58 Notable alumni of Washburn University
Updated: June 14, 2026 EliteDegrees
Washburn University is 2429st in the world, 1st in North America, and 626st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 58 notable alumni from Washburn 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 Washburn University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. George Darrow
1903-1983 (aged 80)
baseball player
George Oliver Darrow was a professional baseball player. He was a left-handed pitcher for one season (1934) with the Philadelphia Phillies. For his career, he compiled a 2–6 record, with a 5.51 earned run average, and 14 strikeouts in 49 innings pitched.
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2. Roy Wilford Riegle
1896-1988 (aged 92)
politician
Roy Wilford Riegle, known as Wilford, was an American attorney, politician and Member of the Kansas House of Representatives.
3. Lawrence Banks
1880-1935 (aged 55)
head coach
American football coach
Lawrence B. Banks was an American football player and coach. He was the sixth head football coach for Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, serving for one season, in 1901, and compiling a record of 3–2–3. The son of Alexander and Jennie Banks, Banks attended Washburn as a preparatory student from 1898 to 1900. He died in 1935 of a cerebral...
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4. Carl Schurz Vrooman
1872-1966 (aged 94)
politician
Carl Schurz Vrooman was the Assistant United States Secretary of Agriculture under Woodrow Wilson. He started the victory garden campaign during World War I.
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5. Denver David Hargis
1921-1989 (aged 68)
politician
Denver David Hargis was a U.S. representative from Kansas from 1959 to 1961.
6. Art Griggs
1884-1938 (aged 54)
baseball player
Arthur Carle Griggs was an American professional baseball player. He played seven seasons in Major League Baseball in Major League Baseball between 1909 and 1918, compiling a.277 batting average. He appeared in 442 major league games, including 195 games as a first baseman, 96 games as an outfielder, and 60 games as a second baseman.
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7. Herbert Loper
1896-1989 (aged 93)
cartographer
Major General Herbert Bernard Loper was a United States Army officer who helped plan the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and the Okinawa campaign during World War II. He was chief of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project from 1952 to 1953, and Chairman of the Military Liaison Committee of the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1954 to 1961.
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8. Delmas Carl Hill
1906-1989 (aged 83)
lawyer
judge
Delmas Carl Hill was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.
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9. Gary Jackson
poet
Gary Jackson is an American educator and poet. He had received a Cave Canem and Bread Loaf fellowship and was awarded the Cave Canem Poetry Prize in 2009.
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10. Butch Felker
1945-2008 (aged 63)
politician
Harry L. "Butch" Felker III was an American politician and former Mayor of Topeka, Kansas who served two full terms and one portion of a term, resigning in 2003 due to political pressure as a result of a scandal.
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11. Albert McDonald Cole
1901-1994 (aged 93)
lawyer
politician
Albert McDonald Cole was a U.S. representative from Kansas.
12. Jeff Stone
1961-. (aged 65)
businessperson
politician
Jeff A. Stone is an American businessman and former politician. A Republican, he was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1998 through 2013. He currently serves as chair of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
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13. Irving Stringham
1847-1909 (aged 62)
mathematician
Washington Irving Stringham was an American mathematician born in Yorkshire, New York. He was the first person to denote the natural logarithm as ln ( x ) {displaystyle ln(x)} where x {displaystyle x} is its argument. The use of ln ( x ) {displaystyle ln(x)} in place of log e ( x ) {displaystyle log _{e}(x)} is...
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14. Joe Skubitz
1906-2000 (aged 94)
lawyer
politician
Joe Skubitz was an American politician and U.S. Representative from Kansas.
15. Larry L. Jacoby
1944-. (aged 82)
psychologist
Larry L. Jacoby was an American cognitive psychologist specializing in research on human memory. He was particularly known for his work on the interplay of consciously controlled versus more automatic influences of memory.
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16. Michelle Black
novelist
Michelle Black is an American author of historical fiction and historical mystery novels. She is also an attorney, former bookstore owner, and publisher.
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17. Georgia Neese Clark
1898-1995 (aged 97)
banker
actor
politician
Georgia Neese Clark Gray was an American actress and banker who served as the 29th treasurer of the United States from 1949 to 1953, and was the first woman to hold that office.
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18. John McCuish
1906-1962 (aged 56)
politician
John Berridge McCuish was the 34th governor of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, McCuish is best known for his 11-day tenure as Kansas' governor, during which he appointed his immediate predecessor to the Kansas Supreme Court. The episode, dubbed the "Triple Play of 1956", spurred legislation designed to prevent it from happening again.
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19. Don W. Wilson
1942-. (aged 84)
historian
archivist
Don W. Wilson was appointed the Archivist of the United States, serving from December 4, 1987, to March 24, 1993. Afterwards, he became the executive director of the George Bush Center at Texas A&M University.
