# List of people from Terre Haute, Indiana

This is a list of the people born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with the city of Terre Haute, Indiana, and its surrounding metropolitan area.

## Actors and actresses

* Wally Bruner – actor, television personality
* Jose Pablo Cantillo – movies, television
* Benjamin Scatman Crothers – musician, movies, television
* Dorothy Dalton – theatre, movies
* Johnnie "Scat" Davis – musician, bandleader, movies
* Ross Ford – theater, movies
* Richard "Skeets" Gallagher – vaudeville, theatre, movies
* Jess Hahn – French movies
* Chubby Johnson – movies, television
* Grover Jones – screenwriter, producer, director, author
* Joe Keaton – vaudeville, movies; father of actor Buster Keaton
* Billy Lee – child film star
* Dave Madden – movies, television; The Partridge Family
* Rose Melville – actor, vaudeville, movies
* Alvy Moore – movies, television – Green Acres
* Maurice Ransford – motion pictures art director
* Edward Roseman – vaudeville, movies
* Valeska Suratt – theater, silent movies, vaudeville
* Bill Thompson – voice actor, Fibber McGee and Molly
* Jerry Van Dyke – television, movies
* Stuart Vaughn – actor, award-winning director, Obie Award, Drama Desk Award
* Hunter von Leer – movies

## Artists

* Mick Mars - Mötley Crüe
* Amalia Küssner Coudert – miniaturist
* John Rogers Cox – painter
* Ray H. French – printmaker
* John "Dok" Hager – cartoonist
* Harriet Goodhue Hosmer – sculptor
* Bryan Hunt – sculptor
* Edith Pfau – painter, sculptor, art educator
* Janet Scudder – sculptor
* D. Omer Seamon – painter
* Gilbert Brown Wilson – artist, muralist, motion pictures

## Athletes

* Vic Aldridge – baseball
* Ray Arcel – boxing trainer, International Boxing Hall of Fame
* Clint Barmes – baseball
* Armon Bassett – basketball player with Ironi Ramat Gan of Israel
* Bruce Baumgartner – wrestling, James E. Sullivan Award winner, U.S. Olympic gold medalist
* Greg Bell – track and field; U.S. Olympic gold medalist
* Shakir Bell – college and CFL football
* Junius Bibbs – African-American college football and baseball player; professional baseball player in the Negro leagues
* Larry Bird – basketball player, coach, NBA executive
* Mordecai Brown – baseball, National Baseball Hall of Fame
* Cheryl Bridges – cross country and track; held the World Record in the marathon and US records in 3 mile and 5,000 meter
* Bill Butland – baseball
* Cam Cameron – football, college and NFL football coach
* Max Carey – baseball, National Baseball Hall of Fame
* Barry Collier – basketball coach, athletic administrator
* Bruce Connatser – professional baseball
* Roger Counsil – swimmer, gymnastics coach
* Glenn M. Curtis – high school, college and pro basketball coach
* Josh Devore – baseball
* Terry Dischinger – basketball, U.S. Olympic gold medalist
* Brian Dorsett – baseball
* Jim Jumbo Elliott – baseball
* Danny Etling – football
* Brian Evans – basketball
* Bud Fowler – baseball
* Tiger Jack Fox – boxing
* Rufus Gilbert – baseball, coach
* Vencie Glenn – football
* Alex Graman – baseball
* Scott Haffner – basketball
* Frank Hamblen – basketball, NBA coach
* Russ Hathaway – football
* John Hazen – basketball
* Rick Heller – college baseball coach
* Aubrey Herring – track, hurdles, NCAA champion
* Eddie Hickey – basketball coach, Basketball Hall of Fame
* Bill Hodges – basketball coach
* Paul Humphrey – football
* Tunch Ilkin – college and NFL football
* Mark Jackson – football
* Tommy John – baseball
* Neil Johnston – baseball, basketball, Basketball Hall of Fame
* Doug Kay – football coach
* Bob King – basketball coach, administrator
* Duane Klueh – basketball, tennis, player, coach
* Greg Lansing – basketball coach
* Don Lash – Olympic track, Sullivan Award winner
* Danny Lazar – baseball
* Bob Slick Leonard – basketball, ABA and NBA coach, Basketball Hall of Fame
* Bryan Leturgez – track and field, Olympic bobsled
* Clyde Lovellette – basketball, U.S. Olympic gold medalist, Basketball Hall of Fame
* Curt Mallory – football, college coach
* Johnny Mann – baseball
* Wally Marks – athlete, athletic administrator Indiana State University
* Thad Matta – college basketball coach
* Tony McGee – football tight end
* Dave McGinnis – football, college and NFL coach
* Kevin McKenna – basketball, player, coach
* Trent Miles – football coach
* Rick Minter – football coach
* Erica Moore – track & field
* Paul Moss – two-time college All-American, NFL
* Albert "Cod" Myers – baseball
* Nancy Hanks – harness racing
* Art Nehf – baseball, pitched in four World Series
* Bill Nelson – baseball
* Steve Newton – basketball, player, coach
* Carl Nicks – basketball
* Greg Oden – basketball
* Jake Odum – basketball
* Brian Omogrosso – baseball
* Jake Petricka – baseball
* Jamie Petrowski – football
* Josh Phegley – baseball
* Dennis Raetz – football, player, coach
* Kurt Rambis – basketball, player, coach
* Rick Ray (basketball) – coach
* Colin Rea – baseball
* A. J. Reed – baseball player
* Cheryl Reeve – basketball coach, WNBA
* Mike Sanford – college football coach
* Dave Schellhase – basketball, player, coach
* Ed Seward – "Kid" Seward, baseball
* Dexter Shouse – basketball
* Zane Smith – baseball
* Gordon B. Stauffer – basketball coach
* Mitch Stetter – baseball
* Ace Stewart – baseball
* Ryan Strausborger – baseball
* Jerry Sturm – football
* Charles Bernard Bud Taylor – boxer, bantamweight champion, International Boxing Hall of Fame
* Harry Taylor – baseball
* Joe Thatcher – baseball
* Debi Thomas – world champion figure skater
* Kurt Thomas – gymnast, James E. Sullivan Award winner
* Anthony Thompson – football player
* Lyle Bud Tinning – baseball
* Paul Dizzy Trout – baseball
* Robert Bobby Turner – college and NFL player and coach
* Royce Waltman – college basketball coach
* Bob Warn – college baseball coach
* Steve Weatherford – football
* Mike Westhoff – college and NFL football coach
* John Wooden – basketball, Basketball Hall of Fame

