Notable Alumni
VMI's alumni include a Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Pulitzer Prize winners, Rhodes Scholars, Medal of Honor recipients, an Academy Award winner, an Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner, Senators and Representatives, a Supreme Court Justice, college and university presidents, many business leaders and numerous flag officers, including service chiefs for three of the four armed services.
| Name | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Edward M. Almond | 1915 | Lieutenant General, Army of the United States, CG 92nd Division WW2, CG 10th Corps Korean War |
| James E. Brown III | 1976 | Fellow and past president of Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) and Fellow of Royal Aeronautical Society. |
| Josiah Bunting III | 1963 | Superintendent of VMI, 1995–2002; Rhodes Scholar; Author |
| Withers Burress | 1914 | Lieutenant General, Army of the United States, CG 100th Division, VI Corps, US First Army |
| Harry F. Byrd, Jr. | 1935 | Senator from Virginia (1965–83) |
| Harold Coyle | 1974 | Army of the United States major and novelist |
| Jonathan Myrick Daniels | 1961 | American civil rights activist and one of fifteen modern-day martyrs listed by the Anglican Church |
| Daniel J. Darnell | 1975 | Air Force of the United States lieutenant general, Commander of the aerial demonstration team, the Thunderbirds |
| Richard Thomas Walker Duke | 1844 | Member of Congress from Va., Member, Va. House of Delegates, CSA colonel |
| Harry Watkey Easterly, Jr. | 1945 | President of the USGA and first Executive Director |
| Douglas J. Ewing | 1951 | U.S. Army brigadier general |
| John D. Ewing | 1913 | Publisher of Shreveport Times, 1931–52 |
| Benjamin Franklin Ficklin | 1849 | A founder of the Pony Express |
| Robert Flowers | 1969 | Lieutenant general and Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
| Leonard T. Gerow | 1911 | General, US Army; Commanding General, V Corps (1943 – 45) and US Fifteenth Army (1945 – 48). Highly regarded by Eisenhower & Bradley. Led at Omaha Beach and Battle of the Bulge. |
| Ryan Glynn | 1995 | Professional baseball player. Only alum to make it to major leagues. Currently playing in Japan. |
| James B. Hickey | 1982 | Colonel and commander Operation Red Dawn, the operation which captured Saddam Hussein |
| John P. Jumper | 1966 | Retired general and Chief of Staff, United States Air Force |
| Charles E. Kilbourne | 1894 | Recipient: Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross; lieutenant general, U.S. Army |
| James H. Lane | 1854 | CSA brigadier general, fought in Pickett's Charge, civil engineering professor, and founder of Virginia Tech |
| W. Patrick Lang | 1962 | Retired US Army Special Forces officer, intelligence executive, commentator on Middle East, and author |
| Cary D. Langhorne | 1894 | Medal of Honor recipient |
| Dan Lyle | 1992 | Captain of the USA Eagles national rugby team |
| William Mahone | 1847 | CSA major general, Member, Va. House of Delegates, U.S. Senator (1881–87), and railroad executive |
| George Marshall | 1901 | General of the Army, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army in World War II, Secretary of State (1947–49), Secretary of Defense (1950), and Nobel Peace Prize winner |
| Richard Marshall | 1915 | General during World War II |
| Robert Q. Marston | 1944 | President of the University of Florida, Director of National Institutes of Health, Rhodes Scholar |
| Frank McCarthy | 1933 | Brigadier general, US Army Reserve. Producer of the 1970 Academy Award-winning movie "Patton" |
| John McCausland | 1857 | CSA brigadier-general, served under General Jubal Early |
| Marshall McDonald | 1860 | U.S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries (1888 – 1895) |
| Shannon Meehan | 2005 | US Army Captain, Bronze Star Medal recipient, author and wounded veterans activist |
| Darren W. McDew | 1982 | USAF lieutenant general, Commander, Eighteenth Air Force. 1st African-American Regimental Commander of Corps of Cadets |
| Giles H. Miller | 1924 | Banker, President of VMI Alumni Association, Director of The George C. Marshall Foundation |
| John Cherry Monks, Jr. | 1932 | Playwright, actor, author, screenwriter, producer and World War II US Marine |
| Thomas T. Munford | 1854 | CSA brigadier-general |
| Randolph McCall Pate | 1921 | USMC general and twenty-first commandant of the Marine Corps |
| George S. Patton, Sr | 1852 | CSA colonel, 22nd Va. Infantry; died in Battle of Opequon; grandfather of Gen. George Smith Patton Jr. |
| Lewis F. Payne, Jr. | 1967 | Member of Congress from Va. |
| J. H. Binford Peay III | 1962 | US Army general, commander 101st Airborne, commander USCENTCOM, and 14th superintendent of VMI |
| Robert E. Rodes | 1848 | Railroad civil engineer and CSA major general killed at the Battle of Opequon in the Shenandoah Valley |
| Bobby Ross | 1959 | Football coach of West Point, The Citadel, University of Maryland, Georgia Tech, San Diego Chargers and Detroit Lions |
| Edward R. Schowalter, Jr. | 1951 | Medal of Honor recipient; colonel, U.S. Army |
| Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr. | 1917 | USMC general and 20th commandant of the Marine Corps |
| Scott Shipp | 1856 | Superintendent of VMI (1890–1907). Led VMI cadets at New Market under Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge |
| Henry G. Shirley | 1896 | Commissioner, Virginia Department of Highways |
| Joseph Short | 1925 | White House Press Secretary under Harry S. Truman |
| C. Bascom Slemp | 1891 | Representative for the Nineth Congressional District of Virginia and philanthropist |
| Adolphus Staton | 1899 | Medal of Honor recipient |
| Carl A. Strock | 1970 | US Army lieutenant general and commander, Army Corps of Engineers |
| Clarence E. Sutton | 1890 | Medal of Honor recipient |
| Sun Li-jen | 1927 | Republic of China/TAIWAN lieutenant general, Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War |
| Walter H. Taylor | 1857 | CSA lt. col., Gen. Robert E. Lee's aide-de-camp, lawyer, banker, author, railroad executive, state senator |
| Bobby Thomason | 1949 | NFL Pro Bowl quarterback |
| Ernest O. Thompson | 1910 | General, Texas National Guard; Texas Railroad Commissioner, mayor of Amarillo, petroleum expert |
| William P. Upshur | 1902 | Medal of Honor recipient; major general, USMC; Commander, Dept. of the Pacific, 1940–42 |
| Reuben Lindsay Walker | 1845 | CSA brigadier general and artilleryman. |
| Thomas Marshall Boyd | 1968 | Assistant Attorney General under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. |
| Fred Willard | 1955 | Comedic actor, served as an officer in the US Army |
| Reggie Williams | 2008 | Led NCAA Division 1 scoring in 2006 and 2007, playing for the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA. |
| Dabney Coleman | 1949 | Movie and television actor. |
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Famous quotes containing the word notable:
“Every notable advance in technique or organization has to be paid for, and in most cases the debit is more or less equivalent to the credit. Except of course when it’s more than equivalent, as it has been with universal education, for example, or wireless, or these damned aeroplanes. In which case, of course, your progress is a step backwards and downwards.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)