# List of people from Winston-Salem, North Carolina

NOTICE • Only people who already have a Wikipedia article may appear here. This establishes notability. • The fact of their association should have a reliable source cited, or it should be stated in their Wikipedia article. • Alphabetical by last name please, within the appropriate category. • All others will be deleted without further explanation. END OF NOTICE
This is an incomplete list of notable people associated with U.S. city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

## Academics

* Stuart Bondurant, professor and dean emeritus at the UNC School of Medicine
* Coy Cornelius Carpenter, dean of the School of Medicine of Wake Forest University
* Adelaide Fries, foremost scholar of the history and genealogy of the Moravians
* Robert Huntley, president of Washington and Lee University
* Jacquelyne Jackson, sociologist and academic
* Harold L. Martin, chancellor of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
* William T. Miller, professor of organic chemistry at Cornell University
* Virginia Newell, math professor at Winston-Salem State University and alderman of Winston-Salem
* Len Preslar, business educator and Distinguished Professor of Practice at Wake Forest University
* Florence Wells Slater, entomologist and schoolteacher
* Norman Adrian Wiggins, president of Campbell University
* Tanya Zanish-Belcher, director of Special Collections and Archives at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library at Wake Forest University

## Art and architecture

* Earline Heath King, sculptor who specialized in portraits and statues
* Eleanor Layfield Davis, artist
* Helen Copenhaver Hanes, significant figure in the founding of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts
* Frank L. Horton, museum director and antiques dealer
* Megan LeCrone, dancer and soloist with the New York City Ballet
* Willard C. Northup, architect
* Kathryn Reynolds, photographer
* William Roy Wallace, architect

## Business

* Celeste Beatty, first Black woman to own a brewery in the United States
* Jack O. Bovender Jr., former chairman and CEO of HCA Healthcare from 2002 to 2009
* Stuart Epperson, chairman of Salem Communications Corporation
* Bowman Gray Sr., president and chairman of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
* Anne Cannon Forsyth, Cannon textiles and R.J. Reynolds tobacco families heiress and founder and president of the North Carolina Fund
* Francis Henry Fries, textile businessman and industrialist
* James A. Gray Jr., president and chairman of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem and North Carolina Senate
* John Wesley Hanes, founder of Hanes clothing brand
* Phil Hanes, businessman, conservationist, and patron of the arts
* Velma Hopkins, labour rights activist who organized a strike against R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
* Rufus L. Patterson Jr., founder of the American Machine and Foundry and a vice president of the American Tobacco Company.
* R. J. Reynolds, founder of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
* William Neal Reynolds, businessman with R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
* Lewis Rudolph, co-founder of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
* Vernon Rudolph, co-founder of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
* Moranda Smith, labor organizer and unionist
* Paul Trevithick, client partner and senior director at EPAM

## Entertainment

* John L. Adams, actor, comedian and director
* Ramin Bahrani, film director and screenwriter
* Elizabeth Campbell, public television executive
* Jerrod Carmichael, stand-up comedian, actor, and writer
* Howard Cosell, sportscaster
* Carter Covington, television show creator, writer, story editor and producer
* Bosley Crowther, film critic
* Jennifer Ehle, actress
* Nia Franklin, Miss America 2019
* Emily V. Gordon, writer and producer
* Charles Grant, actor
* Kathryn Grayson, actress and operatic soprano singer
* Pam Grier, actress
* Julianna Guill, actress
* Rosemary Harris, actress; Golden Globe, Emmy and Tony Award winner
* Jackée Harry, actress and comedian
* Burgess Jenkins, actor
* Darwin Joston, actor
* Tom Kent, nationally syndicated radio personality
* Allyn King, vaudeville actress and a Ziegfeld Follies performer
* Kelly-Anne Lyons, actress
* Angus MacLachlan, screenwriter
* Rusty Mills, Emmy-winning animator and director
* Cullen Moss, actor
* Harold Nicholas, film dancer, entertainer
* Jacqueline Novak, comedian and actress
* Daniel Peddle, film director and screenwriter
* Jeryl Prescott, actress
* Stuart Scott, sportscaster
* Stephen A. Smith, sports journalist, Winston-Salem State University alum, radio host, analyst for ESPN First Take
* Meg Steedle, actress
* Tasha Marbury, reality show personality and cast member of Basketball Wives
* Jill Wagner, actress and TV host
* Rolonda Watts, television personality and actress
* Colleen Williams, news anchor with KNBC in Los Angeles
* Danny McBride, actor, NCSA 94-96
* Geno Segers, actor, graduated from East Forsyth
* Jada Pinkett Smith, actress and wife of Will Smith, attended NCSA
* George C. Stoney, documentary filmmaker
* Kenneth Utt, film producer and unit production manager
* Rolonda Watts, television and talkshow host
* Michael Wilson, director

