List of people from Morgantown, West Virginia

This is a list of people who were born in, lived in, or are closely associated with the city of Morgantown, West Virginia .

Athletics

• Jeff Bowden, NCAA football coach
• Terry Bowden, NCAA football coach
• Tommy Bowden, NCAA football coach
• Necro Butcher, professional wrestler
• Rich Braham, professional football player
• Lowell Cowell, NASCAR Cup Series driver
• Albert Gwynne, former United States national basketball team and West Virginia Mountaineers athletic trainer
• Jedd Gyorko, baseball player ^[1]
• Alan Henderson, professional basketball player
• Charlie Hickman, baseball player, made Morgantown his home ^[2]
• Bob Huggins, West Virginia University head basketball coach
• Dwayne Jones, professional basketball player
• Josh Judy, professional baseball player
• Paul Mainieri, LSU baseball coach
• Lee Patton, WVU basketball coach
• Xavier Proctor, football player
• Dale Ramsburg, NCAA baseball coach
• Zach Spiker, college basketball coach
• Michael Wardian, marathoner and ultra-marathoner
• Kim Weaver, astrophysicist

Arts & entertainment

• Emily Calandrelli: TV host, actor, author, and engineer
• Jack Fleming, American sports announcer
• Charles Wesley Godwin, musician
• Linda Goodman, astrologer and poet
• Alicia Holloway, ballerina and television personality
• Lawrence Kasdan, screenwriter/director
• Hoda Kotb, broadcast journalist

Don Knotts

• Don Knotts, actor (city unveiled statue in 2016) ^[3]
• Blanche Lazzell, modern artist, printmaker, and painter
• Frank Lovece, journalist and author
• Ellie Mannette, father of the modern steel drum, musician
• William Matheny, singer-songwriter
• Herbert Morrison (journalist), journalist
• Asra Nomani, journalist, political activist
• Freddy Quinn, German film star and singer
• David Selby, actor
• Kimberley Starr, novelist
• Michael Tomasky, journalist and author
• Franklin White, British ballet dancer ^[4]
• Allison Williams, Miss West Virginia (2003)

Education

• Earl Lemley Core, botanist and local historian
• John Douglas, conductor and educator
• Walter Hough, curator of United States National Museum
• John Laidley, a founder of Marshall University
• Alexander Wade, educational reformer
• Israel C. White, geologist and professor
• Duncan Lorimer, astrophysicist noted for discovering the first fast radio burst

Politics

• John O. Bennett, New Jersey state senator
• Marion Cannon, U.S. Representative from California
• Edgar F. Heiskell III, West Virginia Secretary of State and lawyer
• Moses Kinkaid, Congressman, sponsor of Kinkaid Land Act ^[5]
• Riley Moore, U.S. representative for West Virginia ^[6]
• Francis Harrison Pierpont, 19th century Governor
• Waitman T. Willey, U.S. Senator ^[7]

Other

• Earl E. Anderson, Ret. General, youngest active-duty Marine to become General
• Thomas Bennett, U.S. Army medic and conscientious objector, awarded Medal of Honor
• William Easterly, economist
• Shelia Eddy, convicted of murdering Skylar Neese
• Robert C. Frasure, first U.S. Ambassador to Estonia following its independence from Soviet Union
• Robert P. George, founder of American Principles Project
• Elliott Portnoy, attorney
• Dorothy Vaughan, mathematician
• Gene Arden Vance Jr., a Special Operations soldier with the West Virginia National Guard that was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2002

See also

• List of West Virginia University alumni
• List of presidents of West Virginia University

References

1. Pinella, Bill (September 14, 2013). "Almost Heaven... San Diego – Sports – The Charleston Gazette – West Virginia News and Sports". Wvgazette.com. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
2. "Charlie Hickman – Society for American Baseball Research" . Retrieved April 13, 2021.
3. "Don Knotts Statue Unveiled in Morgantown". WVPB. July 25, 2016. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
4. "Peter Franklin-White". News-Gazette.com. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
5. "KINKAID, ·Moses Pierce, (1856 - 1922)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
6. "MOORE, Riley M." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
7. "Waitman T. Willey". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved October 22, 2012.