University of Florida - Notable Alumni

Notable Alumni

The University of Florida has more than 330,000 alumni. In total 57,000 are dues-paying members of the University of Florida Alumni Association. Florida alumni can be found in every state and more than 100 foreign countries. Florida alumni account for multiple Nobel Prize winners, ten U.S. Senators, forty U.S. Representatives, eleven state governors, and eight U.S. ambassadors, multiple state supreme court judges, and various federal courts judges. Florida graduates have served as the executive leaders of such diverse institutions as the United States Marine Corps and the National Organization for Women.

Florida alumni have been the presidents of Florida State University, the College of Charleston, New College of Florida, Randolph-Macon College, Rice University, Rutgers University, the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida, Miami University and the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. Major business enterprises run by Florida graduates include Amtrak, Avaya, Boeing Enterprises, the Boston Red Sox, Burger King, Deloitte & Touche, Discover Financial, FedEx, Gartner, Gate Petroleum, Golin Harris International, the Houston Astros, Hudson's Bay Company, J. C. Penney, Macy's, Merrill Lynch, MTV, NASCAR, Nike, Northwest Airlines, Reebok, The Richards Group, Scripps, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Walt Disney. University of Florida alumni have also led such professional and governmental regulatory bodies such as American Bar Association, Small Business Administration, The Florida Bar, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the United States Department of Transportation. In addition, the alumni have won numerous Fulbright Scholarships, Truman Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships, twelve Rhodes Scholarships and also a Marshall Scholar as well.

Among the people who have attended or graduated from the University of Florida are actress Faye Dunaway, Price is Right announcer Rich Fields, author Michael Connelly, Nobel Prize winners Marshall Nirenberg and Robert Grubbs, pilot Paul Tibbets, U.S. Senator and Florida Governor Bob Graham, meteorologist Stephanie Abrams, broadcast journalist Forrest Sawyer, country music singer Mel Tillis, award winning architect Lawrence Scarpa, poet Geri Doran, director Jonathan Demme, comedian Darrell Hammond, columnist Kiki Carter, congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, actor Stephen Root, sportscasters Red Barber and Jesse Palmer, U.S. Senator and Florida governor Lawton Chiles, Congressman Ander Crenshaw, Congressman Jim Davis, television personality Bob Vila, novelists Kate DiCamillo and Carl Hiaasen, judges Rosemary Barkett and Harold Sebring, administrators Carol Browner and Alan Stephenson Boyd, inventor John Atanasoff, U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, North Carolina governor Beverly Purdue, owner of Yankees franchise Hal Steinbrenner, guitarist and songwriter Stephen Stills, and the daughter of Dave Thomas, Wendy Thomas, the namesake of the food-chain Wendy's.

The University of Florida has also produced over 125 Olympians, nearly 150 active and retired NFL football players, more than thirty MLB baseball players, thirty NBA basketball players, and over forty PGA Tour and LPGA golfers. Famous University of Florida athletes include NFL Hall of Fame football players Emmitt Smith and Jack Youngblood, Heisman Trophy winners Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel and Tim Tebow, tennis players Lisa Raymond and Jesse Levine, golfers Tommy Aaron and Mark Calcavecchia, basketball players Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer, baseball players Al Rosen and David Eckstein, soccer players Abby Wambach and Heather Mitts, swimmers Tracy Caulkins, Nicole Haislett, Ryan Lochte and Dara Torres, and football coaches Steve Spurrier, Charlie Strong and Gene Chizik.