The Most Famous Person From Here? Maybe.

MLive embarked on a project to name the most famous person from each county in Michigan. Think about it. It's not an easy task. Too many choices in some cases; not enough in others.

But it is food for thought and a great argument starter. The ambitious project raised some eyebrows here. Obviously some of the toughest calls were for big population centers like Wayne County. The author chose Diana Ross, the 60's singing star, but runners-up were the likes of Bob Seger, Tom Selleck, Casey Kasem and actress Marlo Thomas, whose late 60's sitcom led the way for independent female characters.

Some of the choices were easy, along the lines of Madonna and Bay County.

Closer to West Michigan, some of the selections were surprises. For example, televangelist Jack Van Impe was the choice for Barry County.

For Berrien County, Kate Upton, who is probably one of the youngest persons on the list beat out comedian Sinbad.

On the other hand, the choice for Calhoun County was 40's actress and pin-up girl Betty Grable. (The runner-up was Jamie Hyneman from "Mythbusters') You could make a good argument for W. K. Kellogg. We've only been eating his company's cereal our whole lives.
Another questionable choice was Lenawee County. MLive's choice is Kellen Davis, an obscure tight end for the New York Jets. Legendary entertainer Danny Thomas not only was the star of his own series for years, but also was behind St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

For me, personally, it was fun to find to two veteran character actors make the list; Hal Smith (Otis from the Andy Griffith Show and Keebler ads) and Doris Packer, who was on a ton of TV show in the 50's and 60's. However, Harry Morgan (born in Detroit), the beloved Colonel Potter from M.A.S.H, did not make the list. Another surprise was Burt Reynolds beating out Magic Johnson for Ingham County. President Gerald Ford was born in Nebraska, so Floyd Mayweather beat out Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers for Kent County.

The choice for Kalamazoo County is movie director-producter McG, who did the Charlie's Angels movie, We are Marshall and others. Derek Jeter was born in New Jersey, that's why.