51 Notable alumni of
Murray State University
Updated:
Murray State University is 1172nd in the world, 420th in North America, and 393rd in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 51 notable alumni from Murray 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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Ja Morant
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Temetrius Jamel "Ja" Morant is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Murray State Racers, where he was a consensus first-team All-American as a sophomore in 2019.
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Chrishell Stause
- Occupations
- real estate agentactortelevision actor
- Biography
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Terrina Chrishell Stause is an American actress, television personality and real estate agent. She began her career playing the role of Amanda Dillon in the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children (2005–2011). From 2013 to 2015 she starred as Jordan Ridgeway in the NBC soap opera, Days of Our Lives and later returned to the soap on a recurring basis. For this role, Stause received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series in 2020. In 2019, Stause began starring in the Netflix reality series Selling Sunset.
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Jim Varney
- Occupations
- singerstand-up comediandancerwritercomedian
- Biography
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James Albert Varney Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his comedic role as Ernest P. Worrell, for which he won an Emmy Award, as well as appearing in films and numerous television commercial advertising campaigns. He played Jed Clampett in a film adaptation of The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) and also covered a song for the film titled "Hot Rod Lincoln". He voiced Slinky Dog in the first two films of the Toy Story franchise (1995–1999). He died of lung cancer on February 10, 2000, leaving two posthumous releases, Daddy and Them and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
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W. Earl Brown
- Occupations
- stage actoractortelevision actorscreenwriterfilm actor
- Biography
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William Earl Brown is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, musician, and songwriter. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Kenny, the cameraman in the film Scream (1996), Warren in the film There's Something About Mary (1998), Dan Dority on the HBO series Deadwood (2004–2006), and the voice and motion capture of Bill in the video game The Last of Us (2013). He has appeared in films such as Backdraft, The Master, Being John Malkovich, The Sessions, Vanilla Sky, The Lone Ranger, and Bloodworth (which he also wrote and produced), as well as series such as Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, The X-Files, Six Feet Under, Preacher, Bates Motel, True Detective, American Horror Story, Chicago Fire, Psych, and The Mandalorian.
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Chris Thile
- Occupations
- radio personalitymusiciansinger-songwriterguitarist
- Biography
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Christopher Scott Thile is an American mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and radio personality, best known for his work in the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek and the acoustic folk and progressive bluegrass quintet Punch Brothers. He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow. From 2016 to its cancellation in 2020, he hosted the radio variety show Live from Here.
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Cameron Payne
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Cameron Payne is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Murray State, and was selected 14th overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2015 NBA draft. After playing two seasons for the Thunder, he was traded to the Chicago Bulls in 2017, where he played for three seasons before being waived in 2019.
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Leva Bates
- Occupations
- professional wrestlertelevision producer
- Biography
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Leva Bates is an American professional wrestler. She is best known for her time with All Elite Wrestling. She also had a successful tenure on the independent circuit, most notably for Shimmer Women Athletes. She has also appeared in WWE on their developmental territory NXT under the ring name Blue Pants.
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Justin Fuente
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Justin James Fuente is an American college football coach. He was the head football coach at Virginia Tech from 2016 to 2021. He was the 2016 ACC Coach of the Year. Fuente was the head football coach at the University of Memphis from 2012 to 2015. He was an assistant at Texas Christian University from 2007 to 2011 and previously at Illinois State University from 2001 to 2006. Fuente attended the University of Oklahoma before transferring to Murray State University after his redshirt sophomore season. He played quarterback for both schools. Fuente played a single season with the Oklahoma Wranglers of the Arena Football League.
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Isaiah Canaan
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Isaiah Canaan is an American professional basketball player who plays for Crvena zvezda of the ABA League and the EuroLeague. He was an All-American college player at Murray State University.
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Joe Fulks
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Joseph Franklin "Jumping Joe" Fulks was an American professional basketball player. The NBA's first scoring champion, he was sometimes called "the first of the high-scoring forwards". He was posthumously enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978.
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Bud Foster
- Occupations
- head coachAmerican football player
- Biography
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Robert Eugene "Bud" Foster Jr. is a retired American college football coach and former player. He currently serves as a Special Assistant to Athletics Director Whit Babcock. Following the 2006 season, he received the Frank Broyles Award, which is annually given to the top assistant coach in college football. Foster's 2005 and 2006 Hokie defenses led the nation in total defense. Foster is regarded as one of the best defensive coordinators in college football. On August 1, 2019, Foster announced he was retiring at the end of the 2019 season.
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Marcus Brown
- Occupations
- basketball playerbasketball coach
- Biography
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Marcus James Brown is an American former professional basketball player. At 6'3" (1.91 m) tall, he played as a shooting guard. A three time All-EuroLeague selection, Brown has been mentioned as being one of the top U.S. players ever to play abroad. Brown ended his career as a player-coach with Žalgiris Kaunas in 2011. Brown was the EuroLeague's career scoring leader since the year 2000, when he ended his career in October 2011. As far as United States players only are concerned, Brown remains one of league's higher scoring players in the competition since the year 2000, when the league's current organizer (EuroLeague Basketball) took over the competition.
