Michigan State University - People - 20th and 21st Centuries

20th and 21st Centuries

There are currently around 442,000 living MSU alumni worldwide giving the school one of the largest number of alumni of any institution of higher learning. Famous MSU alumni include former Michigan governors James Blanchard and John Engler, U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Tim Johnson, U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Donna Hrinak, former Jordan Prime Minister Adnan Badran, billionaire philanthropists Tom Gores and Eli Broad, Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court Wallace B. Jefferson, trial lawyer Geoffrey Feiger, former Food and Drug Administration official Peter Rheinstein, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford, Teamsters president James P. Hoffa, Quicken Loans founder and Cleveland Cavaliers owner and billionaire Dan Gilbert, Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. House of Representatives Wilson Livingood, former Michigan U.S. Senator and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, former Vice President of the Republic of Liberia Harry Moniba, and former U.S. Ambassador to Italy Peter Secchia. Alumni in Hollywood include actors such as Anthony Heald, Robert Urich and William Fawcett; comedian Dick Martin, comedian Jackie Martling, film director Sam Raimi, and Academy Award winning film editor of The Hurt Locker and the Spider-Man films, Bob Murawski, as well as screenwriter David Magee. Puerto Rican comedian Sunshine Logroño (who has played the occasional Hollywood movie) was a graduate student at MSU. Journalists include NBC reporter Chris Hansen, AP White House Correspondent Nedra Pickler, and NPR Washington Correspondent Don Gonyea. Novelist Michael Kimball graduated in 1990. Author Erik Qualman graduated with honors in 1994 and was also Academic Big-Ten in basketball. Susan K. Avery, the first woman president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, received an MSU bachelor's degree in physics. In addition, two of the Little Rock Nine attended Michigan State, including Ernest Green, the first black student to graduate from Little Rock Central High School, and Carlotta Walls LaNier. The University awarded an honorary degree to Robert Mugabe in 1990, but revoked it in 2008.

Spartans formerly or currently in the NBA include Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Greg Kelser, Jay Vincent, Steve Smith, Scott Skiles, Jason Richardson, Mateen Cleaves, Alan Anderson, Zach Randolph, Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell and Shannon Brown. On the American Football League's All-Time Team are tight-end Fred Arbanas and safety George Saimes. In the National Football League, MSU alumni include Carl Banks, who was a member of the Giants teams that won Super Bowls XXI and XXV. Banks was a standout in their Super Bowl XXI victory in which he recorded 14 total tackles, including ten solo tackles, as well as being part of the NFL's 1980's All-Decade Team Morten Andersen, Plaxico Burress, Andre Rison, Derrick Mason, Muhsin Muhammad, T. J. Duckett, Flozell Adams, Julian Peterson, Charles Rogers, Jim Miller, Earl Morrall, Wayne Fontes, Bubba Smith and Drew Stanton. Former MSU quarterback Jeff Smoker now plays in the Arena Football League. Former Michigan State players in the National Hockey League include All Star Defensemen Duncan Keith, Rod Brind'Amour, Anson Carter, Donald McSween, Adam Hall, John-Michael Liles, Justin Abdelkader, brothers Kelly Miller and Kip Miller, as well as their cousins, brothers Ryan Miller and Drew Miller. Former Michigan State players in Major League Baseball include Hall of Fame inductee Robin Roberts, Kirk Gibson, Steve Garvey and Mark Mulder. Olympic gold medalists include Savatheda Fynes and Fred Alderman. The Spartans are also contributing athletes to Major League Soccer, as Kevin Reiman, Doug DeMartin, Dave Hertel, Greg Janicki, Kenzo Webster, Rauwshan McKenzie, John Minagawa-Webster and Ryan McMahen have all played in Major League Soccer. In addition, Alex Skotarek, Steve Twellman and Buzz Demling played in the North American Soccer League, with Demling playing in the 1972 Summer Olympics and the United States Men's National Soccer Team in the 1970s.