List of Washburn University alumni

The following is a list of notable people associated with Washburn University, located in Topeka, Kansas, United States.

Arts and entertainment

• Elizabeth Barr Arthur (B.A. 1908) – poet, author, journalist, librarian, police officer, suffragist
• Mary Huntoon (B.A. '20) – artist, Federal Art Project state director, art therapist
• Bill Kurtis (J.D. '66; D.Lit. '85) – television journalist and producer ^[1]
• Kerry Livgren, primary songwriter and founding member of progressive rock band Kansas
• Larry Niven (B.A. '62; D.Lit. '84) – science-fiction writer
• James Reynolds ('69) – actor; portrays Capt. Abe Carver on the soap opera Days of Our Lives
• Bradbury Thompson (1911–1995) (B.A. '34; D.F.A. 65) – graphic artist

Business

• Greg Brenneman (B.B.A. '84; DComm '99) – chief executive officer, Quiznos; former chief executive officer, Burger King; former chief operating officer, Continental Airlines
• Rich Davis (1926-2015) – founder, Kansas City Masterpiece; former dean, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences
• John F. Kilmartin Jr. (1921-2004) – former chairman and chief executive officer, Mervyns
• Ronald K. Richey (1926-2010) – president and chief executive officer (1985–1998), Torchmark Corporation

Government and politics

• Henry Justin Allen (1868–1950) – 21st Governor of Kansas ^[2]
• Georgia Neese Clark Gray (1900–1995; B.A. '21; D.B.A. '66) – 29th (and first female) Treasurer of the United States
• Don O. Concannon ('52) – Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party from 1968 to 1970. Unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1974

U.S. Sen. Bob Dole

• Bob Dole (J.D. '52; LLD '69) – former U.S. Senator from Kansas and Senate Majority Leader, Republican candidate for President of the United States (1996) ^[3]
• John Edward Erickson (1863–1946; 1890) – Governor of Montana and U.S. Senator ^[4]
• Joan Finney (1925–2001; B.A. '82; D.P.S. '95) – 42nd Governor of Kansas (1991–95; the state's first female governor); Kansas State Treasurer (1972–1986) ^[5]
• Arthur Fletcher (1924–2005; B.A. '50; D.H.L. '90) –chairman, National Black Chamber of Commerce; director, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; executive director, United Negro College Fund
• Denver David Hargis  – U.S. Representative from Kansas ^[6]
• John F. Hayes  – Kansas State Representative
• Donald R. Heath  – U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia (1952), Vietnam (1952–1955), Lebanon (1955–1957) and Saudi Arabia (1958–1961)
• Harold S. Herd  – Kansas State Senator (1965–1972), Senate Minority Leader; Mayor of Coldwater, Kansas (1950–1954)
• Delano Lewis (J.D. '63; LLD '00) – former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa; former president, National Public Radio
• Charles D. McAtee  – Director of Kansas penal institutions during the last executions held in Kansas; candidate for Congress and attorney general (Republican)
• John McCuish ('25) – 34th Governor of Kansas ^[7]
• Dennis Moore (J.D. '70) – U.S. Representative from Overland Park ^[8]

U.S. Rep. James Slattery

• Paul J. Morrison  – Kansas Attorney General (2007–2008), District Attorney of Johnson County, Kansas (1990–2007)
• Howard B. Myers, (Ph.D.) – Director, Division of Social Research, Works Progress Administration during FDR's New Deal
• Roger Noriega (B.A. '82) – Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, United States Department of State
• Mike Padilla  – Mayor of Topeka, Kansas (2022–present) ^[9]
• Warren W. Shaw  – Kansas State Representative (1951–1957); candidate for Governor of Kansas (1956); member of the Washburn Athletic Hall of Fame
• Jim Slattery  – Kansas State Representative (1973–1979); U.S. Representative from Kansas's 2nd congressional district (1983–1995); candidate for Governor of Kansas (1994), candidate for the U.S. Senate (2008) ^[10]
• Robert T. Stephan – Attorney General of Kansas (1979–1995)
• Robert Stone  – Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives (1915), Kansas State Representative (1905–1917)
• Ron Thornburgh  – Kansas Secretary of State (1995–2010)
• Togiola Tulafono (J.D. 1975) – Governor of American Samoa (2003–2013)
• Douglas S. Wright  – Mayor of Topeka, Kansas (1983–1989)

Journalism

• Arthur J. Carruth Jr. (1887–1962) – co-owner and editor, Topeka State Journal ; chairman, Washburn Board of Regents; namesake of the university's Carruth Hall
• Reuben H. Markham (1887–1949) (B.A. 1908) – missionary educator in Bulgaria; journalist for the Christian Science Monitor, author of numerous books

