Syracuse University - Alumni

Alumni

Syracuse University has over 230,000 living alumni. Prominent alumni of the university include the first African-American Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis, immortalized in the motion picture "The Express", bestselling novelists Joyce Carol Oates, John D. MacDonald, Shirley Jackson, Indian Revenue Service officer and Alice Sebold; William Safire, Pulitzer Prize winning commentator; Cambridge historian Sir Moses I. Finley; Arthur Rock, a cofounder of Intel; Donna Shalala, former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services; Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States; 7-time NBA All Star, pro basketball Hall of Famer and current Mayor of Detroit Dave Bing,, and adult performer Lexington Steele; Robert Jarvik, inventor of the first artificial heart implanted into human beings; Eileen Collins, first female commander of a Space Shuttle; musician Lou Reed; and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a member of the Saudi royal family.

The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications produced several alumni in sports broadcasting, including Bob Costas, Len Berman, Sean McDonough, and Mike Tirico. Larry Hryb an employee at Microsoft and former radio broadcaster for Clear Channel Communications also graduated from S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Notable SU alumni in the performing arts include Dick Clark, Taye Diggs, Peter Falk, Frank Langella, Aaron Sorkin, and Vanessa L. Williams.

The university's athletics programs alumni include Donovan McNabb, quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, Dwight Freeney, defensive end for the Indianapolis Colts, Carmelo Anthony, forward for the New York Knicks, Tim Green, who played football for the Atlanta Falcons and is now a commentator for National Public Radio, Darryl Johnston, who won three Super Bowl rings with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s, Mikey Powell, who plays lacrosse for the Boston Cannons, Casey Powell who plays lacrosse for the Boston Blazers and the Toronto Nationals, Jim Brown, NFL Hall of Famer who had a long football career with the Cleveland Browns and acted in a number of movies, the first African American Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis, Floyd Little, who played for the Denver Broncos, and Kyle Johnson, who played majority of his NFL career with the Denver Broncos.