10. March 26, 1948: Steven Tyler. The lead singer of Aerosmith, the closest thing America has to a Rolling Stones.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1917: Rufus Thomas. Not the first disc jockey to play rock and roll records and say, "I can do this as well as they can," But he was one of the most successful. His best-known song is the 1963 dance tune "Walking the Dog." His daughter Carla Thomas was one of the first female singers to go from rhythm & blues to soul.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1950: Teddy Pendergrass. One of the smoothest soul singers of all time.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1968: Kenny Chesney. One of the few country singers who can sell out stadiums.
9. March 26, 1960: Marcus Allen. A Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Southern California, he made 6 Pro Bowls, won a Rookie of the Year and an MVP, and was the MVP of Super Bowl XVIII with the Los Angeles Raiders.
With the Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs, he rushed for 12,243 yards, caught 587 passes for 5,411 yards, and scored 144 touchdowns. In 2010, the NFL Network ranked him 85th on their list of the 100 Greatest Players.
8. March 26, 1962: John Stockton. A 10-time All-Star, he is the NBA's all-time leader in both assists and steals. His buzzer-beater clinched the 1st NBA Finals berth for the Utah Jazz, and they made it back-to-back Western Conference Championships in 1998.
He and Karl Malone both have statues outside the Jazz’ Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. Both were named to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players (just before reaching their 1st Finals) and its 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players. His Number 12 was retired by both Gonzaga University and the Jazz.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1904: Attilio Ferraris. The midfielder starred for both of Rome's major soccer teams, AS Roma and SS Lazio, and helped Italy win the 1934 World Cup. He died of a heart attack during an old-timers' match in 1947.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1937: Wayne Embry. The center was a 5-time NBA All-Star, playing alongside Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas with the Cincinnati Royals. But it was with Bill Russell's Boston Celtics that he won his only title as a player, in 1968.
He was left unprotected in the expansion draft, and became an original Milwaukee Buck, retiring and becoming an assistant general manager, winning the 1971 NBA title. In 1972, the Bucks named her the league's 1st black general manager. With the Cleveland Cavaliers, he was named NBA Executive of the Year in 1992 and 1998. Since 2004, he has been a senior advisor to the front office of the Toronto Raptors, winning a championship ring in 2019. He was elected to the Hall of Fame as a "Contributor," a category those of baseball, pro football and hockey don't have, but should.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1982: Mikel Arteta. Although Spain's greatest generation of soccer players included enough midfielders that he never played in a major tournament for his country, he was a fine player, first for Liverpool-based Everton, then for North London’s Arsenal, whom he captained to the 2014 and 2015 FA Cups.
In 2019, in the wake of the stupid decision not to stand up for manager Arsène Wenger, he was hired to replace the incompetent Unai Emery, and won the 2020 FA Cup. The damage done was extensive, and he has struggled to right the ship in terms of Premier League results.
But he currently has the team in 4th place, with 10 games to go, meaning they could actually return to the UEFA Champions League for the 2022-23 season. And his hair is still perfect.
7. March 26, 1942: Erica Jong. The title of her 1973 autobiographical novel Fear of Flying was both literal and metaphorical. It might be better to say she's a great writer who's a feminist than to say that she's a great feminist writer.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1859: A.E. Housman. Although born and raised in Worcestershire, England, his poetry cycle was titled A Shropshire Lad. The 1896 publication includes "To An Athlete Dying Young."
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1930: Gregory Corso. He was only in the 2nd tier of "Beat Generation" writers, behind Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. But he had his own successes in addition to riding theirs.
6. March 26, 1940: James Caan. Within 4 months of 1971 and 1972, he played Brian Piccolo in Brian's Song and Santino "Sonny" Corleone in The Godfather. He also starred in Rollerball, A Bridge Too Far and Misery, parodied Sonny in Honeymoon in Vegas and Mickey Blue Eyes, and wasn't exactly Don Vito in Elf.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1923: Bob Elliott. He starred with Ray Goulding in the radio comedy team Bob & Ray. His son Chris Elliott became a standup comedian and actor, and his granddaughter Abbey Elliott has starred on Saturday Night Live and in sitcoms.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1934: Alan Arkin. He had already starred in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and Catch-22 by the time he was 36. He won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine at 72. His son Adam Arkin is also an acclaimed actor.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1949: Vicki Lawrence. She joined the cast of The Carol Burnett Show after writing to Carol, saying people were telling her they looked alike. She turned out to be talented enough to be on the show. One of the sketches from the show became a sitcom in which she starred, Mama's Family.
