Famous People from Kansas' Past

HOMEPAGE * FAMOUS PEOPLE

List One

John Brown
George Washington Carver
Buffalo Bill Cody
Charles Curtis
Amelia Earhart
Robert Merrel Gage
Wild Bill Hickok
Alf Landon

List Two

General Henry Leavenworth
Carry Nation
Frederic Remington
Mrs. Susanna Madora Salter
Sven Birger Sandzen
Dr. James Naismith
Dwight David Eisenhower
Menningers

Other Famous Kansans

Science:

Joe Engle (Chapman), astronaut
Ron Evans (St. Francis and Topeka), astronaut
Steve Hawley (Ottawa and Salina), astronaut
Clyde Tombaugh (Burdette), astronomer, discovered Pluto in 1930
Jack Kilby (Great Bend) invention of the microchip - some 40 years ago

Kilby with microchip

Politics:

Mabel Chase (Kiowa County), first woman county sheriff in United States
Robert Dole (Russell), United States senator
Georgia Neese Clark Gray (Richland), first woman treasurer of the United States
Nancy L. Kassebaum (Topeka), United States senator

Sports:

Glenn Cunningham (Elkhart), track
Lynn Dickey (Osawatomie), football
Walter Johnson (Humboldt), baseball
John Riggins (Centralia), football
Jim Ryun (Wichita), track
Tom Watson (Overland Park), golf
Jess Willard (Emmett), boxing
Lynette Woodard (Wichita), basketball

Performing Artists:

Edward Asner (Kansas City)
Marj Dusay (Hays)
Don Johnson (Galena and Wichita)
Buster Keaton (Piqua)
Shirley Knight (Lyons)
Vera Miles (Wichita)
Charles "Buddy" Rogers (Olathe)
Milburn Stone (Burrton)
John Cameron Swayze (Wichita)
Fay Tincher (Topeka)
Sidney Toler (Wichita)
Vivian Vance (Cherryvale)
Lyle Waggoner (Kansas City)
Samuel Ramey (Colby)

Others:

Debra Barnes (Moran), Miss America (1968)
Henry Block (Mission Hills), founder of H & R Block
Deborah Bryant (Overland Park), Miss America (1966)
Walter P. Chrysler (Wamego and Ellis), founder of Chrysler Corporation
Peggy Hull (Bennington), first accredited woman war correspondent in the United States
Stan Kenton (Wichita), Big Band leader
Emmett Kelly (Sedan), circus clown
Mike Love (Hutchinson), member of the Beach Boys
Rudolph Wendelin (Rawlins County), drew "Smokey the Bear"