14 Notable alumni of West Virginia Wesleyan College
Updated: June 13, 2026 EliteDegrees
West Virginia Wesleyan College is 4827st in the world, 1st in North America, and 1270st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 14 notable alumni from West Virginia Wesleyan College sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with West Virginia Wesleyan College won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Sheriff Blake
1899-1982 (aged 83)
baseball player
John Frederick "Sheriff" Blake was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1920 to 1931 and 1937. He played for the St. Louis Browns, St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, and Chicago Cubs.
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2. Edward Gay Rohrbough
1874-1956 (aged 82)
banker
teacher
politician
Edward Gay Rohrbough was a Republican United States representative from West Virginia. He was born in 1874, near Buckhannon, West Virginia, in Upshur County, West Virginia. He served in the Seventy-eighth and Eightieth Congress. He died December 12, 1956.
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3. Daniel Pitt O'Brien
1900-1957 (aged 57)
politician
Daniel Pitt O'Brien was Secretary of State of West Virginia 1948–1957.
4. Katherine A. Hoadley
1997-2001 (aged 4)
academic
oncologist
Katherine A. Hoadley is an American breast cancer researcher. As of 2017, she has served as the Associate Director of Cancer Genomics for the High-Throughput Sequencing Facility at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research is focused on understanding the biology of cancer through gene expression analyses and integrative genomic approaches.
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5. L. J. Hanifan
1879-1932 (aged 53)
economist
Lyda Judson Hanifan, better known as L. J. Hanifan, is credited with introducing the concept of social capital. Robert Putnam in his book, Bowling Alone (2000) credits a 1916 paper by Hanifan as the first recorded instance of the term. Hanifan also authored a book published in 1920 that contains a chapter entitled "Social Capital".
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6. Matt Foreman
LGBTQ rights activist
Matt Foreman is an American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights lawyer and activist with a background in political advocacy and civil rights work. He is executive director of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel in San Francisco.
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7. Okey L. Patteson
1898-1989 (aged 91)
politician
Okey Leonidas Patteson was the 23rd governor of West Virginia from 1949 to 1953. He was a member of the Democratic Party and of the "machine" that totally controlled politics in that era in the state.
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8. Heather Conley
civil servant
Heather A. Conley was president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington, D.C.
9. Pare Lorentz
1905-1992 (aged 87)
film director
journalist
director
film critic
author
Pare Lorentz was an American filmmaker known for his film work about the New Deal. Born Leonard MacTaggart Lorentz in Clarksburg, West Virginia he was educated at Buckhannon High School, West Virginia Wesleyan College, and West Virginia University. As a young film critic in both New York City and Hollywood, Lorentz spoke out against censorship in the film industry.
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10. Blanche Lazzell
1878-1956 (aged 78)
printmaker
painter
Blanche Lazzell was an American painter, printmaker and designer. Known especially for her white-line woodcuts, she was an early modernist American artist, bringing elements of Cubism and abstraction into her art.
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11. John Swan
1935-. (aged 91)
politician
Sir John William David Swan KBE is a former Bermudian politician. A real estate developer, Swan was Premier of Bermuda from 1982 to 1995.
12. Ted Cassidy
1932-1979 (aged 47)
actor
television actor
screenwriter
film actor
basketball player
Theodore Crawford Cassidy was an American actor. He tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction works, such as Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie, and he played Lurch on The Addams Family TV series of the mid-1960s. He also narrated the intro sequence for the 1977 live-action The Incredible Hulk TV series and provided the growls and...
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13. Greasy Neale
1891-1973 (aged 82)
American football coach
American football player
baseball player
basketball coach
Alfred Earle "Greasy" Neale was an American football and baseball player and coach. Neale was an end for West Virginia Wesleyan in the 1910s before becoming involved in professional baseball and football as both player and coach. He served as the regular outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds from 1916 to 1920, which included leading the team in hits in the...
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14. Jason Koon
1985-. (aged 41)
poker player
Jason Koon is an American professional poker player from Weston, West Virginia, known for his accomplishments in live and online poker tournaments.