54 Notable alumni of
Texas State University
Updated:
Texas State University is 886th in the world, 325th in North America, and 304th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 54 notable alumni from Texas State 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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Lyndon B. Johnson
- Enrolled in Texas State University
- Studied in 1930
- Occupations
- statespersonpoliticianrancherteacher
- Biography
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Lyndon Baines Johnson, often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served as the 37th vice president from 1961 to 1963. A Democrat from Texas, Johnson also served as a U.S. representative and U.S. senator.
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Shawn Michaels
- Occupations
- screenwriterplayer of American footballactorprofessional wrestler
- Biography
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Michael Shawn Hickenbottom, better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative and oversees the creative aspects of the NXT brand, the promotion's developmental territory. Regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is known by the nicknames "The Heartbreak Kid" (often abbreviated as HBK), "The Showstopper", and "Mr. WrestleMania".
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George Strait
- Occupations
- film actorguitaristsingeractormusician
- Biography
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George Harvey Strait Sr. is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is credited for pioneering the neotraditional country style in the 1980s, famed for his authentic cowboy image and roots-oriented sound at a time when the Nashville music industry was dominated by country pop crossover acts. Given his influence on the genre, Strait has been named the "King of Country Music" by writers and music critics. Strait currently holds the record for most number one songs on all charts by an artist, in any genre of music."
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Powers Boothe
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actoractorstage actorvoice actor
- Biography
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Powers Allen Boothe was an American actor known for his commanding character actor roles on film and television. He received a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Lizzie Velasquez
- Enrolled in Texas State University
- Studied in 2012
- Occupations
- human rights activistautobiographerwritermotivational speaker
- Biography
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Elizabeth Anne Velásquez is an American motivational speaker, activist, writer, and YouTuber. She was born with an extremely rare congenital disease called Marfanoid–progeroid–lipodystrophy syndrome that, among other symptoms, prevents her from accumulating body fat and gaining weight. Her conditions resulted in bullying during her childhood. During her teenage years, she faced cyberbullying, which ultimately inspired her to take up motivational speaking.
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G. W. Bailey
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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George William Bailey is an American actor. Although he has appeared in many dramatic roles, he may be best remembered for his "crusty" comedic characters such as Staff Sergeant Luther Rizzo in M*A*S*H (TV series 1979–1983); Lieutenant/Captain Thaddeus Harris in the Police Academy films (1984–1994), and Captain Felix Maxwell in Mannequin (1987). He played the role of Detective Lieutenant Louie Provenza on TNT's television crime drama The Closer, and its spinoff series Major Crimes, from 2005 to 2018.
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Sasha Lane
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Sasha Lane is an American actress. She made her film debut in American Honey (2016), directed by Andrea Arnold, before portraying Hunter C-20 in the first season of the Disney+ television series Loki, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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Julie White
- Occupations
- stage actorvoice actortelevision actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Julie K. White is an American actress. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in The Little Dog Laughed in 2007. She has also received three other Tony Award nominations for her performances in Airline Highway in 2013, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus in 2019 and POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive in 2022. She played Sam Witwicky's mother in Transformers film series (2007-2011).
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Wesley Blake
- Occupations
- amateur wrestlerprofessional wrestler
- Biography
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Cory James Weston is an American professional wrestler currently working on the independent circuit under the ring name Westin Blake. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Wesley Blake.
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John Benjamin Hickey
- Occupations
- stage actorvoice actortelevision actorfilm actor
- Biography
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John Benjamin Hickey is an American actor with a career in stage, film and television. He won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Felix Turner in The Normal Heart.
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Beth Moore
- Occupations
- evangelistwriter
- Biography
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Wanda Elizabeth "Beth" Moore is an American Anglican evangelist, author, and Bible teacher. She is president of Living Proof Ministries, a Christian organization she founded in 1994 to teach women to know and love Jesus through the study of Scripture. Living Proof Ministries is based in Houston, Texas. Moore, who is "arguably the most prominent white evangelical woman in America," speaks at arena events and has sold millions of books.
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Tracy Scoggins
- Occupations
- television actormodelfilm actoractorfilm producer
- Biography
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Tracy Dawn Scoggins is an American actress and model. She began her career in Elite Model Management in New York City and European modeling circuit. She returned to the United States and studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio in the late 1970s. In early 1980s, Scoggins began appearing on television and film, notable playing main roles in the short-lived television series The Renegades (1983) and Hawaiian Heat (1984).