In July 1973, she was part of the 1st-ever panel for the classic version of Match Game. Earlier that year, She also had a Number 1 hit as a singer, one of those classic 1970s story-songs: "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia."
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1949: Ernest Lee Thomas. He was already 27 years old when he first played Roger "Raj" Thomas on What's Happening!! But he did such a good job playing a teenager that it's hard to believe he's a year older than...
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1950: Martin Short. Putting him on this list was decent of me, I must say.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1960: Jennifer Grey. The granddaughter of comedian Mickey Katz and the daughter of Broadway legend Joel Grey, she was in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and then starred in Dirty Dancing. She proved she still had it 23 years later, by winning on Dancing with the Stars.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1966: Michael Imperioli. After getting killed as both Spider in Goodfellas and Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos, you'd think he'd stay away from Mob fiction. But he still does it.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1976: Amy Smart. She plays Barbara Whitmore, the title superhero's mother, on Stargirl.
Honorable Mention: March 26, 1985: Keira Knightley. She's been Queen Guinevere, Elizabeth Swann, Georgiana Cavendish, Elizabeth Bennet, Anna Karenina, Tinker Bell, Gabrielle Colette, Coco Chanel, and Domino Harvey.
5. March 26, 1911: Tennessee Williams. In spite of his nickname, Thomas Lanier Williams III was born in Columbus, Mississippi, and grew up in St. Louis. He became America's greatest playwright, turning his dysfunctional Southern family into The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Night of the Iguana.
4. March 26, 1943: Bob Woodward. With his Washington Post colleague Carl Bernstein, he wrote the articles that launched a deeper investigation into the Watergate scandal, which eventually forced the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
He may have been too soft on later Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, but his contributions might have been part of what defeated Donald Trump, and may still be a part of what finally holds Trump legally accountable.
Dishonorable Mention: March 26, 1875: Syngman Rhee. From 1948 to 1960, he was the dictatorial 1st President of the Republic of Korea, a.k.a. South Korea. His country was worth the United Nations' including America's protection in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953; he was not.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: March 27, 1914: William Westmoreland. The 4-star General was commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968, and then U.S. Army Chief of Staff until 1972. Time magazine named him its Man of the Year for 1965. But he fought the Vietcong as if they were the Nazis or the Imperial Japanese, and they fought completely differently, and he never figured that out.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: March 26, 1930: Sandra Day O'Connor. She should be in the Top 10, maybe the Top 5, as the 1st female Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. But her vote to hand the 2000 Presidential election to George W. Bush taints her record forever.
Dishonorable Mention: March 26, 1953: Elaine Chao. She married longtime Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and that led to her appointments as Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush and Secretary of Transportation under Donald Trump. In both positions, she was corrupt as hell, even more so than most of her fellow underqualified Cabinetmates.
3. March 26, 1931: Leonard Nimoy. He was so much more than Mr. Spock in the Star Trek franchise. But putting him at Number 1 here, instead of another 1960s pop-culture icon, would be highly illogical. Especially when there's another woman ahead of him who is so... fascinating:
2. March 26, 1940: Nancy Pelosi. The daughter and sister of Mayors of Baltimore, she moved to San Francisco, was elected to Congress in 1986, and has been the Democratic Party's leader in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2003. In 2007, she became the 1st female Speaker of the House.
Returning to that post on January 3, 2019, from then until the election of November 3, 2020, when the American people finally had their say, she was just about the only thing standing between us and total tyranny at the hands of Donald Trump.
1. March 26, 1944: Diana Ross. All those hits, leading a group and then as a soloist. Keeping half a million people in a rainy Central Park just to hear her. Raising Tracee Ellis Ross and Rhonda Ross Kendrick. If you still need a reason why she reigns Supreme on this list, Oprah Winfrey considers her a huge inspiration.
Still alive as of this writing: Tyler, Chesney, Allen, Stockton, Embry, Arteta, Jong, Caan, Arkin, Lawrence, Thomas, Short, Grey, Imperioli, Smart, Knightley, Woodward, O'Connor, Chao, Pelosi, Ross.