32 Notable alumni of Pittsburg State University
Updated: June 14, 2026 EliteDegrees
Pittsburg State University is ranked #1,978 in the world and #491 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 32 notable alumni from Pittsburg 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 Pittsburg State University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Monica Murnan
1966-. (aged 60)
politician
Monica Murnan is an American politician and early childhood advocate who served as a Democratic member of the Kansas House of Representatives. Murnan represented the 3rd district, covering the city of Pittsburg, Kansas, from 2017 to 2020. She served as the Ranking Minority member on the Health and Human Services committee.
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2. Melvin J. Binford
1903-1984 (aged 81)
basketball coach
Melvin J. Binford was an American college football and college basketball coach and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas from 1930 to 1935 and the Municipal University of Wichita—now known as Wichita State University—from 1944 to 1945.
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3. John E. Jacobs
1903-1971 (aged 68)
John Earl Jacobs was an American educator most notably for serving as an administrator at what is now known as Emporia State University. Before serving as the Kansas State Teachers College (KSTC) interim president of, Jacobs was the Supervisor of Secondary Education at KSTC and served as principal of a couple of high schools before coming to Emporia.
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4. Carole M. Watson
academic
Carole McAlpine Watson is an American academic who served twice as acting Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, first in 2009 and again in 2013 to 2014. Watson studied African American literature and authored Her Prologue, a scholarly bibliography of novels by African American women published between 1859 and 1965.
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5. William Browning
1924-1997 (aged 73)
pianist
William James Browning was an American concert pianist, vocal coach and piano pedagogue.
6. Lee Tafanelli
1961-. (aged 65)
politician
Lee E. Tafanelli is an American National Guardsman who, serving as the Adjutant General of Kansas from 2011 to 2020. He is a former Republican member of the Kansas House of Representatives, representing the 47th district.
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7. Steven A. Scott
1951-. (aged 75)
Steven A. Scott, is an American educator and the ninth president of Pittsburg State University. Scott served as the provost and vice president of academic affairs at Pittsburg State University, and before that, various positions at Pitt State prior to being president.
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8. Chris Brown
1974-. (aged 52)
American football player
Christopher J. Brown is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach for Fort Hays State University, a position he has held since 2011. He played for Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, from 1992 to 1995. He became the head coach at Fort Hays State in 2011.
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9. Duane D. Thiessen
1951-. (aged 75)
military officer
Duane D. Thiessen is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Marine Corps, and is the past commander of the United States Marine Corps Forces Pacific, serving from September 2, 2010, until his retirement on August 7, 2012. Lt. General Thiessen is a former president and CEO of the National Naval Aviation Museum Foundation located on Naval Air Station...
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10. Michael Shonrock
1957-. (aged 69)
educational psychologist
Michael D. Shonrock is an American academic and former administrator. He was the president of Lindenwood University, located in St. Charles, Missouri, June 2015 to February 2019. Shonrock previously served as Emporia State University's 16th president from January 3, 2012 to May 28, 2015, and before that as Texas Tech University's vice president for student affairs and enrollment management in...
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11. Sally Murphy
1949-. (aged 77)
aircraft pilot
Sally D. Murphy is a retired colonel who served as a United States Army Aviator. She was the first female U.S. Army helicopter pilot to graduate from flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama on June 4, 1974. She served as a leader for units within the 330th Army Security Agency Company, 1st Infantry Division, the 62nd Aviation Company, and the...
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12. Don Gutteridge
1912-2008 (aged 96)
baseball player
Donald Joseph Gutteridge was an American infielder, coach, manager and scout in Major League Baseball. Primarily a second baseman and third baseman, he was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates over 12 seasons between 1936 and 1948, and later managed the Chicago White Sox in 1969–1970. He was the regular...
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13. Sherm Lollar
1924-1977 (aged 53)
baseball player
John Sherman Lollar Jr. was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1946 to 1963, most prominently as a member of the Chicago White Sox where he was a perennial All-Star player and was an integral member of the 1959 American League pennant-winning team.
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14. Edward Morris
1984-. (aged 42)
basketball player
Edward Bernard Morris Jr. is a US-born Japanese professional basketball player for the Kyoto Hannaryz in Japan. He played college basketball for the Pittsburg State University Gorillas.
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15. James Tate
1943-2015 (aged 72)
writer
poet
school teacher
university teacher
James Vincent Tate was an American poet. His work earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He was a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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16. Tim Beck
1966-. (aged 60)
American football player
Timothy D. Beck is an American college football coach and former player. He is currently the offensive coordinator at Vanderbilt University. He was previously an offensive analyst for the TCU Horned Frogs football program for the 2021 season. Beck served as the head football coach at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas from 2010 to 2019, compiling a record of...
