27 Notable alumni of
Morehead State University
Updated:
Morehead State University is 1567th in the world, 547th in North America, and 514th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 27 notable alumni from Morehead State University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Steve Kazee
- Occupations
- singeractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Steven Michael Kazee is an American actor and singer. He is best known for starring as Guy in the musical Once for which he was awarded the 2012 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Kazee began his professional acting career in the mid-2000s, and from 2005 until 2013 acted in a series of Broadway productions including Spamalot, 110 in the Shade, and Once. Following the success of Once, Kazee acted on multiple television series, most notably playing Gus Pfender in the fifth season of Shameless. Kazee returned to theater in 2018, starring as Edward in the Chicago tryout of Pretty Woman: The Musical.
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Phil Simms
- Occupations
- sports commentatorAmerican football player
- Biography
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Phillip Martin Simms is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the New York Giants. After playing college football for the Morehead State Eagles, Simms was selected in the first round by the Giants as the seventh overall pick in the 1979 NFL draft. Simms was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of Super Bowl XXI, after he led the Giants to a 39–20 victory over the Denver Broncos and set the record for highest completion percentage in a Super Bowl, completing 22 of 25 passes (88%), as well as the highest passer rating in a Super Bowl at 150.9; both of these records still stand. He was also named to the Pro Bowl for his performances in the 1985 and 1993 seasons.
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Kenneth Faried
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Kenneth Bernard Faried Lewis is an American professional basketball player for Pallacanestro Reggiana of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). Known as "the Manimal" due to his hustle on the court, he attended Morehead State University for four years, twice being named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year. He finished his collegiate career as the NCAA all-time leading rebounder in the post-1973 era with 1,673 rebounds. He was selected 22nd overall in the 2011 NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets.
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Steve Inskeep
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Steven Alan Inskeep is an American journalist who is currently one of the four rotating hosts of Morning Edition and Up First on National Public Radio. Prior to being a host of Morning Edition, Inskeep covered the Pentagon, the 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush, the U.S. Senate, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was host of Weekend All Things Considered.
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Jon Rauch
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Jon Erich Rauch is an American former professional baseball pitcher. At 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 m), he is tied with Sean Hjelle as the tallest player in Major League Baseball (MLB) history. He is also an Olympic Gold Medalist in baseball.
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Donnie Tyndall
- Occupations
- basketball coach
- Biography
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Donald Joseph Tyndall is an American basketball coach currently working as the head coach for Chipola College of the NJCAA. Tyndall played college basketball at Iowa Central Community College and Morehead State and has been a basketball coach since 1994. His teams are known for pressing and playing an unconventional match-up zone, a highly successful variation of the defensive system employed by coach Rick Pitino at Louisville.
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Rocky Adkins
- Occupations
- basketball playerpolitician
- Biography
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Rocky J. Adkins is an American politician from Kentucky. He is a member of the Democratic Party and is serving as a senior advisor to the Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear. He is a former member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, representing the 99th District of the Kentucky House from 1987 to 2019. His House district was in eastern Kentucky and included Elliott, Lewis, and Rowan Counties. From 2003 through 2016, he was the House Majority Leader. From 2016 to 2019, he was the chamber's Minority Floor Leader.
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Xavier Moon
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Xavier Moon is an American professional basketball player for Zenit Saint Petersburg of the VTB United League. He played college basketball for Northwest Florida State and Morehead State. The nephew of former NBA basketball player Jamario Moon, he won CEBL Player of the Year three years in a row from 2019 to 2021 while playing for the Edmonton Stingers.
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Liz Johnson
- Occupations
- bowler
- Biography
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Elizabeth Ann Johnson is an American professional bowler who currently competes on the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour, and in some events on the PBA Tour and PBA50 Tour. She initially became known as an 11-time winner on the PWBA Tour, which included the first of her six U.S. Women's Open titles in 1996, before that organization suspended operations in 2003.
