List of Hampden–Sydney College alumni

This is a list of notable alumni of Hampden–Sydney College, including graduates and non-graduates. Individuals are sorted by category and alphabetized within each category. The Alumni Association of Hampden–Sydney College considers all former students to be members, whether they graduated or not, and does not generally differentiate between graduates and non-graduates when identifying alumni. Currently, Hampden-Sydney has an estimated 8,000 living alumni.

Arts and entertainment

• William H. Armstrong: teacher, author of the Newbery Medal-winning Sounder; Class of 1936
• Tyler Barstow: co-founder of Vinyl Me, Please;^[1] Class of 2010
• Stephen Colbert: comedian, host of The Late Show on CBS; studied philosophy for two years before transferring to Northwestern University and graduating in 1986^[2]
• Scott Cooper: actor, writer, producer of films, Gods and Generals, Broken Trail; directed and wrote screenplay for the Academy-Award winning film Crazy Heart; Class of 1992 ^[3]
• J. Tayloe Emery: producer, journalist, writer, photographer, director; One by One Global AIDS/HIV PSA; in 2005 produced the Emmy-nominated anti-poverty commercial for Bono's ONE Campaign; Class of 1992
• William Hoffman: author of Tidewater Blood, winner of the O. Henry Prize and the Dashiell Hammett Award; Class of 1949
• Michael Knight: author of short stories, novels, and screenplays; winner of the Playboy Fiction Writing Contest; Class of 1992
• Thomas B. Mason: U.S. attorney; actor, Mississippi Burning, Crimes of the Heart and Gods and Generals; Class of 1940
• John Phillips: musician, member of The Mamas & the Papas; attended but did not graduate; Class of 1956
• Robert Porterfield: founder of the Barter Theatre, attended, did not graduate, but received honorary degree of Doctor of Letters for his work in the theatre in 1948
• Fred Reed: author, Nekkid in Austin,^[4] former staff reporter for The Washington Times and Soldier of Fortune; Class of 1968
• William Smithers: actor, TV and film, Dallas, Papillion, Scorpio, Star Trek;^[5] attended 1946-1948 before transferring to Catholic University to study acting; Class of 1950
• Skipp Sudduth: actor, Third Watch, Ronin; Class of 1979^[6]

Business

• Robert Citrone: billionaire hedge fund manager of Discovery Capital Management; part owner of Pittsburgh Steelers; Class of 1987^[7]
• James Cook: senior vice president of The U.S. Russia Investment Fund (TUSRIF) and Delta Capital Management; co-founder of Aurora Russia Limited^[8]
• Steven T. Huff: Chairman of TF Concrete Forming Systems; owner of Pensmore; Class of 1973^[9]
• Maurice Jones: Rhodes Scholar; Secretary of Commerce and Trade for the State of Virginia; Class of 1986^[10]
• Alphonso O'Neil-White: first African-American student at the college; Chairman of the Board (retired) of Blue Cross/Blue Shield; Class of 1972^[11]

Education

• Willis Henry Bocock: first dean of The University of Georgia Graduate School, 1910–1928; prominent professor of Classics; Class of 1884
• Charles William Dabney: president of University of Cincinnati and University of Tennessee; Class of 1873
• George H. Denny: president of Washington and Lee University 1899-1911; president of the University of Alabama 1911-1936, and interim president in 1941; the on-campus football stadium at Alabama was named after him (named Denny Stadium when it opened in 1929; renamed Bryant–Denny Stadium in 1975 to honor coach Paul W. Bryant), as was the centerpiece of the campus's quadrangle, Denny Chimes; Class of 1891
• Landon Garland: president of Randolph-Macon College, president of the University of Alabama, and founding Chancellor of Vanderbilt University; Class of 1829
• Paul S. Trible, Jr.: president of Christopher Newport University; former U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative from Virginia; Class of 1968
• Moses Waddel: fifth President of the University of Georgia, 1819-1829; prominent educators of his time (many southern leaders studied under Waddel, including John C. Calhoun); Class of 1791

