in 1964
Edward Salomon - Governor of Wisconsin during the Civil War
Edward S. Salomon - Union brigadier general in the Civil War, later became governor of Washington Territory and a California legislator
George E. Sangmeister-Senator and Congressman from Illinois. Served in various elected public offices from 1972-1994
Harry Sauthoff - lawyer, Wisconsin State Senator, also served in the United States House of Representatives
Gustav Schleicher - United States Representative from Texas, serving briefly in Texas legislature and veteran of the Confederate Army
Adolph H. Schmitz - former Governor of Wisconsin
Gustav A. Schneebeli - former U.S. Representative from the state of Pennsylvania
Mark S. Schweiker - 44th Governor of the Pennsylvania
Richard Schultz Schweiker - former U.S. Congressman and Senator representing the state of Pennsylvania, later the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Cabinet of President Ronald Reagan
John Andrew Shulze - Pennsylvania political leader and 6th Governor of Pennsylvania, a member of the Muhlenberg family political dynasty
Carl Schurz - statesman and reformer, and Union Army general in the American Civil War
August Siemering - was a writer, political leader and Forty-Eighter
Richard Fred Suhrheinrich - judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Robert F. Wagner - New York Senator from 1927 until 1949
Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. - politician who has served as a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and Governor of Connecticut
Wendell Willkie - lawyer and the Republican nominee for the 1940 presidential election
Robert Zoellick - the eleventh president of the World Bank, former United States Deputy Secretary of State and U.S. Trade Representative

Religious

Conrad Beissel - religious leader who in 1732 founded the Ephrata Community in Pennsylvania
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Lutheran pastor, theologian, participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, and a founding member of the Confessing Church (and not actually a German American although he did visit and study in America for a while before World War II).
August Ernst - former president of Northwestern University and ordained minister
Barbara Heck - founded the first Methodist church in New York
Adolf Hoenecke - served as the head of Wisconsin Synod congregations from 1878 - 1908
Arthur W. Hummel, Sr. - Christian missionary to China and noted Sinologist
Johannes Kelpius - Pietist, mystic, musician, and writer, interested in the occult, botany, and astronomy, came to believe with his followers in the "Society of the Woman in the Wilderness"
Kathryn Kuhlman - 20th Century faith healer and Pentecostal arm of Protestant Christianity
Barbara Heinemann Landmann - spiritual leader of the Amana Colonies
Christian Metz - inspirationalist
Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg - Lutheran clergyman
St. John Neumann - Bishop of Philadelphia (1852-60) and the first American bishop to be canonized
George Rapp - founder of the religious sect called Harmonists, Harmonites, Rappites, or the Harmony Society
George Erik Rupp - educator and theologian, the former President of Rice University and later of Columbia University, and president of the International Rescue Committee
Theodore Schneider - was the second bishop of the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Francis Xavier Seelos - Roman-Catholic martyred priest
C. F. W. Walther - Lutheran clergyman, professor, seminary president, editor, and first president of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod.
Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf - founded the town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where his daughter Benigna organized the school which would become Moravian College

Scientists/researchers

Reinhold Aman - chemical engineer and publisher of Maledicta
Othmar Ammann - civil engineer
Walter Baade - astronomer
Max Bentele - pioneer in the field of jet aircraft turbines and mechanical engineering
Hans Albrecht Bethe - physicist
Felix Bloch - physicist

