75 Notable alumni of Marshall University

Robert Jay GaBany is an American amateur astronomer and astrophotographer who is also known for his work with an international team of astrophysicists led by Dr. David Martínez-Delgado (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy). GaBany helped pioneer the use of modest size telescopes and off the shelf CCD-cameras to produce long exposure images that revealed ancient galactic merger remnants in the...

Howard Burton Lee, of Mercer County, served as the Republican Attorney General of West Virginia from 1925 to 1933. His efforts to eliminate government corruption during that time helped to end the West Virginia Mine Wars.

Sterling Flunder is an American retired soccer player who last played for Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the USL.

Leslie Hicks is an American full professor of analytical chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her work primarily focuses on the study of proteomics and protein post-translational modifications using mass spectrometry, and identifying biologically active peptides in plants.

Jason Randolph Rader is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Ryan Taylor is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Marshall Thundering Herd before playing a season in Iceland with Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur and a season in the CBA with the Indianapolis Blaze.

Edward Franklin Ulinski was an American professional football guard who played four seasons for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and went on to a career as an assistant coach for the Browns that lasted more than three decades.

John Herman Corns was a lieutenant general in the United States Army who served as commander of United States Army Pacific from 1991 until 1993.

Steven Edward Browning is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Fairmont State and Marshall before playing in several professional leagues in Europe.

John Chandlee Astle is an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. He served four terms in the Maryland State Senate and three terms in the Maryland House of Delegates representing Maryland's district 30 in Anne Arundel County.

Sonny Allen was an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach at Old Dominion University from 1965 to 1975; leading the Monarchs to six NCAA College/Division II Tournaments, winning in 1975, finishing runner-up in 1971 and finishing fourth in 1976. He then accepted the Southern Methodist University job, spending the 1975–76 through 1979–80 seasons in Dallas, he then...

Chantelle Handy is a basketball player for Caledonia Gladiators of the WBBL. She has also played for the Great Britain national team and was part of the squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics. She played college basketball in the United States at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.

Harold "Gator" Hoskins is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for the Miami Dolphins and Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Norman Earle Willey was an American professional football defensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles. He went to two Pro Bowls during his eight-year career and was credited with an unofficial 17 sacks in one game which would be an NFL record today. Willey played college football at Marshall University and was selected in the...

Robert Charles Chambers is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

George E. Stone was an American professional basketball player who spent several seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA). He was drafted in the ninth round of the 1968 NBA draft (115th pick overall) by the Los Angeles Lakers, but never played for them or any other NBA team.

Roman W. Prezioso, Jr. is an American politician and former West Virginia state senator representing the 13th district which comprises parts of Marion and Monongalia counties. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Anthony Gerard "Tony" Crutchfield is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who was the deputy commander of United States Pacific Command from 2014 to 2017, having previously served as its chief of staff from 2012 to 2014. An aviation officer by branch, Crutchfield served in several aviation commands throughout his career, culminating in command of the United States Army...

Nigel Spikes is an American professional basketball player who plays for Ehime Orange Vikings of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the Marshall Thundering Herd before playing professionally in Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, New Zealand and Japan. He has also played in the Florida Basketball Association and the NBA Development League.

Robert Redding Jr. is an American podcaster, journalist, educator, author and artist. From 2012 to 2013, he hosted the weekday syndicated Redding News Review on Sirius XM.

Terry R. Ferrell is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army, who last served as the commanding general of United States Army Central from March 8, 2019, to August 4, 2021. A native of Logan, West Virginia, Ferrell is a graduate of Marshall University and was commissioned in 1984. He is married to Robbie Woods Ferrell, a retired...

David Perno is an American college baseball coach who most recently served as the head baseball coach at the University of Georgia. In 12 seasons he compiled a record of 384-329-1. He led the program to five NCAA tournaments, including three College World Series. He was named the 2004 Coach of the Year by Baseball America. That same year, he...

Greg Adkins is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the offensive line coach at the University of South Carolina. Adkins has coached at both the college level and the NFL. He has 29 years of experience working as an offensive line and tight ends coach, as well as serving as a recruiting coordinator at several schools....

Luke Gross is an American former rugby union player and current rugby coach and administrator. A lock who played for various club sides, he earned 62 caps for the United States between 1996 and 2003. Gross was the all-time caps leader for the United States, until Mike MacDonald broke his record in 2011.

Christopher D'Wayne Jackson is an American professional football cornerback. He played college football at Marshall. He was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL draft.

Morris Dempson Busby is an American career diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Colombia from 1991 to 1994, during which Pablo Escobar was killed.

