# List of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University alumni

This list of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University alumni includes graduates, non-graduate former students, and current students of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T), a public, coeducational, high research activity, land-grant university, located in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States.
North Carolina A&T is one of 16 public universities that constitute the University of North Carolina System, and one of the first public universities in the United States. Founded in 1891 as the "Agricultural and Mechanical college for the Colored Race," N.C. A&T was the first land grant college for people of color in the state of North Carolina. Over the 100 plus years of the university's existence, the academic scope expanded to encompass other disciplines. The North Carolina General Assembly redefined N.C. A&T as a regional university and through legislation made it a member of the University of North Carolina System in 1971.
As of 2014, North Carolina A&T had about 40,000 living alumni.

## Alumni
### Education

| Alumni | Class year | Notability |
| Harold Franklin | | First Black student to attend Auburn University |
| James A. Hefner | 1961 (B.S.), | Economist; seventh president of Jackson State University; sixth president of Tennessee State University |
| Melvin N. Johnson | 1968 (B.S.) | Economist; seventh president of Tennessee State University (2005–2011) |
| Harold L. Martin | (B.S.) (M.S.) | Engineer; twelfth chancellor of Winston-Salem State University; twelfth chancellor of North Carolina A&T; first and only alumnus to serve as chancellor of the university |
| Lynn Perry Wooten | | Ninth president of Simmons University |

### Science and technology

| Alumni | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
| Quincy K. Brown | 1995 (B.S.) | Computer scientist and former Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy | |
| Ronald McNair | 1971 (B.S.) | Physicist and NASA astronaut; died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L | |

### Civics

| Alumni | Class year | Notability |
| Alma Adams | 1969 (B.S.) 1972 (M.S.) | Democratic member of the North Carolina House of Representatives; 58th District |
| Elreta Alexander-Ralston | 1937 (B.S.) | First African American Judge elected in North Carolina |
| Patrick Cannon | 1991 (B.S.) | Former Democratic Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Henry Frye | 1953 (B.S.) | First African American Justice and Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court; first African American member of the North Carolina General Assembly |
| John A. Houston | 1974 (B.S.) | Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of California |
| Jesse Jackson Jr. | 1987 (B.S.) | Former politician who represented Illinois's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives (1995–2012) |
| Quincy Murphy | 1974 (B.S.) | Businessman and Democratic politician who served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives; 127th district (2002–2013) |
| Poon Chi-fai | (B.S.) no year given | Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and Kwun Tong District Board |
| Johnnie B. Rawlinson | 1974 (B.A.) | Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |
| Michael S. Regan | 1998 (B.S.) | Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (2017–present) and nominee to be administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (2021) |
| Edolphus Towns | 1956 (B.S.) | Retired politician who represented the state of New York in the United States House of Representatives (1983–2013) |
| Jake Wheatley | 1956 (B.S.) | Democratic politician representing the state of Pennsylvania; 19th District |

### Civil rights

| Alumni | Class year | Notability |
| Randolph Blackwell | (no year indicated) | Civil rights activist; emphasized economic development for poor African Americans; former program director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; former director of Southern Rural Action |
| Walter P. Carter | (no year indicated) | Civil rights activist and a central figure in Baltimore's civil rights movement, organizing demonstrations against discrimination throughout Maryland |
| Jacqueline Jackson | (no year indicated) | Author; peace activist |
| Jesse Jackson Sr. | 1964 (B.S.) | Civil rights activist; Baptist minister; candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination (1984 and 1988); shadow U.S. Senator for the District of Columbia (1991–1997); founder of the organizations that merged to form Rainbow/Push Coalition |
| Jonathan Jackson | 1987 (B.S.) | Business professor, entrepreneur, social justice advocate, national spokesman for the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition |
| Jibreel Khazan (born Ezell A. Blair, Jr.) | 1963 (B.S.) | Civil rights activist and member of the Greensboro Four/A&T Four; staged a sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro on February 1, 1960 |
| Franklin McCain | 1963 (B.S.) | Civil rights activist and member of the Greensboro Four/A&T Four; staged a sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro on February 1, 1960 |
| Joseph McNeil | 1963 (B.S.) | Civil rights activist and member of the Greensboro Four/A&T Four; staged a sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro on February 1, 1960 |
| David Richmond | (attended) 1990 (PhD) | Civil rights activist and member of the Greensboro Four/A&T Four; staged a sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro on February 1, 1960 |

### Corporate and business

| Alumni | Class year | Notability |
| Janice Bryant Howroyd | (no year indicated) (B.A.) | Entrepreneur; founder and CEO of ACT-1 Group, the largest minority woman-owned employment agency in the US |
| Joe Dudley | 1962 (B.S.) | Businessman and hair care entrepreneur; founder, president and CEO of Dudley Products Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of hair and skin care products for the African American community |
| Hilda Pinnix-Ragland | 1977 (B.S.) | Businesswoman and philanthropist; first African-American vice president at Progress Energy Inc and Duke Energy |

