Kansas-L
owner Lynn H. Nelson had a discussion idea:
"I started wondering how many people who gained their fame elsewhere had
had Kansas as their home. President Dwight
Eisenhower is an obvious example;
Georgia Neese Gray, first female treasurer of the United States; Earl
Browder, long head of the American Communist Party; General Frederick Funston, hero of the Philippines and the man who took chrge after the
San Francisco earthquake and save the city from the ensuing fire; Osa
and Martin Johnson, African wildlife photographers; Amelia Earhart, pioneer woman
pilot; Glen Curtiss, airplane designer and racer; Susan
Anthony,
women's rights advocate. I imagine that there are many more. I wonder if we could
discuss that for a while. It would be nice to be able to get a list as a
basis for an "eminent Kansans" feature in
The Kansas Heritage server."
The following people contributed names of well known Kansans to the list.
From merope:
The poet Edgar
Lee Masters (Spoon River Anthology) was born in Garnett
(Anderson county). His family lived there for one year after his birth
(8/23/1869) and then moved to Illinois. From the Garnett paper (sorry, don't
know which one, probably the
Plaindealer): 11/2/1916: Edgar Lee Masters, former Garnett boy last year
published his first book of poetry, "The Spoon River Anthology", and
critics have upbraided it as a travesty on poetry, a collection of
epitaphs, collection of character sketches of doubtful morality,
hodgepodge of slander from an invented village that never had a
counterpart, and a mere cheap sensation, which took hold only because of
its striking form. Also, some of the ablest critics declare him one of
the three great American poets they have discovered. The book consists of
personal confessions of more than 200 dead people of the suppositious
little Illinois town of Spoon River. He was born in Garnett in 1868. His
father was a lawyer and practiced here. They came from Illinois and
returned to Illinois. When Edgar was 18 he began to read law in his
father's office. He moved to Chicago. [the article included a sample of
his poetry and an artists sketch).
From Doris:
Notable Kansans should include my seriously great husband Lloyd Sloan, born in
Newton, Kansas.
From the Lyon family:
Bob Dole,
presidential candidate of these United States.
Mary Ann Thompson:
more famous kansans who are known elsewhere, how about langston hughes, gordon
parks, john
cameron swayze, actress louise
brooks, vivian vance,
william
inge, damon runyon, rex
stout. then there are people from elsewhere who
kansas helped make them famous like vachel lindsay and upton sinclair. mat.
other famous kansans are gwendolyn brooks, george washington carver, walter p.
chrysler, emmett kelly, and joseph kesselring. entertainers seem to abound,
shirley knight, ed asner, dennis hopper,
don johnson, kirstie alley, melissa etheridge,
samuel ramey,milburn stone, and karolyn grimes wilkerson (better known as
zuzu of it's a wonderful life). astronauts, joe engle, ron evans, steve
hawley. alex haley's roots go back to kansas city, kansas. and has anyone
heard the story of clarence darrow being a resident of mcpherson for 4 hours?
mat.
From Jerome L. Nelson:
Bob Dole...the next president...
I think not.
How 'bout Alf Landon?
(NOTE: He is mentioned in his daughter Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker bio)
From Dana White:
From the musical world of blues and jazz:
Joseph "Big Joe" Turner, b. May 18, 1911 Kansas City vocalist, forerunner of
Rock n Roll with songs "Corrine, Corrina, "Shake, Rattle, and Roll", and
"Honey Hush"
Lottie "The Kansas City Butterball" Beaman, b. circa 1900
guitar/piano/vocalist
Larry "Totsy" Davis b. Dec. 4, 1936 Kansas City
Bass/Drums/Guitar/Piano/Tenor Saxophone wrote "Texas Flood" later covered by
Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Charlie Parker, JR b. August 29, 1920 Kansas City, KS Jazz saxophonist and
BeBop master.
many others were associated with Kansas City but were born elsewhere like
Count Basie (NJ), Jimmy Rushing, Lester Young, Gene Ramey, Charlie
Christian, Jay McShann.
