New Jersey wants to claim Paul Rudd as a native Hall of Famer. You OK with that, Kansas?
Paul Rudd was nominated for the New Jersey Hall of Fame this past week.
Hold up.
Paul Rudd?
The Paul Rudd who grew up in Overland Park, graduated from Shawnee Mission West and went to the University of Kansas?
Very Important Person Paul Rudd, longtime Kansas City Chiefs fan who was there when they won the Super Bowl in 2020 and got to join the celebration back home?
The Paul Rudd, Kansas City Royals fan who wears the uniform quite well and got sprayed with champagne in the locker room after the team won the World Series in 2015?
The Paul Rudd who raises money every year for Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy with his other Hollywood buddies who grew up around here? You know who they are: Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, Eric Stonestreet and David Koechner. Their charity has donated more than $13 million thus far.
The Paul Rudd who, for goodness sake, has his own page on the Kansas Historical Society website — where we are reminded that this favorite son of Kansas was “born to immigrants from England in Passaic, New Jersey.”
We didn’t really forget, Jersey.
He just seems so, uh, Kansas now.
In New Jersey, anyone who took their first breath there is eligible for the state’s Hall of Fame. Members were born or raised in New Jersey — or even just lived there at some point.
“The people we celebrate have overcome every imaginable obstacle and challenge. They have survived war, overcome the bleakness of poverty, conquered fear and disability, and rebounded from untold rejections and failure,” the Hall of Fame website says.
This year’s nominees, nearly 50 men and women, include the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain (spent childhood in New Jersey), “Black Panther” star Michael B. Jordan (born in California, raised in Jersey) and funk music pioneer George Clinton (born in North Carolina, grew up in Jersey).
Rudd’s father worked in management for TWA, a job that kept them on the move and brought them to Kansas when he was 10.
This is Rudd’s first nomination. He’s coming in hot after being named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” last year.
The induction ceremony, likely later this year, poses no conflict with Rudd’s Big Slick fundraising duties in Kansas City, though who knows if his movie and TV schedule might interfere?
This year’s Big Slick Weekend includes a Celebrity Classic softball game at Kauffman Stadium on June 24 and Big Slick Party & Show on June 25 at the T-Mobile Center downtown.
Surely his Big Slick philanthropy and Kansas connections would make Rudd a shoe-in for a Kansas Hall of Fame, if there was one. (We couldn’t find one.)
There’s a Kansas Sports Hall of Fame and a Kansas Music Hall of Fame. (Can he sing?)
There’s a Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame in Dodge City. (Does he ride?)
The purpose of the New Jersey Hall of Fame is “to give shout-outs to the great, and to make the general public aware that New Jersey produces more than gangsters and mosquitoes,” notes/jokes Northjersey.com.
The public will choose the new members. Voting runs through May 20 online. And nowhere does it say you have to live in Jersey to cast a vote.
That Jersey boy in the Royals jersey might appreciate it.
This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 12:34 PM.
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