# Who are the most famous and/or notable alumni from your high school? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751 "2009-01-24T02:49:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/141 "2015-06-02T16:56:52Z")
[A couple of CEOs, some pro athletes and a former Mayor of Dallas.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_H._Reagan_High_School_(Austin,_Texas)#Notable_alumni) I should add myself to the list. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/142 "2015-06-02T17:48:12Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Washington-Lee HS in Arlington VA > > Forrest Tucker (actor), 1938 > Gena Rowlands, 1947 > Shirley MacLaine, 1952 > Nancy Dussault, Actress and Broadway musicals singer and dancer, ABC’s Good Morning America co-anchor with David Hartman, 1953 > Pat Priest, Actress The Munsters, 1954, [1] > Warren Beatty, 1955 > George Lee Butler, Commander in Chief, USSC, 1957 > Robert Richardson, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, 1955 > Jake Scott, 1963 (two time Super Bowl champion w/ Miami Dolphins: Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl VIII| VIII]]) > Stan Winston (film director, visual effects supervisor),1964 > Dan Rizzie (artist),1969 > Reggie Harrison, 1969 (two time Super Bowl champion w/ Pittsburgh Steelers: Super Bowls IX and X) > Carl Tanner, (World-class opera tenor), 1980 > Sandra Bullock (actress), 1982 > And **MEEEEEEEE!** 1962 Boy, you guys had a whole bunch of 'em! I graduated from Groveton HS, in Fairfax County, just south of Alexandria. It no longer exists as such, having been subsumed into what is now West Potomac HS. If we had any notable celebs among our alumni, I’m blissfully unaware of it. A good number of quite accomplished people, but nobody who’s very famous outside of their profession. A girl in the class behind me was briefly a state legislator in Wisconsin - not exactly heady stuff, there. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/143 "2015-06-02T18:26:33Z")
I graduated from Loyola High School in Towson, MD. Author Tom Clancy and sports announcer Jim McKay are the most famous alumni. The school has since changed its name to the snootier [Loyola Blakefield](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyola_Blakefield#Notable_alumni). ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/144 "2015-06-02T18:33:05Z")
Chris T. Sullivan, Outback Steakhouse founder Steve Francis, NBA player Carl Bernstein, journalist Connie Chung, broadcast journalist Nora Roberts, romance novelist Goldie Hawn, actress Ben Stein, nutjob ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/145 "2015-06-02T18:58:16Z")
My high school’s most famous alumnus is Gary Busey. My kids’ high school, on the other hand, has dozens of famous alumni: [Jeff Bridges, Danny Elfman, Judy Garland, Roddy McDowell, Marilyn Monroe, Ryan O’Neal, Herb Ritts, Nancy Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, etc.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_High_School_%28Los_Angeles,_California%29_alumni) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/146 "2015-06-02T19:26:47Z")
Robin Williams, and “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/147 "2015-06-02T20:07:24Z")
The most prominent ones are NHL players, such as Tom Barrasso, Bob Brooke, and Tom Sweeney. Also Carroll Spinney, who performs Big Bird on Sesame Street ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/148 "2015-06-02T20:31:21Z")
I went to **Abbot Pennings High School** , a small all-boys Catholic school in De Pere, WI (outside of Green Bay). The school closed in 1990, when it (and the two other Catholic high schools in the area) were consolidated into one school. I was at the very end of the Baby Boom (graduated in '83), and, at that point, we typically had 75 or so guys in each graduating class; by the time the school was closed, class sizes were about half of that. As such a small school, I’m not surprised that no one of wide fame graduated from APHS, as far as I know. The closest we had were: **[Kevin Rankin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Rankin_%28basketball%29)** (class of 1990, the final graduating class) – he was an academic All-American basketball player at Northwestern, held a number of school records, and played professionally in Europe and the Middle East for a long while. **[Charles Hoslet](http://universityrelations.wisc.edu/staff_listing/Hoslet_Charles/)** (class of 1982) – executive with the University of Wisconsin, and former legal counsel for the governor of Wisconsin. He was a year ahead of me; I suspect that no one calls him “Bullethead” anymore. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/149 "2015-06-02T20:54:12Z")
Grant HS, Portland, Oregon: Class of 1965, Sally Struthers - she was a cheerleader. Same class, I think, or possibly the previous year, jazz musician Tom Grant. He was already playing in a combo, and entertained us in assembly once. That’s all I know about, but there may have been some since I graduated (1967). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/150 "2015-06-02T20:55:33Z")
The most famous alumni of my high school are probably… 1. Author/journalist Pete Hamill, though he didn’t graduate and often trashes the old school. 2. Dr. Anthony Fauci, immunologist and AIDS expert 3. Gene Orza, high official of the baseball players’ union 4. Bill Condon, Hollywood director and screenwriter (possibly best known for _ **Gods and Monsters** _) 5. Lou DiBella, boxing coordinator at HBO 6. Eugene Maleska, longtime crossword editor of the NY Times 7. Robert Giroux, publishing magnate 8. John Leo, political columnist at US News 9. John McGiver, comical character actor (the quintessential “I don’t know your name, but I know I’ve seen you in a hundred things!” guy) 10. Mike “King Wally” Walczewski, announcer at Madison Square Garden for all Knicks and Rangers games 11. Colin Jost, writer and Weekend Update host for _ **Saturday Night Live** _ 12. Regis Philbin’s dad, who named his son after the old school. Of this group, the only ones I knew were Lou DiBella (who was a year ahead of me) and Mike Walczewski, whose brother was a classmate of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/151 "2015-06-02T21:23:23Z")
