15 Notable alumni of Kentucky State University
Updated: June 14, 2026 EliteDegrees
Kentucky State University is ranked #2,950 in the world and #761 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 15 notable alumni from Kentucky State University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Kentucky State University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Dale Polley
1965-. (aged 61)
baseball player
Ezra Dale Polley is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees. He bats right-handed and throws left-handed.
2. Charles Dazey
1855-1938 (aged 83)
writer
Charles Turner Dazey was an American writer and playwright.
3. William Cotton Hobdy
1870-1938 (aged 68)
physician
William Cotton Hobdy was an American physician and quarantine officer. From 1914 to 1917, he served as the final physician of Queen Liliuokalani, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
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4. Effie Waller Smith
1879-1960 (aged 81)
poet
writer
Effie Waller Smith was an African-American poet of the early twentieth century. Her published output consisted of three volumes of poetry: Songs of the Month (1904), Rhymes From the Cumberland (1904), and Rosemary and Pansies (1909). Her poetry appeared in the publication Harper's Weekly and various regional newspapers.
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5. Derrick Graham
teacher
politician
Derrick Wayne Graham is an American politician and a former Democratic member of the Kentucky House of Representatives who represented the 57th district, which includes the Kentucky capital city of Frankfort, since January 2003. In 2023, Graham became the first African American to lead a legislative caucus in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
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6. Joe B. Bates
1893-1965 (aged 72)
school superintendent
teacher
lawyer
municipal clerk
politician
Joseph Bengal Bates was a U.S. representative from Kentucky.
7. Herb Trawick
1921-1985 (aged 64)
Canadian football player
American football player
Herb Trawick was a professional Canadian football player and was the first African American to play professional Canadian football. Trawick spent his entire 12-year career as an offensive lineman and defensive guard with the Montreal Alouettes.
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8. Gerald Neal
1945-. (aged 81)
politician
Gerald Anthony Neal is an American politician who has served as a member of the Kentucky Senate since 1989. He has been the longest-serving member of the senate since the resignation of David Williams in 2012.
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9. Bob Atcher
1914-1993 (aged 79)
singer
songwriter
musician
James Robert Owen "Bob" Atcher was an American country musician.
10. Jayjay Helterbrand
1976-. (aged 50)
basketball player
Anthony "Jayjay" Helterbrand is a Filipino-American basketball player who last played for the Biñan Tatak Gel of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) and Pilipinas Super League (PSL). He previously played with the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Known by many as Helter Skelter, he is also known, along with backcourt tandem Mark Caguioa, as...
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11. Billy Ray Bates
1956-. (aged 70)
basketball player
basketball coach
Billy Ray Bates is a retired American professional basketball player. Bates played shooting guard at McAdams High in Mississippi and attended Kentucky State University.
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12. Alice Allison Dunnigan
1906-1983 (aged 77)
journalist
Alice Allison Dunnigan was an American journalist, civil rights activist and author. Dunnigan was the first African-American female correspondent to receive White House credentials, and the first Black female member of the Senate and House of Representatives press galleries. She wrote an autobiography entitled Alice A. Dunnigan: A Black Woman's Experience. She is commemorated by an official Kentucky Historical Society...
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13. Whitney Young
1921-1971 (aged 50)
politician
Whitney Moore Young Jr. was an American civil rights leader. Trained as a social worker, he spent most of his career working to end employment discrimination in the United States and turning the National Urban League from a relatively passive civil rights organization into one that aggressively worked for equitable access to socioeconomic opportunity for the historically disenfranchised. Young was...
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14. Yingluck Shinawatra
1967-. (aged 59)
refugee
businessperson
entrepreneur
politician
Yingluck Shinawatra is a Thai businesswoman, politician and a member of the Pheu Thai Party who was the 28th prime minister of Thailand from 2011 to 2014. Yingluck was Thailand's first female prime minister and its youngest in over 60 years. She was removed from office on 7 May 2014 by a Constitutional Court decision.
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15. Lho Shin-yong
1930-2019 (aged 89)
diplomat
politician
Lho Shin-yong was a South Korean politician, diplomat and intelligence chief, who served as the prime minister, the Foreign Minister and the Director of the Agency of National Security Planning (ANSP, now National Intelligence Service) of the fifth South Korean republic.
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