Greatest Football Player from Each State

As this painting shows, Pennsylvania was a tough call

just for the quarterbacks from the western part of the State.

Left to right: George Blanda, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino,

Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath.

And that's not counting Johnny Lujack.

Remember, it's not about where they were born, it's where they learned to play.

Alabama: Bart Starr.
Alaska: Mark Schlereth.
Arizona: Curley Culp.
Arkansas: Don Hutson.
California: O.J. Simpson. (Yeah, I know. Ahead of Tom Brady, and you know why.)
Colorado: Dutch Clark.
Connecticut: Steve Young.
Delaware: Randy White.
District of Columbia: Willie Wood. (Ahead of Len Ford.)
Florida: Emmitt Smith. (Ahead of Deacon Jones and Deion Sanders.)
Georgia: Fran Tarkenton. (A close call over Herschel Walker.)
Hawaii: Mosi Tatupu.
Idaho: Larry Wilson.
Illinois: Red Grange. (A close call over Dick Butkus.)
Indiana: Rod Woodson. (A close call over Alex Karras.)
Iowa: Roger Craig.
Kansas: Barry Sanders. (Ahead of John Riggins.)
Kentucky: Paul Hornung.
Louisiana: Terry Bradshaw. (Ahead of Steve Van Buren, Jim Taylor, Marshall Faulk and Peyton Manning).
Maine: Al Harris.
Maryland: Antonio Freeman.
Massachusetts: Howie Long. (A close call over Nick Buoniconti.)
Michigan: Jerome Bettis.
Minnesota: Bronko Nagurski. (A close call over Johnny "Blood" McNally.)
Mississippi: Jerry Rice. (A close call over Walter Payton.)
Missouri: Cal Hubbard.
Montana: Jerry Kramer.
Nebraska: Gale Sayers.
Nevada: Steven Jackson.
New Jersey: Franco Harris.
New Mexico: Tommy McDonald.
New York: Jim Brown.
North Carolina: Bobby Bell. (Ahead of Sonny Jurgensen.)
North Dakota: Pete Retzlaff.
Ohio: Marion Motley. (Ahead of Roger Staubach.)
Oklahoma: Jim Thorpe. (Ahead of Barry Sanders.)
Oregon: Mel Renfro.
Pennsylvania: Joe Montana. (A close call over Johnny Unitas and Chuck Bednarik.)
Rhode Island: Bill Osmanski.
South Carolina: Art Shell. (A close call over Harry Carson.)
South Dakota: Adam Vinatieri. (Norm Van Brocklin was born there, but didn't live there long enough to qualify.)
Tennessee: Reggie White.
Texas: Sammy Baugh. (Ahead of Doak Walker, Night Train Lane, Bob Lilly and Mean Joe Greene.)
Utah: Merlin Olsen. (Might be ahead of the SLC-born Steve Young anyway.)
Vermont: Steve Wisniewski.
Virginia: Lawrence Taylor. (Ahead of another Giant, Roosevelt Brown. And Bruce Smith.)
Washington: Mel Hein. (Ahead of John Elway.)
West Virginia: Sam Huff.
Wisconsin: Ernie Nevers. (Ahead of Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch.)
Wyoming: Boyd Dowler.