Christopher Alan Crocker is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2003 NFL draft. He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Christopher Todd Massey is an American former professional football player who was a long snapper in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the 2002 NFL draft. He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd. He has also played for the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears.

Lonnie Thompson is an American paleoclimatologist and university professor in the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State University. He has achieved global recognition for his drilling and analysis of ice cores from ice caps and mountain glaciers in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. He and his wife, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, run the ice core paleoclimatology research group...

Rasheen Ali is an American professional football running back and kickoff returner for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd and was selected by the Ravens in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL draft.

Cathy Leigh Justice is an American educator who served as the first lady of West Virginia from 2017 to 2025, and as a member of the West Virginia State Board of Education since 2024. Her husband, former state Governor Jim Justice, is now a U.S. Senator from West Virginia.

Joseph Daniel Duffey was an American academic, educator, anti-war activist and political appointee. He was the Democratic Party's candidate in the 1970 U.S. Senate election in Connecticut, losing to Republican Lowell Weicker. He later served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs; the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities; the director of the U.S....

Andrew Edward Tonkovich was an American professional basketball player and coach. He was selected as the first overall pick in the 1948 BAA draft by the Providence Steamrollers. He played college basketball for the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Tamar Ulysses Slay is an American former basketball player. A 6 ft 9 in (2.03 m) shooting guard, he was formerly with the National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets and Charlotte Bobcats. He played college basketball for the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Ajdin Penava is a Bosnian professional basketball player for Śląsk Wrocław of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). He played college basketball for Marshall University in the Conference USA (C-USA). He led NCAA Division I in blocks per game (3.94) in 2017–18.

Albert Gallatin Jenkins was an American politician who served as a senior officer of the Confederate States Army. He served two terms in the United States Congress from 1857 to 1861 and later the First Confederate Congress.

David A. Wiley, an American academic, entrepreneur, and writer, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing, MIS, and Entrepreneurship at Marshall University. He was formerly the chief academic officer of Lumen Learning, education fellow at Creative Commons, and adjunct faculty of instructional psychology and technology at Brigham Young University, where he was previously an associate professor. Wiley's work...

Stephanie Dawn Thacker is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

John Frederick Hartranft was an American politician and military officer who read the death warrant to the individuals who were executed on July 7, 1865, for conspiring to assassinate American President Abraham Lincoln. Previously having achieved the rank of major general of the Union Army during the American Civil War, he had also been awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor...

Beau Smith is an American comic book writer and columnist, best known for his work for DC Comics, Image Comics, IDW Publishing and as vice president of marketing for Eclipse Comics.

Darryl Keith Roberts is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd and was selected by the New England Patriots in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL draft. He was also a member of the New York Jets, Detroit Lions, and Washington...

Rakeem Cato is an American professional football quarterback for the Salina Liberty of Arena Football One. He played college football at Marshall and was the Thundering Herd's starting quarterback from 2011 to 2014. As a professional, he has played for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL), Richmond Roughriders of the American Arena League (AAL), Gulf Coast Fire...

Jonathan Barrett Elmore is an American professional basketball player for the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Aaron Daniel Blair is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Blair was selected in the 21st round of the 2010 MLB draft by the Houston Astros. He chose to attend Marshall University, where he played for the Marshall Thundering Herd baseball team. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Blair with the 36th pick of the 2013 MLB draft. He was traded to...

Jim Thornton is an American radio and television announcer, news anchor, and voice actor. He is known for his voiceover work in video games, movies and television shows. Since 2011, he is best known for being the announcer of Wheel of Fortune following the death of longtime announcer Charlie O'Donnell.

DeAndre Kane is an American-born naturalized Hungarian professional basketball player for Grindavík in the Úrvalsdeild karla. He played college basketball at Marshall University and Iowa State University before playing professionally in Russia, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Spain and Serbia.

Christopher Michael Ross is a Filipino-American professional basketball player for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He also serves as an assistant coach for the same team.

Joseph Lere "Lee" Smith is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Oakland Raiders and Atlanta Falcons. He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd, and was selected by the Patriots in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL...

Clinton Emil "Clint" McElroy Jr. is an American podcaster, comic book writer and former radio personality. He is known for his work on the podcast The Adventure Zone, as well as for hosting several FM radio shows in West Virginia. Additionally, McElroy is an adjunct professor in the Department of Theatre at Marshall University.

Brad D. Smith is an American businessman and university administrator who is serving as President of Marshall University. He previously served as chief executive officer of Intuit, a position he held from 2008 to 2018.

