- Bill Walsh
William Ernest Walsh (born November 30, 1931) is a former American football head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and Stanford University. The inventor of the West Coast Offense, he is widely considered one of the most brilliant and innovative football minds to ever coach. He has a home in Pacific Grove, California.
- Dick Tomey
Dick Tomey (born June 20 1938, in Bloomington, Indiana) is a football coach. He is currently the head coach at San Jose State University.
- Rudy Rucker
Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (born March 22, 1946 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American computer scientist and science fiction author, and is one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which ("Software" and "Wetware") both won Philip K. Dick Awards. Rucker is the great-great-great-grandson of the philosopher G.W.F. Hegel. (Cf.
- Amy Tan
Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships and what it means to grow up as a first generation Asian American. In 1993, Tan's adaptation of her most popular fiction work, "The Joy Luck Club", became a commercially successful film. She has written several other books, including "The Kitchen God's Wife", "The Hundred Secret Senses", and "The Bonesetter's Daughter", …
- Robert Caret
Robert L. Caret is the current president of Towson University. He became the 12th president of TU on July 1, 2003. As a former faculty member, dean, executive vice president and provost at Towson, Caret served at Towson for 21 years before assuming the presidency of San José State University of the California State University System in 1995.
- John Sperling
John Sperling (born 1921) is a US billionaire who is credited with leading the contemporary for-profit education movement in the United States. His fortune is based on his founding of the for-profit University of Phoenix for working adults in 1976, which is now part of the publicly traded Apollo Group (NASDAQ:APOL). John Sperling received his undergraduate education at Reed College, Oregon, a master's from the University of California, Berkeley under the G.I. Bill, …
- Harry Edwards
Harry Edwards is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and author of "The Revolt of the Black Athlete". Dr. Edwards is also an alumnus of San Jose State University and Cornell University. Edwards has written a few papers and one book about the nexus between sociology and sports.
- J. Gordon Edwards
J. Gordon Edwards (1919-2004) was an entomologist mountain climber, an author, and park ranger. Edwards was professor, and later emeritus professor of Biology, San Jose State University. He died on July 19 of a heart attack while hiking up Divide Mountain with his wife, Alice. He was 84.
- Tom Smothers
Thomas Bolin "Tom" Smothers, III is an American comedian, composer and musician from New York, New York. Tommy Smothers is best known as half of the musical comedy team The Smothers Brothers with his brother, Dick Smothers. Tom was portrayed as the "dumb one". The brothers graduated from Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California, Los Angeles, California. They attended San José State University.
- Gordon Moore
Gordon Earle Moore (b. January 3, 1929 in San Francisco, California) is the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation and the author of Moore's Law (published in an article 19 April 1965 in "Electronics Magazine"). Moore was born in San Francisco, California. He received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1954.
- Joe Trippi
Joe Trippi is a long-time American Democratic campaign worker and consultant. A mainstay in presidential politics, Trippi has worked on the presidential campaigns of Edward Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, and Dick Gephardt. Most notably, he served as campaign manager for presidential candidate and former Vermont governor Howard Dean. He is currently working for the presidential campaign of former Senator John Edwards.
- Madison Nguyen
Madison P. Nguyen in an American politician from California, currently serving on the San Jose, California City Council, representing District 7. Born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States in early 80s, she received her BA in History from the University of California, Santa Cruz; and her MA in Social Science from the University of Chicago.She used to teach sociology and Vietnamese American Culture at De Anza and Evergreen colleges, San Jose, CA.
- Phil Johnson
Phil Johnson is an assistant men's basketball coach at USC. He previously served as the head coach at San José State on two separate occasions.
- Joey Chestnut
Joseph Christian "Jaws" Chestnut (born November 25, 1983) is a competitive eater from San Jose, California, currently ranked first in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. On July 4, 2007, he won the 92nd Annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, beating six-time defending champion Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi by consuming 66 HDBs (hot dogs and buns) in twelve minutes, which set a new world record.
- Kate Evans
Kate Evans is an award-winning poet and prose writer. Her debut poetry collection, "Like All We Love", was published by Q Press in 2006 and was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Lambda Literary Award. She is also the author of "Negotiating the Self" (Routledge, 2002), a nonfiction book about lesbian and gay teachers. Her poetry, stories and essays have appeared in more than 50 publications, including the "North American Review", …
- George Nessman
George Nessman is the head men's basketball coach at San José State University.
- Yosh Uchida
Yoshihiro "Yosh" Uchida (b. 1920) is an American businessman, entrepreneur, and educator who is best known for his contributions to judo. Uchida has been the head judo coach at San Jose State University for over 60 years, and was instrumental in the development of the martial art into a competitive sport. Uchida is the child of Japanese immigrants who worked as farm laborers in California's Imperial Valley.
- Arron Oberholser
Arron Oberholser (born February 2, 1975) is an American golfer. Oberholser was born in San Luis Obispo, California. He attended San Jose State University and turned professional in 1998. Oberholser played on the Canadian Tour in 1999 and 2000, finishing second on the Order of Merit in the latter year. In 2001 he was a member of the second tier tour in North America, the Nationwide Tour, but only competed three times due to a wrist injury.
- Mike Swain
Mike Swain is one of the most successful American judo players. He became the first American male to win the Judo World Championships when he took the gold medal in 1987. He competed in four Olympics, winning a bronze medal in 1988, and a number of World Championships. In addition to these well-known competitions, he participated in a number of tournaments that are less-known outside of the judo world, but very prestigious within it, such as the Kano Cup in 1986.