Franz Boas - anthropology pioneer, often called the "Father of American Anthropology
Karl Brandt - economist
Florian Cajori - mathematician
Hans Georg Dehmelt - physicist
Max Delbrück - biophysicist
Krafft Arnold Ehricke - rocket-propulsion engineer
Paul R. Ehrlich - renowned entomologist
Albert Einstein - theoretical physicist
Ernst R. G. Eckert - scientist
Otto Eckstein - economist
George Engelmann - botanist
Katherine Esau - botanist
Edmond H. Fischer - biochemist
James Franck - physicist
Frieda Fromm-Reichmann - psychoanalyst, founded William Alanson White Institute
Heinrich Göbel - precision mechanic and inventor, an early pioneer who independently developed designs for an incandescent light bulb
Maria Goeppert-Mayer - Nobel Prize-winning physicist
Helmut Gröttrup - rocket scientist
Augustin Herrman - surveyor, who made the first reliable maps of the colonies of Maryland and Virginia
Herman Hollerith - statistician
Karen Horney - psychoanalyst
Kurt Koffka - psychologist
Wolfgang Köhler - psychologist
Heinrich Klüver - psychologist, largely credited with introducing Gestalt psychology to the United States in the early twentieth century
Polykarp Kusch - physicist
Willy Ley - science writer and space advocate who helped popularise rocketry and spaceflight
Jacques Loeb - physiologist and biologist
Hugo Münsterberg - psychologist, pioneered applied psychology
Robert Oppenheimer - physicist and director of the Manhattan Project, also known as "The Father of the Atomic Bomb
Charles Francis Richter - seismologist, inventor of the Richter magnitude scale
David Rittenhouse - astronomer, inventor, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman, public official and first director of the United States Mint
Hermann Irving Schlesinger - inorganic chemist, working in boron chemistry, co-discovered sodium borohydride in 1940.

Frank Schlesinger - astronomer
Alfred Schütz - philosopher/sociologist
Jonas Schütz - early mining expert
Frederick Seitz - physicist, co-inventor of the Wigner-Seitz unit cell, which is an important concept in solid state physics
Herbert Simon - political scientist
Charles Proteus Steinmetz - electrical engineer, fostered development of alternating current
Joseph Strauss - structural engineer and designer, chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge
Otto Stern - physicist and Nobel laureate, known for his studies of molecular beams
Frederick Traugott Pursh - botanist
Wernher von Braun - physicist
David Wechsler - psychologist
Victor Frederick Weisskopf - World War II physicist, working at Los Alamos on the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, and later campaigned against the proliferation of nuclear weapons; medal received in 1979
Albert Wohlstetter - nuclear scientist
Max August Zorn - algebraist, group theorist, and numerical analyst

Sports

Max Baer - boxer, heavyweight champion of the world.
Heinie Beckendorf - former Major League Baseball catcher
Joe Benz - former pitcher for the Chicago White Sox; threw a no-hitter
Jana Bieger - two-time World Champion artistic gymnast
Lou Bierbauer - former second baseman in Major League Baseball during the late 1880s and 1890s; credited with giving the Pittsburgh Pirates their name
Eric Bischoff - entrepreneur; former professional wrestling booker, producer, and personality
Uwe Blab - former NBA center
Mike Blowers - former Major League Baseball third baseman and first baseman; current Seattle Mariners radio commentator
Jim Boeheim - Syracuse University NCAA basketball coach
Taylor Buchholz - Major League Baseball pitcher
Jud Buechler - former guard/forward with the NBA Chicago Bulls
Fritz Buelow - former Major League Baseball catcher
Dave Butz - National Football League defensive lineman, selected to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team
Gunther Cunningham - football defensive coordinator for the NFL Kansas City Chiefs
Fritz Crisler - NCAA football coach
David Diehl - football player and NFL offensive lineman
Dan Dierdorf - former NFL football player and current television sportscaster
Barney Dreyfuss - baseball executive
Conrad Dobler - former American football offensive lineman
Ryne Duren - former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball
Justin Duchscherer - Major League Baseball pitcher
Dale Earnhardt - American race car driver in NASCAR's top division
David Eckstein - Major League Baseball player and 2006 World Series MVP
Gertrude Ederle - Olympic Gold Medal winner and first woman to swim the English Channel

