39 Notable alumni of
Samford University
Updated:
Samford University is 1383rd in the world, 491st in North America, and 460th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 39 notable alumni from Samford 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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Tony Hale
- Occupations
- television actorvoice actorfilm actorcomedian
- Biography
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Anthony Russell Hale is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his role in the Fox comedy series Arrested Development as Buster Bluth. Hale played Gary Walsh on the HBO comedy Veep from 2012 until its conclusion in 2019, for which he won the 2013 and 2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
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Doug Jones
- Enrolled in Samford University
- In 1979 graduated with Juris Doctor
- Occupations
- prosecutorpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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Gordon Douglas Jones is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Alabama from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Jones was previously the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 1997 to 2001.
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Bobby Bowden
- Occupations
- journalistplayer of American footballhead coach
- Biography
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Robert Cleckler Bowden was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college football coaches of all time for his accomplishments with the Seminoles.
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R. G. Armstrong
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Robert Golden Armstrong Jr. was an American character actor and playwright. A veteran performer who appeared in dozens of Westerns during his 40-year career, he may be best remembered for his work with director Sam Peckinpah.
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Gail Patrick
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision producer
- Biography
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Gail Patrick was an American film actress and television producer. Often cast as the bad girl or the other woman, she appeared in more than 60 feature films between 1932 and 1948, notably My Man Godfrey (1936), Stage Door (1937), and My Favorite Wife (1940).
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Mamoru Shō
- Biography
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Mamoru Shō is an ethnic Ryukyuan, and the current head of the Shō family, the former Ryūkyūan royal family.
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Mary Anderson
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Mary Bebe Anderson was an American actress, who appeared in 31 films and 22 television productions between 1939 and 1965. She was best known for her small supporting role in the film Gone With the Wind as well as one of the main characters in Alfred Hitchcock's 1944 film Lifeboat.
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Albert Mohler
- Enrolled in Samford University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- writertheologianpreacherchancellor
- Biography
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Richard Albert Mohler Jr. is an American evangelical theologian, the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and host of the podcast The Briefing, where he daily analyzes the news and recent events from an evangelical perspective.
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Jim Folsom
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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James Elisha Folsom Sr., commonly known as Jim Folsom or Big Jim Folsom, was an American politician who served as the 42nd governor of the U.S. state of Alabama, having served from 1947 to 1951, and again from 1955 to 1959. He was the first Governor of Alabama born in the 20th century.
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Deidre Downs
- Occupations
- beauty pageant contestantobstetricianmodelphysician
- Biography
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Deidre Downs Gunn is an American physician and former beauty pageant titleholder. Downs was Miss Alabama 2004 and later was crowned Miss America 2005.
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Ed Stetzer
- Enrolled in Samford University
- In 1998 graduated with Doctor of Ministry
- Occupations
- editorwriter
- Biography
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Edward John Stetzer is an American author, pastor, and Christian missiologist. He is Dean and Professor of Leadership and Christian Ministry at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He also serves as Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Wycliffe Hall at Oxford University. Stetzer is Regional Director for Lausanne North America, the Editor-in-Chief of Outreach (magazine), and regularly writes for USA Today and CNN.
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Jennifer Pharr Davis
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Jennifer Pharr Davis is a long distance hiker from the United States of America who serves on the President's Council for Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. She has been called "the Serena Williams of long distance hiking" by Baratunde Thurston and is also an author, speaker, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, and Ambassador for the American Hiking Society. She has hiked over 14,000 miles on six different continents, including thru-hikes on the Pacific Crest Trail, the Appalachian Trail (three times), the Colorado Trail, the Long Trail in Vermont, the Bibbulmun Track in Australia, and numerous trails in Europe and South America (e.g., the Tour du Mont Blanc, West Highland Way, Laugavegur, GR 11 (Spain), GR 20, and the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, Cotahuasi Canyon and the Inca Trail.
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Kevin C. Newsom
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Kevin Christopher Newsom is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
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Andrew L. Brasher
- Occupations
- judgelawyer
- Biography
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Andrew Lynn Brasher is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. He is a former solicitor general of Alabama.
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Wayne Flynt
- Occupations
- professorhistorian
- Biography
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James Wayne Flynt is University Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at Auburn University. He has won numerous teaching awards and been a Distinguished University Professor for many years. His research focuses on Southern culture, Alabama politics, Southern religion, education reform, and poverty. He was the first Editor-in-Chief of the online Encyclopedia of Alabama. Flynt received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard College (shortly before its reorganization as Samford University) in 1961 before taking his Master of Science (1962) and Ph.D. (1965) from Florida State University. After teaching at Samford for 12 years, he joined the faculty at Auburn University in 1977, where he remained until his retirement in 2005. He was a friend of author Harper Lee.
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Phillip Ervin
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Phillip S. Ervin is an American professional baseball outfielder for the New Jersey Jackals of the Frontier League. Prior to playing professionally, Ervin attended Samford University, where he played college baseball for the Bulldogs. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds and Seattle Mariners.
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Jody Hunt
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Joseph Harold Hunt is an American lawyer. He was the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice from September 2018 to July 2020.
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Dennis A. Ross
- Enrolled in Samford University
- Graduated with Juris Doctor
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Dennis Alan Ross is an American businessman and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019. A Republican from Florida, his district was numbered as Florida's 12th congressional district during his first two years in Congress, and it was numbered as the 15th district during his last six years in Congress.