### Music

* 9th Wonder, Grammy award-winning hip-hop producer
* Sunshine Anderson, singer-songwriter
* B.o.B., hip-hop artist
* Obadiah Carter, member of the "5" Royales
* Mitch Easter, musician and record producer, founder of Drive-In Studio
* Ben Folds, singer-songwriter
* Guitar Gabriel, blues musician
* Curtis Hairston, soul/funk vocalist
* George Hamilton IV, country singer
* Byron Hill, songwriter
* Peter Holsapple, singer-songwriter
* Greg Humphreys, singer-songwriter and member of Dillon Fence and Hobex
* Kimberly Marshall, organist and organ scholar
* Chris Murrell, singer and former lead vocalist of the Count Basie Orchestra
* Ben Neill, classical composer
* Clarence Paul, songwriter and record producer
* Dusty Redmon, guitarist
* Louise Siddall, composer
* Sluice, indie rock musician
* Chris Stamey, musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer
* Becca Stevens, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
* Ernest Thompson, blind street musician
* TiaCorine, rapper
* Tichina Vaughn, operatic mezzo-soprano

## Literature and journalism

* Bonnie Angelo, journalist and author
* Maya Angelou, poet
* Bekah Brunstetter, playwright
* John Carroll, journalist and newspaper editor
* Gary Chapman, author
* Clement Eaton, historian and writer
* John Ehle, author
* Mary Garber, sports journalist
* Emily V. Gordon, writer, producer, and podcast host
* Karen L. Parker, journalist and first Black female graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
* Melissa Harris-Perry, journalist, political commentator, author
* Charlie Lovett, New York Times best-selling novelist and expert on both the works and life of Lewis Carroll
* T. R. Pearson, author of A Short History of a Small Place
* James Norwood Pratt, author on topics of tea and tea lore
* Riley Redgate, author of young adult fiction

## Military

* Lincoln Broyhill, record-setting tail gunner in World War II
* Daryl Caudle, Admiral and Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command
* Walter J. Davis Jr., vice admiral in the United States Navy
* Gordon Gray, Secretary of the Army under President Truman and President Eisenhower's National Security Advisor
* Lawrence Joel, United States Army soldier; received Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War
* Henry Johnson, United States Army soldier; posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War I
* Togo West, United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, United States Secretary of the Army, General Counsel of the Navy
* Earl P. Yates, rear admiral in the United States Navy

## Politics and government

* Hannah Atkins, member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1968 to 1980, and the first African-American woman elected to it
* Frank Ballance, United States House of Representatives
* Stan Bingham, North Carolina General Assembly
* Burr Brock Sr., North Carolina House of Representatives and the North Carolina Senate
* Jim Broyhill, a Republican politician; served North Carolina in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate
* Ted Budd, former United States Representative and United States Senator from North Carolina
* Richard Burr, United States Senator
* Irving E. Carlyle, North Carolina lawyer and state leader
* R. Thurmond Chatham, U.S. House of Representatives
* Linda Combs, Controller of the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President
* H. R. Crawford, Assistant Secretary for Housing Management of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Member of the Council of the District of Columbia
* Cal Cunningham, North Carolina Senate
* Elisabeth Epps, Colorado House of Representatives
* Dale Folwell, North Carolina State Treasurer and North Carolina House of Representatives,
* Linda Garrou, North Carolina Senate
* Voit Gilmore, director of the United States Travel Service and North Carolina Senate
* Peaches Golding, appointed by HM Queen Elizabeth II as High Sheriff of Bristol 2010–2011, awarded the OBE
* John Stephens Graham, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and commissioner for the Internal Revenue Service and Atomic Energy Commission
* James A. Gray Jr., president and chairman of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem and North Carolina Senate
* Lyons Gray, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Revenue and North Carolina House of Representatives
* Kyle Hall, North Carolina House of Representatives
* Mabel Hampton, lesbian activist and contributor to the Lesbian Herstory Archives
* Ed Hanes, North Carolina House of Representatives
* John Wesley Hanes II, investment banker, corporate turnaround specialist, and Under Secretary of the United States Treasury
* John W. Hardwicke, Maryland House of Delegates
* William Heaton, former chief of staff to Bob Ney
* Kevin Jennings, assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education
* Mark Johnson, North Carolina's Superintendent of Public Instruction
* Walter E. Johnston III, United States House of Representatives
* Allen Joines, mayor of Winston-Salem
* Annie Brown Kennedy, politician and lawyer; first Black woman to serve in the North Carolina House of Representatives
* Jules Gilmer Korner Jr., judge of the United States Board of Tax Appeals
* Donny Lambeth, North Carolina House of Representatives
* Norman M. Miller, United States Navy officer; one of the most decorated Naval Aviators during World War II
* Wilmer "Vinegar Bend" Mizell, MLB pitcher for Pirates and Cardinals, and US congressman from 1968 to 1967
* Derwin Montgomery, North Carolina House of Representatives
* Lorraine H. Morton, mayor of Evanston, Illinois
* Roxie Nicholson, career staffer at the United States Department of Labor
* Ray C. Osborne, served as the first Lieutenant Governor of Florida under the state constitution of 1968
* Earline Parmon, North Carolina Senate
* Rufus Lenoir Patterson, Mayor of Salem, North Carolina
* R. J. Reynolds Jr., treasurer of the Democratic National Committee and mayor of Winston-Salem
* Grace Rohrer, Secretary of Administration of North Carolina and Secretary of Cultural Resources of North Carolina
* Anna Harris Stein, First Lady of North Carolina
* Evelyn Terry, North Carolina House of Representatives
* Bennetta Bullock Washington, "first first lady" of Washington, D.C., director of Job Corps for Women at the Department of Labor
* Larry W. Womble, North Carolina General Assembly
* Madie Hall Xuma, president of the African National Congress Women's League

