List of people from Terre Haute, Indiana

This is a list of the people born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with the city of Terre Haute, Indiana, and its surrounding metropolitan area.

Actors and actresses

 * Wally Bruner – actor, television personality
 * Jose Pablo Cantillo – movies, television
 * Benjamin Scatman Crothers – musician, movies, television
 * Dorothy Dalton – theatre, movies
 * Johnnie "Scat" Davis – musician, bandleader, movies
 * Ross Ford – theater, movies
 * Richard "Skeets" Gallagher – vaudeville, theatre, movies
 * Jess Hahn – French movies
 * Chubby Johnson – movies, television
 * Grover Jones – screenwriter, producer, director, author
 * Joe Keaton – vaudeville, movies; father of actor Buster Keaton
 * Billy Lee – child film star
 * Dave Madden – movies, television; The Partridge Family
 * Rose Melville – actor, vaudeville, movies
 * Alvy Moore – movies, television – Green Acres
 * Maurice Ransford – motion pictures art director
 * Edward Roseman – vaudeville, movies
 * Valeska Suratt – theater, silent movies, vaudeville
 * Bill Thompson – voice actor, Fibber McGee and Molly
 * Jerry Van Dyke – television, movies
 * Stuart Vaughn – actor, award-winning director, Obie Award, Drama Desk Award
 * Hunter von Leer – movies

Artists

 * Mick Mars - Motley Crew
 * Amalia Küssner Coudert – miniaturist
 * John Rogers Cox – painter
 * Ray H. French – printmaker
 * John "Dok" Hager – cartoonist
 * Harriet Goodhue Hosmer – sculptor
 * Bryan Hunt – sculptor
 * Edith Pfau – painter, sculptor, art educator
 * Janet Scudder – sculptor
 * D. Omer Seamon – painter
 * Gilbert Brown Wilson – artist, muralist, motion pictures

Athletes

 * Vic Aldridge – baseball
 * Ray Arcel – boxing trainer, International Boxing Hall of Fame
 * Clint Barmes – baseball
 * Armon Bassett – basketball player with Ironi Ramat Gan of Israel
 * Bruce Baumgartner – wrestling, James E. Sullivan Award winner, U.S. Olympic gold medalist
 * Greg Bell – track and field; U.S. Olympic gold medalist
 * Shakir Bell – college and CFL football
 * Junius Bibbs – African-American college football and baseball player; professional baseball player in the Negro leagues
 * Larry Bird – basketball player, coach, NBA executive
 * Mordecai Brown – baseball, National Baseball Hall of Fame
 * Cheryl Bridges – cross country and track; held the World Record in the marathon and US records in 3 mile and 5,000 meter
 * Bill Butland – baseball
 * Cam Cameron – football, college and NFL football coach
 * Max Carey – baseball, National Baseball Hall of Fame
 * Barry Collier – basketball coach, athletic administrator
 * Bruce Connatser – professional baseball
 * Roger Counsil – swimmer, gymnastics coach
 * Glenn M. Curtis – high school, college and pro basketball coach
 * Josh Devore – baseball
 * Terry Dischinger – basketball, U.S. Olympic gold medalist
 * Brian Dorsett – baseball
 * Jim Jumbo Elliott – baseball
 * Danny Etling – football
 * Brian Evans – basketball
 * Bud Fowler – baseball
 * Tiger Jack Fox – boxing
 * Rufus Gilbert – baseball, coach
 * Vencie Glenn – football
 * Alex Graman – baseball
 * Scott Haffner – basketball
 * Frank Hamblen – basketball, NBA coach
 * Russ Hathaway – football
 * John Hazen – basketball
 * Rick Heller – college baseball coach
 * Aubrey Herring – track, hurdles, NCAA champion
 * Eddie Hickey – basketball coach, Basketball Hall of Fame
 * Bill Hodges – basketball coach
 * Paul Humphrey – football
 * Tunch Ilkin – college and NFL football
 * Mark Jackson – football
 * Tommy John – baseball
 * Neil Johnston – baseball, basketball, Basketball Hall of Fame
 * Doug Kay – football coach
 * Bob King – basketball coach, administrator
 * Duane Klueh – basketball, tennis, player, coach
 * Greg Lansing – basketball coach
 * Don Lash – Olympic track, Sullivan Award winner
 * Danny Lazar – baseball
 * Bob Slick Leonard – basketball, ABA and NBA coach, Basketball Hall of Fame
 * Bryan Leturgez – track and field, Olympic bobsled
 * Clyde Lovellette – basketball, U.S. Olympic gold medalist, Basketball Hall of Fame
 * Curt Mallory – football, college coach
 * Johnny Mann – baseball
 * Wally Marks – athlete, athletic administrator Indiana State University
 * Thad Matta – college basketball coach
 * Tony McGee – football tight end
 * Dave McGinnis – football, college and NFL coach
 * Kevin McKenna – basketball, player, coach
 * Trent Miles – football coach
 * Rick Minter – football coach
 * Erica Moore – track & field
 * Paul Moss – two-time college All-American, NFL
 * Albert "Cod" Myers – baseball
 * Nancy Hanks – harness racing
 * Art Nehf – baseball, pitched in four World Series
 * Bill Nelson – baseball
 * Steve Newton – basketball, player, coach
 * Carl Nicks – basketball
 * Greg Oden – basketball
 * Jake Odum – basketball
 * Brian Omogrosso – baseball
 * Jake Petricka – baseball
 * Jamie Petrowski – football
 * Josh Phegley – baseball
 * Dennis Raetz – football, player, coach
 * Kurt Rambis – basketball, player, coach
 * Rick Ray (basketball) – coach
 * Colin Rea – baseball
 * A. J. Reed – baseball player
 * Cheryl Reeve – basketball coach, WNBA
 * Mike Sanford – college football coach
 * Dave Schellhase – basketball, player, coach
 * Ed Seward – "Kid" Seward, baseball
 * Dexter Shouse – basketball
 * Zane Smith – baseball
 * Gordon B. Stauffer – basketball coach
 * Mitch Stetter – baseball
 * Ace Stewart – baseball
 * Ryan Strausborger – baseball
 * Jerry Sturm – football
 * Charles Bernard Bud Taylor – boxer, bantamweight champion, International Boxing Hall of Fame
 * Harry Taylor – baseball
 * Joe Thatcher – baseball
 * Debi Thomas – world champion figure skater
 * Kurt Thomas – gymnast, James E. Sullivan Award winner
 * Anthony Thompson – football player
 * Lyle Bud Tinning – baseball
 * Paul Dizzy Trout – baseball
 * Robert Bobby Turner – college and NFL player and coach
 * Royce Waltman – college basketball coach
 * Bob Warn – college baseball coach
 * Steve Weatherford – football
 * Mike Westhoff – college and NFL football coach
 * John Wooden – basketball, Basketball Hall of Fame