### Arts and entertainment

| Alumni | Class year | Notability |
| Lou Donaldson | (no year indicated) | Jazz alto saxophonist; 2012 inductee to the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame |
| Taraji P. Henson | Transferred to Howard University | Actress |
| Terrence J | 2004 (B.A.) | Actor and television personality; host of BET's 106 & Park; co-anchor of E! News |
| Sybil Lynch | 1985 (B.A.) | R&B and pop singer–songwriter |
| Warren Ballentine | (no year indicated) | Motivational speaker, attorney, political activist, and radio talk show host |

### Military

| Alumni | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
| Clara Leach Adams-Ender | 1961 (B.S.) | Former Chief of the United States Army Nurse Corps (1987–1991); first woman to receive her master's degree in military arts and sciences from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; first African-American nurse corps officer to graduate from the United States Army War College | |

### Athletics

| Alumni | Class year | Notability |
| Tom Alston | (No Year Indicated) | Former Major League Baseball first baseman; first African-American player for the St. Louis Cardinals |
| Tevester Anderson | 1971 (M.S.) | Retired college basketball coach; former men's head coach at Jackson State University and Murray State University |
| Al Attles | 1960 (B.A.)/(B.S.) | Retired NBA player; one of the first African-American coaches in the NBA when he was named player-coach of the Golden State Warriors during the 1969–70 season |
| Bob Beamon | (Transferred to University of Texas at El Paso) | Former Olympic athlete; known for setting a 22-year world record in the long jump at the 1968 Summer Olympics |
| Christopher Belcher | 2018 | World class international sprinter, broke 10-second barrier in 100 meters |
| Elvin Bethea | (no year indicated) | 2003 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee; played with the NFL's Houston Oilers; first N.C. A&T alum elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| Joe Binion | 1984 | Retired NBA player; played for the Portland Trail Blazers |
| Dwaine Board | 1979 | Former NFL player and coach; played for the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints (1979–1988); four-time Super Bowl champion (XVI, XIX, XXIII and XXIX) |
| Jessie Britt | (no year indicated) | Former NFL player for the Pittsburgh Steelers |
| Joseph Bunn | (Transferred to Old Dominion University) | Professional basketball player |
| Tarik Cohen | 2017 | NFL player for the Chicago Bears |
| Warren Davis | (no year given) | Former ABA and NBA player |
| Curtis Deloatch | 2003 | Former NFL player; played with the New York Giants, New Orleans Saints, and Carolina Panthers |
| Hugh Evans | (no year indicated) | Former NBA referee (1972–2001); currently assistant supervisor of officials in the NBA front office |
| Maurice Hicks | 2002 | Former NFL player; played with the Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, and Minnesota Vikings |
| Al Holland | No Year Indicated | Retired Major League Baseball relief pitcher; 1983 National League Relief Pitcher of the Year and 1984 MLB All Star |
| Mamie Johnson | no year indicated | Former professional baseball player; one of three women, and the first female pitcher, to play in the Negro leagues |
| Jamal Jones | 2003 | Former NFL player; played with the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints |
| Connell Maynor | 1995 | Head coach of the Hampton Pirates |
| Ruth Morris | (no year indicated) | Sprinter who represented the United States Virgin Islands at the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympic Games; first A&T athlete to ever compete at the Olympics |
| Brandon Parker | 2018 | NFL player for the Oakland Raiders |
| Mel Phillips | (no year indicated) | Former NFL player, now coach; played his entire 12-year NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers; assistant coach with the Miami Dolphins (1985–present) |
| George Ragsdale | 1975 | Former professional football player with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; current college football coach |
| Randolph Ross | 2022 | Sprinter, gold medalist at 2020 Summer Olympics in the 4 × 400 metres relay |
| Rodney Rowe | 2018 | World class international sprinter for the United States |
| George Small | 1979 (B.S.) | College football coach at Florida A&M University; coached N.C. A&T to 2003 MEAC football championship |
| J.D. Smith | 1955 | Former NFL player; played with the Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, and Dallas Cowboys; fifth all-time on the 49ers' career rushing yardage list (4,370 yards) |
| J.R. Smith | 2025 | Two-time National Basketball Association Champion with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers; joined the A&T golf team upon enrolling in 2021 |
| Maurice Smith | 1999 | Retired NFL player; played with the Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers |
| Trevor Stewart | 2020 | Sprinter, gold and bronze medalist at 2020 Summer Olympics in the 4 X 400 and mixed 4 x 400 meter relays |
| Claude Williams | 1988 | Professional basketball player |

### Miscellaneous

| Alumni | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
| Khalid Sheikh Mohammed | 1986 (B.S.) | Senior leader of Al-Qaeda, "principal architect" of the September 11 attacks | |
| Ryan Wesley Routh | Dropped out after two semesters | Suspect in an attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump in September 2024. | |