List of people from South Bend, Indiana

The people listed below were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with the city of South Bend, Indiana.

Government and politics

 * John Brademas, former House Majority Whip
 * Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend (2012–2020) and candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.
 * Schuyler Colfax, 17th Vice President of the United States
 * Alexis Coquillard, founder of South Bend
 * Noma Gurich, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma
 * Timothy Howard, 43rd Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice, Indiana State Senator
 * Larry J. McKinney, United States District Court judge
 * James Mueller, mayor of South Bend since 2020
 * Tim Roemer, former U.S. Ambassador to India and U.S. congressman
 * Joe Kernan, politician and Governor of Indiana (2003-2005)
 * Clarence Long, U.S. Congressman of Maryland
 * Jake Teshka, member of the Indiana House of Representatives

Film and television

 * John Bromfield, actor
 * Charles Butterworth, actor
 * John Clarke, actor
 * Dolores Fuller, actress and Ed Wood's muse
 * Dick Durock, stuntman and actor
 * Chad Everett, actor
 * Vivica A. Fox, actress
 * Lloyd Haynes, actor
 * Catherine Hicks, actress; attended Saint Mary's College
 * Larry Karaszewski, film and TV screenwriter / producer
 * Katie Madonna Lee, screenwriter and filmmaker
 * Jeremy Leven, writer, director
 * Keith Alan Morris, filmmaker
 * Dean Norris, actor
 * Sydney Pollack, film director and actor
 * Nancy Priddy, actress and singer
 * Dan Resin, actor
 * George Seaton, film director
 * Ansel Wallace, newsreel cameraman and photographer in World War I
 * Michael Warren, actor
 * Daniel Waters, film director and screenwriter
 * Mark Waters, film director and producer
 * Chuck Zink, television personality

American Football

 * Anthony Barr, NFL linebacker playing for the Dallas Cowboys
 * Frank Bykowski, NFL player
 * Bill Doba, football coach
 * Kent Gaydos, football player
 * Jon Gruden, former ESPN broadcaster and NFL coach
 * MyCole Pruitt, NFL tight end for the Atlanta Falcons
 * Ernie Zalejski, American football player
 * Anthony Johnson (running back), NFL running back

Baseball

 * Ollie Bejma, baseball player
 * Nancy DeShone, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) player for the South Bend Blue Sox
 * Dorothea Downs, AAGPBL player, South Bend Blue Sox
 * Mary Lou Graham, AAGPBL player, South Bend Blue Sox
 * Frances Janssen, AAGPBL player and Northern Indiana Historical Society researcher
 * Glenna Sue Kidd, AAGPBL player, South Bend Blue Sox
 * Marie Kruckel, AAGPBL player for the South Bend Blue Sox and a 38-year teacher at Clay High School
 * Betty Wagoner, AAGPBL player, South Bend Blue Sox
 * Janet Wiley, AAGPBL player for the South Bend Blue Sox
 * Craig Counsell, baseball player
 * Andy Replogle, baseball pitcher

Basketball

 * Skylar Diggins-Smith.jpg]]Tom Abernethy, basketball player
 * Skylar Diggins, WNBA, American Professional Basketball player
 * Jaden Ivey, NBA player for the Detroit Pistons
 * Demetrius Jackson, professional basketball player
 * Jasmine Watson, basketball player
 * John Wooden, basketball coach
 * John Laskowski, basketball player
 * Lee Nailon, NBA basketball player and 2007 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP
 * Blake Wesley, basketball player

Motorsports

 * Luther Johnson, Indy car driver
 * J. C. McDonald, Indy car driver
 * Ryan Newman, NASCAR Cup Series driver
 * Mike Salay, Indy car driver
 * David Stremme, NASCAR driver
 * Mike LaRocco, motocross racer

Miscellaneous

 * Mark Hazinski, 2004 USA Olympian in table tennis
 * Steve Nemeth, player of gridiron football
 * Anne Doyle, sportscaster