I'm sure I've left many out. Anyone know any more??
Dana White (born in Texas but with Anderson/Allen Co., KS roots)
From Sharon Leigh:
Then there was Ella Watson. Hung in 1889 in Wyoming for being a "cattle
thief" and given the name Cattle Kate, Ella was more likely a woman in
the wrong place at the wrong time. She legally homesteaded 160 acres of
public land that was used by a large cattleman as range and water for his
herd. She refused to leave and was killed by six members of the
cattlemen association. She was born in Canada, and her family moved to
Smith County, Kansas, where she left at age 17 or thereabouts. Her
nieces still live in Kansas. Sharon Leigh
From Dick Taylor:
Although these folks attained notoriety beyond the borders of Kansas, limits
imposed by a lesser degree of fame probably disqualify a number from flying
with the Wild Geese. However, during the apex of their careers, their
successes were notable.
Walter P. Chrysler of Wamego built a significant segment of the U. S.
automobile industry in the early 20th century. Charles Curtis of Topeka
became U. S. vice-president under Herbert Hoover.
In the early 1960's, John Hadl of Lawrence was selected college All-American
at two different backfield positions, then he went on to NFL fame
quarterbacking the Chargers, Rams, and Packers. The former Lion and Jayhawk
was once chosen the NFL's Most Valuable Player. John Riggins of Centralia
was another Jayhawk All-American succeeding in the NFL, with the Jets and
Redskins. John was named Super Bowl MVP, and later dined with Sandra Day
O'Connor. During the short lifetime of Brook Berringer, the young
quarterback came out of Goodland to help his college football team win the
past two national championships.
Jess Willard from Flush, Kansas went on to become the world heavyweight boxing champ
after 25+ rounds on a hot Havana day in 1915. Glenn Cunningham of Elkhart
overcame a serious childhood accident to become a two-time Olympian athlete
in the 1930's. He held national mile run records for high school and
college, along with the overall national and world records. Distance runner
Billy Mills gave a classic Olympics performance at Tokyo and impressed the
world in 1964. From Wichita, a 1968 Olympics competitor named Jim Ryun had
already become the world's greatest miler at a very young age.
Over a stretch of years through this century, Walter "Big Train" Johnson
(Humboldt), Mickey Mantle (Independence), and Bill Buckner (Pittsburg) came
out of southern Kansas' baseball belt to enjoy long successful major league
baseball careers. Big-leaguers Ray Sadecki, Jim Golden, Steve Renko, and
Mike Torrez had become baseball pitchers in Kansas before facing baseball's
greatest hitters during the latter 1900's. The Brett family, of Kansas, will
see George enter the Baseball Hall of Fame at the turn of the century.
Many other famed sports figures were students in Kansas schools. Several
former Kansas high-schoolers, such as Barry Sanders, Danny Manning, etc.,
are now highly-regarded pro athletes. Dean Smith played college basketball
for mentor Phog Allen in the 1950's; later the former Jayhawk elevated the
sport at North Carolina as a coach. All these individuals held the nation's
sports attention at one time or another. (List of Jayhawk
All-Americans in basketball.)
Rush Limbaugh, former
resident of Johnson county and present Dean of the
Limbaugh Institute of Conservative Studies, with unceasing regularity shines
the light of truth across this country and to all the ships at sea.
John Cameron Swayze, a Jayhawk, and
Walter Cronkite, one-time Wyandotte
county resident, were national news broadcasters after their earlier years
in Kansas.
Actors Buster Keaton, Hugh Beaumont, Vivian Vance, and Don Johnson found
show business fame after life in Kansas. Actress Jean Harlow, named Harlean
Carpenter at birth, attended elementary school at Seneca. Elizabeth
Taylor's parents were Kansans. Written works of William Inge, Independence
native and KU grad, were made into successful movies. Mickey Spillane lived
in Manhattan, KS, before writing about private-eye Mike Hammer in the other
Manhattan.
Sara Peretsky learned her writing techniques in the Lawrence
school system, and now she produces best-selling novels about a detectivette.
Dick Taylor
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