Military

 * Charles G. Abrell – Medal of Honor, Korean War
 * George W. Biegler – Medal of Honor, Philippine–American War
 * Charles Cruft – teacher, newspaper publisher, lawyer, Union Civil War general
 * William Henry Harrison – Governor Indiana Territory, commander of Fort Harrison, President of the United States
 * Nick Popaditch – Gunnery Sergeant, USMC, Gulf War, Iraq War
 * Peter J. Ryan – Medal of Honor, Civil War
 * Josiah Snelling – military leader, commander of Fort Harrison
 * John T. Sterling – Medal of Honor, Civil War
 * William Maxwell Wood – naval surgeon, first Surgeon General

Musicians

 * Leo Baxter – musician, composer, band director
 * Steven Caldwell – musician, folk singer
 * Scatman Crothers – musician, actor
 * Johnnie "Scat" Davis – singer, bandleader
 * Paul Dresser – vaudeville actor, composer, "On The Banks of the Wabash, Far Away," "My Gal Sal"
 * Edwin Franko Goldman – bandleader, composer
 * Indiana Gregg – singer, songwriter
 * Mick Mars – born Robert Alan Deal; Mötley Crüe guitarist
 * Hank Roberts – jazz cellist, vocalist
 * Claude Thornhill – pianist, arranger, bandleader, composer

Politicians

 * Simon Bamberger – governor of Utah
 * Birch Bayh – U.S. Senator
 * Evan Bayh – governor of Indiana and U.S. Senator
 * Thomas H. Blake – U.S. Congressman, Commissioner of the U.S. Land Office, resident trustee of Wabash and Erie Canal
 * Newton Booth – governor of California, U.S. Senator
 * James Bopp – conservative attorney known for Citizens United v. FEC; Republican National Committeeman
 * Joseph Gurney Cannon – Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
 * P. Pete Chalos – four-term mayor of Terre Haute
 * John G. Davis – U.S. Congressman
 * John Wesley Davis – physician, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, governor of the Oregon Territory
 * Eugene Victor Debs (1855–1926) – Socialist candidate for president
 * Joseph V. Graff – U.S. Congressman
 * Abram A. Hammond – lieutenant governor of Indiana, governor of Indiana
 * Edward A. Hannegan – U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator, diplomat
 * Russell Benjamin Harrison – son of President Benjamin Harrison
 * William H. Harrison – five-term U.S. Congressman
 * Nicholas Hood – Detroit City Council member and Congregationalist minister
 * Elisha Mills Huntington – attorney, federal judge, Commissioner of U.S. Land Office
 * Virginia E. Jenckes – first U.S. Congresswoman from Indiana
 * Brian Kerns – Republican Congressman
 * John Edward Lamb – Congressman, political leader
 * William Carr Lane – military surgeon, mayor St. Louis, governor New Mexico Territory
 * Dick Thompson Morgan – author, U.S. Congressman
 * John H. O'Neall – U.S. Congressman
 * P.B.S. Pinchback – politician, governor of Louisiana
 * Edward James Roye – merchant, president of Liberia
 * Everett Sanders – U.S. Congressman, secretary to President Calvin Coolidge, chairman of the Republican National Committee
 * John Gould Stephenson – fifth Librarian of Congress
 * Richard Wigginton Thompson – U.S. Congressman and Secretary of the Navy under President Rutherford B. Hayes
 * Ralph Tucker – five-term mayor of Terre Haute
 * John Palmer Usher – Indiana Attorney General, Secretary of Interior under President Abraham Lincoln
 * Daniel Wolsey Voorhees – U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator
 * Fred Wampler – U.S. Congressman
 * James Whitcomb – Commissioner of U.S. Land Office, governor of Indiana, U.S. Senator

