# List of Centre College people

Here follows a list of notable people associated with Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.

## Notable graduates
### Law

* John Christian Bullitt, 1849: attorney in Philadelphia, drafted the city's charter and founded the law firm of Drinker, Biddle & Reath
* John Marshall Harlan, 1850: Supreme Court associate justice (1877–1911), cast the lone dissenting vote in Plessy v. Ferguson
* Pierce Lively, 1943: federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (1972–2016)
* Andrew Phelps McCormick, 1854: federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1892–1916)
* Fred M. Vinson, 1909, Law 1911: chief justice of the United States (1946–53), secretary of the treasury (1945–46), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from KY–08 and KY–09 (1933–43)

### Government

* George Madison Adams: member of the U.S. House of Representatives from KY–08 and KY–09 (1867–75), secretary of state of Kentucky (1887–91)
* Joshua Fry Bell, 1828: member in the U.S. House of Representatives from KY–04 (1845–47; first Centre alumnus to serve in Congress), secretary of state of Kentucky (1849–50)
* John C. Breckinridge, 1838: U.S. vice president (1857–61); Confederate secretary of war (1865); U.S. senator from Kentucky (1861)
* John Y. Brown, Sr., 1921: member of the U.S. House of Representatives from KY–AL (1933–35)
* Jacqueline Coleman, 2004: lieutenant governor of Kentucky (2019–present)
* John Sherman Cooper, 1922: U.S. ambassador to East Germany (1974–76), U.S. senator from Kentucky (1946–49, 1952–55, 1956–73), U.S. ambassador to India (1955–56)
* Michael W. Jackson, 1985: Alabama District Attorney (2005 - present)
* Crit Luallen, 1974: lieutenant governor of Kentucky (2014 - 2015), Kentucky State Auditor (2004 - 2012)
* Claude Matthews, 1867: governor of Indiana (1893–97), secretary of state of Indiana (1891–93)
* Austin Peay, 1895: governor of Tennessee (1923–27)
* Augustus Stanley, 1889: U.S. senator from Kentucky (1919–25), governor of Kentucky (1915–19), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from KY–02 (1903–15)
* Adlai Stevenson I, 1859: U.S. vice president (1893–97), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from IL–13 (1875–77, 1879–81)
* John T. Stuart, 1826: member of the U.S. House of Representatives from IL–03 (1839–43) and IL–08 (1863–65), lawyer, law partner of Abraham Lincoln
* Yi Kuu, Prince Imperial Hoeun, 1952: Prince Imperial of Korea, grandson of Emperor Gojong
* Joseph Holt, 1824: U.S. postmaster general, U.S. secretary of war and Judge Advocate General of the United States Army; leading judge in the trials of the Abraham Lincoln assassination
* Thomas H. Taylor, Confederate general (1861–65), Louisville chief of police (1881–92)
* George Graham Vest, U.S. senator from Missouri (1879–1903), Confederate senator from Missouri (1865), member of the Confederate House of Representatives from MO–05; best known for supposedly coining the phrases "man's best friend" and "history is written by the victors."

### Arts

* George Ella Lyon, 1971: former Kentucky Poet Laureate
* Stephen Rolfe Powell, 1974: internationally acclaimed glass blower and art professor
* Tony Crunk, 1978: winner, Yale Younger Poets prize
* Terena Elizabeth Bell, 1999, author of Tell Me What You See
* Tiffany Reisz, 2000; RITA award-winning novelist

### Athletics

* Gene Bedford: second baseman for the Cleveland Indians and defensive end for the Rochester Jeffersons
* Herb Covington, 1924: played football, basketball, and baseball for Centre, named to the all-time Centre football team in 1935
* E.A. Diddle, 1920: legendary basketball coach of Western Kentucky University, member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
* Jordan Gay, 2013: punter and kickoff specialist for the Buffalo Bills
* Cawood Ledford, 1949: voice of the University of Kentucky Wildcats for 30 years
* Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin, 1922: three-time All-American quarterback; member of the College Football Hall of Fame; head football coach of Indiana University, Detroit Lions, and Philadelphia Eagles
* Sully Montgomery, 1920: tackle for the Chicago Cardinals; boxer
* Tom Moran: blocking back for the New York Giants
* Homer Rice, football coach
* Red Roberts, 1922: NFL player; head football coach of Waynesburg University
* Lou Smyth, 1919: three-time NFL champion with the Canton Bulldogs
* John Tanner, 1921: NFL wingback with the Toledo Maroons, Cleveland Indians, and Cleveland Bulldogs
* Ken Willis, 1986 (transferred after one year): kicker for the Dallas Cowboys

