List of people from West Virginia

This is a list of prominent people from the U.S. state of West Virginia.

Athletics

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Jamie Noble

• Randy Barnes (b. 1966), professional shot putter, born in Charleston
• Larry Barnett (b. 1945), professional baseball umpire, born in Nitro
• Cliff Battles (1910-1981), professional football player, from West Virginia Wesleyan College
• Clair Bee, college basketball coach
• Vern Bickford, professional baseball player
• Terry Bowden, college football analyst and commentator
• Tommy Bowden, college football coach
• Rich Braham, professional football coach
• George Brett, professional baseball player
• Lew Burdette, professional baseball player
• Jesse Burkett, professional baseball player
• Necro Butcher, professional wrestler
• Eddie Cameron, college basketball coach
• Mark Canterbury, professional wrestler
• Bimbo Coles, professional basketball player
• Wilbur Cooper, professional baseball player
• Mike D'Antoni, professional basketball player and coach
• Gene Freese, professional baseball player
• Frank Gatski, professional football player
• Hal Greer, professional basketball player
• Lou Holtz, college football coach
• Jeff Hostetler, professional football player
• J. R. House, professional baseball and football player
• Chuck Howley, professional football player
• Sam Huff, professional football player
• Hot Rod Hundley, professional basketball player and broadcaster
• John Kruk, professional baseball player
• Pete Maravich, professional basketball player
• Gino Marchetti, professional football player
• Chris Massey, professional football player
• Brian Snelling, professional racquetball player
• Bill Mazeroski, professional baseball player
• Leo Mazzone, professional baseball player
• Seth McClung, professional baseball player
• Randy Moss, professional football player
• Jamie Noble, professional wrestler
• Kevin Pittsnogle, college basketball player
• Mary Lou Retton, professional gymnast
• Rich Rodriguez, college football coach
• Nick Saban, professional and college football coach
• Tamar Slay, professional basketball player
• Stephanie Sparks, professional golfer and commentator
• Emanuel Steward, boxing trainer
• Rick Tolley, college football coach
• Rod Thorn, professional basketball player
• Curt Warner, professional football player
• Jerry West, professional basketball player
• Deron Williams, professional basketball player
• Jason Williams, professional basketball player
• Steve Yeager, professional baseball player
• Fielding Yost, college football coach

Business

• John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems
• William Luke, businessman and entrepreneur
• William N. Page, civil engineer, entrepreneur, capitalist, businessman, and industrialist
• Harry F. Sinclair, industrialist
• Ellsworth Milton Statler, hotel businessman
• Clarence Wayland Watson, businessman

Entertainment

Hasil Adkins

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John Corbett

Jennifer Garner

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Don Knotts

• 6'6 240, hip-hop artist
• Hasil Adkins, rockabilly musician
• Michael Ammar, magician
• Byzantine, progressive extreme metal band
• Charlie Barnett, actor and comedian
• Lina Basquette, actress
• Daniel Boyd, director
• Todd Burge, Singer/Songwriter of 63 Eyes
• Leon "Chu" Berry, jazz saxophonist
• Jean Carson, actress
• Bernie Casey, actor
• Ted Cassidy, actor
• Papa Joe Chevalier, nationally-syndicated sports/talk show host
• Larry Combs, clarinetist
• John Corbett, actor
• George Crumb, composer
• Dawn DeNoon, screenwriter
• Joyce DeWitt, actress
• Little Jimmy Dickens, country singer
• Hazel Dickens, bluegrass singer
• Paul Dooley, actor
• Brad Dourif, actor
• Conchata Ferrell, actress
• Jennifer Garner, actress
• Ed Haley, blind professional fiddler
• Tom T. Hall, country balladeer and songwriter
• Dorian Heartsong (Dorian 27), former bassist for Powerman 5000
• Katie Lee Joel, TV host
• Johnnie Johnson, blues musician
• Grandpa Jones, country and gospel singer
• Jake E. Lee, rock guitarist; formerly w/ Ozzy Osbourne, Badlands
• Kristi Lee, air personality/news director, The Bob and Tom Show
• Karma to Burn, instrumental alt-metal band
• Lesli Kay, soap actress who played Molly Conlan on As The World Turns, and now plays Felicia Forrester on The Bold And The Beautiful.
• Don Knotts, actor
• Shannon Larkin, drummer for Godsmack, former. Amen (band), Wrathchild America
• Michael Lipton, musician on "Mountain Stage" and for The Carpenter Ants
• Ann Magnuson, actress
• Kathy Mattea, country and bluegrass performer
• Charlie McCoy, musician
• Garnet Mimms, soul singer
• Tim O'Brien, bluegrass musician
• Brad Paisley, country singer and songwriter
• Sam Pancake, actor
• Rachel Proctor, country singer and songwriter
• Steve Rollins, songwriter
• Soupy Sales, actor and comedian
• Frank "Poncho" Sampedro, musician
• Chris Sarandon, actor, activist
• David Selby, actor
• Matt Shamblin, guitarist and composer
• Michael W. Smith, Contemporary Christian singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist
• Red Sovine, country singer
• Morgan Spurlock, independent film director and screenwriter
• Blaze Starr, stripper and burlesque star
• Teddy Weatherford, jazz pianist
• Patty Weaver, actress
• Donald Ray White, mountain dancer
• Jesse "Jesco" White, mountain dancer
• Steve Whiteman, former Kix singer
• Melvin Wine, fiddler
• Bill Withers, singer and songwriter
• J.T. Woodruff, Hawthorne Heights singer, songwriter, guitarist
• Frankie Yankovic, polka musician
• Zao, Christian Metalcore musical group