Lewis Joseph "Dan" D'Antoni II is an American former basketball player and coach, who most recently served as head coach for the Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team. He was previously an assistant coach under his younger brother, Mike D'Antoni, with the NBA's Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, and Los Angeles Lakers.

Aaron Jameer Dobson is an American football coach and former professional football wide receiver. He was selected by the New England Patriots in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft and played college football at Marshall. He is currently the wide receivers coach at Memphis.

Kevin Andre Keatts is an American college basketball coach who was most recently the head coach at North Carolina State University.

Ahmad Bradshaw is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd. Bradshaw was selected in the seventh round of the 2007 NFL draft by the New York Giants. He is a two-time Super Bowl champion, winning Super Bowls XLII and XLVI as...

Vincent Curry is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd, he was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 2012 NFL draft, with whom he won Super Bowl LII.

Earl Ray Tomblin is an American politician who served as the 35th governor of West Virginia from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the West Virginia Senate from 1980 to 2011 and as president of the West Virginia Senate from 1995 to 2011. Tomblin became acting governor in November 2010 following Joe Manchin's...

Joseph Chrest is an American academic and actor. He has had roles in numerous films and television series including 21 Jump Street (2012) and its sequel 22 Jump Street (2014), Oldboy, The Butler (both 2013), The Perfect Date (2019), and as Ted Wheeler in Stranger Things (2016–2025).

Donald Leon Blankenship is an American businessman. He was chairman and CEO of the Massey Energy Company—the sixth-largest coal company (by 2008 production) in the United States—from 2000 until 2010 when an explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch Mine resulted in the death of 29 workers. He served one year in prison for conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards.

Griffin Andrew McElroy is an American podcaster, actor, writer, composer, and former video game journalist. He is known for his work on podcasts such as My Brother, My Brother and Me and The Adventure Zone, as well as for co-founding the video game journalism website Polygon.

Harold Everett Greer was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played for the Syracuse Nationals / Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1958 through 1973. A guard, Greer was a 10-time NBA All-Star and was named to the All-NBA Second Team seven times. He was named to the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, the...

James Conley Justice II is an American politician and businessman serving since 2025 as the junior United States senator from West Virginia. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2017 to 2025 as the 36th governor of West Virginia. Justice was once a billionaire, but his net worth was estimated to $664.2 million in 2025, making him the...

Milton Supman, known professionally as Soupy Sales, was an American comedian, actor, radio-television personality, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television series, Lunch with Soupy Sales (later titled The Soupy Sales Show) (1953–1966), a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark. From...

John Donald Fiedler was an American actor. Recognizable for his distinctive voice, Fiedler's career lasted more than 55 years in stage, film, television and radio.

James Chadwick Pennington is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd, winning the Sammy Baugh Trophy as a senior, and was selected by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2000 NFL draft. Pennington spent his first eight...

Michael Whitaker Smith is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when "Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Over the course of his career, he has sold more than 18 million albums.

Byron Antron Leftwich is an American football coach and former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd, winning MAC Most Valuable Player twice and placing sixth in Heisman voting his senior season. Leftwich was selected seventh overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2003 NFL draft....

Clifford Carwood Lipton was a commissioned officer with Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, during World War II.

Conchata Galen Ferrell was an American actress. She played Berta the housekeeper on the sitcom Two and a Half Men from 2003 to 2015, and she received two nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the role (in 2005 and 2007). Ferrell had previously been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for...

Jason Chandler Williams is an American former professional basketball player who was a point guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for twelve seasons from 1998 to 2011. In 2006, Williams won an NBA championship as the starting point guard for the Miami Heat. Nicknamed "White Chocolate", Williams is known for his unorthodox, creative style of play.

Hassan Niam Whiteside is an American professional basketball player for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association. He played college basketball for the Marshall Thundering Herd before being selected in the second round by the Sacramento Kings in the 2010 NBA draft. After joining the Miami Heat in 2014, Whiteside was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in...

Michael Andrew D'Antoni is an American-Italian professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as a coaching advisor for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Randy Gene Moss is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, and San Francisco 49ers. Widely regarded as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time and one of the greatest players in NFL history, he holds...

William Edward Crystal is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He is known as a standup comedian and for his film and stage roles. Crystal has received numerous accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award as well as nominations for three Grammy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. He was honored with a star on the Hollywood...

Robert Carlyle Byrd was an American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A Democrat, Byrd also served as a U.S. representative for six years, from 1953 until 1959. He remains the longest-serving U.S. senator in history; he was the longest-serving member in the history...