Emory and Henry College - Notable Alumni

Notable Alumni

• Kermit Hunter (Re-'31) - notable playwright who penned numerous outdoor dramas, including "Unto These Hills"; went on to become an English professor at Hollins College and Southern Methodist University
• Thomas T. Handy (enrolled 1908-1911) - Transferred to the Virginia Military Institute, served as deputy chief of staff of the Army in World War II and signed the orders to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
• John “Bill” Ashworth (1931) - Medical officer in the Pacific during World War II, cared for Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo after a suicide attempt. Served as chief of surgery at Johns Hopkins and as Emory & Henry campus physician.
• John Young (1955) - NASA worker who discovered the use of gravitational pull of the earth and moon to bring the Apollo 11 lunar module back to earth.
• Hobart Cawood (1957) - head of the National Park Service at Philadelphia during America’s bicentennial celebration.
• Ken Farmer (1972) - Appraiser and star of PBS’ Antiques Roadshow.
• Joseph P. Johnson (B.A., 1952) – Virginia House of Delegates
• Joe L. Kincheloe – Class of 1972. World renown author of 50 books on education, culture, and politics. Canada Research Chair in Critical Pedagogy at McGill University, Montreal, Canada (see Wikipedia entry).
• Henry DeLamar Clayton (general) – Confederate major general during the Civil War
• B. B. Comer – Governor of Alabama, 1907–1911
• Richard Joshua Reynolds – founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
• Frank Rowlett – American cryptologist who cracked the Japanese code during World War II
• Henry Carter Stuart (Class of 1874) – Governor of Virginia from 1914–1918 (E&H's Stuart Hall is named for him)
• Monte Weaver – (1927) - Pitched for the Washington Senators and the Boston Red Sox from 1931 to 1939.
• Glen Roberts – (1930s) Credited as the originator of the modern-day jumpshot in basketball. Went on to be an All-American and score over 2,000 career points.
• Samuel W. Small, journalist, evangelist, prohibitionist
• Harley Orrin Staggers – (1930s) West Virginia Congressman who spent 32 years in office and befriended Truman, JFK, Nixon, and Ford.
• Dr. Charles W. Sydnor – Class of 1965. Celebrated World War II historian credited for tracking down and testifying against Nazi war criminals who had illegally entered the United States.
• Eric McClure – Class of 2000, he received a degree in Mass Communications. He is currently a NASCAR Nationwide Series driver full-time.
• Sonny Wade – Class of 1969. 1968 All-America in football as a quarterback. Went on to an outstanding career in the CFL where he won several Grey Cups, MVP awards, and set numerous records.
• George C. Peery (October 28, 1873 – October 14, 1952) was an American Democratic politician, and was the 52nd Governor of Virginia from 1934–1938. He graduated from Emory & Henry College in 1894.
• J.E.B. Stuart – 1848–1850 a U.S. Army officer and a Confederate general during the American Civil War.
• Henry Bowen – Served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1869–1873, and served two terms in the House of Representatives (1883–1885 and again from 1887–1889).
• Morgan Griffith - Class of 1980. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1994-2011 and was elected House Majority Leader becoming the first Republican in Virginia history to hold that position. He was elected to Congress in 2011 and serves Virginia's 9th District.