| 150 Riley County Notables From the Last 150 Years
12/20/2005 12:22:31 PM
Prepared by Kevin G. Olson with the assistance of the staff of the This is a list of one hundred and fifty people with an association to Abbott, Edmund C. – Served as District Attorney and U.S. Attorney in New Mexico Territory; elected first judge in New Mexico after statehood, 1911. Colonel in the National Guard; commanded troops guarding Alexander, Grover Cleveland (Pete/Alex) – Hall of Fame major league baseball player. Born February 26, 1887, at Elba, Nebraska; died November 4, 1950. Served at Camp Funston, 1918, married Amy M. Arrants on May 31, 1918, at the Riley County Courthouse. Allen, Henry J. – Kansas Governor, 1919-23; Alley, Kirstie – Movie and television actress. Starred in television shows "Cheers," 1987-93, and "Veronica's Closet," 1997-2000. Won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Attended Ambrose, Stephen E. – Historian, professor, author. Professor at Anderson, Anderson, Teri – Athlete, runner. World Record holder in ten mile run, 1972; American record 5,000 meter run; Kansas State University Athletics Hall of Fame. From Arthur, Charles – Attorney, Legislator. Speaker of the Kansas House, 1963-64; Ashbrook, Harriette – Novelist, Mystery Writer. Also wrote under the name Susannah Shane. Born in Auker, Eldon – Major league baseball player. Wrote memoir entitled "Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms." Graduate of Babcock, Barbara – Actress. Starred in television shows "Dallas," 1978-82, and "Hill Street Blues," 1981-85. Won Emmy Award. Born in Bachman, Charles – Football coach. Enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. Head coach at Kansas State, 1920-27. Baker, LaVerne – First African American woman to receive a Ph.D. from Baker, Thane – Olympian, track, 1952, 1956. Winner of gold (1956), silver (1952, 1956) and bronze (1956) medals. Enshrined in Track and Field Hall of Fame. Graduate of Baker, William (Bill) – Football player. Enshrined in the Washburn University Football Hall of Fame. Graduate of Balderson, Steve – Filmmaker. Born Bailey, Dawayne – Musician. Played with Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, 1982-86; Chicago, 1986-95; Veronique Sanson, 1998-2000; among other musical accomplishments. Grew up in Billings, Josh – Major league baseball player. Manager of the 1943 Kenosha Comets in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (popularized in the movie "A League of Their Own"). Attended Kansas State, 1910-12. Blackman, Rolando – Basketball player, Olympian. All-Star NBA player. Member of the 1980 Olympic basketball team that did not participate in the Olympics due to Boakai, Joseph – Politician. Vice President-elect of Bolerjack, Craig – Sports announcer. Play-by-play and studio announcer for CBS. Graduate of Boozer, Bob – Olympian, basketball (1960) gold medal winner. First player selected in the 1959 NBA draft. Graduate of Breese, Quentin (Baby) – Boxer. Challenged for light welterweight title in 1941. James Cagney's double in the movie "Conquest." Born in Leonardville, Brockovich, Erin – Activist, subject of the Academy Award-winning movie "Erin Brockovich." Attended Brownback, Sam – U.S. Senator, Kansas, 1996-current. Graduate of Busset, Glenn – Extension/ 4-H Agent. National 4-H Hall of Fame, 2005 Butterfield, David A. – Founder of Butterfield Overland Despatch, a stagecoach line running between Atchison and Denver 1865-66. Early settler in Buzenberg, Bill – Journalist. Former V.P. of News at National Public Radio; awarded Edward R. Murrow Award and RFK Journalism Award. Graduate of Callahan, John H. – Congressional Medal of Honor recipient (Civil War). Lived in Manhattan; buried in Sunset Cemetery, Manhattan. Carlin, John – Kansas Governor, 1979-87; Archivist of the United States, 1995-2005. Graduate of Carlson, Frank – U.S. Senator, Kansas, 1950-69; Kansas Governor, 1947-50; U.S. Congressman, 1935-47. Attended Casement, Dan – Rancher, stockman. Enshrined in the Cowboy Hall of Fame. Owned Juniata Ranch just outside of Champ, Minnie Howell – First African-American woman to graduate from Kansas State, 1901. Clark, Steve – Football player. Played in the NFL. Graduate of Clevenger, Z.G. – Athletic Director, coach. Pioneering athletic director. Hall of Fame football player. Indiana University's highest athletic award is named in his honor. Kansas State Athletic Director and coach, 1916-20. Close, Jr., Del – Comedian, actor, improvisation innovator. Inventor of the "Harold" long form improvisation; founding member of the Compass Players St. Louis; performer and director of Second City, Chicago; performer with The Committee, San Francisco; co-founder of ImprovOlympic, Chicago. Born in Manhattan, March 9, 1934; died March 3, 