# What notable alumni went to your school/university? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 18, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750 "2008-12-18T15:41:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/41 "2008-12-18T17:24:33Z")
Bowling Green State University. We got: Orel Hershiser (baseball) Tim Conway (actor/comedian) James Baldwin (author) I also work at a university whose undisputed most famous attendee is Michael Jordan. He left for the NBA after his junior year. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/42 "2008-12-18T17:54:34Z")
There are probably more, but Dr. Earl Sutherland, winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize for Medicine, got his bachelor’s degree from Washburn University, which I attended. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/43 "2008-12-18T18:00:42Z")
Many. I could swear I went there with Kevin Eubanks, but the alumni site says he graduated the year before I started. Branford Marsalis Tracy Bonham Alf Clausen Melissa Etheridge Quincy Jones Joey Kramer Howard Shore Alan Silvestri Steve Vai ---
**Author:** ![Pixilated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aeb1de/32.png) [@Pixilated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixilated)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/44 "2008-12-18T18:15:49Z")
Well, Henry Fonda was born in my hometown but not sure if he went to (high)school there. As a matter of fact, all I could find was notable people for the city, not the school. Some others listed: Bo Evans (computer pioneer) Tom Rathman (did go to same highschool) Tenor Joe Feeney (Lawrence Welk show) and father of Chris Feeney (opera singer). Not bad for such a small midwestern town! Grand Island, NE ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/45 "2008-12-18T18:29:17Z")
I went to the University of Toronto, which due to its size has quite a few distinguished alumni… so to make it interesting, I’ll just stick to the ones who graduated from [Victoria College](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_University_in_the_University_of_Toronto) instead since that’s where I lived and studied. Off the top of my head, I can name authors Northrop Frye, E J Pratt (for whom the library is named) and Margaret Atwood (whose novel, Cat’s Eye, provided the name for our college pub), actors Donald Sutherland and Don McKellar, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lester B Pearson. Full list of U of T notables is [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Toronto_people), and I’m pretty sure it’s missing a few names. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/46 "2008-12-18T18:46:27Z")
James Meredith, first black student at Ole Miss; leader in the American civil rights movement Jim Barksdale, founder and former CEO of Netscape William Faulkner, Nobel Prize in Literature John Grisham, author; attorney; former Mississippi representative Susan Akin-Lynch, Miss America 1986 Mary Ann Mobley Collins, Miss America 1959; actress Lynda Mead Shea, Miss America 1960; owner and president of Shea-Moore Design Admiral John S. McCain, Sr., USN; grandfather of Senator John McCain (I just realized where McCain hall got its name) Mose Allison, jazz and blues pianist Guy Hovis, singer Trent Lott, former U.S. Senator Bill Parsons, director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center Archie Manning, former New Orleans Saints QB Eli Manning, New York Giants QB; Super Bowl XLII MVP Deuce McAllister, New Orleans Saints running back Cynthia Geary, actress Kate Jackson, actress, best known for Charlie’s Angels Gerald McRaney, actor I only went to school with one of these people, Bill Parsons of NASA. Oh yeah, University of Mississippi. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/47 "2008-12-18T18:53:01Z")
Off the top of my head High School: Howard Stern College: Paul Reiser ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/48 "2008-12-18T18:55:45Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > and 14 Prime Ministers of the UK. I’ll take 25 UK PMs, you freaking tab. 😛 (And haven’t you had 15 PMs, or is wiki wrong?) As for my college, undergrad wise we had Roger Bannister, William Morris, and J.R.R. Tolkein (and Philip Pullman, I just discovered). My US law school had Al Gore and Fred Thompson. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/49 "2008-12-18T19:27:24Z")
> [@villa](#): > > I’ll take 25 UK PMs, you freaking tab. 😛 (And haven’t you had 15 PMs, or is wiki wrong?) > > As for my college, undergrad wise we had Roger Bannister, William Morris, and J.R.R. Tolkein (and Philip Pullman, I just discovered). > > My US law school had Al Gore and Fred Thompson. Happily trade a few PMs for 80+ nobel prize winners 😉 > [@JDon't call me Shirley](#): > > ames Watson, discoverer of DNA ( I noticed Wallenstein claims him too) Nope, he’s yours by rights… he did his DNA research over here, but wasn’t a student. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/50 "2008-12-18T19:28:34Z")
I didn’t know you went to Ole Miss, NinetyWt! OK, Mississippi University for Women Eudora Welty - in fact they are about to change the name and I’ve heard that this is on the short list (Welty University). There are many others but not a lot of people I had heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/51 "2008-12-18T19:44:32Z")
