Joliet Central High School - Notable Alumni

Notable Alumni

• Jesse Barfield (1977) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder (1981–92), playing most of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays. He won two Gold Gloves and one Silver Slugger.
• Garland Buckeye, Former MLB player (Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, New York Giants)
• Lois Delander (1931) was, while a student at the school, the first woman to win the Miss Illinois pageant, and then became Miss America 1927.
• Katherine Dunham (1926) was a dancer, choreographer, civil rights activist, teacher, and anthropologist who was a pioneer in African-American modern dance, dance ethnology. In 1983, she was awarded with a Kennedy Center Honor.
• Merritt Giffin (1908) was an athlete who won a silver medal in the men's discus throw at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
• John D. Goeken is a telecommunications entrepreneur who founded MCI Inc., FTD Mercury Network, Airfone, and In-Flight Phone Corporation. His lawsuit against AT&T eventually led to its divestiture of its Bell company holdings.
• Kathryn Hays (1952) is an actress, perhaps best known for her role as Kim Sullivan Hughes on the soap opera As the World Turns (1972–2010).
• John Houbolt (1936) is a former aerospace engineer who fought for and developed the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) plan for transporting astronauts to and from the moon.
• Mort Kondracke (1956) is a political journalist who has written independently, and for such periodicals as Roll Call. He is also known for his long running appearance as a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group.
• Harry Daniel Leinenweber is a U.S. federal judge (1985–present) serving on the bench of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
• Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1951) is an award winning author of children's and young adult literature (Shiloh, the Alice series, The Witch Saga).
• Robert Novak (1948) was a political journalist, writer, and television personality. He was known for his long writing and television relationship with Rowland Evans (Evans, Novak, Hunt & Shields).
• Lionel Richie (attended) is an award winning singer, songwriter, and record producer who was a member of the Commodores before starting a solo career. (All Night Long (All Night), Say You, Say Me, Hello); he graduated from Joliet East in 1967.
• Larry Parks (1932) was an Academy Award nominated actor (The Jolson Story). He testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and was blacklisted in Hollywood as a consequence.
• George E. Sangmeister was a U.S. Representative (1989–95).
• Trina Shoemaker (1983) is a 3–time Grammy Award winning record producer and sound engineer.
• James J. Stukel (1955) was the 15th president of the University of Illinois.
• Bill Sudakis, Former MLB player (Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, California Angels, Cleveland Indians)
• Edwin Way Teale (1918) was a naturalist, journalist, and writer. He won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for the book Wandering Through Winter.
• Lynne Thigpen (1966) was an actress with credits on film (Bicentennial Man), television (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?), and stage. She won a Tony Award in 1997 for her role in the play An American Daughter.
• Jermaine Stegall (1995) Award Winning Movie/Television Composer.
• Audrey Totter, 1936