Famous Alumni

The inventor of basketball started a tradition here.
The man who discovered vitamins A and D graduated. Helium was extracted from gas for the first time. The first African-American woman to entertain at the White House was a student.
Future astronauts were launched into their careers, along with artists, business leaders, Olympians, presidential candidates, actors, governors, Pulitzer winners and a Nobel Prize winner.
National championships have been won. And many pharmacists, teachers, nurses, doctors, musicians, artisans, journalists, architects, engineers and lawyers have begun careers.

KU. A Great Place to be a Champion.

Harold Arlin
First play-by-play man for a MLB game on radio

K.S. "Bud" Adams
Owner, Tennessee Titans

Stuart Bailey
Producer of "The Daily Show"

Nancy Kassebaum Baker
U.S. Senator

Scott Bakula
Actor (TV's "Quantum Leap," "Star Trek: Enterprise")

Kay Waldo Barnes
First female mayor of Kansas City, Mo.

Etta Moten Barnett
Actress and singer - First African-American woman to entertain at the White House

Linda Zarda Cook
Executive Director of Shell Gas & Power and former CEO of Shell Canada. Named one of the most successful businesswomen in Europe.

Wilt Chamberlain
Basketball Hall of Famer

Bob Dole
Former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate

Bob Eaton
Chair of Chrysler Corp.

Paul Ehrlich
Environmental scientist, population expert and author ("The Population Bomb"). Also a MacArthur Fellow recipient.

Joe Engle
NASA astronaut on first shuttle flight

Ron Evans
NASA astronaut on Apollo 17

Alex Graves
Executive producer ("West Wing")

Moses Gunn
Actor ("Heartbreak Ridge" and "Roots")

Steve Hawley
NASA astronaut

David Hillis
Evolutionary biologist and MacArthur "Genius" Fellow

William Inge
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright ("The Dark at the Top of the Stairs," "Come Back, Little Sheba," "Picnic," "Splendor in the Grass")

Clarence Kelly
Former head of the FBI

Rebecca Kolls
Gardening expert (HGTV's "Rebecca's Garden," ABC's "Good Morning America")

Bill Kurtis
Journalist and producer (A&E's "Investigative Reports," "American Justice")

Delano Lewis
Former National Public Radio CEO and Ambassador to South Africa

Elmer V. McCollum
Scientist (discovered vitamins A, B and D)

Billy Mills
Olympic gold medalist in track (only American to win the 10,000-meters medal)

Lou Montulli
Co-founder of Netscape

Alan Mulally
President and CEO of Ford Motor Company

Al Oerter
Four-time Olympic gold medalist

Sara Paretsky
Best-selling mystery writer (V.I. Warshawski series)

Mandy Patinkin
Actor ("Yentl," "The Princess Bride"; TV's "Chicago Hope" and "Criminal Minds")

Paul Rudd
Actor ("Clueless," "Cider House Rules," "I Love You, Man")

Jim Ryun
Three-time U.S. track Olympian and world-record miler, U.S. House of Representatives

Gale Sayers
Chicago Bears football star

Kathleen Sebelius
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services

Douglas Shane
Director of Flight Operations for SpaceShipOne, first private manned space program

Dean Smith
College basketball's second-winningest coach

Deanell Reece Tacha
Chief judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

Clyde Tombaugh
Scientist (discovered the dwarfed planet Pluto)

Kent Whealy
Founder of the Seed Savers Exchange, MacArthur Fellow

Lynette Woodard
First female Harlem Globetrotter. All-time leading scorer in college women's basketball history.

Sir Robert Worcester
Market research pioneer and top British political commentator and pollster