People
- Ferrell Anderson, baseball player; died in Joplin
- Harvey Bailey, Depression-era criminal, the "Dean of American Bank Robbers"; spent his last years in Joplin, and died there in 1979. He is buried in Joplin
- Thomas Hart Benton, painter and muralist; as a teenager made cartoons for the Joplin American
- Lonny Chapman, actor; graduated from Joplin High School and Joplin Junior College (now Missouri Southern State University)
- Alan Cockrell, coach for the Seattle Mariners; attended Parkwood High School
- Bill Grigsby, sportscaster; began career broadcasting Joplin Miners baseball games
- T.J. Holmes, journalist; began reporting career at KSNF
- Christofer Drew Ingle, musician, under the alias Never Shout Never; attended Joplin Senior High
- H. Dale Jackson, Baptist minister and ethicist; lived in Joplin with his wife when they were newly married in 1949
- Oliver Winfield Killam, Texas oil industrialist, former Oklahoma state legislator; lived in Joplin
- Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees outfielder and first baseman; played with the Class C "Joplin Miners" minor league baseball team in 1950
- J. Eddie Peck, actor; was raised in Joplin, graduated from Parkwood High School
- Rod Smith, wide receiver for the NFL's Denver Broncos; graduated from Missouri Southern State University
- Jeff Speakman, actor; graduated from Missouri Southern State University
- Gabby Street, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals; adopted Joplin as his hometown
- Alvin Clarence Thomas, better known as Titanic Thompson American Road Gambler, Golfer and Hustler. Married first wife Nora Trushel in Joplin.
- James Thrash, wide receiver for the NFL's Washington Redskins; graduated from Missouri Southern State University
- Brian Williams, broadcaster; lived in Joplin for his first TV job at KOAM-TV
Read more about this topic: Joplin, Missouri
Famous quotes containing the word people:
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—Julie Burchill (b. 1960)
“All you of Earth are idiots!... First was your firecracker, a harmless explosive. Then your hand grenade. They begin to kill your own people a few at a time. Then the bomb. Then a larger bomb, many people are killed at one time. Then your scientists stumbled upon the atom bomb—split the atom. Then the hydrogen bomb, where you actually explode the air itself.”
—Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1922–1978)
“The purpose of a work of fiction is to appeal to the lingering after-effects in the reader’s mind as differing from, say, the purpose of oratory or philosophy which respectively leave people in a fighting or thoughtful mood.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)