In 2017, The Tennessee Alumnus magazine celebrates its 100th continuous year of publication by selecting 100 illustrious graduates to feature in three commemorative issues.
100 Distinguished Alumni

Carol Varnadore Aebersold
ENTREPRENEUR

Charles C. Anderson Jr.
BUSINESS LEADER

Howard H. Baker Jr.
STATESMAN

William “Muecke” Barker
TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

Burwell Baxter “B.B.” Bell
U.S. ARMY GENERAL

Paul Blaylock
NEUROSURGEON

Ed Boling
UT PRESIDENT EMERITUS

Frank Bowyer
DENTAL PIONEER AND PHILANTHROPIST

Randy Boyd
ENTREPRENEUR

Clarence Brown
FILMMAKER

Tamika Catchings
FORMER WNBA BASKETBALL PLAYER

Philander Claxton
EDUCATOR

James “Jim” Clayton Sr.
BUSINESS LEADER

George Connor
PROFESSOR

Bob Corker
U.S. SENATOR

John Cullum
ACTOR

Arthur “A.B.” Culvahouse Jr.
GOVERNMENT SERVICE

Mark E. Dean
COMPUTER ENGINEER
UT Knoxville, ’79

Nancy-Ann Min DeParle
PUBLIC POLICY EXPERT

Terry Douglass
ENTREPRENEUR

Lin Dunn
BASKETBALL COACH

Winfield Dunn
FORMER TENNESSEE GOVERNOR

Charlie Ergen
BUSINESS LEADER
UT Knoxville, ’74

John Fisher
BUSINESS LEADER
UT Knoxville, ’38

Don Frieson
PHILANTHROPIST

Ron Frieson
PHILANTHROPIST

Max Fuller
BUSINESS LEADER

Phillip Fulmer
COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME COACH

Phil Garner
FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER

Willie Gault
FORMER PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER

Tom Griscom
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST

Irvine Grote
SCIENTIST

Henry “Hank” Hartsfield Jr.
NASA ASTRONAUT

Dennis Haskins
ACTOR
UT Chattanooga, ’15

Jim and Natalie Haslam
BUSINESS LEADERS AND PHILANTHROPISTS

Jimmy and Dee Haslam
NFL TEAM CO-OWNERS AND PHILANTHROPISTS

Todd Helton
FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER

Jim and Judi Herbert
BUSINESS LEADERS AND PHILANTHROPISTS

Waymon L. Hickman Sr.
BUSINESS LEADER

Charles “Chad” O. Holliday
BUSINESS LEADER

Condredge Holloway
TRAIL-BLAZING ATHLETE

Allan Houston
PHILANTHROPIST AND FORMER NBA BASKETBALL PLAYER

Ray Jenkins
DEFENSE ATTORNEY

Sharon Price John
BUSINESS LEADER

Inquoris “Inky” Johnson
MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER

Joe Johnson
UT PRESIDENT EMERITUS

Julius Johnson
36TH TENNESSEE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE

Ed Jones
U.S. CONGRESSMAN

Van Jones
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Wilma Jordan
BUSINESS LEADER

Min Kao
ENTREPRENEUR

Joel Katz
ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER

Estes Kefauver
SENATOR AND MEMBER OF CONGRESS

Scott Kelly
NASA ASTRONAUT

Lowry Kline
ATTORNEY AND PHILANTHROPIST

Bill Landry
ACTOR, AUTHOR AND STORYTELLER

Hank Lauricella
LOUISIANA LEGISLATOR

Kara Lawson
FORMER WNBA BASKETBALL PLAYER

Sharon Lee
TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

Davan Maharaj
JOURNALIST

Johnny Majors
FORMER UT KNOXVILLE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH

Peyton Manning
FORMER PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER

Ruth Henderson McQueen
4-H ADMINISTRATOR, Philanthropist

Amy Miles
BUSINESS LEADER

Jimmy Naifeh
TENNESSEE LEGISLATOR

Spurgeon Neel Jr.
AVIATION MEDICINE PIONEER

Lindsey Nelson
SPORTS BROADCASTER

Ron Nutt
INVENTOR AND PHILANTHROPIST

Douglas Owsley
SCIENTIST

Candace Parker
WNBA BASKETBALL PLAYER

Larry Patrick
ENTREPRENEUR

Margaret Perry
UT MARTIN CHANCELLOR EMERITUS

Jim Powell
BUSINESS LEADER

Dave Ramsey
FINANCIAL ADVISOR AND MEDIA PERSONALITY

Jerry Reese
GENERAL MANAGER,
NFL NEW YORK GIANTS

Bill Rhodes
BUSINESS LEADER

Ron Rice
ENTREPRENEUR
UT Knoxville, ’64

Diane Schmidt
SCIENTIST AND INVENTOR

Margaret Scobey
DIPLOMAT

Margaret Rhea Seddon
NASA ASTRONAUT

Donnie and Terry Smith
PHILANTHROPISTS

William B. Stokely III
PHILANTHROPIST

Pat Summitt
FORMER UT LADY VOLS BASKETBALL COACH

John and Ann Tickle
PHILANTHROPISTS

Gary Wade
FORMER TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

Hershel P. “Pat” Wall
PHYSICIAN AND ADMINISTRATOR

Dorothy Hackett Ward
OPERA AND THEATER PIONEER

John Ward
FORMER BROADCASTER

Randal Weber
SURGEON

Phil Wenk
DENTIST AND BUSINESS LEADER

Kim White
BUSINESS LEADER

Reggie White
FORMER PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER

Chris Whittle
ENTREPRENEUR
UT Knoxville, ’69

John S. Wilder
TENNESSEE’S 48TH LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
UT Martin, ’41

Barry Wilmore
NASA ASTRONAUT

Alan Wilson
BUSINESS LEADER

James “Bucky” Wolford
BUSINESS LEADER

Lindsay Young
LAWYER AND PHILANTHROPIST

Everyman/Everywoman
UT GRADUATE
Selecting the Centennial Alumni
When your total alumni population is around 370,000, how do you narrow that down to 100 to celebrate along with this magazine’s 100th anniversary? You go to the alumni, of course.
In July 2016, we asked members of the nationwide UT Alumni Association—which includes graduates of all UT campuses—for nominations of alumni whose accomplishments and/or service and support to their alma maters made them worthy of inclusion among the 100 most significant UT alumni ever.
View the list of nearly 500 nominees.
We asked that nominees for professional or volunteer achievement be UT graduates from across the UT system who distinguished themselves and their alma maters through contributions to their communities or professions in one of the following categories:
- Volunteer service
- Military service
- Government or elected office
- Public or community service
- Philanthropy
- Entrepreneurship or business
- Education
- Invention or discovery
- Arts or entertainment
- UT brand ambassador
Nominations were solicited from our readers via email, social media and on the Alumnus website. We sought nominations from the chief alumni affairs officers, chief communications officers, publications editors and chief development officers for each UT campus and for UT System administration.
When the nomination deadline came in August, 500 UT graduates from the distant to the recent past had been nominated. For the challenge of reducing that pool of 500 nominees to the group of 100 Centennial Alumni, the job went to a special panel of individuals with an exceptional sense of the university’s history.
So, who comprised this panel of knowledgeable alumni that whittled 500 nominees down to the final 100 memorable, accomplished or admired of UT graduates from all campuses and all career paths? They are:
- Dr. Joe Johnson – President emeritus, UT System
- Ann Holt Skadberg – UTAA volunteer and daughter of Andy Holt
- Lofton Stuart – Former executive director of the UTAA
- Charley Deal – UT Martin
- Chandra Harris-McCray – UT Foundation
- Jayne Holder – UT Chattanooga
- Tim Lanier – UT Health Science Center
- Tom Looney – UTIA
- Haylee Marshall – UT Knoxville
- Rickey McCurry – UT Foundation
- Susan Robertson – IPS
- Kerry Witcher – UTAA
Thanks to their exhaustive review, we are pleased to bring you the stories of these Centennial Alumni in three near-equal installments in each of our 2017 issues.