List of University of North Texas alumni

The following is a list of notable people who have attended or taught at the University of North Texas.

Athletics

• Steve Austin (known as Steve Williams while at UNT), wrestler
• Bill Bishop, NFL defensive tackle
• Bruce Chambers, former Texas Longhorns football assistant coach (1998–2014)
• Patrick Cobbs, NFL running back
• Jaelon Darden, NFL wide receiver
• Lance Dunbar, NFL running back
• Tony Elliott, NFL nose tackle
• Toby Gowin, NFL punter
• "Mean" Joe Greene, NFL Hall of Famer, NFL defensive tackle and head coach
• Cedric Hardman, NFL football defensive end; 1970 first round draft pick, San Francisco 49ers
• Abner Haynes, AFL and NFL running back
• Jim Hess, former college coach and NFL scout
• Don January, PGA Senior Tour golfer
• Chris Jones (born 1993), basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
• Brad Kassell, NFL Defensive Player
• Carl "Spider" Lockhart, NFL defensive back
• Billy Maxwell, PGA Senior Tour golfer
• Tony Mitchell, NBA forward
• Umar Muhammad, football player
• Jamize Olawale, NFL fullback
• Zach Orr, NFL linebacker
• Carlos Ortiz, PGA Tour golfer
• Willie Parker, NFL offensive lineman
• Johnny Quinn, USA Olympic Bobsled
• Ray Renfro, NFL wide receiver
• Hurles Scales, NFL defensive back
• Kal Segrist, MLB second baseman and Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball head coach (1968–83)
• Ron Shanklin, NFL receiver and All-Pro player
• Charlie Shepard, all-star CFL running back
• J.T. Smith, NFL wide receiver
• Dennis Swilley, NFL offensive lineman
• Tra Telligman, UFC fighter
• Harry Vines, wheelchair basketball pioneer
• David Von Erich (real name David Adkisson), deceased professional wrestler dubbed the "Yellow Rose of Texas," brother of Kevin Von Erich
• Kevin Von Erich (real name Kevin Adkisson), professional wrestler dubbed "the Golden Warrior", brother of David Von Erich
• Brian Waters, NFL offensive lineman
• Jeff Wilson, NFL running back