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James Singleton
- Occupations
- basketball playerbasketball coach
- Biography
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James Alexander Singleton is an American former professional basketball player and former assistant coach of the Austin Spurs of the NBA G League. The 6'8" forward played two years of college basketball for Murray State.
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Kirk Rueter
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Kirk Wesley Rueter, nicknamed "Woody", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the San Francisco Giants. He also played for the Montreal Expos who had drafted him in 1991.
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Larry J. Hopkins
- Occupations
- politicianstockbroker
- Biography
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Larry Jones Hopkins was an American businessman and politician who represented Kentucky's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1993. He was the Republican nominee for governor of Kentucky in 1991 and lost to Brereton C. Jones.
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Wesley Korir
- Occupations
- marathon runnerpolitician
- Biography
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Wesley Kipchumba Korir is a Kenyan athlete who specializes in long distance running competitions, as well as a politician who served as an elected member of Parliament for Cherangany Constituency. On 16 April 2012, he won the Boston Marathon with a time of 2 hours 12 minutes 40 seconds. He had previously won the Los Angeles Marathon in 2009 and 2010, the first back-to-back winner there in eight years. He took second place in the 2011 Chicago Marathon in a personal-record time of 2 hours 6 minutes 15 seconds, and improved that personal record by 2 seconds in the 2012 Chicago Marathon. In the 2013 Kenyan general election, Korir was elected to a seat in the National Assembly. He lost his seat in 2017.
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Bill Cunningham
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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William Harold Cunningham is an American former prosecutor and former Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court. He was elected to the court in November 2006 to represent the first Appellate District. He announced he would retire in early 2019.
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Jeff Easley
- Occupations
- illustratorpainter
- Biography
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Jeff Easley is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork for role-playing games, comics, and magazines, as well as non-fantasy commercial art.
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Ed Daniel
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Edward Daniel is an American professional basketball player for Scafati Basket of the Serie A2 Basket. He played college basketball at Murray State University.
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Erik McCree
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Erik McCree is an American professional basketball player for Al Nassr of the Saudi Basketball League. He played college basketball for Murray State and Louisiana Tech.
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Joe Staton
- Occupations
- draftspersonwritercomics artistillustrator
- Biography
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Joe Staton is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist of the Dick Tracy comic strip from 2011 to October 2021.
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Lee-Anne Pace
- Occupations
- golfer
- Biography
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Lee-Anne Pace is a South African professional golfer.
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J. D. Wilkes
- Occupations
- singer
- Biography
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Joshua "J. D." Wilkes is an American visual artist, musician, amateur filmmaker and author. He is best known as the singer for the rock band Legendary Shack Shakers, and is also an accomplished harmonica player, having recorded for such artists as Merle Haggard, Sturgill Simpson, John Carter Cash, Mike Patton, and Hank Williams III in the American Masters film "Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues". His song "Swampblood" can be heard on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack for HBO's True Blood series. Wilkes is a resident of Paducah, Kentucky and is the author of two books, The Vine That Ate The South and Barn Dances and Jamborees Across Kentucky.
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Tripp Gibson
- Occupations
- athlete
- Biography
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Hal Harrison Gibson III, known as Tripp Gibson, is an American Major League Baseball umpire who wears uniform number 73. Gibson's first Major League game was July 8, 2013, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. He was promoted to a full-time position in January 2015. Prior to his hiring, he worked as a substitute teacher during the offseason.
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Ivan Aska
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Ivan Aska is a U.S. Virgin Islander-Puerto Rican professional basketball player for the New Taipei CTBC DEA of the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL). He has also represented the senior men's U.S. Virgin Islands national basketball team. He played college basketball for Murray State's Racers. He is a 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) tall power forward-center.
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Jarvis Williams
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Reigarvius Jacquez "Jarvis" Williams is an American professional basketball player for Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. Standing at 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), he plays at the power forward and center positions.
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Stew Johnson
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Stewart "Stew" Johnson is an American former professional basketball player. A 6'8" (2.03 m) tall forward/center from Murray State University, who was born in New York City, Johnson was selected by the New York Knicks in the third round of the 1966 NBA draft. However, Johnson never played in the NBA, joining the rival American Basketball Association instead.
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John Powless
- Years
- 1932-2021 (aged 89)
- Occupations
- tennis playerbasketball coachbasketball playercoach
- Biography
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John Dale Powless was an American basketball and tennis player and coach at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a player on the international senior tennis circuit.
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Forrest Pogue
- Occupations
- military historianhistorian of Modern Age
- Biography
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Forrest Carlisle Pogue Jr. was an official United States Army historian during World War II. He was a proponent of oral history techniques, and collected many oral histories from the war under the direction of chief Army historian S. L. A. Marshall. Forrest Pogue was for many years the Executive Director of the George C. Marshall Foundation as well as Director of the Marshall Library located on the campus of Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia.