Kid Elberfeld - "The Tabasco Kid", former shortstop in Major League Baseball
Joe Engel - former left-handed pitcher and scout in Major League Baseball who spent nearly his entire career with the Washington Senators
Bob Falkenburg - tennis star and 1948 Wimbledon Champion
Oscar Emil "Happy" Felsch - American center fielder for the Chicago White Sox, best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.
Kirk Ferentz - American college football head coach of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes
Brad Friedel - U.S. National, MLS and English Premier League Soccer (Football) goalkeeper
Frank Frisch - former Major League Baseball player and manager
Gene Garber - former Major League Baseball player
Ron Gardenhire - former New York Mets player and current Minnesota Twins manager.
Lou Gehrig - Major League Baseball player
Charlie Getzein - former Major League Baseball pitcher
Steffi Graf - former World No. 1 ranked female tennis player who won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players
Harry Greb - boxer, middleweight champion
Bob Griese - Hall of Fame quarterback
Charlie Grimm - former Major League Baseball player
Al Groh - current NCCA Virginia football head coach and former NFL coach
Heinie Groh - third baseman for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants
Ernie Grunfeld - former NBA player
Travis Hafner - Cleveland Indians designated hitter
Archie Hahn - one of the best sprinters in the early 20th century
Noodles Hahn - former pitcher in Major League Baseball
Marcus Hahnemann - soccer goalkeeper in the British Premier League
Hinkey Haines - NFL football player and Major League Baseball player
Roy Hartzell - Major League Baseball player from 1906 to 1916
Harry Heilmann - Hall of Fame Major League Baseball player and World War I Veteran
Fred Heimach - former MLB pitcher and part of the "Murderer's Row" Yankee teams
Keith Heinrich - NFL tight end
John Heisman - football player, coach, and namesake of Heisman Trophy
Kirk Herbstreit - former Ohio State University quarterback and analyst for ESPN's College GameDay
Tom Herr - former second baseman in Major League Baseball
Orel Hershiser - former Major League Baseball pitcher
Buck Herzog - infielder and manager in Major League Baseball
Whitey Herzog - Major League Baseball outfielder, scout, coach, manager, general manager and farm system director
Kirk Hinrich - NBA guard for the Chicago Bulls
Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch - football running back and receiver for the Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Rockets, nicknamed for his unusual running style
Billy Hoeft - former pitcher in Major League Baseball
Margaret Hoelzer - Olympic swimmer
Katie Hoff - Olympic medal-winning swimmer
Jeff Hostetler - former NFL quarterback
Glenn Hubbard - former Atlanta Braves and Oaklands Athletics player and current Braves' coach
Carl Hubbell - Hall of Fame screwball pitcher in Major League Baseball
Liezel Huber - professional tennis player
John Hummel - former Major League Baseball utility player
Chris Kaman - center for the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA and a (dual citizen of the United States and of Germany).
Chuck Klein - former Major League Baseball outfielder
Jürgen Klinsmann - former premier soccer striker and national German coach
Bob Knepper - former Major League Baseball all-star pitcher
Evel Knievel - motorcycle daredevil
Chuck Knoblauch - former second baseman in Major League Baseball
Mark Koenig - former shortstop for the New York Yankees from 1925–1936.
Rick Kranitz - Major League Baseball pitching coach
Dan Kreider - fullback in the National Football League
Dave Krieg - former NFL Seattle Seahawks quarterback
Clint Kriewaldt - linebacker in the National Football League
Harvey Kuenn - player, coach and manager in Major League Baseball
Bowie Kuhn - former commissioner of Major League Baseball
Charley Lau - American League catcher and hitting coach, authored 'How to Hit .300'
Craig Lefferts - former Major League Baseball pitcher
Kory Lichtensteiger - National Football League center for the Denver Broncos
Jon Lieber - Major League Baseball pitcher
Jesse Litsch - Major League Baseball pitcher
Hans Lobert - infielder, coach, manager and scout in Major League Baseball
Chuck Machemehl - former Cleveland Indians pitcher
Heinie Manush - Hall of Fame left-fielder in Major League Baseball
Nick Markakis - outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles
Kimmie Meissner - U.S. national champion figure skater
Bob Meusel - former Major League Baseball shortstop
Emil Meusel - former Major League Baseball outfielder
Chris Nabholz - former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball
Drew Neitzel - All-American NCAA basketball player
Rick Neuheisel - football coach
Jack Nicklaus - professional golfer
Ray Nitschke - Hall of Fame football player
Daniel Ortmeier - Major League Baseball pitcher
Fritz Ostermueller - pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1934-1948
Jim Otto - former Oakland Raider offensive lineman
Heinie Peitz - former Major League Baseball catcher
Ricky Proehl - former NFL wide receiver, two-time Super Bowl Champion
Rick Reuschel - former Major League Baseball pitcher
Rick Rhoden - former Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher and current golf professional
Adolph Rupp - one of the most successful coaches in the history of American college basketball and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member