### Academia

* Raymond Burse, 1973: Rhodes Scholar; general counsel for General Electric; former president of Kentucky State University; the first African-American to compete in the Oxford v. Cambridge rugby match

### Business

* Isaac Tigrett, 1970: founder of the Hard Rock Cafe and the House of Blues
* Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle Sr, 1892: distiller for the Stitzel-Weller Distillery, face of Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve

### Other

* Rev. Samuel D. Burchard, 1837: clergyman whose "Rum, Romanism and rebellion" speech may have cost James G. Blaine the 1884 presidential election
* Charles Carpenter (Lt. Col.): highly decorated Second World War artillery observation pilot nicknamed "Bazooka Charlie"; destroyed several German armored vehicles in his bazooka-equipped L-4 Grasshopper light observation aircraft, christened "Rosie the Rocketer"
* Rev. Norman A. Fischer, 1995: priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington and, at the time of his death, president of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus
* George W. Harkins: attorney and chief of the Choctaw tribe during Indian removal
* Lewis Craig Humphrey, 1896: editor of the Centre College newspaper The Cento; chief editor of the Louisville Evening Post and the Louisville Herald
* E Patrick Doyle was attending Centre College in 1848 when he helped lead the largest slave uprising in Kentucky, ending with Doyle's capture and imprisonment

## Faculty and staff

* J. Proctor Knott: law professor at Centre; 29th governor of Kentucky
* Sara W. Mahan: 64th Secretary of State of Kentucky, served as college librarian from 1920–21
* Ephraim McDowell: member of the Board of Trustees and namesake of the Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center

## Presidents of the College

Presidents :
| No. | Name | Term in office | Notes |
| 1 | Rev. James McChord | 1820 (1820) | Founder of Second Presbyterian Church (Lexington, Kentucky); died before officially assuming the presidency, but still considered the first president |
| 2 | Rev. Jeremiah Chamberlain | 1822 (1822) – 1826 | President of the College of Louisiana (1826–1828); founding president of Oakland College (1830–1851) |
| 3 | Rev. Gideon Blackburn | 1827 (1827) – 1830 | |
| 4 | Rev. John C. Young | 1830 (1830) – 1857 | Pastor of Danville Presbyterian Church (1834–1852); moderator of the PCUSA General Assembly (1853); Centre's longest-serving president |
| 5 | Rev. Lewis W. Green | 1858 (1858) – 1863 | Centre alumnus (1824); president of Hampden–Sydney College (1848–1856); president of Transylvania University (1856–1857) |
| 6 | Rev. William L. Breckinridge | 1863 (1863) – 1868 | Moderator of the PCUSA General Assembly (1859); president of Oakland College (1860–1861) |
| 7 | Ormond Beatty | 1870 (1870) – 1888 | Centre alumnus (1835); the first Centre president who was not a minister |
| 8 | Rev. William C. Young | 1888 (1888) – 1896 | Centre alumnus (1859); moderator of the PCUSA General Assembly (1892); son of fourth president John C. Young |
| 9 | Rev. William C. Roberts | 1898 (1898) – 1903 | President of Lake Forest University (1886–1892); moderator of the PCUSA General Assembly (1889) |
| 10 | Rev. Frederick W. Hinitt | 1904 (1904) – 1915 | President of Parsons College (1900–1904); president of Washington & Jefferson University (1915–1918) |
| 11 | Rev. William Arthur Ganfield | 1915 (1915) – 1921 | President of Carroll College (1921–1939) |
| 12 | Rev. R. Ames Montgomery | 1922 (1922) – 1926 | President of Parsons College (1917–1922) |
| 13 | Charles J. Turck | 1927 (1927) – 1936 | President of Macalester College (1939–1958) |
| 14 | Rev. Robert L. McLeod | 1938 (1938) – 1945 | |
| 15 | Rev. Robert J. McMullen | 1944 (1944) – 1946 | Centre alumnus (1905); president of Hangchow Christian College (1938–1942) |
| 16 | Rev. Walter A. Groves | 1947 (1947) – 1957 | President of Abadan Institute of Technology (1957–1961) |
| 17 | Thomas A. Spragens | 1957 (1957) – 1981 | President of Stephens College (1952–1957) |
| 18 | Richard L. Morrill | 1982 (1982) – 1988 | President of Salem College (1979–1982); president of the University of Richmond (1988–1998) |
| 19 | Michael F. Adams | 1988 (1988) – 1997 | President of the University of Georgia (1997–2013) |
| 20 | John A. Roush | 1998 (1998) – 2020 | |
| 21 | Milton C. Moreland | 2020 (2020) – present | |