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17. Jake LaTurner
1988-. (aged 38)
politician
Jacob Andrew Joseph LaTurner is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party, LaTurner was the 40th Kansas state treasurer from 2017 to 2021 and a state senator from the 13th district from 2013 to 2017.
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18. Brian Moorman
1976-. (aged 50)
American football player
Brian Donald Moorman is an American former professional football player who was a punter in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburg State Gorillas, and was signed by the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent after the 1999 NFL draft.
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19. Bill Russell
1934-2022 (aged 88)
basketball coach
basketball player
coach
actor
high jumper
William Ellis Russell is an American former shortstop, coach and manager in Major League Baseball. Russell played his entire 18-year, 2,181-game career with the Los Angeles Dodgers as the starting shortstop for four National League pennant winners and one World Series championship team. He also served as the team's manager from 1996 to 1998.
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20. Willie Fritz
1960-. (aged 66)
head coach
Willie Fritz is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Houston. Fritz served as the head football coach at University of Central Missouri from 1997 to 2009, Sam Houston State University from 2010 to 2013, Georgia Southern University from 2014 to 2015, and Tulane University from 2016 to 2023....
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21. Dennis Franchione
1951-. (aged 75)
coach
Dennis Wayne Franchione is an American former college football coach. He is the former head football coach at Texas State University, a position he held from 1990 to 1991, when the school was known as Southwest Texas State University, and resumed from 2011 to 2015. Franchione has also served as the head football coach at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas...
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22. Jennifer Knapp
1974-. (aged 52)
singer
Jennifer Lynn Knapp is an American-Australian folk rock and contemporary Christian music singer-songwriter, author, and LGBTQ advocate. She is best known for her first single "Undo Me" from her Gold-certified debut studio album, Kansas (1998), and the song "A Little More" from her Grammy Award-nominated album, Lay It Down (2000). The Way I Am (2001) was also nominated for a...
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23. Sam Pittman
1961-. (aged 65)
American football coach
American football player
Sam Pittman is an American college football coach who most recently served as the head football coach at the University of Arkansas from 2020 to 2025. Pittman spent almost his entire career, going back to the mid-1990s, as an offensive line coach at various college football programs. He also became known as one of the country's top recruiters of offensive...
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24. Gary Busey
1944-. (aged 82)
composer
film producer
film actor
stage actor
television actor
William Gary Busey is an American actor. He portrayed Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor. His other starring roles include A Star Is Born (1976), D.C. Cab (1983), Silver Bullet (1985), Eye of the...
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25. James Dean Pruner
1951-1987 (aged 36)
poet
painter
James Dean Pruner was an American painter, printmaker, draftsman, zinemaker, sculptor, and poet. Born in Lyons, Kansas, he also lived in Hays, Ellinwood, St. John, and in rural Stafford County, Kansas, where he farmed and maintained a studio. His works include a diverse range of subjects and styles, but with several consistent themes, including human relationships, animals and the land,...
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26. Jacqueline Vietti
1948-. (aged 78)
academic administrator
Jacqueline A. Vietti is an American retired educator, most notably serving as Butler Community College's president in El Dorado, Kansas, for nearly two decades. Besides serving as president of Butler, Vietti served as Dean of Instruction at Labette Community College in Kansas, Emporia State University's interim president from June to December 2015, and was Kansas City Kansas Community College's acting...
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27. Vance Randolph
1892-1980 (aged 88)
writer
Vance Randolph was a folklorist who studied the folklore of the Ozarks in particular. He wrote a number of books on the Ozarks, as well as Little Blue Books and juvenile fiction.
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28. Fernando J. Gaitan Jr
1948-. (aged 78)
lawyer
judge
journalist
Fernando Joe Gaitan Jr. is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
29. Bob Beatty
1955-. (aged 71)
American football player
Robert Beatty is a football coach and the former head football coach for the Trinity Shamrocks, a high school American football team located at Trinity High School in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the most successful High School Football coach in Kentucky state history by championships won, with 15 state championship titles and one national championship during his nearly forty-year-long career.
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30. Brian Agler
1958-. (aged 68)
basketball player
basketball coach
Brian Agler is an American college athletics administrator and former women's basketball coach. He is the athletic director at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, a position he has held since 2021. Agler served as head coach of the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 2019 to 2020. He had previously been head coach of the Seattle...
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31. Mark Johnson
1945-. (aged 81)
television producer
film producer
actor
producer
Mark Johnson is an American politician and a Republican former member of the Oregon House of Representatives, representing District 52 from 2011 until 2017.
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32. Gavin Lin
1980-. (aged 46)
film director
Gavin Lin is a Taiwanese film director. He attended Pittsburg State University.