# List of Murray State University alumni

Murray State University is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. Following are some of its notable alumni.

## Art

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Jeff Easley | 1977 | Painting | oil painter who creates fantasy artwork for role-playing games, comics, and magazines |
| Alma Lesch | 1941 | Teaching | Fiber artist |
| Joe Staton | 1970 | | Comic book artist |

## Athletics

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Rex Alexander | 1949 | | College basketball and tennis coach |
| Shane Andrus | 2004 | Business and marketing | Professional football player with the Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and San Francisco 49ers |
| Ivan Aska | 2012 | Health and physical education. | Professional basketball players in the Israeli National League |
| Leva Bates | 2003 | Theater, radio, and television | Professional wrestler with All Elite Wrestling known as The Librarian |
| Marcus Brown | 1996 | | Professional basketball player and college basketball coach |
| Shaq Buchanan | 2017 | Integrated studies-health and exercise. | Professional basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League |
| Todd Buchanan | 1995 | Physical education and psychology | Head coach of women's basketball at the University of Houston |
| Chester Caddas | 1957 | | Head football coach at the University of the Pacific and Colorado State University |
| Isaiah Canaan | 2013 | Advertising | Professional basketball player with the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers, Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns |
| Mike Cherry | | | Professional football player with the New York Giants |
| Ed Daniel | 2013 | Healthcare Administration | Professional basketball player with the Israeli team Maccabi Ashdod |
| Bud Foster | 1981 | | College football coach at Virginia Tech |
| Tony Franklin | 1979, 1989 | History, M.A. Education | Offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Middle Tennessee State University |
| Justin Fuente | 1999 | | Head football coach at Virginia Tech, University of Memphis, and Texas Christian University |
| Joe Fulks | Non-degree | | Professional basketball player and inductee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
| Ron Greene | 1962 | Health and physical education | Head basketball coach of Mississippi State University and Murray State University |
| Pete Gudauskas | 1940 | | Professional football player with the Chicago Bears |
| Rod Harper | 2008 | Social science | Professional football player with the New Orleans Saints and Super Bowl champion |
| Rob Hart | 1999 | American history | Professional football player with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, and the Miami Dolphins; |
| Morgan Hicks | 2004 | | 2004 Summer Olympics in three-position smallbore shooting and head coach of Nebraska Cornhuskers rifle |
| Ron Hopkins | 1982 | | Professional football player with the Canadian Football League |
| Popeye Jones | 1992 | | Professional basketball player with the Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, and Washington Wizards and assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets |
| Ruth Jones | | MEd Physical education | Head coach for Purdue University women's basketball |
| Irby Koffman | | | Head football coach at Murray State University |
| Wesley Korir | Non-degreed | | Winner of the 2012 Boston Marathon and Kenyan Member of Parliament |
| Austen Lane | 2009 | Journalism | Professional football player with the Chicago Bears and the Jacksonville Jaguars |
| Gil Mains | | | Professional football player with the Detroit Lions and professional wrestler |
| Jeff Martin | 1989 | | Professional basketball player |
| Ja Morant | Non-degreed | | Professional basketball player with the Memphis Grizzlies |
| Patrick Newcomb | | | Professional golfer |
| Cameron Payne | Non-degreed | Undeclared | Professional basketball player with the Phoenix Suns, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers |
| Pat Pitney | | Engineering physics | 1984 Summer Olympics gold medalist in rifle and president of the University of Alaska system |
| Walt Powell | 2013 | Advertising | Professional football player |
| Michael Proctor | 1990 | Safety engineering and health | Professional football player with the Canadian Football League |
| Bennie Purcell | 1952, 1961 | B.A., M.A. | Professional basketball player with the Harlem Globetrotters and college tennis coach |
| Johnny Reagan | 1947 | | College baseball coach and minor league baseball player |
| Mark Riggins | | | Pitching coach for Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds |
| Kirk Rueter | 1991 | | Professional baseball player with the Montreal Expos and San Francisco Giants |
| Heather Samuel | | | Sprinter at the 1992 Summer Olympics, 1996 Summer Olympics, and 2000 Summer Olympics |
| James Singleton | 2003 | | Professional basketball player |
| Fred Sowerby | 1973 | | 1976 Summer Olympics track and field athlete and head track and field coach of Delaware State University |
| Reggie Swinton | | | Professional football player with the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys |
| Chuck Taylor | 2011 | | Professional wrestler |
| Claude Virden | | | Professional basketball player |
| Quincy Williams | 2018 | Public relations | Professional football player with the Jacksonville Jaguars |
| Roger Withrow | | | 1984 Summer Paralympics rifle gold medalist |
| Jared Wolfe | | | Professional golfer |

## Clergy

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Brian Lee Cole | 1989 | Business administration | Episcopal Bishop of East Tennessee. |
| John Dale | 1970 | M.S. | Minister |
| Hartman Rector Jr. | | | General authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) |

## Education

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Walter G. Bumphus | 1971 | M.S. guidance and counseling | President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges, chair of the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Texas at Austin |
| Adron Doran | 1938, 1948 | B.A., M.A. | President of Morehead State University, director of the Division of Teacher Education and Certification for the Kentucky Department of Education, namesake of the Adron Doran University Center |
| Robert L (Bob) Jackson | 1985 | Finance and economics | President of Murray State University and Kentucky Senate |
| Patricia J. Johnson | | Biology | Professor of Microbiology at University of California, Los Angeles |
| Alison Marr | 2002 | Mathematics | Professor of mathematics and computer science at Southwestern University in Texas |
| Pat Pitney | | Engineering physics | President of the University of Alaska system and 1984 Summer Olympics gold medalist in rifle |
| Forrest Pogue | 1931 | | Director of the George C. Marshall Foundation and the Marshall Library at Virginia Military Institute and United States Army historian |
| Kenneth W. Winters | 1957 | Industrial arts | Kentucky Senate and president of Campbellsville University |