Babe Ruth - Major League Baseball player from 1914–1935
Craig Sager - sports journalist for TNT and TBS
Bud Selig - commissioner of Major League Baseball
Ray Schalk - Major League Baseball catcher
Matt Schaub - National Football League quarterback
Bob Scheffing - baseball player, coach, manager and front-office executive
Bo Schembechler - former NCAA football coach at the University of Michigan
Max Scherzer - Major League Baseball pitcher
Curt Schilling - Major League Baseball pitcher
Cory Schlesinger - National Football League fullback
Gus Schmelz - Major League Baseball manager
Francis Schmidt - college football coach inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
Jason Schmidt - National League baseball pitcher
Joe Schmidt - former 1950's NFL football player and coach
Mike Schmidt - former Philadelphia Phillies third baseman and Hall of Famer
Owen Schmitt - fullback for the Seattle Seahawks
Brian Schneider - Major League Baseball catcher
Red Schoendienst - former player, coach and manager in Major League Baseball
Turk Schonert - former NFL quarterback
Detlef Schrempf - former NBA All-Star forward
Heinie Schuble - former Major League Baseball infielder
John Schuerholz - general manager of the Atlanta Braves
David Schultz - retired professional wrestler, known by his ring name as "Dr. D."
Joe Schultz - catcher, coach and manager in Major League Baseball
Joe Schultz, Sr - Joe "Germany" Schultz, was an outfielder and farm system director in Major League Baseball and a manager in minor league baseball
Ryan Schultz - professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, currently fighting for the Portland Wolfpack of the International Fight League
Skip Schumaker - outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals
Geoff Schwartz - National Football League offensive lineman
John Smoltz - pitcher for the Atlanta Braves
Warren Spahn - Hall of Fame pitcher in Major League Baseball
Mark Spitz - swimmer and Olympic gold medalist
Rusty Staub - Major League Baseball player for 23 seasons (1963-1985)
Roger Staubach - Heisman Trophy winner and Hall of Fame quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys
Eric Steinbach - player for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League
Terry Steinbach - former catcher in Major League Baseball
Casey Stengel - Major League baseball player and manager from the early 1910s into the 1960s.
Bruce Sutter - Hall of Fame right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball
Blackie Schwamb - former St. Louis Browns pitcher and contract killer
Peter Ueberroth - executive, served as commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1984 to 1989
Bob Uecker - former Major League Baseball player and award-winning sportscaster, comedian, and actor
Brian Urlacher - Pro Bowl linebacker for the Chicago Bears
Chris von der Ahe - entrepreneur and owner of the St. Louis Browns of the National League, now known as the Cardinals
Kimo von Oelhoffen - National Football League linebacker
Lindsey Vonn - alpine skier
Honus Wagner - former Pittsburgh Pirate Hall of Fame shortstop, manager and hitting instructor
Mike Wagner - safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1971 to 1980; member of the famed Steel Curtain defense; played in two Pro Bowls
Abby Wambach - Olympic medalist and professional soccer player
Rudolph "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone - (1913 - 1996) perhaps the best known pool player in the United States
Tom Weiskopf - professional golfer
Johnny Weissmuller - swimmer, Olympic gold medalist
Wes Welker - NFL wide receiver, punt returner, and kick returner
Vic Wertz - former Major League Baseball first baseman and outfielder
Hoyt Wilhelm - Hall of Fame knuckleball pitcher in Major League Baseball
Matt Wilhelm - NFL linebacker
Danny Wuerffel - former NFL quarterback and 1996 Heisman Trophy winner
Michael Wuertz - Major League Baseball pitcher
Jim Zorn - Seattle Seahawks quarterback
Bill Zuber - Major League Baseball pitcher from 1936 to 1947