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Lance Hoyt
- Occupations
- actorprofessional wrestlerplayer of American football
- Biography
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Lance Hoyt is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Lance Archer. He also makes sporadic appearance for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is also known for his time with WWE as Vance Archer, and impact Wrestling (TNA) under his real name and as Lance Rock.
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Billy Gillispie
- Occupations
- baseball playerbasketball coach
- Biography
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Billy Clyde Gillispie, also known by his initials BCG and Billy Clyde, is an American college basketball and current men's basketball coach at Tarleton State. Gillispie had previously been head coach at UTEP, Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Texas Tech.
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Jesse Heiman
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Jesse Wayne Heiman is an American actor and comedian, best known for his uncredited work as an extra in a wide variety of films and television shows. He is also known for appearing in a GoDaddy commercial at Super Bowl XLVII, alongside Bar Refaeli and Danica Patrick.
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Griffon Ramsey
- Occupations
- sculptorscreenwritertelevision produceractor
- Biography
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Griffon E. Ramsey is an American chainsaw carving artist known for her pop-culture wood sculptures which have appeared at the Australian Chainsaw Carving Championships and the Butler Chainsaw Carving Invitational. Chip Chats magazine described her as a "world-famous" artist with an, "edgy and bold style" while VICE and Uproxx called her a "rock star of the art world" and noted her status as a female in a largely male-dominated field.
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Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk Koç is a former minister of Family, Labour and Social Services of Turkey.
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Emily Neves
- Occupations
- stage actorvoice actorscreenwriterdub director
- Biography
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Emily Marie Neves is an American voice actress, ADR director and script writer known for her work on English adaptations of Japanese anime shows and films. Some of her major voice roles include Kotomi Ichinose in Clannad, Kanade "Angel" Tachibana in Angel Beats, Minene Uryu in Future Diary, Yuko Kanoe in Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, Chelsea in Akame ga Kill!, Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi in Cross Ange, Toriko Nishina in Otherside Picnic, Ayase Shinomiya in Guilty Crown and Umaru Doma from Himouto! Umaru-chan. In 2005, she was a preliminary contestant for the fourth season of American Idol at the Las Vegas auditions, where she advanced to the Hollywood round and was eliminated. She was a resident actress at the Alley Theatre in Houston.
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Sunny Sweeney
- Occupations
- recording artistsinger-songwriter
- Biography
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Sunny Michaela Sweeney is an American country singer–songwriter. Since beginning her career, her recordings have been released through five studio albums. Her best-selling album was 2011's Concrete, which spawned three charting country singles.
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Demi Burnett
- Years
- 1995-.. (age 29)
- Biography
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Demi Gabrielle Elizabeth Burnett is an American television personality. She received national recognition after appearing as a contestant on season 23 of The Bachelor, but she was eliminated by Colton Underwood during week 6 of the show. After being eliminated from the show, she appeared on season six of Bachelor in Paradise in August 2019. She was also a guest star on season 15 of The Bachelorette. In 2021, Burnett returned to reality television for season seven of Bachelor in Paradise.
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Jeff Foster
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Jeffrey Douglas Foster is an American former professional basketball player who spent the entirety of his 13-year career with the Indiana Pacers of the NBA.
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Tony Levine
- Occupations
- restaurateurhead coach
- Biography
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Tony Levine is a former American football coach who last coached at Purdue as the special teams coordinator, co-offensive coordinator, and tight ends coach. He is a former head coach for the Houston Cougars football team. Levine now owns and operates a Chick-fil-A restaurant in the Houston suburb of Missouri City, Texas.
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Ricky Sanders
- Occupations
- player of American football
- Biography
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Ricky Wayne Sanders is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 12 seasons from 1983 to 1994, two with the United States Football League (USFL)'s Houston Gamblers and 10 in the National Football League (NFL) (eight seasons with the Washington Redskins and two with the Atlanta Falcons). He played running back, safety, and place kicker (on kickoffs) as a three-year letterman for Belton High School in Belton, Texas and broke five records.
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Sam Houston Johnson
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Samuel Houston Johnson was an American businessman. He was the younger brother of President Lyndon B. Johnson.