Well, my high school can claim ESPN’s “The Rick” as one of its alumni. He graduated in 1987, the year before I did so we probably knew who each other was. For the dear old alma mater we’ve got plenty to pick and choose from: Bill Clinton Pat Buchanan King Abdullah II of Jordan Antonin Scalia (huh, didn’t know that!) Patrick Ewing Dikembe Mutombo and a host of minor supporting actors both real and fictional (the latter including Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan). Oh yeah, and some ghost story with a really long stone staircase… ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/52 "2008-12-18T19:49:49Z")
This guy: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark\_Mathabane](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Mathabane). He went to a number of schools but did two years at mine, where he graduated. His book _Kafir Boy In America_contained a chapter about how the 1984 Student Association election was rigged. His outrage was very strong and he was treated unfairly, but stilll he was a real dickhead. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/53 "2008-12-18T19:54:17Z")
I went to a few schools… **Eastern Washington University** \* Todd McFarlane **Central Washington University** \* Jon Kitna (NFL QB) \* Craig T. Nelson **Washington State University** \* Edward R. Murrow \* Gary Larsen (The Far Side) \* Dolph Lundgren \* Roy Orbison \* Paul Allen \* Senator Patty Murray \* Timothy Leary \* Lawrence Peter (The Peter Principle) \* Bill Nye \* Drew Bledsoe (NFL) \* Ron Cey (MLB) \* Mark Rypian (NFL QB, Super Bowl MVP) \* Kenny G ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/54 "2008-12-18T20:18:40Z")
Oddly enough, the Wiki for my first university (I do have a degree from there) doesn’t list any notables at all, but Pamela Wallin is the current Chancellor (it was Lincoln Alexander when I was there). Cassie Campbell (former captain of Canada’s women’s Hockey Team and Olympic gold medalist) is a U of Guelph alumnus. McGill does have a [few more](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_McGill_University_people#Noted_alumni_and_professors), including 8 Nobel Prize winners, the most famous of which would probably be Ernest Rutherford. Other interesting names are: > [@](#): > > Conrad Black — embattled press baron and media tycoon in the Anglo-Canadian tradition of Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Thomson of Fleet, owner of 650 dailies/weeklies around the world [9] > Sir John Abbott - first Canadian prime minister to be born in Canada > Joe Clark - faculty member, former Prime Minister of Canada > Sir Wilfrid Laurier — former Prime Minister of Canada > Jack Layton — leader of the New Democratic Party > Burt Bacharach — Academy Award-winning musician > Samantha Bee — correspondent, The Daily Show > Jake Eberts — producer of _Gandhi, Chariots of Fire_ > John McCrae — surgeon, poet, author of famous Canadian poem “In Flanders’ Fields” > Christopher Plummer — film and stage actor > William Shatner — lead actor in Star Trek and Boston Legal, played Captain James T. Kirk (ADDED: The student union building is unofficially named the Shatner building in his honour) > James Creighton — Law, 1880, generally considered to be the originator of North American ice hockey rules > James Naismith — BA 1887, inventor of basketball > Dr. James Wilson — oncologist at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in FOX Network TV drama House. Ok, so that last one is fictional. Still made the list, though! ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/55 "2008-12-18T20:26:48Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > Happily trade a few PMs for 80+ nobel prize winners 😉 I also think we have pretty much every permanent secretary for the Department of Transportation since the war. Which is why we have the M40 and a great train link, and it takes God knows how many hours to get from London to the Fens (though why anyone would want to go there I don’t know). ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/56 "2008-12-18T20:34:46Z")
Not sure which is cooler: Undergrad: **Obama**! Post-grad: **Gadarene**! 🆒🆒🆒🆒🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/57 "2008-12-18T20:35:06Z")
Campbellsville College (now University) in Campbellsville, KY: Russ Mobley, KY House of Representatives. And he didn’t graduate from there: he was the theatre arts prof. That’s it. Yee-haw. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/58 "2008-12-18T20:46:15Z")
I went to a school that’s been around a long time, so that helps rack up famous alumni. The [list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University#Alumni_and_attenders) is pretty impressive, and includes Barack Obama. Anna Paquin spent a year there as a freshman when I was a senior, and sadly, I never got her number. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/59 "2008-12-18T20:58:01Z")
From Va Tech: Um, Michael Vick ☹ To be technical, however, he didn’t graduate. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/60 "2008-12-18T21:52:33Z")
> [@ShelliBean](#): > > I didn’t know you went to Ole Miss, NinetyWt! Yes’m, my daddy taught in the Engineering school there for almost 30 years. I was born in Oxford. During an ice storm. So long ago, the hospital was segregated. :eek: > [@](#): > > OK, Mississippi University for Women Likewise, I didn’t know you went to “The W”. I’m actually old enough to remember when it was MSCW. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750.md?page=4)