## Religion

* J. Neil Alexander, 9th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
* Stuart Epperson, evangelical who was the co-founder and chairman of Salem Media Group
* J. D. Greear, 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention
* Herbert Spaugh, Bishop of the Moravian Church

## Science and technology

* Roy F. Brissenden, NASA physicist
* Burton C. Gray, co-founder of Scientific Time Sharing Corporation
* Lisa Hensley, microbiologist, associate director of science at the Office of the Chief Scientist of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease
* Joseph Gaither Pratt, psychologist who specialized in parapsychology.

## Sports
### Baseball

* Dustin Ackley, outfielder for the New York Yankees
* Koke Alexander, Negro leagues outfielder
* Fred Anderson, former Major League Baseball player
* Don Cardwell, former Major League Baseball pitcher; World Series champion
* Alvin Crowder, Major League Baseball pitcher; World Series champion
* Alex Crumbley, baseball outfielder in the Negro leagues
* Spencer Davis, baseball infielder in the Negro leagues
* Ryan Dull, Major League Baseball pitcher
* Harvey Gentry, former Major League Baseball player
* Rufe Gentry, former Major League Baseball player for the Detroit Tigers
* Mark Grace, first baseman for Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks, World Series champion, broadcaster and coach
* Tommy Gregg, former Major League Baseball player
* Napoleon Hairston, Negro league outfielder
* Ed Lyons, Major League Baseball second baseman
* D. J. Mitchell, Major League Baseball pitcher
* Wilmer "Vinegar Bend" Mizell, MLB pitcher for Pirates and Cardinals, and US congressman from 1968 to 1967
* Howie Nunn, former Major League Baseball player
* Ernie Shore, former Major League Baseball pitcher, two-time World Series champion and sheriff of Forsyth County, North Carolina
* Seth Simmons, professional baseball player
* Bill Slack, professional baseball player, coach, and manager
* Robert Woodard, baseball player and collegiate coach

### Basketball

* Cy Alexander, college basketball coach
* Norton Barnhill, professional basketball player
* Randolph Childress, former professional basketball player
* Hubert Davis, head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, basketball analyst for ESPN, former NBA player
* Rick Duckett, college basketball coach
* Lindsay Edmonds, college basketball coach
* C.E. "Big House" Gaines, head basketball coach of Winston-Salem State University for 47 years; member of Basketball Hall of Fame
* Danny Gathings, retired basketball player
* Harry Giles III, professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers
* Herm Gilliam, professional basketball player
* Happy Hairston, professional basketball player for Los Angeles Lakers; NBA Champion
* C. J. Harris, basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
* Ricky Hickman, professional basketball player
* Whit Holcomb-Faye, professional basketball player
* Brian Howard, professional basketball player
* Josh Howard, professional basketball player and coach
* Othello Hunter, professional basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
* Reggie Johnson, professional basketball player
* Rusty LaRue, professional basketball player; NBA champion
* Camille Little, WNBA player
* Caleb Martin, twin brother of Cody Martin, professional basketball player for the Miami Heat
* Cody Martin, twin brother of Caleb Martin, professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets
* John Meeks (born 1999), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
* Earl Monroe, professional basketball player for New York Knicks and Baltimore Bullets
* Benny Moss, college basketball coach
* Ryan Odom, college basketball coach
* Tyson Patterson, professional basketball player
* Chris Paul, professional basketball player, 12x NBA All-Star and two-time Olympic champion
* Josh Pittman, professional basketball player
* Willie Porter, professional basketball player
* Skip Prosser, professional basketball player.
* Juvonte Reddic, professional basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
* Brian Robinson, college basketball coach
* Reyshawn Terry, professional basketball player and 2005 NCAA champion with North Carolina
* Kevin Thompson, professional basketball player