Law and politics

• George M. Bibb: Chief Justice of Kentucky; U.S. Senator from Kentucky; U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; Class of 1791
• Thomas S. Bocock: Speaker of the Confederate House; Class of 1838
• William Henry Brodnax: general of Virginia militia during the Nat Turner Rebellion; Virginia legislator
• Archibald C. Buchanan: Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia (1946–1969); author of Lucy v. Zehmer, a case involving mutual assent in contract known to first-year law school students
• Joseph C. Cabell: member of the Virginia General Assembly; Jefferson's "co-adjutor" in founding the University of Virginia; Class of 1800
• William H. Cabell: Governor of Virginia; judge on Virginia Supreme Court; Class of 1789
• Stokely G. Caldwell, Jr.: attorney for NASCAR drivers and sponsors; Class of 1978
• Judge Jeremiah Watkins Clapp (1814–1898), lawyer, planter and Confederate politician
• Clement C. Dickinson: United States Representative from Missouri
• John Wayles Eppes: United States Representative and Senator; Class of 1786
• John A. Field, Jr.: United States Federal Judge; Class of 1932
• Samuel Lightfoot Flournoy: West Virginia State Senator and lawyer; Class of 1868
• Thomas S. Flournoy: United States Representative and Confederate cavalry colonel in the Civil War
• Hamilton Rowan Gamble: Missouri state legislator; presiding judge in state supreme court; provisional (Unionist) governor of Missouri
• William Branch Giles: member of both houses of Congress; Governor of Virginia; Class of 1791
• Henry Bell Gilkeson: West Virginia Senator, West Virginia House of Delegates member, and Principal of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind
• Jim Harrell: North Carolina legislator
• William Henry Harrison: 9th president of the United States; Class of 1791
• Eugene Hickok: U.S. Under Secretary of Education; Acting Deputy Secretary of Education; former Secretary of Education of Pennsylvania; founding member and former chairman of the Education Leaders Council; Class of 1972
• Charles Hurt: D.C. bureau chief for the New York Post; former Capitol Hill Bureau Chief for the Washington Times; Class of 1995
• Robert Hurt: Congressman for Virginia's Fifth Congressional District; former member of the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates; Class of 1991
• Thomas M. Jackson, Jr.: president of the Virginia Board of Education; former member of the Virginia House of Delegates; Class of 1979
• James M. Jordan, Jr.: former campaign manager for presidential candidate John Kerry; Class of 1983
• John Thornton Knight: Brigadier General; Commandant of Cadets at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute; Chief Quartermaster, A.E.F; Class of 1880
• Thomas W. Ligon: Maryland delegate; U.S. Representative; Governor of Maryland; Class of 1830
• Jonathan L. Martin: senior political writer and blogger at Politico.com; Class of 1999^[12]
• Charles V. McPhillips: partner and Aattorney with the Law Firm of Kaufman and Canoles; National Alumni Association President; Class of 1982
• Elisha E. Meredith: Virginia state senator; United States Representative
• Harvey B. Morgan: retired pharmacist; member of the Virginia House of Delegates; Class of 1952
• Rod O'Connor: EVP Europe for AEG Facilities; Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Energy; CEO of the 2000 and 2004 Democratic National Conventions; political aide to Vice President Gore; trustee of X Prize Foundation; Class of 1992
• Chris Peace: member of the Virginia House of Delegates, 97th District; Class of 1998
• William Ballard Preston: U.S. Secretary of the Navy, 1849–1850; U.S. House of Representatives, 1847–1849; author of the "Preston Resolution", the bill of Virginia's secession; Class of 1824
• Sterling Price: aka "Old Pap," Governor of Missouri; Major General in Confederate Army; leader of Confederate Colony in Vera Cruz, Mexico; Class of 1830
• Roger Atkinson Pryor: U.S. Representative from Virginia; Brigadier General CSA; Justice of the New York Supreme Court; Class of 1845
• Samuel B. Pryor: first mayor of Dallas, Texas, 1856-1857; physician; Class of 1844
• Paul Reiber: Chief Justice of the Vermont State Supreme Court; Class of 1970
• Robert Christian Rickers: Treasurer of Lunenburg County Virginia; Class of 1999
• Alexander Rives: Judge of the Virginia Supreme Court; Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia; Class of 1825
• William Cabell Rives: U.S. Representative from Virginia; U.S. Senator; Minister to France; Confederate Representative; attended but did not graduate
• William Prescott Mills Schwind: attorney; partner at Fulbright & Jaworski; Class of 1993
• W. Sydnor Settle: retired partner at Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett; Class of 1955
• Julious P. Smith Jr.: CEO of Williams Mullen; Class of 1965
• William B. Spong, Jr.: U.S. Senator from Virginia; Class of 1941
• Robert Strange: U.S. Senator from North Carolina; author of Eoneguski ("the first North Carolina novel"); Class of 1814
• John Leighton Stuart: U.S. Ambassador to China, 1946–1949; President, Yenching University, Beijing, 1919–1946; Class of 1896
• Paul S. Trible, Jr.: former U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative from Virginia; current president of Christopher Newport University; Class of 1968
• Lee Trinkle: Governor of Virginia 1922-26; Class of 1896
• Abraham B. Venable: United States representative and senator from Virginia, first president of the First National Bank of Virginia
• Leighton D. Yates, Jr.: partner at Holland and Knight (Orlando); Class of 1968
• James R. Young: North Carolina insurance commissioner
• W. James Young: attorney; Staff Attorney, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc.; Class of 1986^[13]