## Military

* Charles G. Abrell – Medal of Honor, Korean War
* George W. Biegler – Medal of Honor, Philippine–American War
* Charles Cruft – teacher, newspaper publisher, lawyer, Union Civil War general
* William Henry Harrison – Governor Indiana Territory, commander of Fort Harrison, President of the United States
* Nick Popaditch – Gunnery Sergeant, USMC, Gulf War, Iraq War
* Peter J. Ryan – Medal of Honor, Civil War
* Josiah Snelling – military leader, commander of Fort Harrison
* John T. Sterling – Medal of Honor, Civil War
* William Maxwell Wood – naval surgeon, first Surgeon General

## Musicians

* Leo Baxter – musician, composer, band director
* Steven Caldwell – musician, folk singer
* Scatman Crothers – musician, actor
* Johnnie "Scat" Davis – singer, bandleader
* Paul Dresser – vaudeville actor, composer, "On The Banks of the Wabash, Far Away," "My Gal Sal"
* Edwin Franko Goldman – bandleader, composer
* Indiana Gregg – singer, songwriter
* Mick Mars – born Robert Alan Deal; Mötley Crüe guitarist
* Hank Roberts – jazz cellist, vocalist
* Claude Thornhill – pianist, arranger, bandleader, composer

## Politicians

* Simon Bamberger – governor of Utah
* Birch Bayh – U.S. Senator
* Evan Bayh – governor of Indiana and U.S. Senator
* Thomas H. Blake – U.S. Congressman, Commissioner of the U.S. Land Office, resident trustee of Wabash and Erie Canal
* Newton Booth – governor of California, U.S. Senator
* James Bopp – conservative attorney known for Citizens United v. FEC; Republican National Committeeman
* Joseph Gurney Cannon – Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
* P. Pete Chalos – four-term mayor of Terre Haute
* John G. Davis – U.S. Congressman
* John Wesley Davis – physician, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, governor of the Oregon Territory
* Eugene Victor Debs (1855–1926) – Socialist candidate for president
* Joseph V. Graff – U.S. Congressman
* Abram A. Hammond – lieutenant governor of Indiana, governor of Indiana
* Edward A. Hannegan – U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator, diplomat
* Russell Benjamin Harrison – son of President Benjamin Harrison
* William H. Harrison – five-term U.S. Congressman
* Nicholas Hood – Detroit City Council member and Congregationalist minister
* Elisha Mills Huntington – attorney, federal judge, Commissioner of U.S. Land Office
* Virginia E. Jenckes – first U.S. Congresswoman from Indiana
* Brian Kerns – Republican Congressman
* John Edward Lamb – Congressman, political leader
* William Carr Lane – military surgeon, mayor St. Louis, governor New Mexico Territory
* Dick Thompson Morgan – author, U.S. Congressman
* John H. O'Neall – U.S. Congressman
* P.B.S. Pinchback – politician, governor of Louisiana
* Edward James Roye – merchant, president of Liberia
* Everett Sanders – U.S. Congressman, secretary to President Calvin Coolidge, chairman of the Republican National Committee
* John Gould Stephenson – fifth Librarian of Congress
* Richard Wigginton Thompson – U.S. Congressman and Secretary of the Navy under President Rutherford B. Hayes
* Ralph Tucker – five-term mayor of Terre Haute
* John Palmer Usher – Indiana Attorney General, Secretary of Interior under President Abraham Lincoln
* Daniel Wolsey Voorhees – U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator
* Fred Wampler – U.S. Congressman
* James Whitcomb – Commissioner of U.S. Land Office, governor of Indiana, U.S. Senator