Scientists and engineers

 * Willis Blatchley – scientist, naturalist
 * H. R. Cox (Herald Rea Cox) – bacteriologist
 * Ernest R. Davidson – chemist, educator, National Medal of Science recipient
 * David Deming – scientist, author, professor at the University of Oklahoma
 * Lee Alvin DuBridge – educator, physicist, college administrator
 * Barton Warren Evermann – biologist
 * Thomas Lomar Gray – educator, engineer, college administrator
 * Sam Hulbert – educator, scientist, inventor
 * James Arthur Lovell, Jr. – astronaut
 * William R. McKeen, Jr. – engineer, inventor of the McKeen railmotor and McKeen Car; founder of the McKeen Motor Car Company
 * Thomas Corwin Mendenhall – physicist
 * William A. Noyes – chemist, educator, recipient of Priestley Medal and Gibbs Medal
 * John Adelbert Parkhurst – astronomer
 * William Wesley Peters – architect, structural engineer
 * Abe Silverstein – engineer, space aerodynamicist
 * Jill Bolte Taylor – "The Singing Scientist," neuroanatomist, author
 * Edward Tryon – astrophysicist, cosmologist
 * Robert Tryon – engineering fatigue analyst

Writers

 * Lyman Abbott – minister, magazine publisher and editor
 * Claude Bowers – journalist, author, diplomat
 * Troy Brownfield – journalist, comic book writer, author, Prince Dracula
 * Winnifred Harper Cooley – author, journalist
 * Helen Corey – Syrian-American cookbook author, The Art of Syrian Cookery (1962) and Food from Biblical Lands (1989)
 * George W. Cutter – The Song of Steam, Buena Vista
 * Theodore Dreiser – An American Tragedy
 * Max Ehrmann – A Prayer, Desiderata
 * Philip Jose Farmer – science fiction author
 * Robert Greenleaf – author
 * Ida Husted Harper – suffragist, newspaper editor, History of Woman Suffrage, The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony
 * John Jakes – Kent Family Chronicles
 * Howard Andrew Jones - American speculative fiction and fantasy author and editor
 * William Harrison Mace – educator, historian, author, Lincoln, The Man of the People
 * Edward J. Meeman – journalist and environmentalist
 * Terry Pettus – journalist
 * Susie Lankford Shorter – wrote Heroines of African Methodism (1891)
 * Virginia Sorensen – winner of 1957 Newbery Medal
 * William Strunk, Jr. – educator, author, "The Elements of Style"
 * Martina Swafford — poet
 * Agness Underwood – first female city editor of a metropolitan daily
 * Will Weng – author, crossword puzzles editor New York Times

Others

 * Saint Mother Theodore Guerin – educator, religious leader
 * Eva Mozes Kor – Holocaust survivor, founder of CANDLES Holocaust Museum
 * Robert Hayes Gore – newspaper executive, author, former Governor of Puerto Rico
 * Matt Branam – late college president of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
 * Ellen Church Marshall – first airline stewardess
 * Horace G. Burt – president, Union Pacific Railroad
 * Ray S. Cline – CIA, author
 * Lotus Coffman – educator, college administrator
 * W.C. Coup – circus magnate
 * Hubert L. Dreyfus – philosopher, educator, author
 * Stuart Dreyfus – educator, author
 * Mari Hulman George – philanthropist
 * Tony George – business executive, former president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
 * Robert K. Greenleaf – business executive, author, educator
 * William King Harvey – CIA, "America's James Bond"
 * Anton Tony Hulman – industrialist, philanthropist; Indianapolis Motor Speedway
 * Mary Fendrich Hulman – business executive, philanthropist
 * Robert Hunter – social reformer, author, golf course architect
 * Martin David Jenkins – educator, late college president of Morgan State University
 * Robert Jerry – dean, University of Florida Levin College of Law
 * William G. Kerckhoff – business executive, developer of Beverly Hills, California
 * Abraham Markle – miller, Canadian legislator, soldier, village proprietor
 * Edison E. Oberholtzer – educator, founder of the University of Houston
 * Frank Popoff – business executive, current president of Dow Chemical and Chemical Financial Corp.
 * Wanda Ramey – pioneer broadcast journalist
 * Orville Redenbacher – popcorn entrepreneur; born in Brazil, Indiana; Vigo County farm agent
 * Peter Riedel – pilot, gliding champion
 * Chauncey Rose – railroad baron, philanthropist
 * Lou Anna Simon – current college president Michigan State University
 * William Truesdale – railroad executive
 * Clarence Abiathar Waldo – educator, author
 * Leroy A. Wilson – business executive, former president of AT&T
 * William Winter – explorer, author