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20. Arthur S. Champeny
1893-1979 (aged 86)
Arthur Seymour Champeny was a United States Army officer, reaching the rank of Brigadier General. He is the only American to earn the Distinguished Service Cross in three different wars. In addition to his three Distinguished Service Crosses, he was awarded the Silver Star, two Legions of Merit, five Purple Hearts, two French Croix de Guerre, the French Legion of...
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21. Jack M. Campbell
1916-1999 (aged 83)
lawyer
politician
John Moren Campbell was an American politician who served as the 21st governor of New Mexico from January 1, 1963 until January 1, 1967.
22. Sam A. Crow
1926-2022 (aged 96)
lawyer
judge
Samuel Alfred Crow was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.
23. Donald R. Heath
1894-1981 (aged 87)
diplomat
university teacher
Donald Read Heath was a member of the United States Foreign Service for more than four decades including service as the Minister to Laos (1950–1954), and Ambassador to Cambodia (1950–1954), Vietnam (1952–1955), Lebanon (1955–1957) and Saudi Arabia (1958–1961). During his tenure as Ambassador to Vietnam, Heath advocated and carried out American policy under Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that...
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24. John Brooks Slaughter
1934-2023 (aged 89)
engineer
university teacher
John Brooks Slaughter was an American electrical engineer and college president who served as the first African-American director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). His work focused on the development of computer algorithms for system optimization and discrete signal processing.
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25. William R. Roy
1926-2014 (aged 88)
gynecologist
politician
journalist
obstetrician
military officer
William Robert Roy, also known as Bill Roy, was a United States representative from Kansas, a physician, and a columnist for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the Democratic nominee for U.S Senator from Kansas in the 1974 and 1978 senate elections, but lost both races.
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26. John E. Erickson
1863-1946 (aged 83)
lawyer
judge
politician
John Edward Erickson was an American politician of the Democratic Party from Montana. He served as the eighth Governor of Montana and as a United States senator.
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27. John W. Broomes
1969-. (aged 57)
lawyer
judge
John Wesley Broomes is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.
28. Ken Berry
1941-. (aged 85)
baseball player
Allen Kent Berry is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a center fielder from 1962 through 1975, most notably as a member of the Chicago White Sox. The two-time Gold Glove winner was an American League All-Star player in 1967. He also played for the California Angels, Milwaukee Brewers and the Cleveland Indians....
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29. William C. Menninger
1899-1966 (aged 67)
psychiatrist
William Claire Menninger was a co-founder with his brother Karl and his father of The Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, an internationally known center for treatment of behavioral disorders.
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30. Margaret Murdock
1942-. (aged 84)
sport shooter
nurse
Margaret Thompson Murdock is a nurse and former United States Army officer most widely known for her success in international shooting competitions, including a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
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31. William Beach
civil servant
William W. Beach is the former Commissioner of Labor Statistics and head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an independent U.S. government fact-finding agency focused on labor economics and statistics, inflation, and productivity.
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32. Nancy Moritz
1960-. (aged 66)
lawyer
judge
Nancy Louise Moritz is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and former justice of the Kansas Supreme Court.
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33. Bradbury Thompson
1911-1995 (aged 84)
graphic designer
designer
J. Bradbury Thompson was an American graphic designer and art director known for his work designing magazines, books, and postage stamps.
34. Roger Noriega
1959-. (aged 67)
diplomat
Roger Francisco Noriega is an American diplomat who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the George W. Bush administration. He is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
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35. Harry J. Middleton
1921-2017 (aged 96)
journalist
Harry Joseph Middleton Jr. was an American journalist, author, and library director who served as Lyndon B. Johnson's Presidential speech writer and staff assistant from 1967 to 1969. Middleton was also director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum from 1971 until 2002, and led the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation from 1993 until 2004.
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36. Jim Slattery
1948-. (aged 78)
lawyer
politician
James Charles Slattery is an American politician. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1995 representing Kansas's 2nd congressional district as a Democrat, was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1994 and was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator in 2008.
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37. Dennis Moore
1945-2021 (aged 76)
lawyer
politician
Dennis Moore was an American politician and lawyer, a "Blue Dog" centrist who served for six terms as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 3rd congressional district, from 1999 until 2011. He was a member of the Kansas Democratic Party.
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38. Jerry Schemmel
1959-. (aged 67)
sports commentator
Gerard H. Schemmel is an American sportscaster formally working as a play-by-play radio announcer for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball. He previously called Denver Nuggets games on both Radio and TV for 18 seasons.
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39. Michael Wilhoite
1986-. (aged 40)
American football player
Michael Wilhoite is an American professional football coach and former linebacker who was most recently the outside linebackers coach for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Washburn University where he played six different positions, including linebacker and safety. He was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Omaha Nighthawks of...
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40. Delano Lewis
1938-2023 (aged 85)
banker
businessperson
lawyer
diplomat
Delano Eugene Lewis was an American attorney, businessman and diplomat. He was the United States ambassador to South Africa from 2000 to 2001, and previously held leadership roles at the Peace Corps and National Public Radio. He was the father of actor Phill Lewis.
