| Name |
Class year |
Notability |
Reference |
| Mike Bernard |
|
Basketball player; the first from KSU to be drafted by the NBA in 1970 (Cincinnati Royals) |
|
| Dr. Henry E. Cheaney |
1936 |
Educator and nationally-recognized expert on the history of African Americans in Kentucky |
|
| Anna Mac Clarke |
1941 |
Member of Women’s Army Corps during WWII; 1st African American officer of an all-white company |
|
| Tom Colbert |
|
first African-American Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice |
|
| Travis Grant |
|
College basketball star on Kentucky State University's 1970, 1971, and 1972 NAIA National Championship teams. Grant holds the NCAA All-Divisions all-time record for field goals in a career (1,760), as well as the all-time total points record in NCAA All-Divisions history (4,045). He also held NAIA records for Career Points Average (33.4, fourth on the NCAA All-Divisions list) and Field Goals in a Season (539). He is fourth on the NCAA All-Divisions list for Total Points in a Season with 1304 points and eleventh for Single-Season Average with 39.5 in 1972. In 1970, he scored 75 points in a game versus Northwood. Won the NAIA Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player Award in 1971 and 1972. Earned NCAA Division II First Team All-American honors in 1971 and 1972. Selected number 13 in the 1972 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers and played four seasons in the NBA and American Basketball Association, averaging 15.7 points per game, including 25.2 in the '73-74 season for the San Diego Conquistadors |
[1] |
| Rod Hill |
|
Former professional football player who played six seasons in the NFL (1982-1987) and later starred in the CFL |
|
| Cletidus Hunt |
|
former professional football player who played six seasons in the NFL (1999-2004) |
|
| Paul William Lawrence Jones |
1898 |
Educator, historian and athlete; preserved much of what Kentucky State now has in the way of books and documents about the early years of Kentucky State; started some of the 1st football, baseball & track teams at KSU, known as the “Father of Athletics” at Kentucky State |
|
| Eric Lemon |
|
Christian rap artist known as "J-Heir" |
|
| James L. McCullin |
1941 |
Tuskegee Airman officer whose plane was lost over Sicily during WWII |
|
| Marcus Pittman |
|
Christian rap artist known as "The Novelist" |
|
| Ersa Hines Poston |
1942 |
first African American to head the United States Civil Service Commission; appointed by Pres. Carter and confirmed by the Senate; 1st Black to hold a presidential cabinet position |
|
| James Robertson |
|
college football standout |
|
| H.C. Russell, Jr. |
|
Ensign in the United States Coast Guard during WWII; became the third African American commissioned officer in the Coast Guard; later became executive with Coca Cola |
|
| Winnie A. Scott |
1890 |
Educator and helped establish a hospital for African Americans in Frankfort; member of first graduating class at Kentucky State |
|
| Sam Sibert |
|
former college basketball standout; Drafted as the 19th player in the 1972 NBA Draft by the Cincinnati Royals; |
|
| Frank Simpson |
1942 |
Educator; high school principal for 21 years and administrator in the Louisville schools system |
|
| Moneta Sleet Jr. |
1947 |
photographer for Ebony, won a Pulitzer Prize for his picture of Coretta Scott King at the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr. |
|
| Effie Waller Smith |
ca. 1900 |
Educator & poet; poet James Still called her “Kentucky’s Emily Dickinson” |
|
| Elmore Smith |
|
NBA and college basketball player, who is listed among the top rebounders in college basketball history, starred on KSU's 1970 and 1971 national championship teams. Holds the NAIA records for Rebounds in a Season (799 in 1971 also tops on the NCAA All-Divisions list, as well as being eighth with 682 in 1970) and Career Average (22.6, seventh on the NCAA All-Divisions list), while ranking eighth on the NCAA All-Divisions Career list with 1719 total despite being the only player in the top 10 to play only three seasons. Earned NCAA Division II First Team All-American honors in 1971. A seven-foot center, Smith played in the NBA for eight seasons (1971-1979) and was the third overall pick in the 1971 NBA Draft for the Buffalo Braves; listed amongst all-time greatest shot-blockers in NBA history even though that statistic was only recorded for six of his seasons. Held the NBA Single-Season Block Shots Record of 393 while with the LA Lakers 1973-4 (Broken in 1984-5, but still a Lakers Record). |
[2] |
| Herb Trawick |
1942 |
first black man to play in the Canadian Football League; seven-time all star and a Grey Cup champion; was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1975. |
|
| Luska Twyman |
1938 |
Former mayor of Glasgow, Ky; first Black mayor of a Kentucky city |
|
| Dr. Harrison B. Wilson |
1950 |
became the second President of Norfolk State College in 1975 |
|
| Midnight Starr |
|
1980s R&B group |
|
| Whitney M. Young Jr. |
1941 |
former civil rights leader, educator and executive; former Executive Director who led the National Urban League through its most prosperous period;served many presidential commissions including as a Vietnam elections observer in 1967 |
|
| Joseph Kendall |
1938 |
former All-American Quarterback; Nicknamed "Tarzan" for his athletic prowess, dominated black college football in the 1930s while leading Kentucky State to a national championship in 1934; led the Thorobreds to a 1935 Orange Blossom Classic victory over Florida A&M en route to an impressive 29-7-3 overall record during his playing years; a three-time First Team All-America selection from 1934-36 by the Pittsburgh Courier, is the first person in KSU history to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame; inducted into the Kentucky State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1975; following his player career, served as a coach, teacher and school principal; as a result of his significant contributions as a recreational director in Owensboro , Ky. , a park was named in his honor. |
[3] |
| Marsha Harpool |
|
First African-American Mayor of the city of Blountstown, Florida (2007) |
|
