# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/81 "2008-12-19T10:37:55Z")
Newton. (etc) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/82 "2008-12-19T13:02:37Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > I also work at a university whose undisputed most famous attendee is Michael Jordan. He left for the NBA after his junior year. [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_North_Carolina_at_Chapel_Hill_alumni) alum chiming in. Other alums you might have heard of, outside of athletics: Andy Griffith Charles Kurault (did not graduate) Shelby Foote (did not graduate) Jeff MacNelly Jim Shumaker (the man on whom MacNelly based the character “Shoe”. Also did not graduate.) Armistead Maupin Richard McKenna (wrote The Sand Pebbles) Thomas Wolfe Tom Wicker Lewis Black (the stand up comedian - Ignorance fought!) David Brinkley (did not graduate) Louise Fletcher Chris Matthews (did not graduate) Carl Kassell (NPR announcer whose voice is a prize on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me) Roger Mudd John Edwards (the one who speaks to dead campaigns, not dead people) William Thorton (astronaut) and a bunch of N.C. elected officials. UNC-CH has had good programs in Journalism, Drama, and Law, as well as athletics, for a long time. That shows in the categories of famous alumni. Several of the alumni who became prominent journalists did not graduate. Back in those days, one merely needed talent to get a job in Journalism, not a degree. What a good thing it is that we modern, enlightened people know that a certification is more important than actual competence. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/83 "2008-12-19T14:32:27Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > 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. Well, it’s missing mine. 😃 Since U of T (my undergrad school) seems to be well-covered, I’ll put in a word for the University of Alberta, where I went to law school: Former Canadian PM Joe Clark Current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Beverly McLachlan\* Former Governor-General Roland Michener Former NHL President Clarence Campbell Actor Nathan Fillion Actor Paul Gross Author W.O. Mitchell - Supposedly, she was on the faculty of the law school; but outside of a guest lecture she gave one day, I never saw her there. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/84 "2008-12-19T15:04:24Z")
I went to Union College in Schenectady. Some of the bigger names: Chester A. Arthur, US President. Jimmy Carter, US President\* Lincoln’s Secretary of State William Seward Jefferson Davis’s Secretary of State Robert Toombs. George Westinghouse (briefly). John Howard Payne, author of the song “Home Sweet Home.” Joseph Yates – Governor of NY Phil Alden Robinson, director and screenwriter of **Field of Dreams** and other films (I knew him when I was there). I work at Siena College, which is much newer. Best known alumni: California Governor George Deukmejian Pulitzer Prize winning author William Kennedy Golf legend Gene Sarazen (honorary, but he took it seriously and was very involved on campus). John Lannan, Washington Nationals pitcher. Roberto González Nieves, Archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico Fr. Mychal Judge. He was assistant to the president; known for his work and tragic death at the World Trade center attacks. For graduate school, there’s the University at Albany: Ellen Datlow, science fiction editor. Steve Guttenberg, reputedly an actor. Author Gregory Maguire Havey Milk Author Joseph Persico \*Actually, Carter only took a couple of extension courses when he was stationed here in the navy (though there is no record of who took those courses). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/85 "2008-12-19T15:24:42Z")
> [@Convict](#): > > And perhaps the most famous alum… > > Homer J. Simpson (Dan Castellaneta) The most famous alum of [The Evergreen State College](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_State_College) is Matt Groening, creator of _The Simpsons_. My college has been made fun of on _Futurama_ and in an early Straight Dope column. There’s also Michael Richards (Cramer from _Seinfeld_), and a long list on the wiki page (but unless you were glued to your television during the 2007 World Beard and Moustache Championships (Full Beard with Styled Moustache division) in 2007, you won’t recognize many of them). > [@MsRobyn](#): > > We’ve got Senator-Elect Jean Shaheen, Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, author Dean Koontz, NFL player John Kuhn, and a lot of top military types because of its affiliation with the Army War College in Carlisle. (War College students can get a master’s from Ship.) I used to work about a mile down the street from the War College. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/86 "2008-12-19T15:34:53Z")
I went to the University of North Texas for undergrad, which has a surprisingly good music program. Notable alums include…well, I’ll let them tell you. [http://www.unt.edu/famous-alums.htm](http://www.unt.edu/famous-alums.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/87 "2008-12-19T16:26:22Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > Several of the alumni who became prominent journalists did not graduate. Back in those days, one merely needed talent to get a job in Journalism, not a degree. What a good thing it is that we modern, enlightened people know that a certification is more important than actual competence. :rolleyes: Amen, brother! And they didn’t have to be taught how to write in Journalism School because they already knew when they graduated from high school, and they applied values like honesty and integrity and humanity to their work, and they worked long, hard hours for low pay because they loved the idea of informing their readers instead of just pursuing an agenda and making it to the big time, and when they did go to college they actually read Aristotle and Quintillian and Kant and Thomas Aquinas and Thomas Jefferson and anything else they could get their hands on. Yes, **Typo Knig** , how much better it is now that none of that appears in modern journalism practice! Imagine the horror of having to think for ourselves instead of being told what to think! Why yes, I am a former newspaper editor, why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/88 "2008-12-19T16:39:38Z")