LawBill

• Sam A. Crow (1926–2022) – Senior Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas (1981–present)
• Lee A. Johnson (b. 1947) (J.D. '80) – Kansas Supreme Court Justice (2005–present)
• Tyler C. Lockett (1932–2020)  – Kansas Supreme Court (1983–2002); District court judge in Wichita (1977–1983); Judge, common pleas court (1971–1977)
• Marla Luckert (b. 1955) (J.D. '80) – Kansas Supreme Court Justice (2003–present)
• J. Thomas Marten (b. 1951) – District Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas (1996–present)
• Kay McFarland (1935–2015) (B.A. '57; J.D. '64) – first female chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court
• Eric F. Melgren (b. 1956) – District Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas (2008–present)
• Loren Miller (1903–1967) Municipal Court Judge, County of Los Angeles, California (1964-1967)
• Nancy Moritz (J.D. '85) – Kansas Supreme Court Justice (2011–2014); Judge for 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (2014–present)
• Joseph Wilson Morris  – senior partner, Gable & Gotwals (1984–present); general counsel of Shell Oil (1978–1983); Chief Judge, Eastern District of Oklahoma (1974–1978); Dean, University of Tulsa College of Law (1972–1974)
• Paul J. Morrison (B.A.; J.D.) – former Attorney General for the State of Kansas
• Fred Phelps (B.A. '62; J.D. '64) – disbarred lawyer and pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, known for its extreme views on homosexuality, Christianity, and American soldiers; he and the Westboro Baptist Church were the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case, Snyder v. Phelps
• Shirley Phelps-Roper (B.A. '79; J.D. '81) – daughter of Fred Phelps; attorney and spokesperson for the Westboro Baptist Church
• Eric Rosen (J.D. '84) – Kansas Supreme Court Justice (2007–present)
• Gordon Sloan (1911–2006) (J.D. '35) – former judge on the Oregon Supreme Court
• Robert Stone (1866–1957) (B.A. 1889) – founder of Washburn Law School in 1903, Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives (1915)
• Ozell Miller Trask (1909–1984) – appointed by President Richard Nixon as a Federal Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (1969–1984)

• Bill Kurtis (1940) - New York and Chicago area news anchor, independent journalist, conservationist, producer of documentaries and historical programming. See Wiki

Science and technology

• Karl Bowman (1888–1973) – former chief of psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital in New York; former director of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco (1954–1964), Superintendent of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute (1964–1967)
• Lauren Drain  – nurse and author known for writing the 2013 book Banished, which chronicles her experiences and eventual banishment from the controversial Westboro Baptist Church
• Karl Menninger (1893–1990) – psychiatrist; co-founder, the Menninger Clinic
• Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr. (1915–1974) (B.S. '37) – recipient, 1971 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Robert Whittaker (1920–1980) (B.S. '42) – plant ecologist; known for first proposing the five kingdom taxonomic classification and Whittaker Biome Classification.

Military service

• Brigadier General Arthur S. Champeny (1893–1979) – only man in U.S. history to receive the Distinguished Service Cross in three separate conflicts: World War I, World War II and Korea
• Rear Admiral Stanley Thomas Counts (1926–2015) – commanded USS Towers and USS Chicago during the Vietnam War ^[11]
• Brigadier General Clarence T. "Curly" Edwinson (1912–1985) – flew 30 missions as a World War II fighter pilot; Commander, 42nd Air Division, U.S. Air Force; all conference halfback at Washburn
• Major General Kathleen E. Fick  – Director of Intelligence of the National Guard Bureau
• Brigadier General Howard S. Searle (1891–1972) – Assistant Division Commander, 35th Infantry Division
• Colonel Leroy W. Stutz (b. 1939) – U.S. Air Force pilot; shot down on his 85th mission in Vietnam; spent 2,284 days as a prisoner of war, including time at the "Hanoi Hilton" (attended WU in 1960, transferred to Air Force Academy)

Sports

See also List of Washburn Ichabods head football coaches

• Ernest Bearg (1893–1971) – WU football coach (1918–1919, 1929–1935), Nebraska coach (1925–1928), Nebraska football Hall of Fame (1988), Washburn Athletics Hall of Fame (1973–1974)
• Kurt Budke (1961–2011) – WU basketball and graduate assistant, head coach for Louisiana Tech (2002–2005) and Oklahoma State (2005–2011) women's programs
• Bob Davis (b. 1945) – radio broadcaster for Kansas City Royals and Jayhawks football and men's basketball teams
• Morley Fraser (1922–2004) – coach, Albion College (1954–1968), led school to 11 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships
• Jim Holtgrieve (b. 1947) – golfer, three-time Walker Cup champion
• Davey Lopes (b. 1945) (B.Ed '69) – former manager, Milwaukee Brewers baseball team; 16-year Major League Baseball career
• Ron McHenry (b. 1962) (1984) – current women's basketball coach at Washburn
• Mike Racy (B.B.A. '87) – former NCAA vice president (1993–2013); 5th commissioner of Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
• Jerry Schemmel (b. 1959) (B.A. '82, J.D. '85) – radio voice of NBA's Denver Nuggets
• Troy Stedman (b. 1965) – linebacker for Kansas City Chiefs
• Dave Wiemers (b. 1968) – college football coach
• Cary Williams (b. 1984) ('08) – NFL cornerback, Tennessee Titans (2008–2009), Baltimore Ravens (2009–2012), Philadelphia Eagles (2013–2014), Seattle Seahawks (2014–present)
• Gary Woodland (b. 1984) — professional golfer on the PGA Tour, 2019 U.S. Open champion

• Corey Ballentine (b. 1996) – NFL cornerback and return specialist for the New York Giants, New York Jets, Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packers.

See also

• Kansas portal
• Lists portal

• List of people from Topeka, Kansas

References

1. Bill Kurtis
2. "Henry Justin Allen". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
3. "Bob Dole". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
4. "Montana Governor John Edward Erickson". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
5. "Joan Finney". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
6. "Denver David Hargis". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
7. "John McCuish". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
8. "Dennis Moore". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
9. "2017 voters guide: Mike Padilla bio". Cjonline.com. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
10. "Jim Slattery". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
11. "Obituaries: RADM Stanley Thomas Counts, USN (Ret) '49". The USNA Alumni Association San Diego Chapter Newsletter (May). The USNA Alumni Association: 2&3. 2015.