Dodge City, KS Senior High. I don’t know anything about any of them aside from what Wikipedia says: Dale Burnett, former NFL running back with the New York Giants Robert Delpino, former NFL running back with the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos Fred Hall, 33rd Governor of Kansas from 1955 to 1957 Dennis Hopper was born there, but his family moved before he was high school age. Our fictional characters from Gunsmoke are more famous than anyone who actually came from there! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/152 "2015-06-02T21:49:39Z")
A good number of famous names along with a few infamous ones, too. The [list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_High_School_%28Los_Angeles,_California%29_alumni) skews heavily towards show business and music industry celebrities. Two of the latter with particular meaning to me are John Densmore and Robbie Krieger of the Doors. Due to the school’s attendance area, covering a wide swath of hillside neighborhoods where many of the famous settled after they made it, there are a few second-generation celebs in the list. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/153 "2015-06-02T22:08:12Z")
Since I last posted in this thread in 2009, another guy is now kinda famous - Andy Cohen, from _What What Happens Live_. I already knew the other famous people while they were trying to get famous, but seeing him completely took me by surprise. It’s a strange thing when you see some random TV promo and get to say “I went to High School with that guy!” ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/154 "2015-06-02T22:35:37Z")
My school, nobody I’m aware of. My wife’s school, Edward Norton. My sons’ school, Goldie Hawn. I think Ben Stein and Robert Woodward graduated from their school as well. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/155 "2015-06-02T22:39:29Z")
> [@TheChileanBlob](#): > > A couple of football players my dad says are well-known now: Harris Barton and Billy Ray. Also Ryan Seacrest. Yes, I know that this post is six years old, but the little green light tells me that **TheChileanBlob** is still around and active, so in hopes he or she’ll see this: Holy walk down memory lane, Batman! I know what high school you attended; I went to the one that used to be y’all’s archrival, until the county merged them and mine became a middle school. The annual DHS/PHS game was Serious Business in our community. I saw Billy Ray play valiantly but get beaten by the Patriots in my senior year; it was the most exciting football game I’ve ever seen. I can’t find any list of notable alumni from my high school, alas. But I had some \*very very \* intelligent friends, one of whom I just discovered is a partner in a law firm in North Carolina and a professor at the UNC School of Law. So he might be it. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/156 "2015-06-02T22:40:48Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Chris T. Sullivan, Outback Steakhouse founder > Steve Francis, NBA player > Carl Bernstein, journalist > Connie Chung, broadcast journalist > Nora Roberts, romance novelist > Goldie Hawn, actress > Ben Stein, nutjob Huh, I got it wrong about Woodward. I wasn’t that far off, though. I guess you went when it was at the old location? Wait, it’s been around 20 years since they moved now. I remember when my wife and I were dating we came down from NY to have Thanksgiving with her family. Her cousin pointed out the new school. Little did we know we’d get married, move to the DC area, and send our sons to that school. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/157 "2015-06-02T23:36:59Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Huh, I got it wrong about Woodward. I wasn’t that far off, though. I guess you went when it was at the old location? Wait, it’s been around 20 years since they moved now. I graduated in '95. I believe '98 was the last class to graduate from the old building. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/158 "2015-06-03T00:16:47Z")
Didn’t know any of them, but: Julian Bond Ennis Cosby Blythe Danner Keir Dullea George Segal Stephen Sondheim ---
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/159 "2015-06-03T00:33:59Z")
Astronaut [Deke Slayton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deke_Slayton). And absolutely no one else of note. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751/160 "2015-06-03T03:12:07Z")
Malvern College: it could be either of two Nobel laureates, Francis William Aston and James Meade, Jeremy Paxman, or Aleister Crowley; it’s probably CS Lewis, though. I went at the same time as [David Nash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nash_(cricketer)) and knew him in passing, but I doubt anyone other than fans of English cricket would recognize the name. We also had a prime minister of Malaysia. Merritt Island High School (where I actually graduated from): Clint Hurdle (baseball player and current Pittsburgh Pirates manager) and Will Perdue (one of Michael Jordan’s teammates) are the only people on the Wikipedia page I’ve heard of. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-famous-and-or-notable-alumni-from-your-high-school/482751.md?page=9)