Frontiersmen

• Patrick Gass, frontiersman
• Morgan Morgan, frontiersman
• Lewis Wetzel, frontiersman

Journalism

• Jodi Applegate, news anchor
• Jeanette Walls, MSNBC journalist, gossip columnist
• John S. Knight, newspaper publisher and editor
• Mike Patrick, sportscaster
• Carter G. Woodson, historian, author, and journalist

Literature & Art

Stonewall Jackson

Booker T. Washington

• Allen Appel, novelist
• John Peale Bishop, poet and man of letters
• Pearl S. Buck, writer and Nobel prize winner
• Willa Cather, novelist
• Stephen Coonts, novelist
• William F. DeVault, poet and author
• Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author, educator, and scholar
• Denise Giardina, author
• Linda Goodman, poet, novelist, best-selling astrology writer
• Davis Grubb, novelist
• Homer Hickam, writer
• John Knowles, novelist
• Blanche Lazzell, artist
• Ehrman Syme Nadal, author
• Breece D'J Pancake, author
• Jedediah Purdy, author and professor
• Mary Lee Settle, author
• David Hunter Strother (aka Porte Crayon), artist
• Timothy Truman, writer, artist, and musician
• Booker T. Washington, political leader, educator, and author

Military

Chuck Yeager

• John James Abert, explorer and solider
• Earl E. Anderson, United States Marine Corps general
• John Ashby, frontiersman and soldier
• Woodrow Wilson Barr, United States Marine
• French Ensor Chadwick, naval officer and educator
• Lynndie England, U.S. Army reservist involved in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal
• Stonewall Jackson, soldier and teacher
• Jonah Edward Kelley, US Army soldier, Medal of Honor recipient
• Edwin Gray Lee, Confederate general
• Jessica Lynch, prisoner of war
• William E. Shuck, Jr., U.S. Marine, Medal of Honor recipient
• John Yarnall, U.S. Navy officer
• Chuck Yeager, aviation legend

Politics & Government

Robert C. Byrd

Jay Rockefeller

Cyrus Vance

Further information: List of Governors of West Virginia

• Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria's first President
• Newton D. Baker, politician
• William Wallace Barron, politician
• John J. Beckley, frontiersman and Librarian of Congress
• Ephraim Bee, frontiersman and politician
• Charles Bent, frontiersman and politician
• Arthur I. Boreman, politician
• Harry F. Byrd, politician
• Robert Byrd, politician
• Gaston Caperton, politician
• Shelley Moore Capito, politician
• Thomas R. Carper, economist and politician
• John J. Cornwell, politician
• Henry G. Davis, politician
• John W. Davis, politician and attorney
• Stephen Benton Elkins, politician
• Walter Lowrie Fisher, United States Secretary of the Interior
• William E. Glasscock, politician
• Nathan Goff, Jr., politician
• Howard Mason Gore, politician
• Henry D. Hatfield, politician
• Ken Hechler, politician
• John J. Jacob, politician
• Chief Logan, Native American leader
• William A. MacCorkle, politician
• Joe Manchin, politician
• William C. Marland, politician
• Arch A. Moore, Jr., politician
• Dwight Morrow, businessman, politician, diplomat; father-in-law of Charles Lindbergh
• Matthew M. Neely, politician
• Bob Ney, politician
• Okey L. Patteson, politician
• Francis Harrison Pierpont, politician and Father of West Virginia
• Nick Rahall, politician
• Absalom Willis Robertson, politician
• Jay Rockefeller, politician
• Hulett C. Smith, politician
• Wayne C. Spiggle, politician
• William E. Stevenson, politician
• John Swan, politician
• Cyrus Vance, United States Secretary of State
• Scott Varner, politician
• Charles Washington, statesman
• Erik Wells, politician and news anchor
• Bob Wise, politician

Religion

• Alexander Campbell, Restoration Movement leader
• Matthew W. Clair, Methodist Episcopal Church bishop
• T. D. Jakes, televangelist

Science

• Eugene Aserinsky, discovered REM sleep
• Maurice Brooks, ornithologist
• Mahlon Loomis, inventor of the wireless telegraph
• John Forbes Nash, mathematician
• James Rumsey, inventor and mechanical engineer

Other

Belle Boyd

• James J. Andrews, espionage agent
• Belle Boyd, espionage agent
• Nancy Hanks, mother of Abraham Lincoln
• Devil Anse Hatfield, Hatfield-McCoy feud
• Glen and Bessie Hyde, disappeared raftsmen
• John Henry, the steel driving man of folklore
• Julia Neale Jackson, mother of Stonewall Jackson
• Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother's Day
• Mother Jones, labor and community organizer
• Randal McCloy, lone survivor of the 2006 Sago Mine disaster
• John Marshall, last person in the United States to be executed by being hung in chains (April 4, 1913)
• Patsy Paugh Ramsey, former Miss West Virginia and mother of slain beauty queen Jonbenet Ramsey
• Walter Reuther, labor leader
• Harry Truman, volcano victim
• Jack Whittaker, lottery winner
• Charles M. Vest, President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1990-2004 " Charles Marstiller Vest was born on Sept. 9, 1941 in Morgantown, W.Va. He earned his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University ..." http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2003/cmv.html