The migration to Manatee County for the rich and famous athletes had to start sometime and a gasoline station on Tenth Street during the 1930s is as good a place as any to start.
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean might have been the first professional athlete to recognize the benefits of Bradenton and the surrounding area because he opened a gas station and even pumped the gas.
Try getting today's million-dollar athlete to do that.
If Dean wasn't the first athlete to call this area home, he was certainly in the first wave.
Babe Ruth used to come by in the winters for a little hunting and fishing with Hank Johnson, a teammate on those great Yankee teams of the late 1920s who was Bradenton born and raised.
It is possible Ruth spread the word among his many rich and famous friends.
Today's all-star roster includes tennis starts Maria Sharapova, Nicole Vaidisova, Tommy Haas, Jamea Jackson, Jelena Jankovic and Martina Navratilova; golfers Paula Creamer and Ashley Hoagland, NBA official Bob Delaney and NCAA basketball official Steve Welmer.
The most famous name on the list, however, is not an athlete but a voice - ESPN analyst and college basketball icon Dick Vitale knows living here is awesome, baby. He's a Lakewood Ranch resident whose charitable contributions in the community stretch from the Boys and Girls Club to a recent fundraiser that raised more than $1 million for Tampa's Moffitt Cancer Center.
Golfer Paul Azinger, captain of the U.S. team in the 2008 Ryder Cup, has been a longtime resident of the area.
Having spring training in the heart of the city was free advertisement for the area, as well.
Who could blame hall of fame outfielder Edd Roush from retiring to Bradenton.
The warm winter weather and lack of a state income tax attracts many a retiree.
Easy access to a pair of major airports attracts the athlete who is still on top of his or her game.
Credit Nick Bollettieri for the latest invasion.
He opened his tennis academy in 1981 and thus opened the world to Bradenton, which is how Sharapova ended up in Manatee County. IMG brought the facility in 1987 and turned the place into a training ground for the stars.
Every year, college football players descend on IMG to prepare for the NFL Scouting Combine, which is the biggest stop before the NFL Draft.
Through the years, a who's who of big-time college football has worked out at the spacious IMG complex. They include Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke plus Eli Manning, Roy Williams, Drew Brees and Byron Leftwich.
It was unusual to see Olympic champion sprinter Michael Johnson visit the area to help the football players improve their running.
Hal McRae, who won a World Series title as a player with the 1985 Kansas City Royals and another as the hitting coach of the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, moved to Bradenton in 1967 after marrying his wife, Jo, a local girl.
Bruce Kison, the winning pitcher in the first-ever World Series game played at night, and Milt May, whose pinch-hit single drove in the winning run in that game, made Bradenton their year-round home after discovering the local charms during spring trainings with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Same with former Pirate catcher Mike LaValliere.
Former Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitcher Casey Fossum moved here shortly after being traded to the team.
Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen lives on Anna Maria Island.
Heather Gollnick, one of the top American female triathletes, lives in Lakewood Ranch.