## Scientists and engineers

* Willis Blatchley – scientist, naturalist
* H. R. Cox (Herald Rea Cox) – bacteriologist
* Ernest R. Davidson – chemist, educator, National Medal of Science recipient
* David Deming – scientist, author, professor at the University of Oklahoma
* Lee Alvin DuBridge – educator, physicist, college administrator
* Barton Warren Evermann – biologist
* Thomas Lomar Gray – educator, engineer, college administrator
* Sam Hulbert – educator, scientist, inventor
* James Arthur Lovell, Jr. – astronaut
* William R. McKeen, Jr. – engineer, inventor of the McKeen railmotor and McKeen Car; founder of the McKeen Motor Car Company
* Thomas Corwin Mendenhall – physicist
* William A. Noyes – chemist, educator, recipient of Priestley Medal and Gibbs Medal
* John Adelbert Parkhurst – astronomer
* William Wesley Peters – architect, structural engineer
* Abe Silverstein – engineer, space aerodynamicist
* Jill Bolte Taylor – "The Singing Scientist," neuroanatomist, author
* Edward Tryon – astrophysicist, cosmologist
* Robert Tryon – engineering fatigue analyst

## Writers

* Lyman Abbott – minister, magazine publisher and editor
* Claude Bowers – journalist, author, diplomat
* Troy Brownfield – journalist, comic book writer, author, Prince Dracula
* Winnifred Harper Cooley – author, journalist
* Helen Corey – Syrian-American cookbook author, The Art of Syrian Cookery (1962) and Food from Biblical Lands (1989)
* George W. Cutter – The Song of Steam, Buena Vista
* Theodore Dreiser – An American Tragedy
* Max Ehrmann – A Prayer, Desiderata
* Philip Jose Farmer – science fiction author
* Robert Greenleaf – author
* Ida Husted Harper – suffragist, newspaper editor, History of Woman Suffrage, The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony
* John Jakes – Kent Family Chronicles
* Howard Andrew Jones - American speculative fiction and fantasy author and editor
* William Harrison Mace – educator, historian, author, Lincoln, The Man of the People
* Edward J. Meeman – journalist and environmentalist
* Terry Pettus – journalist
* Susie Lankford Shorter – wrote Heroines of African Methodism (1891)
* Virginia Sorensen – winner of 1957 Newbery Medal
* William Strunk, Jr. – educator, author, "The Elements of Style"
* Martina Swafford — poet
* Agness Underwood – first female city editor of a metropolitan daily
* Will Weng – author, crossword puzzles editor New York Times

## Others

* Saint Mother Theodore Guerin – educator, religious leader
* Eva Mozes Kor – Holocaust survivor, founder of CANDLES Holocaust Museum
* Robert Hayes Gore – newspaper executive, author, former Governor of Puerto Rico
* Matt Branam – late college president of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
* Ellen Church Marshall – first airline stewardess
* Horace G. Burt – president, Union Pacific Railroad
* Ray S. Cline – CIA, author
* Lotus Coffman – educator, college administrator
* W.C. Coup – circus magnate
* Hubert L. Dreyfus – philosopher, educator, author
* Stuart Dreyfus – educator, author
* Mari Hulman George – philanthropist
* Tony George – business executive, former president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
* Robert K. Greenleaf – business executive, author, educator
* William King Harvey – CIA, "America's James Bond"
* Anton Tony Hulman – industrialist, philanthropist; Indianapolis Motor Speedway
* Mary Fendrich Hulman – business executive, philanthropist
* Robert Hunter – social reformer, author, golf course architect
* Martin David Jenkins – educator, late college president of Morgan State University
* Robert Jerry – dean, University of Florida Levin College of Law
* William G. Kerckhoff – business executive, developer of Beverly Hills, California
* Abraham Markle – miller, Canadian legislator, soldier, village proprietor
* Edison E. Oberholtzer – educator, founder of the University of Houston
* Frank Popoff – business executive, current president of Dow Chemical and Chemical Financial Corp.
* Wanda Ramey – pioneer broadcast journalist
* Orville Redenbacher – popcorn entrepreneur; born in Brazil, Indiana; Vigo County farm agent
* Peter Riedel – pilot, gliding champion
* Chauncey Rose – railroad baron, philanthropist
* Lou Anna Simon – current college president Michigan State University
* William Truesdale – railroad executive
* Clarence Abiathar Waldo – educator, author
* Leroy A. Wilson – business executive, former president of AT&T
* William Winter – explorer, author