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Carson Smith
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Carson Donald Smith is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox. Listed at 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm) and 215 pounds (98 kg; 15 st 5 lb), he both bats and throws right-handed.
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Scott H. Biram
- Occupations
- songwritersinger
- Biography
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Scott H. Biram aka The Dirty Old One Man Band is an American musician whose music draws from a variety of styles, including blues, punk and outlaw country. One of the prominent musicians of the one-man band musical genre, Biram has appeared on national television shows such as NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and performed in prestigious and legendary venues such as Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, CBGB in New York City, Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California, The Fillmore in San Francisco, California, Roxy Theater in West Hollywood, California, The Roundhouse in London, United Kingdom, and Paradiso in Amsterdam, Netherlands. His music has been featured in many American television shows and films. He has also appeared as himself in several films and documentaries. The Dirty Old One Man Band has continuously toured in the U.S., Canada, and Europe since 1998.
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Amelia Gray
- Occupations
- screenwriternovelist
- Biography
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Amelia Gray is an American writer. She is the author of the short story collections AM/PM (Featherproof Books), Museum of the Weird (Fiction Collective Two), and Gutshot (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and the novels THREATS (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and Isadora (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Gray has been shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and her television writing has been nominated for a WGA Award.
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Annika Newell
- Occupations
- athletics competitor
- Biography
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Anicka Newell is a Canadian pole vaulter.
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Tony Bishop
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Tony Cal Bishop Jr. is an American-born Panamanian professional basketball player who last played for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He played college basketball for Texas State University.
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Heloise
- Years
- 1951-.. (age 73)
- Occupations
- columnist
- Biography
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Ponce Kiah Marchelle Heloise Cruse Evans, best known by her pen name Heloise, is an American writer, author, and speaker specializing in lifestyle hints, including consumer issues, pets, travel, food, home improvement, and health. Heloise's father was in the Air Force, and like many military brats she moved frequently.
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Mark D. Kelly
- Years
- 1960s
- Occupations
- military leader
- Biography
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Mark Damon Kelly is a general in the United States Air Force who currently serves as the commander of Air Combat Command. He previously served as the deputy chief of staff for operations from August 2018 to August 2020. General Mark D. Kelly is a command pilot with more than 6,000 flying hours. His pilot experience is including 800 combat hours in Tactical Fighter-Aircraft.
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Jim Warren
- Occupations
- businesspersoncomputer scientist
- Biography
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Jim Warren was an American mathematics and computing educator, computer professional, entrepreneur, editor, publisher and continuing sometime activist.
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Herman Chinery-Hesse
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Herman Kojo Chinery-Hesse is a Ghanaian technology entrepreneur and the founder of theSOFTtribe, the oldest and largest software company in Ghana. He is popularly known as "the Bill Gates of Africa". Chinery-Hesse also made the list of 15 Black STEM Innovators. In March 2019, he was introduced as the Commonwealth Chair for Business and Technology Initiatives for Africa.
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Nelva Gonzales Ramos
- Occupations
- judgelawyer
- Biography
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Nelva Gonzales Ramos is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
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Aaron Brewer
- Occupations
- player of American football
- Biography
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Aaron Jamal Brewer is an American football center for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas State, and signed with the Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2020.
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Scott Linebrink
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Scott Cameron Linebrink is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He attended Texas State University before getting drafted, but finished his degree after his retirement at Concordia University (Texas) in Austin.
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Michael N Schmitt
- Years
- 1956-.. (age 68)
- Occupations
- university teacheracademicjurist
- Biography
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Michael N. Schmitt is an American international law scholar specializing in international humanitarian law, use of force issues, and the international law applicable to cyberspace. He is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Reading, the G. Norman Lieber Distinguished Scholar at the Lieber Institute of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the Charles H. Stockton Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the US Naval War College.
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William H. Love
- Years
- 1957-.. (age 67)
- Occupations
- priest
- Biography
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William Howard Love is an American prelate. Love was the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, and he served in that role from 2007 until January 31, 2021. Beginning in April 2021, Love has served as Assistant Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word.