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41. Karl Menninger
1893-1990 (aged 97)
academic
psychiatrist
businessperson
non-fiction writer
Karl Augustus Menninger was an American psychiatrist, author, and activist. He was a member of the Menninger family of psychiatrists who founded the Menninger Foundation and the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas.
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42. Arthur Fletcher
1924-2005 (aged 81)
politician
American football player
Arthur Allen Fletcher was an American government official and Republican politician, he was a pioneer of affirmative action as he was largely responsible for the Revised Philadelphia Plan.
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43. Kerry Livgren
1949-. (aged 77)
keyboardist
songwriter
guitarist
Kerry Allen Livgren is an American musician, best known as one of the founding members and primary songwriters for the American rock band Kansas.
44. Lauren Drain
1985-. (aged 41)
fitness model
nurse
Lauren Drain is an American nurse and former member of the Westboro Baptist Church who wrote the 2013 book Banished, which chronicles her experiences and eventual banishment from the church.
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45. Michelle Bowman
1971-. (aged 55)
lawyer
Michelle White "Miki" Bowman is an American attorney who has served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2018. She is the first person to fill the community bank seat on the board, a seat created by a 2015 law.
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46. Larry Niven
1938-. (aged 88)
screenwriter
novelist
writer
science fiction writer
mathematician
Laurence van Cott Niven — known as Larry Niven — is an American science fiction writer. His 1970 novel Ringworld won the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. With Jerry Pournelle he wrote The Mote in God's Eye (1974) and Lucifer's Hammer (1977). The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America gave him the 2015 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master...
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47. Shirley Phelps-Roper
1957-. (aged 69)
lawyer
Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper is an American lawyer and political activist. She was the lead spokesperson of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, an organization that protests against homosexuality conducted under the slogan "God Hates Fags" until a power struggle within the organization reduced her status.
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48. Bill Kurtis
1940-. (aged 86)
writer
journalist
television presenter
television producer
Bill Kurtis is a retired American television journalist, television producer, narrator, and news anchor.
49. Bob Dole
1923-2021 (aged 98)
jurist
lawyer
politician
Robert Joseph Dole was an American politician, attorney, and U.S. Army officer who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the U.S. Senate during the final 11 years of his tenure, including three non-consecutive years as Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. Prior to his 27 years in the Senate,...
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50. Fred Phelps
1929-2014 (aged 85)
lawyer
pastor
Fred Waldron Phelps Sr. was an American minister and disbarred lawyer who served as the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, worked as a civil rights attorney, and ran for statewide election in Kansas. A divisive and controversial figure, he gained national attention for his homophobic views and protests near the funerals of gay people, AIDS victims, military veterans, and...
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51. Gary Woodland
1984-. (aged 42)
golfer
Gary Lynn Woodland is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He won the U.S. Open in 2019, his first major championship and sixth professional victory. Following a successful college career, he turned professional in 2007 and briefly competed on the Nationwide Tour.
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52. Earl Wilbur Sutherland, Jr
1915-1974 (aged 59)
pharmacologist
biochemist
physician
physiologist
pharmacist
Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr. was an American pharmacologist and biochemist born in Burlingame, Kansas. Sutherland won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1971 "for his discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the action of hormones", especially epinephrine, via second messengers, namely cyclic adenosine monophosphate, or cyclic AMP.
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53. Mike Racy
Michael Racy is an American College Sports Leader, a Higher Education Attorney, and a former University Executive. Racy currently serves as the commissioner for the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. Prior to being appointed MIAA commissioner, Racy practiced law in the Kansas City metropolitan area, served as a vice president at the University of Central Missouri, and as a vice president...
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54. Kathleen E. Fick
Kathleen Dodson Fick is a retired United States Air Force major general.
55. Eric Rosen
1953-. (aged 73)
lawyer
judge
Eric Rosen is an American chess player. He was awarded the FIDE Master title in 2011 and the International Master title in 2015. Rosen began playing chess as a child with his father and brother and became the United States Chess Federation (USCF) K12 national champion in 2011. While attending the University of Illinois, Rosen was on the chess team...
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56. Clifford Ragsdale Hope
1893-1970 (aged 77)
lawyer
politician
Clifford Ragsdale Hope was a U.S. representative from Kansas, and a member of the Republican Party. Born in Birmingham, Iowa, Hope attended public schools and Nebraska Wesleyan University, in Lincoln, Nebraska. He served during the First World War, as a second lieutenant. He served in the Kansas House of Representatives. He was elected to the Seventieth United States Congress in...
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57. Togiola Tulafono
1947-. (aged 79)
lawyer
politician
Togiola Talalelei A. Tulafono is an American Samoan politician and lawyer who served as the sixth governor of American Samoa. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He had previously served as the seventh lieutenant governor.
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58. Carl Rowan
1925-2000 (aged 75)
writer
author
journalist
diplomat
Carl Thomas Rowan was a prominent American journalist, author and government official who published columns syndicated across the U.S. and was at one point the highest ranking African American in the United States government.
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