The school was chartered in 1886 and opened in 1887 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons. In 1890, the U.S. Government made the school a land grant institution. In 1902, the name of the school was changed to the Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons, which was changed again in 1926 to the Kentucky State Industrial College for Colored Persons. In 1938, the school became known as the Kentucky State College for Negroes (the "for Negroes" was dropped in 1952). The college became a full-fledged university in 1972. In 1973, Kentucky State offered its first graduate programs.
An adjoining high school was in operation from the late 1890s until the early 1930s.
| Name |
Class year |
Notability |
References |
| Yingluck Shinawatra |
1991 |
The 28th and first female Prime Minister of Thailand |
|
| Michael 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 otherwise all-white company |
|
| Tom Colbert |
|
First African-American Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice |
|
| Davey 'Wiz' Whitney |
1953 |
former head basketball coach at Texas Southern University and Alcorn State University. One of the winningest coaches in HBCU basketball. Inducted into National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame |
|
| 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 197A in the 1972 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers and played four seasons in the National Basketball Association 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 |
|
| 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 United States Senate |
|
| H.C. Russell, Jr. |
|
Ensign in the United States Coast Guard during WWII and 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; played for the Montreal Alouettes 1946-1957 and was a seven-time All-Star; played in 4 Grey Cup Championships, winning in 1949; 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 Star |
|
The group Midnight Star was formed in 1976 when the members were students at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, KY. Brothers Reginald Calloway, on trumpet, and Vincent Calloway, on trombone, both from Cincinnati, Ohio, were joined by vocalist Belinda Lipscomb from Louisville, KY. Beginning in 1980, the group's first albums (The Beginning, Standing Together and Victory) were recorded using studio musicians. A full band was later added with Melvin Gentry on guitar, Kenneth Gant on bass, Bobby Lovelace on drums, and Bo Watson on keyboard. Midnight Star was the only African American group with a platinum album in 1983, thanks to the huge success of the single (and album) No Parking on the Dance Floor. The single Freak-A-Zoid was number two on the R&B charts. The group's success continued with the album Headlines becoming their third and final gold album. Later albums did not sell well, and the group broke up in 1990, the members going on to have other successful endeavors. In 1998 the group members reunited as Midnight Star, minus the Calloway brothers, and they often perform in Kentucky. |
|
| 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) |
|
| Jayjay Helterbrand |
|
Filipino Player of the Barangay Ginebra Kings in the Philippine Basketball Association, 2008-09 Philippine Basketball Association MVP |
|
| Ezzret Anderson |
|
One of the first African Americans from a predominantly African American school to play professional football when he joined the Los Angeles Dons of the old All-American Football Conference in 1947. He also played with the Los Angeles Mustangs. He played for the Hollywood Bears in the Pacific Coast League when they won the title. |
|
| Margaret Elizabeth Sallee Barnes |
1900 |
Taught school for four years in Harrodsburg, KY, before marrying James D. Barnes and moving to Oberlin, OH, in 1904. Was editor of the Girl's Guide and of the Queen's Gardens, official publication of the Ohio Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. The organization was developed in the early 1930s by Barnes, who also served as the president. Barnes also was in charge of a million dollar drive for funds at Wilberforce University; in 1939 she had been appointed a trustee at Wilberforce by Ohio Governor John Bricker. A building on the campus was named in her honor and Barnes received an honorary doctor of humanties degree. She was a leader among African American women in the Republican Party and was a delegate-at-large for the Republican State Convention in 1940. The Margaret Barnes Welfare Club, established in 1930, was named in her honor. The club belonged to both the national and the Ohio Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. |
|
| Walter D. Bean |
1935 |
Teacher, principal, and supervisor with the Indianapolis Public Schools, and the first African American administrator and recruiter for African American teachers. He helped integrate the Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity at Butler University In 1956 when he became the first African American chartered member. He was also the second African American member of the USA American Association of School Personnel Administrators. |
|
| Anthany Beatty Sr. |
|
In 2001, he became the first African American Chief of Police in Lexington, KY. In 2007, he retired from the Lexington Police Department and became Assistant Vice President for Public Safety at the University of Kentucky. |
|
| James T. Beaumont |
|
Elected the first African American councilman in La Grange, KY. in 1969. |
|