# Famous people who went to your otherwise unheralded school **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 19, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050 "2003-02-19T03:02:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Convict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Convict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Convict)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/21 "2003-02-19T07:59:38Z")
The lead singer of the band Survivor went to my high school. John and Jim Belushi went to the same jr. college I attended (both were there years before I got there…as a matter of fact John had died by the time I got there). ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/22 "2003-02-19T12:36:49Z")
I had to go to the website to figure out who there was…there are more than this, but these are the ones I figured were better known among the list of “notable alumni”. Colby College: Elijah Parish Lovejoy, journalist,[1826](http://www.altonweb.com/history/lovejoy/) Robert B. Parker, Novelist, 1954 Doris Kearns Goodwin, Author, 1964 Dan Harris, Weekend ABC news anchor, 1993 I’m sure there are others, but I either can’t remember or can’t find the information. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/23 "2003-02-19T12:43:14Z")
The current Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, went to my high school. His brother was in my class (of 35 people). ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/24 "2003-02-19T13:56:21Z")
John Mahoney (Martin on _Cheers_) attended Quincy College (now Quincy University). I did not find this out until a few years ago, when I was reading the obituary for the head of the Theatre department (I was a Theatre Major there) and it mentioned that he had attended. I had previously mentioned in another thread that Julius Carry III (the Shogun of Harlem in _The Last Dragon_ and Lord Bowler in _Briscoe County, Jr_) was a classmate of mine at Quincy. ---
**Author:** ![mske](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mske](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mske)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/25 "2003-02-19T14:09:58Z")
McMaster University - Hamilton, Ontario: Martin Short Dave Thomas (Doug McKenzie) Doug Henning And my wife attended High School with Timothy McVeigh (Starpoint - Lockport, NY) ---
**Author:** ![mske](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mske](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mske)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/26 "2003-02-19T14:10:56Z")
McMaster University - Hamilton, Ontario: Martin Short Dave Thomas (Doug McKenzie) Eugene Levy Doug Henning And my wife attended High School with Timothy McVeigh (Starpoint - Lockport, NY) ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/27 "2003-02-19T14:45:36Z")
Well he’s not so famous, but if you know Britney Spears Pepsi comercial where she’s dancing in the 50s style resturant, one of the three male singers went to Frostburg State University. I actually knew they guy, he played trombone in the Jazz Ensemble with me. His name is Matt, don’t remember his last name though. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/28 "2003-02-19T14:48:40Z")
Jon Stewart went to the College of William and Mary (Virginia state school). Actually I just learned that the other day. Our other distinguished graduate that I can think of is Glenn Close. Lucy Liu went to my high school. ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/29 "2003-02-19T14:48:49Z")
So what’s wrong with dead people??? I attended Graham Junior College in Boston with Andy Kaufmann back in '69/'70. ---
**Author:** ![beegirl13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@beegirl13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beegirl13)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/30 "2003-02-19T14:54:40Z")
Pleasant Rowland (creator of the [American Girl](http://www.americangirl.com/) dolls) is an alumna of Wells College. Since she sold her company to Mattel, she’s been giving the school and the tiny town tons of money. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/31 "2003-02-19T14:56:24Z")
I wouldn’t have guessed it at the time, but my high school has spawned at least a dozen Olympic athletes. Primarily water polo, but still. It was a fairly academics-heavy school. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/32 "2003-02-19T15:15:45Z")
High school, Abilene High: Randall “Tex” Cobb. College, University of North Texas: Peter Weller (Robo Cop, Naked Lunch), Roy Orbison, Mean Joe Green (a friend of my dad’s while he went to college, and the last good football player we had), and I think Pat Boone. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/33 "2003-02-19T15:18:21Z")
Pearl S. Buck went to my college, a small woman’s college in VA that most people haven’t heard of. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/34 "2003-02-19T15:25:07Z")
Stow High School. Stow, Ohio Larry Czonka class of '57 or something. I was class of '79 and we still didn’t have anyone else to boast of, except, of course, me. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/35 "2003-02-19T15:26:26Z")
Oh, also, a girl in my class went on to become the lead dancer, or vedette, at The Lido in Paris. I was doing google searches on my friends’ names, found a link, and was, like, “Whoa, Kate. Nice… um… legs…” ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/36 "2003-02-19T15:32:18Z")
Not my school, but one of our little state schools here in VT: Johnson State - Cindy Lauper. Didn’t graduate though. Story is she got kicked out after having been caught having sex in public (don’t know how true that story is). ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/37 "2003-02-19T15:37:01Z")
Winona Ryder went to my high school, but she’s several years older than me. That’s about it. I can’t think of anyone really prominent who went to my university (University of California, Santa Cruz), but it’s only been around for about 35 years, and for a large portion of that time, it was REALLY small - it started with under a thousand students, and has grown slowly. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/38 "2003-02-19T15:38:14Z")
My high school produced a Nobel laureate (Paul Flory) and the guy after whom the Adler planetarium in Chicago is named after. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/39 "2003-02-19T15:43:28Z")
Will Rogers went to the military academy where I went to high school. Of course, we weren’t in the same class. ---
**Author:** ![Jane\_D\_oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@Jane\_D\_oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jane_D_oh)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050/40 "2003-02-19T15:48:23Z")
**Hugh Hefner** graduated from the same high school I did. many many years before me. But my junior year Christie came in with a check from her dad for new band uniforms. What a guy that Hef!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-who-went-to-your-otherwise-unheralded-school/156050.md?page=3)