Although he got his diploma from West Point, [General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Pershing) attended my alma mater for a while. Pretty much everything you’ve ever seen bearing the name ‘Pershing’ is named for him, from the M26 Pershing heavy tank to the Pershing Scholarships at my old school. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Falling\_Reverend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Falling\_Reverend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Falling_Reverend)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/89 "2008-12-19T18:46:46Z")
I went to the same high school(South Haven HS) as Darcy from the Smashing Pumpkins(I used to drink coffee with her mom too) and although their not really well know, A few of these guys once graced the same hallways as I did. [http://www.thespits.com/spits\_site/htm/spits\_photos.htm](http://www.thespits.com/spits_site/htm/spits_photos.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/90 "2008-12-19T19:08:11Z")
I attended Texas State University, San Marcos (was called Southwest Texas State University when I attended). A partial list: # President Lyndon B. Johnson[2]. # Country singer George Strait[2] # Country singer Randy Rogers # Country/Tejano singer Emilio Navaira # Country singer Troy Wayne Delco of The Beaumonts # Film director Thomas Carter[2] # Actor/filmmaker Richard Jones # Actor G. W. Bailey # Actor Powers Boothe[2] # Actress Tracy Scoggins # Columnist Heloise[2] ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/91 "2008-12-19T19:13:53Z")
Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Monroe, John Tyler, Glenn Close, Jon Stewart. Lots of others, too, but those are the big names. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/92 "2008-12-19T19:21:58Z")
No one remotely famous went to my high school, but we have a slightly successful singer/songwriter [Anais Mitchell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anais_Mitchell) I imagine with the amount of people here who are into indy/folky music, _someone_ must have heard of her. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Clare\_de\_Loone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/clare_de_loone/32/3407_2.png) [@Clare\_de\_Loone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clare_de_Loone)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/93 "2008-12-19T19:31:29Z")
> [@Convict](#): > > Melissa Barrington (the Weather Channel) > > Northern Illinois University I went to Maine South HS with Melissa, obviously many years after Hillary Clinton graduated. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/94 "2008-12-19T19:32:02Z")
Top 25 were recently ranked: #1 James Madison 1771 #2 Alan Turing \*38 #3 Woodrow Wilson 1879 #4 John Rawls ’43 \*50 #5 John Bardeen \*36 #6 George Kennan ’25 #7 Benjamin Rush 1760 #8 F. Scott Fitzgerald ’17 #9 George Shultz ’42 #10 John Foster Dulles 1908 #11 Gary Becker ’51 #12 Jeffrey Moss ’63 #13 Wendy Kopp ’89 #14 Richard Feynman \*42 #15 Paul Volcker ’49 #16 Nicholas Katzenbach ’43 #17 Charles Scribner 1840 #18 Laurance Rockefeller ’32 #19 Robert Venturi ’47 \*50 #20 Jeff Bezos ’86 #21 Alfred Barr ’22 \*23 #22 Philip Freneau 1771 #23 John Bogle ’51 #24 Norman Thomas 1905 #25 (tie) Ralph Nader ’55 Donald Rumsfeld ’54 [http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive\_new/PAW07-08/07-0123/features\_thepanel.html](http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW07-08/07-0123/features_thepanel.html) List of 250 they started with: > **[“The List”](https://paw.princeton.edu/article/list)** > > The following list includes more than 200 alumni who were considered by our panel that selected the 25 most influential Princeton alumni in history, published in the ---
**Author:** ![The\_Falling\_Reverend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@The\_Falling\_Reverend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Falling_Reverend)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/95 "2008-12-19T20:04:57Z")
> [@Clare\_de\_Loone](#): > > I went to Maine South HS with Melissa, obviously many years after > Hillary Clinton graduated. My oldest sister is friends with Melissa(or Missy as I knew here) Barrington. They went to Maine South together. I still remember when I was about 3 and she was dressed up as the easter bunny at Golf Mill mall. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/96 "2008-12-19T20:17:13Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > Likewise, I didn’t know you went to “The W”. I’m actually old enough to remember when it was MSCW. Well I went to the W 15 years ago. Now I’m going again and it’s about to be Welty (maybe). [This](http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr282/ShelliBeanAllen/DSCF0543.jpg) is what I sit under in my computer room. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/97 "2008-12-19T21:20:10Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > **Kolga**. I’m not notable YET. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/98 "2008-12-19T21:44:22Z")
According to [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Carolina_University#Notable_alumni), there’ve been a few “notables,” but the two names that always get tossed around are Sandra Bullock and Vince McMahon. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/99 "2008-12-19T21:48:02Z")
William O. Douglas and Adam West get tossed around most frequently. We’re quite a selective school now, but have only become so in the last thirty years or so, so the list is short. Whitman College, for the record, in Walla Walla Washington. Better than Lewis and Clark, in Portland, which is known for producing Monica Lewinsky. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750/100 "2008-12-20T13:54:42Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Not sure which is cooler: > > Undergrad: **Obama**! > > Post-grad: **Gadarene**! > > 🆒🆒🆒🆒🆒 Dammit, if only I were a right-wing partisan hack I could make some clever remark about swine, but I’m a left-wing partisan hack. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-notable-alumni-went-to-your-school-university/477750.md?page=6)