# List of Washington College alumni

Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland, which is on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The college was founded in 1782 by William Smith, but is the successor institution to the earlier Kent County Free School which was founded in 1732. Modern college classes – freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior – were introduced in the 1870s by President William Rivers. At the same time, a class called sub-freshmen was created for students that did not meet the requirements to be freshmen. The college continued to admit sub-freshmen to the preparatory department until 1924.
Washington College experienced major fires in 1827 and 1916 that destroyed most of the school's records. Because of this, it is impossible to know how many students graduated before 1916 and which years people graduated. However, it is known that 218 students graduated between 1845 and 1903 and, that in 1910, the college had 113 students enrolled. The college has continued to grow since then. In 1952, the college more than doubled its enrollment to 350 students. Between the 1950s and 1970s, the college doubled its enrollment again to 800 students in 1972. Since the 1970s, the college has close to doubled the 1972 enrollment with 1,480 students enrolled in 2019.
Alumni of Washington College includes two Governors of Maryland, a Governor of Delaware, four United States Senators, seven members of the United States House of Representatives, and nine State senators. Outside of the world of politics, nine alumni of Washington College played at least one game in Major League Baseball including Jake Flowers who was on two World Series winning teams. John Emory, the namesake of Emory University and Emory & Henry College, graduated from Washington College. Several alumni were successful writers including James M. Cain and Đỗ Nguyên Mai. Mary Adele France, who was the first president of St. Mary's College of Maryland, and Robert K. Crane, who discovered sodium-glucose cotransport, both found success in academia. H. Lawrence Culp Jr. has found success in business as the CEO of Danaher Corporation and the CEO of General Electric.
* A "?" indicates that the year of graduation is unknown.
* "A "‡" indicates the final year that a non-graduating alumnus attended the college.
* An "M" indicates a Master's alumnus.

## Arts and entertainment

Washington College alumni who are notable for their contributions to the arts or as entertainers :
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| James M. Cain | 1910 | Writer of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce |
| Linda Hamilton | 1978‡ | Actress who portrayed Sarah Connor in The Terminator |
| Laura San Giacomo | 1983‡ | Actress who portrayed Cynthia Patrice Bishop in Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Maya Gallo in Just Shoot Me! |
| Erin Murphy | 1990 | Poet |
| Geoffrey Girard | 1990 | Writer |
| Vicco von Voss | 1991 | Woodworking Craftsman and Artist |
| Raph Koster | 1992 | Game designer, Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, author of A Theory of Fun for Game Design |
| Deborah Anzinger | 2001 | Visual artist |
| Frank Giampietro | 2002 M | Poet |
| Đỗ Nguyên Mai | 2019 | Poet |

## Athletics

Washington College alumni who are notable for their contributions to sports or athletics :
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Al Burris | 1894 | Pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies |
| Dave Zearfoss | ? | Catcher for the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals |
| Homer Smoot | 1897 | Center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds |
| John "Happy" Townsend | ? | Pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Senators, and Cleveland Naps |
| Ralph "Pepe" Young | ? | Second baseman for the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and Philadelphia Athletics |
| Frederick "Doc" Wallace | ? | Shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies |
| D'Arcy "Jake" Flowers | ? | Second baseman and shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds |
| Bill Nicholson | 1936 | Right fielder for the Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies |
| John Howard | 1956 | Head coach of Maryland Terrapins men's lacrosse and Professor of English |
| Dave Leonhard | 1960‡ | Pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles |

## Law and government

Washington College alumni who are notable for their contributions to law or politics :
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Robert Wright | ? | United States Senator for Maryland (1801–1806), 12th Governor of Maryland, and U.S. Representative for Maryland's 7th congressional district (1810–1817; 1821–1823) |
| Thomas Veazey | 1795 | 24th Governor of Maryland |
| Ezekiel F. Chambers | 1805 | United States Senator (1826–1834) |
| James Barroll Ricaud | 1828 | U.S. Representative for Maryland's 2nd congressional district (1855–1859) |
| John W. Crisfield | ? | U.S. Representative for Maryland's 6th congressional district (1847–1849) and Maryland's 1st congressional district (1861–1864) |
| George Vickers | ? | United States Senator for Maryland (1868–1873) |
| Joseph A. Wickes | ?‡ | Member of the Maryland House of Delegates (1856) and judge on the Maryland Second Circuit |
| James Alfred Pearce | ?‡ | Judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals |
| Charles Hopper Gibson | ? | U.S. Representative for Maryland's 1st congressional district (1885–1891) and United States Senator for Maryland (1891–1897) |
| Robert Franklin Brattan | 1864 | President of the Maryland Senate and U.S. Representative for Maryland's 1st congressional district (1893–1894) |
| Isaac Freeman Rasin | ? | Baltimore political boss |
| William T. Watson | ? | Speaker of the Delaware Senate and 49th Governor of Delaware |
| Thomas Alan Goldsborough | 1899 | U.S. Representative for Maryland's 1st congressional district (1921–1939) and United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia |
| Dudley Roe | 1903 | Maryland State Senator (1923–1935; 1939–1943) and U.S. Representative for Maryland's 1st congressional district (1945–1947) |
| Lucy Gwynne Branham | ? | Suffragette and Carnegie Medal awardee |
| Margaret Jefferson Jackson | 1929 | Maryland State Senator (1953–1955) |
| Robert P. Dean | 1931 | Maryland State Senator (1955–1971) |
| Louis L. Goldstein | 1935 | Maryland State Senator (1947–1958) and Comptroller of Maryland (1959–1998) |
| Joseph J. Longobardi | 1952 | Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware |
| Thomas Hunter Lowe | 1952 | Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates and judge on the Maryland Court of Special Appeals |
| Rose Mary Hatem Bonsack | 1955 | Member of the Maryland House of Delegates (1991–1999) |
| Walter M. Baker | 1960 | Maryland State Senator (1979–2003) |
| John Overington | 1962 | Speaker pro tempore of the West Virginia House of Delegates |
| Barbara Osborn Kreamer | 1970 | Member of the Maryland House of Delegates (1983–1991) |
| Dean Skelos | 1970 | New York State Senator (1985–2015) and felon |
| Joseph M. Getty | 1974 | Maryland State Senator (2011–2015) and judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals |
| Barry Glassman | 1984 | Maryland State Senator (2011–2015) and Harford County County Executive |
| Jerry Davis | 1995 | Member of the Houston City Council (2012–2020) |

## Other

Washington College alumni who are notable for their contributions to other fields :
| Name | Class year | Notability |
| William Murray Stone | 1799 | Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland |
| John Emory | 1805 | Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church |
| Edward F. C. Davis | 1866 | President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers |
| Mary Adele France | 1900 | First president of St Mary's College of Maryland |
| Joseph Wilson Sutton | 1900; 1904 M | Episcopal priest |
| Gilbert T. Rude | ? | United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and United States Navy Captain |
| William J. Wallace | 1917 | US Marine Corps Lieutenant general |
| Joseph McLain | 1937 | Pyrotechnic chemist and president of Washington College |
| Benjamin H. Vandervoort | 1938 | US Army colonel who was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross |
| William O. Baker | 1935 | President of Bell Labs (1973–1979) |
| Robert K. Crane | 1942 | Biochemist who discovered sodium-glucose cotransport |
| Ralph Snyderman | 1961 | Chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at Duke University |
| Jeannie Baliles | 1962 | First Lady of Virginia and founder of Virginia Literacy Foundation |
| Marcia A. Invernizzi | 1972 | Professor at the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development |
| Jane E. Mitchell | 1976 M | Nurse and civil rights activist |
| Stephan Lewandowsky | 1980 | Professor of Psychology at the University of Bristol |
| Kenneth M. Merz Jr. | 1981 | Biochemist and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling |
| H. Lawrence Culp Jr. | 1985 | CEO of GE Aerospace and CEO of Danaher Corporation |
| Harris Whitbeck | 1987 | Correspondent for CNN International |
| James A. Adkins | 1991 M | 28th Adjutant General of Maryland |