1999. Attended Colbert, Jim – Professional golfer. Graduate of Crawford, Nelson Antrim – Journalist, author, professor. Published several books, edited several magazines and books. Professor at Kansas State, 1914-25. Curry, John Steuart – Artist. Kansas State's Friends of Art was first Kansas organization to purchase a Curry painting, in 1935. His widow's collection of his works was donated to Kansas State in 2001. Dary, David – Author, journalist, professor. Literary awards include 2 Western Writers of America Spur Awards. Born in Davis, Frank Marshall – Poet, journalist. Editor of several newspapers; leading African-American poet. Attended Kansas State, 1924-26, 1929-30. Davis, Kenneth S. – Author, professor. Author of numerous works of history. Awarded the Francis Parkman Prize, nominated for the National Book Award. Graduate of de Vivaldi, Charles F. – Publisher, Diplomat. Claimed to be an Italian Count. Published first newspaper in Dewey, Earle S. – Stage, vaudeville, and film actor. Appeared in more than 40 movies. Born in Edgerton, Glen – Major General; Governor-General of Panama, 1940-44. Built the Alaska road, oversaw the rehabilitation of the White House under President Truman. Born Ehlers, Walter – Congressional Medal of Honor recipient (WWII). Attended Riley High School, lived in Manhattan and St. George. Eisenhower, Milton – University administrator. President of Erpelding, Lambert – Inventor. Chief inventor at McCormick Works (later International Harvester), 1838-84. Bought farm outside of Leonardville in the 1870s. Retired to Leonardville, 1884; buried at Leonardville. Fairchild, David – Botanist, explorer. Worked for U.S.D.A. exploring the world's jungles for plants that could be cultivated in the Finney, Joan McInroy – Kansas Governor, 1991-95. Graduate of Fisher, Roy – Journalist. Editor of Fitzwater, Marlin – Press Secretary for U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Consultant for television show "The West Wing." Graduate of Foveaux, Jessie Lee Brown – Memoirist. Warner Books paid more than $1 million to publish her memoir "Any Given Day." She was featured on "60 Minutes" and "The Rosie O'Donnell Show." She was born Fox, Philip – Astronomer. First director of the Adler Planetarium in Gardner, Jack – Basketball coach. Enshrined in Basketball Hall of Fame. Head coach at Kansas State, 1939-42, 1946-53. Giles, Brian – Major league baseball player. Played with the Giles, George – All-Star Negro League baseball player. Lived in Goodnow, Isaac – Founder of Kansas State University and Manhattan, Kansas. First elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in Glasscock, Kent – Legislator. Speaker of the Green, Nehemiah – Fourth Kansas Governor, 1868-69; Lt. Governor 1866-68. Lived in Manhattan; buried in Sunset Cemetery. Griffin, Albert – National temperance lecturer, newspaper editor, author. Founder of the Anti-Saloon Republican League. Lived in Guthridge, Bill – Basketball coach. Head coach at North Carolina; National Coach of the Year, 1998. Assistant coach, Kansas State, 1962-67. Graduate of Hall, William Logan – Forester, U.S. Forest Service. Co-founded Society of American Foresters, 1900. Organized Shevlin- Hixson Company, a reforestation company now owned by Crown Pacific Partners (2005). Graduate of Harbord, James – Major General; Chief of Harlan, Hal E. – Attorney, Legislator. Speaker of the Kansas House 1931-32. Harrison, Kenny – Olympian, triple jump (1996) gold medal winner. Attended Harvey, James M. – Fifth Kansas Governor, 1869-73; U.S. Senator, Kansas, 1874-77. Lived at Magic, in Hayden, Mike – Kansas Governor, 1987-90; Kansas Secretary of Wildlife and Parks. Graduate of Haylett, Ward – Track coach. Enshrined in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. Head coach at Kansas State, 1928-63. Hess, Jared – Filmmaker. Wrote and directed 2004 movie "Napoleon Dynamite." Attended Holden, Jonathan – Poet, Professor. First Poet Laureate of Holthus, Mitch – Sports announcer. Radio voice of Kansas City Chiefs. Voice of the Kansas State Wildcats, 1983-96. Graduate of Huntington, Anna Seaton – Olympian, rowing (1992) bronze medal winner. Member of first all-women Jardine, William M. – President of Jump, Gordon – Actor. Starred in television show "WKRP in Keady, Gene – Basketball Coach. Coach at Purdue, 1980-2005; National Coach of the Year, 1984, 1994, 1996, 2000. Graduate of Keele, Randall – One of the first African-Americans elected to a position in local government in Kansas; served on Manhattan's School Board for two terms, 1903. Kellerman, William – Botanist, professor. World renowned expert on mycology (fungi and fungus caused diseases). While a professor at Kansas State founded the "Journal of Mycology" in 1885. Professor at Kansas State, 1883-91. Keys, Martha Elizabeth – U.S. Congresswoman, 1975-79; Assistant Secretary of Education, 1980-81. Killough, Lee – Author. Nominated for Kimball, Solon Toothaker – Anthropologist, Professor. Performed groundbreaking and award-winning research; President of the American Ethnological Society. Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship, 1966. Born in Knorr, Fritz G. – Coach. National Wrestling Hall of Fame "Lifetime Service to Wrestling" award, 2005. Kruger, Lon – Basketball player, coach. Head coach at Kansas State, 1986-90. Head coach for Florida, Illinois, UNLV; head coach in the NBA. Graduate of Lee, H.B. (Bebe) – Athletic Director. Enshrined in the National Association of Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame. Kansas State Athletic Director, 1956-69. Longren, A.K. – Aviator, manufactured the first airplane in Mallon, George – Congressional Medal of Honor recipient (WWI). Lived in McGraw, Jon – Football player. Academic All-American at McKay, Claude – Author, poet. Leader of McMillin, Alvin (Bo) – Football player, coach. Hall of Fame football player. NFL head coach. Inventor of the "cockeyed T" football formation. Head coach at Kansas State, 1928-33. Mead, Albert E. – Governor of Washington State, 1905-09. Born in Miller, Charley (Kansas Charley) – First person executed by the State of Wyoming. Born November 20, 1874, in New York City; lived in Leonardville and Randolph, Kansas, 1888; hung April 22, 1892. Miller, Steve- Coach, President of Professional Bowlers' Association, 2000-05; former Nike executive; Kansas State track coach, 1981- 86; Kansas State Athletic Director, 1986-89; U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association Hall of Fame, 2005. Mitchell, Dean – Artist. Award-winning artist had some of his earliest solo shows in Manhattan; dealt exclusively through Manhattan's Strecker Art Gallery for a time. Morrison, Frank B. – Nebraska Governor, 1961-67. Born May 20, 1905, in Golden, Colorado; died April 19, 2004. Graduate of Murdock, Margaret Thompson – Olympian, three position small-bore rife shooting (1976) silver medal winner. First markswoman to win a medal in Olympic history. Graduate of Myers, Richard – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Nichols, Ernest Fox – Physicist, professor. President of Dartmouth College, 1909-16; President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1921-22. Graduate of Oberheim, Tom – Synthesis pioneer. Inventor of a number of innovative electronic music products including the first polyphonic music synthesizer, the first phase shifter and ring modulator for the performing musician, the first completely programmable music synthesizer and the first electronic music system that incorporated a synchronized music synthesizer, digital sequencer, and digital drum machine. Graduate of Ohno, Mitsugi – Master Glassblower. National/international recognition in the field of glassblowing; architectural art sculptures on exhibit in a number of places. Employed at Kansas State, 1961-96. Paddleford, Clementine – Nationally-syndicated foods writer. Born in Park, George S. – Founder of Manhattan, Kansas State University, Parkville, Missouri, and Park University. Parker, Richard Bordeaux – Diplomat. Expert on Parks, Gordon – Photographer, filmmaker, author, composer. Won numerous awards for photography, directing, and writing. Enshrined in International Photography Hall of Fame and NAACP Hall of Fame. Directed and wrote "The Learning Tree" (1969) and directed "Shaft" (1971). Donated award-winning photos and drafts of manuscripts to Patee, Clarence – Vaudeville actor, newspaper publisher/editor/printer, owner of the first movie house in Peterson, Cassandra (Elvira) – Actress. Born in Poole, William D. – Rancher, developer. Enshrined in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Born 1829, died 1911, buried at Sunset Cemetery. Pope, Willis T. – Horticulturalist, Professor. Horticulturalist at University of Hawaii; First President of University of Hawaii Board of Regents, 1907-08; Superintendent of Public Instruction in Hawaii, 1910-13; Pope Laboratory at University of Hawaii- Manoa is named in his honor. Graduate of Potts, Merlin – Champion horseshoe pitcher. Won nine consecutive state horseshoe titles; enshrined in Kansas State Horseshoe Hall of Fame. From Leonardville area. Purcell, Edward Benton (E.B.) – Businessman. Founded dry goods store in Quayle, William A. (Bishop/Willie Gill) – Minister, speaker, bible collector, President of Baker University, distantly related to former Vice President Dan Quayle. Lived in Manhattan with his uncle Rev. Gill; attended Kansas State. Randolph, Thomas – Football player. All-American at Rehfeld, George W. – Inventor of the Rehfeld jetty. Lived in Richard, Deb – Professional golfer. Enshrined in Richmond, Mitch – Olympian, basketball (1988, 1996). Winner of bronze (1988) and gold (1996) medals. All-Star NBA player. Graduate of Riley, Ivan – Olympian, hurdles (1924) bronze medal winner. Attended Roberts, Pat – U.S. Congressman, 1980-96; U.S. Senator, Kansas, 1996-present. Graduate of Robinson, Harold – Broke the "color barrier" in the Big 7 Conference; was first African-American scholarship athlete in the league. Born in Robinson, John Winter – First Secretary of State for Kansas, 1861-62. Settler in Rolls, Damian – Major league baseball player. Born in Romig, Thomas – Major General, top ranking attorney in the Army, 2001-05. Born in Runyon, Damon (Alfred Damon Runyan) – Journalist, author. Enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame for his writing on boxing. His distinctive writing style inspired the word "Runyonese" defined in the Oxford English Dictionary. Born in Manhattan, October 3, 1880; died December 10, 1946. His ashes were scattered over Broadway. Ryan, Larry – Kansas Secretary of State, 1949-51. The only Democrat to hold that office. Salter, Susan Medora Kinsey – First woman Mayor in the Schepp, Albert & Herman – Inventors (hay hook and other items). Lived in Schmidt, Conrad – Congressional Medal of Honor recipient (Civil War). Buried in Seaton, Edward – Publisher Manhattan Mercury. Former Chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board. Seaton, Fredrick (Fred) – Shannon, Fred – Professor, author. Awarded Pulitzer Prize for History in 1929 while professor of history and government at Kansas State. Sisson, Edward O. – Writer, professor. President of University of Montana, 1917-21; Director of Bradley University, 1897-1904. Prominent member of turn-of the-century character-education movement. Graduate of Skujyte, Austra – Olympian, heptathalon (2004) silver medal winner. Graduate of Slaughter, John – Professor, Educator, University President/Chancellor. President and CEO, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering; Professor, University of Southern California 1999- 2000; President, Occidental College 1988 – 99; Chancellor, University of Maryland 1982 – 88; Director of the National Science Foundation, 1980 – 82; Member of the National Academy of Engineering. Graduate of Smith, George W. – Co-founder of Sertoma Club International, Physician. Sertoma International began as Cooperative Club in Kansas City in 1912. Grew up in Snyder, Bill – Football coach. National Coach of the Year, 1998. Head coach at Kansas State, 1989-2005. Spani, Gary – Football player. Enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, 2002, and Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame, 2003. Graduate of Stearman, Lloyd – Aviator, airplane designer. Teamed with Walter Beech and Clyde Cessna to found Travel Air Manufacturing Company; President of Lockheed Aircraft; enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Attended Kansas State, 1917-18. Stensland, Inger (Inger Stevens) – Movie and television actress. Starred in the television show "The Farmer's Daughter," 1963-66. Won Golden Globe Award and nominated for two Emmy Awards. Born Stoessel, Walter J. – Diplomat. U.S. Ambassador to Poland, 1968-72; Soviet Union, 1973-76; Germany, 1976-81. Deputy Secretary of State. Born in Swingle, Walter T. – Botanist, executive at U.S.D.A. Developed date industry in the U.S. Worked on hybridizing and invented the Minneola tangelo. Attended Tabor, Horace – Millionaire owner of Colorado silver mines, U.S. Senator from Colorado for 30 days in 1883. Born November 26, 1830; died April 10, 1899. Lived in Thoburn, Joseph B. – Historian, Professor. Settler in Vanderbilt, Gloria – Designer, heiress, mother of newsman Anderson Cooper. Lived in Waldorf, Lynn (Pappy) – Football coach. Enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. Head coach at Kansas State, 1934. Wexler, Jerry – Journalist, music producer, partner at Atlantic Records. Coined the term "Rhythm and Blues." Enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1987. Graduate of Whitford, Harry Nichols – Botanist. Surveyed and created first complete maps of Canadian forests; world authority on rubber production. Born in Wilder, Charlotte Frances Felt – Author of religious essays. Lived in Williston, Samuel Wendall – Scientist, founder and dean of KU School of Medicine. Attended Wilson, Craig – Major league baseball player; Olympian, baseball (1992). Graduate of Winter, Fred ( Woodford Lee – Coach. National Wrestling Hall of Fame "Lifetime Service to Wrestling" award, 2005. Woods, Earl – Athlete; career military (Green Beret); father/manager of golfer Tiger Woods. Born and raised in Manhattan. Graduate of |
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