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Nina G. Vaca
- Born in
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Ecuador - Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Nina Vaca is an Ecuadorian-born American entrepreneur. She is the chairperson and CEO of Pinnacle Group, a large provider of information technology and workforce solutions in US and Canada with around 5000 employees, which was named among the Fastest-Growing Women-Owned Business in the United States by the Women Presidents' Organization in 2018. The story of Nina Vaca and Pinnacle Group opens the Entrepreneur chapter of the McGraw-Hill textbook, "Understanding Business". Vaca was named one of the top 100 CEO’s in STEM publication by STEM connector.
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David M. Medina
- Occupations
- judgelawyer
- Biography
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David Michael Medina is a former Justice of the nine-member Texas Supreme Court. He served in the Place 4 position. He was appointed by Governor Rick Perry in 2004 and subsequently elected to a full-term in 2006. Medina was defeated in the Republican runoff election in 2012 by John P. Devine. His tenure ended on December 31, 2012. All members of the court are Republican.
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Charles Grethen
- Occupations
- middle-distance runner
- Biography
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Charles Grethen is a Luxembourgish middle-distance runner competing primarily in the 800 and 1500 metres. He represented his country at three consecutive European Championships.
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Louis Head
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Louis Gibson Head is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He was drafted in the 18th round of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft by the Cleveland Indians. Head played college baseball for the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas State Bobcats. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins, and Baltimore Orioles.
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Jesse Sublett
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Jesse Sublett is a musician and writer from Austin, Texas. As a musician, he is best known for his long-running rock trio, The Skunks. His essays and journalism have appeared in a wide range of publications, and he is also known for his mystery novels featuring a bass-playing sleuth named Martin Fender.
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Robert L. Rutherford
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Robert Lynn Rutherford was a general in the United States Air Force who served as commander of the United States Transportation Command and of Pacific Air Forces. He was born in Luling, Texas.
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Andrew Shapter
- Occupations
- film director
- Biography
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Andrew Shapter was an American film director, producer, writer and photographer. Shapter is known for his documentaries, Before the Music Dies (2006) and Happiness Is (2009), his feature film The Teller and the Truth (2015), his music videos with Willie Nelson and The Roots, and his U.N. Summit video on refugees, Refugees Are... Shapter completed cancer treatment in October 2014. Shapter was a partner at the creative production company Roadwings Entertainment, which has offices in Austin, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.
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Logan Cunningham
- Occupations
- pole vaulter
- Biography
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Logan Cunningham is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the pole vault. He holds a personal best of 5.71 m ( 18 ft 8+3⁄4 in), set in 2016.
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Rudy Davalos
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- basketball coach
- Biography
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Rudy Albert Davalos, Jr. is an American retired basketball coach and college athletics administrator.
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Tommy Field
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Thomas Samuel Field is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and Texas Rangers.
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Austen Williams
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Austen Thomas Williams is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2018 and 2019.
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Albert Huffstickler
- Occupations
- poet
- Biography
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Albert Huffstickler was an American poet. He was born in Texas and lived in Austin during his later years, contributing to the poetry scene there and further afield. Huffstickler published hundreds of poems in his lifetime in both chapbooks and academic and underground journals. A 1990 Sow's Ear Poetry Review article reporting on an interview by Felicia Mitchell described Huffstickler's natural poetic voice as "an attempt to meld the human voice with the poetic spirit to present a highly charged, story-filled verse."
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Sam McElroy
- Occupations
- American football coachhead coach
- Biography
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Sam McElroy is an American football coach. He served as head football coach at Tarleton State University from 2005 to 2009, compiling a record of 40–15.
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Dana A. Simmons
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Dana A. Simmons is a retired United States Air Force Brigadier General who served as the 15th Commander of the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI), which is the investigative agency of the United States Air Force. He took command of AFOSI in June 2005. Prior to that, he was the Vice Commander of AFOSI from March 2004 to June 2005. In March 2010, he ceded command to BG Kevin J. Jacobsen.
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Jushay Rockett
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Jushay Rockett is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Mississauga Power of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL).
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Akwasi Evans
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Akwasi Rozelle Evans was an African-American journalist, a prominent Austin civil-rights activist, and the founder of the NOKOA Observer newspaper. Evans edited and published the progressive weekly newspaper for 32 years, to provide a voice for Austin activists, free of distortion by mainstream media. His civil-rights activism included a broad range of causes and was not limited to issues of race.