### Football

* Ray Agnew, professional football player and executive
* Ray Agnew III, professional football player
* Hubbard Alexander, professional football coach
* Bracy Bonham, Canadian Football League player
* Hal Bradley, professional football player
* Kidd Brewer, college football player and administrator
* Alan Caldwell, professional football player
* Tony Covington, professional football player
* Angelo Crowell, professional football player
* Germane Crowell, professional football player
* Donnie Davis, professional football player
* Divine Deablo, professional football player
* Kenny Duckett, professional football player
* Carl Eller, professional football player; member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame
* Clement M. Eyler, college football coach
* Ed Gainey, Canadian Football League player
* Paul Gibson, professional football player
* George Godsey, professional football player
* Chris Hairston, professional football player
* Josh Hawkins, professional football player
* Madison Hedgecock, professional football player
* KJ Henry, professional football player
* Dwayne Ijames, professional football player
* Bill Jackson, professional football player
* Anthony Levine, professional football player and two-time Super Bowl champion
* Alex McCalister, professional football player
* Bill McKoy, professional football player
* Ja'Quan McMillian, professional football player
* Doug Middleton, professional football player
* Paul Miles, professional football player
* Jackie Mitchell, Canadian Football League player
* Aric Morris, professional football player
* A. J. Nicholson, professional football player
* Darrell Nicholson, professional football player
* Derek Nicholson, professional football player and college football coach
* Artimus Parker, professional football player
* Denzel Rice, professional football player
* Sherman Simmons, college football coach
* Darryl Sims, professional football player
* Speedy Speer, football player and coach
* Ramondo Stallings, professional football player
* Ryan Taylor, professional football player
* Steve Videtich, professional football player
* Blake Whiteheart, professional football player
* Bryce Williams, professional football player
* Tory Woodbury, professional football player
* Tom Young, college football coach

### Golf

* Cydney Clanton, professional golfer
* Jim Ferree, professional golfer
* Jerry Haas, professional golfer
* Walter Hall, professional golfer
* David Mathis, professional golfer
* Arnold Palmer, professional golfer; attended Wake Forest University

### Hockey

* Patrick O'Sullivan, National Hockey League player
* Ben Smith, National Hockey League player and 2013 Stanley Cup champion

### Racing

* Dillon Bassett, NASCAR driver
* Ronnie Bassett Jr., NASCAR driver
* Ed Berrier, NASCAR driver
* Richard Childress, NASCAR team owner
* Barry Dodson, NASCAR crew chief
* Bobby Myers, NASCAR racing driver
* Chocolate Myers, NASCAR team principal
* Leon Sales, stock car racing driver

### Soccer

* Tanner Beason, defender
* John Bradford, defender and coach
* Sam Cronin, midfielder
* Austin da Luz, midfielder
* Luciano Delbono, midfielder
* Matt Spear, coach and sports executive
* David Testo, midfielder
* Wells Thompson, midfielder

### Track and field

* Blake Russell, Olympic long-distance runner, competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics
* J-Mee Samuels, track and field sprinter

### Other

* Kathleen Baker, Olympic swimmer, won gold and silver medal at 2016 Summer Olympics
* Michael Blomquist, rower and a former World Champion
* Ric Converse, professional wrestler
* Kimani Griffin, Olympic speed skater, competed at 2018 Winter Olympics
* Marc Johnson, professional skateboarder
* Randy Jones, Olympic bobsledder, won silver medal in the four-man event at 2002 Winter Olympics
* Brian McDonough, Olympic cyclist, competed at 1996 Summer Olympics
* Tab Thacker, NCAA wrestling national champion at NC State and actor
* Matthew Thomson, tennis player
* Chris Young, gymnast, won silver medal at 1999 Pan American Games

## Other

* Zachary Smith Reynolds, murder victim
* Hattie M. Strong, philanthropist