Music

 * Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger, guitarists, Umphrey's McGee (a progressive rock and jam band from South Bend)
 * Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue, pioneering rock and roll radio disc jockey, record producer and concert promoter
 * Marcie Free, singer, King Kobra, Unruly Child, Signal
 * Josh Garrels, musician
 * Sneaky Pete Kleinow, musician
 * The Rivieras, 1960s garage rock and surf rock band
 * Jules C. Stein, music industry executive
 * Student Rick, early 2000s pop punk and emo band
 * Alexander Toradze, pianist
 * Junior Walker, 1960s soul singer and saxophonist signed to Motown (with the All Stars)
 * Beatrice Carmichael, opera singer and director
 * Ted Leo, musician
 * Nathan Gunn, opera singer and professor
 * Traci Paige Johnson, co-creator, Blue's Clues TV show
 * Merchant Ships, late aughts emo band
 * Kennedy's Kitchen, traditional Irish band

Literature

 * Elijah Anderson, sociologist and author of Code of the Street
 * Tess Gunty, author, winner of the National Book Award
 * Phillip Hoose, author
 * Kenn Kaufman, naturalist and author
 * Bernard Kilgore, journalist, Wall Street Journal
 * Dylan Krieger, poet
 * Kenneth Rexroth, poet, translator of the classical Chinese poets, essayist, intellectual, anarchist.

Heavy Industries

 * John Birdsell, inventor of the Birdsell Clover Huller and founder of Birdsell Manufacturing Company
 * James Oliver, inventor and industrialist best known for creating South Bend Iron Works, which was reincorporated as Oliver Farm Equipment Company after his death
 * Studebaker Brothers, founders of Studebaker Corporation

Miscellaneous

 * Narsai David, San Francisco chef and restaurateur
 * Cashmere Nicole, American entrepreneur
 * Conrad Prebys, property developer, philanthropist, billionaire

Military

 * Jeremy Michael Boorda, Navy admiral
 * James H. Kasler, Korean War and Vietnam War fighter pilot and POW; only recipient of three Air Force Crosses
 * Joseph A. Nolan Medal of Honor Recipient, Philippine Insurrection
 * Howard G. Bunker, Air Force general
 * Edward Hale Campbell, Navy admiral

Science

 * Debra Elmegreen, astronomer
 * Maclyn McCarty, physician and biochemistry researcher who helped identify DNA as the genetic material, ushering in the era of molecular biology
 * Robert Fassnacht, researcher killed in bombing
 * Marcus Ward Lyon Jr., mammalogist, pathologist
 * Eric F. Wieschaus, evolutionary developmental biologist. Nobel Prize in Medicine

Art

 * George Rickey, kinetic sculptor

Education

 * Ivan Meštrović, sculptor, professor at the University of Notre Dame, died in South Bend
 * Duncan G. Stroik, architect, sacred architecture professor, and founder of Duncan G. Stroik Architect LLC

Others

 * Michael Alig, co-founder of the Club Kids and convicted murderer
 * Paul Smith, first African American minister at historic First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, New York; multicultural consultant, civil rights activist, university administrator, teacher, author
 * Emerson Spartz, media mogul
 * William Albert Wack, CSC, Bishop of Diocese of Pensacola–Tallahassee
 * Owen Klein
 * Wheezyblonde, YouTuber and Twitch Streamer

Associated with the University of Notre Dame

 * Jacqueline Batteast
 * Skylar Diggins
 * George Gipp
 * Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh
 * Lou Holtz
 * Paul Hornung
 * Moose Krause
 * Frank Leahy
 * Johnny Lujack
 * Joe Montana
 * Ara Parseghian
 * Digger Phelps
 * Regis Philbin
 * Condoleezza Rice
 * Knute Rockne
 * Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger
 * Joe Theismann
 * Charlie Weis
 * Brian Kelly
 * Fraizer Thompson