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Vicki Ann Funk
- Enrolled in Murray State University
- Graduated with master's degree
- Occupations
- botanical collectorbotanistcurator
- Biography
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Vicki Ann Funk was an American botanist and curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, known for her work on members of the composite family (Asteraceae) including collecting plants in many parts of the world, as well as her synthetic work on phylogenetics and biogeography.
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Steven H. David
- Occupations
- judge
- Biography
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Steven H. David is a former justice of the Indiana Supreme Court. David previously served as a lawyer and military officer. He retired from the United States Army Reserve in September 2010 with the rank of colonel.
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Brent Yonts
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Brent Yonts was an American politician and a Democratic member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from District 15. He took office in 1997 and was defeated for re-election in 2016 by Republican Melinda Gibbons Prunty.
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Pat Spurgin
- Occupations
- sport shooter
- Biography
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Karen Patricia "Pat" Pitney is an American university administrator, former Alaska state government official, and Olympic gold medalist. She is the president of the University of Alaska system.
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Mark Riggins
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Mark Alan Riggins is an American former professional baseball coach.
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Dominique Rhymes
- Occupations
- athlete
- Biography
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Dominique Rhymes is an American professional football wide receiver for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
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Fats Everett
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Robert Ashton "Fats" Everett was an American Democratic Congressman from Tennessee from February 1, 1958, until his death in 1969.
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Harry Lee Waterfield
- Occupations
- politicianpublisher
- Biography
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Harry Lee Waterfield, an American Democratic politician, he served as the 42nd and 44th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and unsuccessfully sought election as Governor of Kentucky.
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Steven Rudy
- Years
- 1978-.. (age 47)
- Occupations
- teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Steven Jack Rudy is an American politician and agribusiness owner who has served as a Republican member of the Kentucky House of Representatives since January 2005. He represents Kentucky's 1st House district, which includes Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton, and Hickman counties as well as part of McCracken County.
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De'Teri Mayes
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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De'Teri Mayes is a former Austrian-American professional basketball player.
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William T. Redmond
- Occupations
- politicianteacherinstructorwriterpriest
- Biography
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William Thomas Redmond is an American politician and minister who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New Mexico.
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Richard Heath
- Years
- 1955-.. (age 70)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Richard Heath is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 2012 to 2025. He represented Kentucky's 2nd House district, which included Graves County and part of McCracken County.
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Taghreed El-Khodary
- Born in
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Palestine - Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Taghreed El-Khodary is a Palestinian journalist who is a visiting scholar in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment, where her research focuses on the future of Gaza. She is also a 2010 Heinrich Boell Fellow. She is editor at fanack.com,
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Mark Evitts
- Born in
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United States - Occupations
- mandolinistfiddlersongwriter
- Biography
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Mark Steven Evitts is an Emmy nominated American composer, producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Evitts has worked with such artists as Nas, Hit-Boy, G Herbo, Cheat Codes, Train, Blues Traveler, Jewel, Rodney Atkins, The Band Perry, Secondhand Serenade, Katharine McPhee, Drew Seeley, Jaida Dreyer, We The Kings, among many others.
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Bryce Jones
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Bryce Tyler Jones Jr., is an American professional basketball player who plays for Igokea of the ABA league.
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Stanley H. Humphries
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Stanley Harold "Stan" Humphries is an American teacher, farmer, and politician. He represented District 1 in the Kentucky State Senate. He was elected in 2012 to succeed fellow Republican Senator Kenneth W. Winters of Murray serving until January 1, 2021. He did not seek a third term in the senate in 2020.
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Kerry B. Harvey
- Years
- 1957-.. (age 68)
- Biography
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Kerry B. Harvey is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2010 to 2017. He was secretary of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet from 2021 to 2024.
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Isaac Spencer
- Years
- 1977-.. (age 48)
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Isaac Spencer, is an American professional basketball player. At 6'6", he played as a forward.
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Kenneth W. Winters
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Kenneth W. Winters is Kentucky politician who served in the Kentucky State Senate and as president of Campbellsville University.
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Myron Dossett
- Years
- 1961-.. (age 64)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Myron Blane Dossett is an American politician who has served as a Republican member of the Kentucky House of Representatives since January 2007. He represents Kentucky's 9th House district, which includes part of Christian County.
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William F. Paxton
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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William F. Paxton III, better known to his friends as Bill, is a conservative politician who served as Mayor of Paducah, KY from 2000 to 2012. Before his tenure as the Mayor of Paducah, Paxton served a portion of an elected term from 1998 as a City Commissioner.
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Bryant Wallizer
- Occupations
- sport shooter
- Biography
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Bryant Wallizer is an American rifle shooter. He won a bronze medal in the 10 m air rifle at the 2015 Pan American Games.
