Who is Delaware's most famous? You decide

Whether you have lived here your entire life or recently relocated to the Small Wonder, there is a chance you have played the state's favorite trivia game.

How many famous people from Delaware can you name?

Wait, why are you laughing?

Celebrities do occasionally come from Delaware. Maybe not the super famous. But you know, Delaware famous.

We've come up with a list of 20.

The question now is who is the most famous?

(Instructions: Click and drag the names to form your rankings. The first name should be the most famous and the last name should be the least famous. Add a name at the bottom if you think we're missing someone. When your list is set, click 'Finish Survey.')

The News Journal is asking its loyal readers to finalize the Mount Rushmore of Delaware's biggest celebs.

We're not talking most important, most influential or most historic. This is about pure star power.

From now through next Monday, you will be able to choose from our carefully curated list and rank your favorites. Or, you can add one person of your own who you think we missed.

We'll be releasing the results on April 24 and might even speak to some of your top picks.

In the meantime, allow us to explain the three rules we used to determine our list of candidates.

The Biden Rule

Deciding on who the list of Delaware's Most Famous might include requires us to first consider what makes a Delawarean: a debate we assume harkens back to 1787.

For the purposes of this endeavor, there are two ways to be counted as a famous Delawarean.

Anyone born in Delaware automatically qualifies regardless of how long they lived here. That's just a natural fact.

But they also can qualify by graduating from a Delaware high school AND conducting the majority of their career here.

Joe Biden, for instance, was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. But he graduated from Archmere Academy and then went on to represent the state in Washington, D.C., for 44 years.

To be fair, we've allowed some wiggle room to the Biden rule for Delawareans who followed a career in sports. Delaware, after all, has no professional sports teams.

The Bob Marley Rule

This is a disqualifier directly related to The Biden Rule.

Famous people who lived in Delaware but were not born here or conducted a significant portion of their career here are not up for consideration.

Delawareans love to blow people's minds by informing them that the most famous reggae artist of all time lived in Wilmington for a few years. We even have an annual festival that bears his name.

But Tuff Gong was not born here and did not become famous until after he returned to Jamacia.

Others disqualified under the Bob Marley Rule include television personality Dr. Oz, NFL quarterback Joe Flacco, cartoonist Robert Crumb, actor Robert Mitchum, former FBI Director Louis Freeh and DJ Jazzy Jeff. 

The Wendell Smallwood Rule

Fame also is difficult to define.

So as a general guide, we considered whether our candidates' names and faces would be recognizable to people not just in Delaware but across the country.

Fame is also generational so some on our list might not be well-known to you but your parents or children probably think they're the bees' knees or whatever the kids say these days.

Of course, some are so Delaware famous but, you know, not actually famous that we agreed to make a few allowances.

We also opted to exclude people who might be well known in their profession but are not widely recognized outside of it, such as Wendell Smallwood, our favorite Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagle.

This also eliminated former DuPont Co. CEO Ellen Kullman, astronaut Nancy Currie and historical figures such as Absalom Jones and John Bassett Moore.

Remember, this is a subjective process, which is what makes it fun.

So don't lose your mind if you think we unfairly excluded someone like tennis player Madison Brengle, Mighty Mighty Bosstones' trombonist Dennis Brockenborough or journalist Dave Weigel.

We've left one spot blank for all your write-in candidates.

Might we suggest Philadelphia news anchor Ukee Washington, character actor Yvette Freeman or businessman Bob Gore?

And yes, even Andrew Shue. RIP, "Melrose Place."

Contact reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.