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Travis Peterson
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Travis James Peterson is an American former professional basketball player who last played for Lietuvos rytas of the Lithuanian League. The 6 foot 10 inch tall center/power forward is a former NCAA Division 1 collegiate athlete. He played five seasons (2003–2008) at Samford University under head coach, Jimmy Tillette, mostly playing the center position. He graduated from Samford in 2008. He attended Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale, Arizona which is where he was born and raised.
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Eric Motley
- Occupations
- official
- Biography
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Eric Lamar Motley is the Deputy Director of the National Gallery of Art, located in Washington, D.C.
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Scott Dawson
- Years
- 1967-.. (age 57)
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Scott Dawson is an American author and preacher, and the founder of the Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association (SDEA), and of the Strength to Stand Conference movement.
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Elizabeth Futral
- Occupations
- musicianopera singer
- Biography
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Susan Elizabeth Futral is an American coloratura soprano who has won acclaim (as both singer and actress) throughout the United States as well as in Europe, South America, and Japan.
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David O. Dykes
- Years
- 1953-.. (age 71)
- Occupations
- religious servant
- Biography
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Dr. David O. Dykes is Pastor Emeritus and the former Senior Pastor of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas. He is also the author of several Christian books. Under his leadership Green Acres became "one of the leading churches in America," according to president of the SBC Executive Committee Morris Chapman.
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Bill Foster
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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David William Foster is an American attorney and former mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida. He was elected in 2009. Before being elected mayor Foster served on the city council and worked as a lawyer.
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Stacey Pickering
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Stacey Eugene Pickering is from Laurel, Mississippi, United States. Pickering has served as a Mississippi State Senator, as State Auditor of Mississippi, and as executive director of the Mississippi Veterans Affairs Board.
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Joseph H. Acklen
- Occupations
- lawyerpoliticianornithologistzoologist
- Biography
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Joseph Hayes Acklen was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana from 1878 to 1881.
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Patrick N. Millsaps
- Occupations
- film producerlawyer
- Biography
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Patrick Neill Millsaps is an American attorney and film producer.
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John Trotwood Moore
- Occupations
- novelistjournalistwriter
- Biography
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John Trotwood Moore was an American journalist, writer and local historian. He was the author of many poems, short stories and novels. He served as the State Librarian and Archivist of Tennessee from 1919 to 1929. He created Moore Academy in Pine Apple, Alabama in 1883. He was "an apologist for the Old South", and a proponent of lynching.
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W. C. Morrow
- Occupations
- novelistwritershort story writeressayist
- Biography
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William Chambers Morrow was an American writer, now noted mainly for his short stories of horror and suspense. He is probably best known for the much-anthologised story "His Unconquerable Enemy" (1889), about the implacable revenge of a servant whose limbs have been amputated on the orders of a cruel rajah.
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Ryan McDaniel
- Occupations
- player of American football
- Biography
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Ryan McDaniel is an American football wide receiver for the Atlanta Havoc of the American Arena League (AAL). He played collegiately at Samford University.
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Omar Truman Burleson
- Occupations
- lawyersecretarypoliticianspecial agent
- Biography
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Omar Truman Burleson was an attorney, judge, FBI agent and veteran of World War II when he was first elected in 1946 as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Texas's 17th congressional district. He was re-elected to Congress from this rural district for more than 30 years, resigning in December 1978 rather than run again for office.
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Lem Johns
- Occupations
- Secret Service agent
- Biography
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Thomas Lemuel "Lem" Johns was a member of the United States Secret Service present during the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the first inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson.
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Ehren Wassermann
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Ehren Josef Wassermann is a former professional baseball player and coach. He currently serves as the head coach for John Carroll Catholic High School. A right-handed sidearm pitcher, Wassermann made his Major League Baseball debut with the Chicago White Sox on July 20, 2007, against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, retiring both batters faced.
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Andrew Price
- Years
- 1854-1909 (aged 55)
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Andrew Price was an American lawyer and politician who served four terms as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana from 1889 to 1897.
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Glenn Hearn
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Glenn Hubbard Hearn was an American politician who served as mayor of Huntsville, Alabama, from 1964 to 1968. He also served as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1941 until becoming mayor, and as the senior agent in charge of the North Alabama division since 1944.
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Michael F. Bolin
- Occupations
- judgelawyer
- Biography
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Michael Franklyn Bolin is an American lawyer and jurist from Alabama. He served as an associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court from 2005 to 2023.
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Brett Hage
- Years
- 1974-.. (age 50)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Brett Hage is a Republican former member of the Florida Legislature representing the state's 33rd House district, which included Sumter County as well as parts of Lake and Marion counties, from 2018 to 2022. Hage announced in April 2022 that he would not seek reelection.
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John Hall Buchanan, Jr
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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John Hall Buchanan Jr. was an American politician who served as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1965 to 1981, representing Alabama's 6th congressional district.
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Noah Caton
- Occupations
- player of American football
- Biography
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Noah Winston Caton was an American football player and track star for the Auburn Tigers of Auburn University. Caton was thrice selected All-Southern. He was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. His older brother Eugene was also a prominent Auburn football player.