## Entertainment

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Dee Barton | | | Jazz trombonist and big band drummer known with the Stan Kenton Orchestra |
| W. Earl Brown | 1986 | Theater and radio/television | Actor |
| Jerry Crutchfield | Non-degreed | | Singer, songwriter, and record producer |
| Tericka Dye | | | Former pornographic actress and teacher |
| S.G. Goodman | | | Singer-songwriter |
| Gary Guthrie | 1973 | Communications | The original producer of You Don't Bring Me Flowers for Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond; and recognized as a chief pioneer of the Classic rock radio format |
| Alex Harvey | 1964 | M.A. in Music and education | Country music singer and songwriter |
| Thomas Rickman | 1965 | English | Film director, playwright, and screenwriter |
| Hal Riddle | 1942 | | Actor |
| Chrishell Stause | 2003 | Theater | Actress, best known for All My Children |
| Chris Thile | Non-degreed | Music | Musician and member of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers |
| Jilon VanOver | 2001 | Theater Arts | Actor |
| J. D. Wilkes | | Studio Arts | Musician, visual artist, filmmaker |

## Law

| Name | Class | Major | Notability | References |
| Bill Cunningham | 1962 | | Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court | |
| Steven H. David | 1979 | | Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court | |

## Literature and journalism

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Kevin Brown | 2012 | MFA poetry | Poet and author |
| John Mack Carter | 1948 | | Editor of Ladies’ Home Journal and Good Housekeeping, president and CEO of Hearst Magazines Enterprises |
| Jude Deveraux | 1970 | Art | Historical romance novelist |
| Taghreed El-Khodary | 2000 | M.S. Mass communications | Correspondent in Gaza for The New York Times |
| John Fetterman | 1948 | | Journalist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize |
| Gene Graham | 1948 | | Journalist and co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting |
| Mike Long | | Physics and mathematics | Speechwriter and author |
| Richard Thomas | 2012 | MFA Creative writing | Author of speculative fiction |

## Military

| Name | Class | Major | Notability | References |
| John I. Hudson | 1971 | | U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant General | |
| Mary A. Marsh | 1951 | Music | Brigadier general in the United States Air Force | |

## Politics

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| David L. Armstrong | 1966 | | Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky |
| Bill Bailey | 1970 | | Indiana House of Representatives and mayor of Seymour, Indiana |
| Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. | | Education | New Jersey General Assembly |
| Marion E. Burks | 1935 | | Illinois House of Representatives and Circuit Court judge for Cook County, Illinois |
| Myron Dossett | | | Kentucky House of Representatives |
| Larry Elkins | | | Kentucky House of Representatives |
| Fats Everett | 1936 | | United States House of Representatives |
| Milton H. Hamilton Jr. | 1955 | | Tennessee General Assembly, Tennessee Senate, and Tennessee Commissioner of Environment and Conservation |
| Richard Heath | | Agricultural education, M.A. agriculture | Kentucky House of Representatives |
| Melvin Henley | 1961, 1964 | Chemistry | Kentucky House of Representatives |
| Larry J. Hopkins | | | United States House of Representatives |
| Stanley H. Humphries | 1992 | Education | Kentucky Senate |
| Kenny Imes | | | Kentucky House of Representatives |
| Robert L (Bob) Jackson | | Finance | Kentucky Senate and president of Murray State University |
| Wesley Korir | Non-degreed | | Winner of the 2012 Boston Marathon and Kenyan Member of Parliament |
| Pat M. McCuistion | 1939 | | Kentucky Senate |
| Adam Moore | 2007 | International Affairs | Kentucky House of Representatives |
| William F. Paxton | | | Mayor of Paducah, Kentucky |
| Bill Redmond | 1976 | Political science and accounting | United States House of Representatives |
| Steven Rudy | 2000 | Agriculture education | Kentucky House of Representatives |
| Harry Lee Waterfield | 1932 | | Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky |
| Gerald Watkins | 1981, 1984 | Business administration, MBA | Kentucky House of Representatives |
| D. Wade Williams | | MPA | Kentucky House of Representatives |
| Kenneth W. Winters | 1957 | Industrial arts | Kentucky Senate and president of Campbellsville University |
| Evan Wynn | | | Wisconsin State Assembly |
| Brent Yonts | 1971 | Political science | Kentucky House of Representatives |

## Science and medicine

| Name | Class | Major | Notability |
| Vicki Funk | 1969 | Biology and history | Botanist and curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History |
| Rex Geveden | 1983, 1984 | Engineering physics, M.S. physics | Deputy director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and CEO of BWX Technologies |
| J. Paul Hogan | 1942 | Chemistry and physics | Research chemist |
| Edward G McFarland | | Biology | Professor of shoulder surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine |
| Martha Redden Ozer | 1966, 1968 | | Director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Project on Science, Technology and Disability |
| Lois Ann Pfiester | 1970 | Biology | Phycologist and protistologist, specializing in freshwater dinoflagellate species |
| Jerry A. Shields | 1960 | Biology | Ophthalmologist with th eWills Eye Institute |
| Frances Strickland | 1963 | Health and physical education | Educational psychologist and former First Lady of Ohio |