List of Centre College people

Here follows a list of notable people associated with Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.

Law

 * John Christian Bullitt, 1849: attorney in Philadelphia, drafted the city's charter and founded the law firm of Drinker, Biddle & Reath
 * John Marshall Harlan, 1850: Supreme Court associate justice (1877–1911), cast the lone dissenting vote in Plessy v. Ferguson
 * Pierce Lively, 1943: federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (1972–2016)
 * Andrew Phelps McCormick, 1854: federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1892–1916)
 * Fred M. Vinson, 1909, Law 1911: chief justice of the United States (1946–53), secretary of the treasury (1945–46), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from KY–08 and KY–09 (1933–43)

Government

 * George Madison Adams: member of the U.S. House of Representatives from KY–08 and KY–09 (1867–75), secretary of state of Kentucky (1887–91)
 * Joshua Fry Bell, 1828: member in the U.S. House of Representatives from KY–04 (1845–47; first Centre alumnus to serve in Congress), secretary of state of Kentucky (1849–50)
 * John C. Breckinridge, 1838: U.S. vice president (1857–61); Confederate secretary of war (1865); U.S. senator from Kentucky (1861)
 * John Y. Brown, Sr., 1921: member of the U.S. House of Representatives from KY–AL (1933–35)
 * Jacqueline Coleman, 2004: lieutenant governor of Kentucky (2019–present)
 * John Sherman Cooper, 1922: U.S. ambassador to East Germany (1974–76), U.S. senator from Kentucky (1946–49, 1952–55, 1956–73), U.S. ambassador to India (1955–56)
 * Michael W. Jackson, 1985: Alabama District Attorney (2005 - present)
 * Crit Luallen, 1974: lieutenant governor of Kentucky (2014 - 2015), Kentucky State Auditor (2004 - 2012)
 * Claude Matthews, 1867: governor of Indiana (1893–97), secretary of state of Indiana (1891–93)
 * Austin Peay, 1895: governor of Tennessee (1923–27)
 * Augustus Stanley, 1889: U.S. senator from Kentucky (1919–25), governor of Kentucky (1915–19), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from KY–02 (1903–15)
 * Adlai Stevenson I, 1859: U.S. vice president (1893–97), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from IL–13 (1875–77, 1879–81)
 * John T. Stuart, 1826: member of the U.S. House of Representatives from IL–03 (1839–43) and IL–08 (1863–65), lawyer, law partner of Abraham Lincoln
 * Yi Kuu, Prince Imperial Hoeun, 1952: Prince Imperial of Korea, grandson of Emperor Gojong
 * Joseph Holt, 1824: U.S. postmaster general, U.S. secretary of war and Judge Advocate General of the United States Army; leading judge in the trials of the Abraham Lincoln assassination
 * Thomas H. Taylor, Confederate general (1861–65), Louisville chief of police (1881–92)
 * George Graham Vest, U.S. senator from Missouri (1879–1903), Confederate senator from Missouri (1865), member of the Confederate House of Representatives from MO–05; best known for supposedly coining the phrases "man's best friend" and "history is written by the victors."

Arts

 * George Ella Lyon, 1971: former Kentucky Poet Laureate
 * Stephen Rolfe Powell, 1974: internationally acclaimed glass blower and art professor
 * Tony Crunk, 1978: winner, Yale Younger Poets prize
 * Terena Elizabeth Bell, 1999, author of Tell Me What You See
 * Tiffany Reisz, 2000; RITA award-winning novelist

Athletics

 * Gene Bedford: second baseman for the Cleveland Indians and defensive end for the Rochester Jeffersons
 * Herb Covington, 1924: played football, basketball, and baseball for Centre, named to the all-time Centre football team in 1935
 * E.A. Diddle, 1920: legendary basketball coach of Western Kentucky University, member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
 * Jordan Gay, 2013: punter and kickoff specialist for the Buffalo Bills
 * Cawood Ledford, 1949: voice of the University of Kentucky Wildcats for 30 years
 * Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin, 1922: three-time All-American quarterback; member of the College Football Hall of Fame; head football coach of Indiana University, Detroit Lions, and Philadelphia Eagles
 * Sully Montgomery, 1920: tackle for the Chicago Cardinals; boxer
 * Tom Moran: blocking back for the New York Giants
 * Homer Rice, football coach
 * Red Roberts, 1922: NFL player; head football coach of Waynesburg University
 * Lou Smyth, 1919: three-time NFL champion with the Canton Bulldogs
 * John Tanner, 1921: NFL wingback with the Toledo Maroons, Cleveland Indians, and Cleveland Bulldogs
 * Ken Willis, 1986 (transferred after one year): kicker for the Dallas Cowboys

Academia

 * Raymond Burse, 1973: Rhodes Scholar; general counsel for General Electric; former president of Kentucky State University; the first African-American to compete in the Oxford v. Cambridge rugby match

Business

 * Isaac Tigrett, 1970: founder of the Hard Rock Cafe and the House of Blues
 * Julian "Pappy" Van Winkle Sr, 1892: distiller for the Stitzel-Weller Distillery, face of Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve

Other

 * Rev. Samuel D. Burchard, 1837: clergyman whose "Rum, Romanism and rebellion" speech may have cost James G. Blaine the 1884 presidential election
 * Charles Carpenter (Lt. Col.): highly decorated Second World War artillery observation pilot nicknamed "Bazooka Charlie"; destroyed several German armored vehicles in his bazooka-equipped L-4 Grasshopper light observation aircraft, christened "Rosie the Rocketer"
 * George W. Harkins: attorney and chief of the Choctaw tribe during Indian removal
 * Lewis Craig Humphrey, 1896: editor of the Centre College newspaper The Cento; chief editor of the Louisville Evening Post and the Louisville Herald
 * E Patrick Doyle was attending Centre College in 1848 when he helped lead the largest slave uprising in Kentucky, ending with Doyle's capture and imprisonment

Faculty and staff

 * J. Proctor Knott: law professor at Centre; 29th governor of Kentucky
 * Sara W. Mahan: 64th Secretary of State of Kentucky, served as college librarian from 1920–21
 * Ephraim McDowell: member of the Board of Trustees and namesake of the Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center