GoLocalProv Names Briggs, King, Baron EG's Greatest Athletes

GoLocalProv ran the Greatest Athletes In R.I., West Bay version, Monday and named Wilma Briggs as EG's top pick, with runners up Steven King and Jimmy Baron.

Briggs grew up on the Briggs' family farm, one of 11 children. Her father played semi-pro baseball and one of her brother's played minor league baseball, but Wilma's star shone brightest.

Briggs played for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League right out of high school, from 1948 to 1954. In 1953, she led the league with 9 home runs, then hit 25 homers in 1954, second best in the league. The was the league's final year.

Briggs lives in Narragansett now.

Steven King grew up in East Greenwich and lives here still, with his wife, Christine, and their three sons. He played hockey for Brown for four years, then was drafted by the New York Rangers, then moved to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim after that team was established in 1993. He continued to play hockey professionally until 2000, when he took a job with Brown University's department of development and resettled in EG.

Jimmy Baron grew up in East Greenwich and was a basketball star at Bishop Hendriken. He went to URI, where he played for his father, Jim Baron, the basketball coach there until earlier this year.

One other name on GoLocalProv's list that may ring a bell for many in East Greenwich is that of Billy Almon, who grew up in Warwick but lived in East Greenwich after he stopped playing baseball. Almon played baseball for Brown, then was drafted by the MLB, where he played for a number of teams from 1974 to 1988.

Of course, there have been plenty of sports standouts from East Greenwich over the years. Leave you pick for additions to this list in the Comments section below.