Others

• MSG Matt Eversmann: Army Ranger who fought in the Battle of Mogadishu; portrayed by Josh Hartnett in the film Black Hawk Down; Class of 1988 (did not graduate due to enlistment in the Army, but was awarded an honorary degree in August 2000)^[14]
• Devin Galligan: cancer survivor and philanthropist; founder of "Strain the Brain" to help cancer patients in Nashville, Tennessee; Class of 1994 (completed degree at Fordham University)
• John S. Mosby: the "Gray Ghost"; Confederate colonel in charge of 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry known as Mosby's Raiders; Class of 1851 (did not graduate)
• John S. Preston: Confederate general in the American Civil War; South Carolina state senator; Class of 1824

Religion

• Thomas Atkinson: third Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina; one of the ten bishops who joined to found the University of the South: Sewanee; founder of Saint Augustine's University; Class of 1825^[15]
• Robert Lewis Dabney: theologian; Chief of Staff for Stonewall Jackson; biographer of Jackson; Confederate Army Chaplain; attended circa 1835-1836, graduated from the University of Virginia
• Edward Baptist: reverend; one of the co-founders and first instructor of University of Richmond; Class of 1813^[16]
• Henry H. "Chip" Edens III: Rector of Christ Church Episcopal, Charlotte, North Carolina; Class of 1992
• William Henry Foote: Presbyterian minister and historian; Doctor of Divinity from Hampden–Sydney College in 1847; served on its Board of Trustees 1851-1870^[17]
• Robert Atkinson Gibson: sixth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia (1902–1919)
• Nimrod Hughes: theologian, pamphleteer, land speculator; published sensationalist visions of an apocalyptic event in June 1812 which was discussed in the correspondence of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and John Taylor of Caroline; Class of 1794^[18][19][20]
• A. Heath Light: fourth Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Virginia; Class of 1951
• Frank Clayton "Clay" Matthews: Bishop for the Office of Pastoral Development for the Episcopal Church, formerly Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia; Class of 1970
• William R. Moody: third Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Lexington; founder of the Washington School of Religion; Class of 1922.
• Charles Clifton Penick: Missionary Bishop of the Episcopal Church; Bishop of Cape Palmas, West Africa (1825–1914)
• J. Dwight Pentecost: Christian theologian known for his book Things to Come; Distinguished Professor of Bible Exposition, Emeritus, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1955-2014; Class of 1937
• Francis A. Schaeffer: theologian, philosopher, Presbyterian pastor; known for writings and establishing the L'Abri community in Switzerland; author of A Christian Manifesto; Class of 1935
• Spenser C.D. Simrill: Dean of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Class of 1970

Science and medicine

• W. Randolph Chitwood Jr., MD: pioneered robotic cardiac surgery in the US for minimally invasive heart surgery; Class of 1968
• John Peter Mettauer: first plastic surgeon in US; Class of 1807
• Thomas D. Mütter, MD: surgeon; benefactor of Philadelphia tourist attraction Mütter Museum; Class of 1830^[21]
• John Armstrong Shackelford, MD: Johns Hopkins University; surgeon, Shackelford Hospital;^[22] surgeon-in-chief, Martinsville General Hospital, Martinsville, Virginia; Class of 1914^[23]

Sports

• James C. Hickey III: member of Fly Fishing Team USA; Class of 1993
• Bob Humphreys: pro baseball player; Class of 1958
• Tom Miller: NFL player; assistant GM of Green Bay Packers; member of Packers' Hall of Fame; Class of 1943
• Ryan Silverfield: member, assistant coach, Minnesota Vikings; Class of 2002
• Russell D. Turner: head men's basketball coach of UC Irvine; former assistant coach of the Golden State Warriors; Class of 1992
• Charles "Speedyfeet" Bull, Running Back; Class of 2010; President, Eastern NC Vernacular Association; Bookkeeping (Accounting) Manager, Pfizer

References