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Mike Gottfried
- Years
- 1944-.. (age 81)
- Occupations
- head coachAmerican football player
- Biography
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Mike Gottfried is an American sportscaster and former college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Murray State University (1978–1980), the University of Cincinnati (1981–1982), the University of Kansas (1983–1985), and the University of Pittsburgh (1986–1989), compiling a career college football record of 76–55–4. Gottfried played college football at Morehead State University as a quarterback from 1962 to 1965. Before moving to the college coaching ranks, he coached high school football in Ohio, tallying a mark of 50–19–1. Gottfried is the uncle of Mark Gottfried, the former head men's basketball coach at Cal State Northridge.
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Taylor Davis
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Taylor Matthew Davis is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates.
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William E. Barber
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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William Earl Barber was a United States Marine Corps colonel. He fought on Iwo Jima during World War II and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.
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Denny Doyle
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Robert Dennis Doyle was an American professional baseball second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, California Angels, and Boston Red Sox. Listed at 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) and 175 pounds (79 kg), he batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
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Desi Banks
- Occupations
- actorcomedianAmerican football player
- Biography
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Desi Terrell Banks Jr. is an American comedian and actor. He played two seasons of college football for Morehead State as a wide receiver.
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Karam Mashour
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Karam Mashour is an Arab-Israeli professional basketball player for Maccabi Ramat Gan of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and Morehead State University, before playing professionally in Israel and France. In 2016–17, he was the top rebounder in the Israel Basketball Premier League.
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Demonte Harper
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Demonte Tyrone Harper is an American professional basketball player for Élan Chalon of the LNB Pro A. He played college basketball at Morehead State University.
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Chad Posthumus
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Chad Ryan William Posthumus was a Canadian professional basketball player. He played collegiate basketball with UBC, Howard College, and Morehead State.
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Ron Lewis
- Enrolled in Morehead State University
- In 1981 graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- faculty memberpoliticianChristian minister
- Biography
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Ronald Edward Lewis is an American retired politician who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1994 to 2009, having represented the 2nd congressional district of Kentucky.
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Walt Terrell
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Charles Walter Terrell is an American former Major League Baseball player. A starting pitcher, Terrell pitched from 1982 to 1992 for the New York Mets (1982–1984), Detroit Tigers (1985–1988), San Diego Padres (1989), New York Yankees (1989), Pittsburgh Pirates (1990), and the Tigers (1990–1992).
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Dennis M. Cavanaugh
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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Dennis Michael Cavanaugh is a retired United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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Dan Swartz
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Daniel S. Swartz was an American basketball player born in Owingsville, Kentucky. He scored 2,088 points in his high school career and was just shy from breaking Wah Wah Jones’ national high school scoring record.
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David Aliu
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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David Aliu is a British retired professional basketball player. He last played for Cheshire Phoenix in the British Basketball League (BBL). Aliu was part of the Mersey Tigers' treble-winning 2010/11 team, and in November 2011, became the Tigers' record points scorer in the BBL.
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David A. Tapp
- Occupations
- judge
- Biography
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David Austin Tapp is a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims and a former circuit court judge from Kentucky.
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Jimmy Higdon
- Occupations
- businesspersonpolitician
- Biography
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James Cecil Higdon II, known as Jimmy Higdon, is an American businessman from Lebanon, Kentucky, who has been a Republican member of the Kentucky State Senate since 2009. He represents District 14, which until August 23, 2013, included Marion, Mercer, Nelson, Taylor, and Washington counties in Central Kentucky.
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Johnny Ray Turner
- Years
- 1949-.. (age 76)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Johnny Ray Turner is an American politician. He is a former Democratic member of the Kentucky Senate, representing the 29th District from 2001 to 2021. He served as Minority Caucus Chair from 2003 to 2014.
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Ed Olwine
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Edward R. Olwine is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He played during three seasons at the major league level for the Atlanta Braves.
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Jay Kalk
- Years
- 1975-.. (age 50)
- Occupations
- guitarist
- Biography
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Jay Kalk, AKA Jay Ernest, AKA Jayder is an American and International touring and recording artist formerly based out of Los Angeles, Phoenix, Honolulu, who currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has recorded and performed with many artists such as Go Jimmy Go, Warsaw Poland Brothers, and 3 Minute Hero. His most recent endeavor, Church of Cash, is a Johnny Cash Tribute show.