Arts and media

• Lawrence B. Jones, journalist, news anchor, news reporter, investigative reporter, and Fox News media personality
• Theodore Albrecht, musicologist
• Larry Austin, composer
• Joe Don Baker, film actor, Charley Varrick, Walking Tall, Cape Fear, three James Bond films
• Dave Barnett, sports announcer
• William Basinski, musician
• Bob Belden, jazz musician, Grammy Award-winning composer
• Brian Biggs, children's book illustrator
• Gregg Bissonette, jazz and rock drummer
• Sally Blakemore, paper engineer and pop-up book creator
• Joan Blondell, Oscar-nominated film and television actress, Desk Set, Nightmare Alley, The Cincinnati Kid, Grease
• Craig Bohmler, composer
• Zach Bolton, voice actor
• Pat Boone, pop and gospel singer, actor and television personality
• Billy Lee Brammer, novelist and journalist
• Justin Briner, voice actor
• Brave Combo, Grammy-winning polka rock band
• Karen Mixon Cook, disc jockey
• Eden Brent, blues pianist and vocalist
• Rogers Cadenhead, author of computer books; Web publisher; member of RSS Advisory Board
• Matt Chamberlain, session drummer
• Thomas Haden Church, Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning film and television actor, Sideways, Spider-Man 3, Broken Trail
• Jeff Coffin, jazz saxophonist of Dave Matthews band and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
• Joseph Patrick Cranshaw, film actor, best known as "Blue" from movie Old School
• Ivan Davis, classical concert pianist
• Aaron Dismuke, voice actor
• Miranda Dodson, Christian folk musician
• Bob Dorough, bebop and jazz pianist/vocalist of Schoolhouse Rock songs
• George Dunham, radio talk-show host and former "voice of the Mean Green Radio Network"
• Matthew Earnest, theatre director
• Greg Edmonson, musician
• Alyssa Edwards, drag performer, choreographer, and businessperson
• Todd and Toby Pipes, one hit wonders from the 1990s (Deep Blue Something)
• Rob Erdle, watercolorist, regents' professor
• Charlie Fern, White House speechwriter, journalist
• Kelli Finglass Director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, television personality, television producer
• Steve Flanigan Film Producer, Director and DP.
• Mark Followill, sports announcer
• O'Neil Ford, architect whose works include San Antonio's Tower of the Americas
• Steven Fromholz, singer-songwriter, 2007 Poet Laureate of Texas
• Bobby Fuller, rock singer/guitarist best known for his band's cover of "I Fought the Law"
• Phyllis George, Miss America 1971; First Lady of Kentucky, 1979–83; TV personality; broadcaster for The NFL Today
• Jimmy Giuffre, jazz musician
• James Hampton, actor and director
• Gerald Harvey Jones, a.k.a. G. Harvey, (1933–2017), painter.
• Kyle Hebert, voice actor
• Don Henley, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and drummer, solo and with The Eagles
• Sara Hickman, folk singer/songwriter
• Ray Wylie Hubbard, country music singer
• Kyle Irion, blogger and fiction author
• Elliott Johnson, artist and designer
• Norah Jones, Grammy-winning pianist and singer-songwriter
• Jeffrey L. Kimball, cinematographer of Top Gun
• Scott Kurtz, creator of the webcomic PvP
• Sue Ane Langdon, actress
• Michael Lark, comic book artist
• Lecrae, Christian hip-hop artist, actor, co-founder of Reach Records
• T. Lewis, illustrator of the comic strip Over the Hedge
• Tom "Bones" Malone, trombonist; played with Saturday Night Live and Late Show with David Letterman house bands, and The Blues Brothers
• "Blue Lou" Marini, saxophonist; played with Saturday Night Live house band and The Blues Brothers
• Jim Marrs, conspiracy theorist and author of Crossfire: the Plot that Killed Kennedy (the basis for the Oliver Stone film JFK)
• Lyle Mays, composer and keyboardist with Pat Metheny Group
• Dr. Phil McGraw, television personality and psychologist
• Eli McDonald, artist
• Larry McMurtry, novelist, essayist and screenwriter; won Pulitzer Prize for novel Lonesome Dove and Academy Award for screenplay of Brokeback Mountain
• Meat Loaf, rock singer and film actor
• Bill Mercer, sports and professional wrestling announcer
• Takesha Meshé Kizart, operatic soprano
• Jim Metcalf, news reporter and Peabody Award recipient
• R. K. Milholland, creator of webcomics Something Positive, New Gold Dreams and Midnight Macabre
• Lawrence Montaigne, actor, writer, dancer, and stuntman
• Latonia Moore, operatic soprano
• Maren Morris, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter
• Bill Moyers, journalist and commentator
• Jack Nance, stage, TV and film actor, notable for his works with director David Lynch including Eraserhead, Twin Peaks
• Trina Nishimura, voice actor
• Warren Carl Norwood, author of science-fiction novels
• Roy Orbison, rock singer-songwriter in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Brina Palencia, voice actor
• Alan Palomo, frontman for Neon Indian
• Jessie Pavelka, television star and model
• Craig Pilo (born 1972), drummer
• David Portillo, operatic tenor
• Emily Pulley, operatic soprano who has performed in more than 150 operas
• Patricia Racette, operatic soprano
• Leila Rahimi, sports reporter and anchor
• Anne Rice, author, Interview with the Vampire
• Michelle Rojas, voice actor
• Jim Rotondi, jazz trumpeter, educator and conductor
• Melissa Rycroft, dancer and television personality
• Philece Sampler, film, television, and voice actor
• Christopher Sabat, voice actor
• Sonny Strait, voice actor and comic book artist
• Andrew Savage, musician and artist
• Emilia Schatz, video game designer at Naughty Dog
• Ann Sheridan, film actress, star of Dodge City, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Nora Prentiss
• Damin Spritzer, organist and academic
• Clinton Howard Swindle, journalist and author
• Alexis Tipton, voice actor
• Darren Trumeter, member of The Whitest Kids U' Know comedy troupe
• Paul Varghese, stand-up comedian, appeared on NBC's Last Comic Standing
• Jennifer Vasquez, Big Brother season 6 contestant; actor
• Craig Way, sports announcer
• Peter Weller, film actor and star of RoboCop
• Noble Willingham, television and film actor, Walker, Texas Ranger, Good Morning, Vietnam, City Slickers
• Kaela Sinclair, musician, keyboardist and vocalist for M83
• Shara Worden, musician, performs under the name My Brightest Diamond
• Xiaoze Xie, artist
• Denny Thomas, Emmy-winning editor

Science and education

• W. J. Adkins, B.A. 1930 (1907–1965), founding president of Laredo Community College
• Dee Brock (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.), senior vice president of educational programming at PBS
• Elise F. Harmon, B.S. (1909–1985), physicist, chemist, and major contributor to the miniaturization of computers
• Anita Jose, Ph.D, business strategist, essayist, and professor at Hood College
• John E. King, PhD, president of the Kansas State Teachers College (now Emporia State University); president of the University of Wyoming, 1966-1967
• Juan L. Maldonado (B.A. 1972, Master of Education 1975) has been the president of Laredo Community College since 2007.
• Gary S. Metcalf (1957), organizational theorist and management consultant
• Charles Mullins, cardiologist and former CEO, Parkland Hospital; administrator, University of Texas System
• Lorene Lane Rogers, Ph.D. (1914–2009), president of The University of Texas, first woman president of a major public university
• Nicola Scafetta, Ph.D, physicist

Government and public service

• Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs since 29 April 2015. He was the former ambassador to Washington, former adviser to the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia.
• Dick Armey, former Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, Texas District 26, which includes UNT, former economics professor and department chair at UNT
• Robert Lee Bobbitt, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives (1927–1929); Attorney General of Texas (1929–1930); state court judge (1935–1937); chairman of the Texas Highway Department (1937–1943)
• Michael C. Burgess, current U.S. representative for the 26th Texas district, which includes UNT
• Konni Burton, Texas State Senator as of 2015
• Jack Cox, Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1962; Houston oilfield equipment industrialist
• Tony Goolsby (Class of 1961), member of the Texas House of Representatives from Dallas County from 1989 to 2009
• Warren G. Harding, former Texas State Treasurer (1977–1983) and Dallas County Treasurer (1950–1977); former President of North Texas State University.
• Jim Hightower, populist activist and former Texas Commissioner of Agriculture
• Opal Lee, activist who championed Juneteenth becoming a U.S. Federal holiday
• Joseph L. Lengyel, General, U.S. Air Force; Chief, National Guard Bureau
• Clint Lorance (born 1984), Army officer convicted of second-degree murder for battlefield deaths; pardoned
• Diane Patrick (Class of 1969 and 1999, M.A. and Ph.D.), member of the Texas House of Representatives from Arlington; former faculty member in education
• Ray Roberts, former Congressman from Denton; namesake of nearby Lake Ray Roberts
• Corry Schiermeyer, former United States Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications (acting) (2006–2007), Associate EPA Administrator for Public Affairs (2019-2020)
• Gwyn Shea, former Texas secretary of state (2002–2003) and a member of the Texas House of Representatives (1983–1993) from Irving; UNT regent since 2007
• Drew Springer, Jr., state representative from District 68 in North Texas and the eastern South Plains
• Barbara Staff, co-chairman of the 1976 Texas Ronald Reagan presidential primary campaign

Pageantry

• R'Bonney Gabriel, first Asian-American Miss Texas USA, winner of Miss USA 2022 and Miss Universe 2022

References