- Dick Smothers
Richard "Dick" Smothers (born November 20, 1939) is an American comedian, composer and musician from New York, New York, now residing in Sarasota, Florida. Smothers is best known for being half of the musical comedy team The Smothers Brothers with his brother, Tom Smothers. Where Tom played the annoying dolt, Dick played the straight man trying to get through songs and acts without incident. The brothers graduated from Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California, …
- Pat Hurst
Pat Hurst (born May 23 ,1969 in San Leandro, California) is an American golfer who plays on the U.S. based LPGA Tour. Hurst's father is American and her mother is originally from Japan. She was born and raised in California.
- Gaylord Nelson
Gaylord Anton Nelson was a Democratic American politician from Wisconsin. He was the principal founder of Earth Day. In 1970, he called for Congressional hearings on the safety of combined oral contraceptive pills, which were famously called "The Nelson Pill Hearings." As a result of the hearings, side-effect disclosure was required for the pill in patient inserts — the first such disclosure for a pharmaceutical drug.
- Ken Caminiti
Kenneth Gene Caminiti was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball. He was born in Hanford, California, and attended San Jose State University.
- Kevin Frandsen
Kevin Vincent Frandsen is a Major League Baseball player, currently playing second base for the San Francisco Giants. Frandsen hit his first major league home run on August 17, 2006 against the Padres at PETCO Park. Frandsen graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California and later attended San José State University, playing for the Spartans and leaving the school as the all-time hits leader.
- Michael Honda
I am a US House Representative for the state of CA. I am a Democrat. My religion is Protestant. I am Widowed. I received my BS from San Jose State University. I received my BA from San Jose State University. I live in San Jose. I was born in Walnut Creek, CA. For issues within my power to resolve, write me at "1999 S. Bascom Ave., Ste. 815, Campbell, CA 95008".
- John Broussard
John Broussard (born December 18, 1983 in Kingwood, Texas) is an American football wide receiver who was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League in the 2007 NFL Draft. John played collegiately at San Jose State University where he and fellow 2007 draftee James Jones led the Spartans to a victory in the inaugural New Mexico Bowl as well as helping SJSU to its first winning season in 6 years.
- Tim Hawkinson
Tim Hawkinson was born in San Francisco, California in 1960. A graduate of San Jose State University, he later earned his MFA at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1989. Hawkinson is renowned for creating complex sculptural systems through surprisingly simple means. His installation "berorgan" a stadium-size, fully automated bagpipe, was pieced together from bits of electrical hardware and several miles of inflated plastic sheeting.
- Courtney Anderson
Courtney Anderson is an American football player who currently plays tight end for the Oakland Raiders. He began his collegiate career at Contra Costa College, where he lined up at wide receiver before moving to defensive end. He then transferred to San José State University where, in 23 games, hauled in 36 passes for 477 yards (13.3 avg.) and seven touchdowns. He was drafted by Oakland in the seventh round (245th overall) of the 2004 NFL Draft.
- Rashied Davis
Rashied Khalid Davis is an American football wide receiver for the Chicago Bears. He is an alumnus of San José State University. Prior to playing with the Bears, Davis played for the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League.
- David Deida
David Deida is an American author. Deida focuses on his theories about the different ways that men and women grow emotionally and sexually. Deida has designed and developed a program of practices that addresses his concepts. He is a founding associate of the Integral Institute and has taught and conducted research at the University of California Medical School in San Diego, University of California, Santa Cruz, San Jose State University, …
- Patty Sheehan
Patty Sheehan (b October 27 1956 Middlebury, Vermont) is an American professional golfer. Sheehan attended the University of Nevada and San Jose State University and became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1980. She won thirty-five events on the tour, including six major championships. She finished in the top ten on the money list every year from 1982 to 1993, including five second place finishes.
- James T. Beall Jr.
James T. Beall Jr. was elected to the California State Assembly in 2006. He is a Democrat. He represents the 24th Assembly District which includes the cities of Campbell and Saratoga and parts of the cities of Santa Clara, San Jose, Cupertino, and Los Gatos. Beall served on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors from 1994 until 2006, prior to which he served 14 years on the San Jose City Council.
- Alan Soldofsky
Alan Soldofsky (born 1951) is a widely published American poet. A graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, Soldofsky has published three books of poetry and has seen his work appear in many leading literary magazines. Soldofsky’s published collections of poetry are "Kenora Station" and "Staying Home." A third collection, "Holding Adam/My Father’s Books", includes poems written by his son, Adam Soldofsky.
- Daniel Goldston
Daniel Alan Goldston is an American mathematician who specializes in number theory. He is currently a professor of mathematics at San Jose State University. Goldston is best known for the following result that he, János Pintz, and Cem Yildirim proved in 2005 : :<math>liminf_{n oinftyfrac{p_{n+1}-p_n}{log p_n}=0</math> where <math>p_n </math> denotes the nth prime number.
- Lou Henry Hoover
Lou Henry Hoover (March 29, 1874 - January 7, 1944) was the wife of Herbert Hoover and First Lady of the United States. Admirably equipped to preside at the White House, Lou Henry Hoover brought to it long experience as wife of a man eminent in public affairs at home and abroad. She had shared his interests since they met in a geology lab at Stanford University. She was a freshman, he a senior, and he was fascinated, as he declared later, "by her whimsical mind, …
- Christopher Darden
Christopher Allen Darden (born April 7, 1956) is an American lawyer and fifteen-year veteran of the LA County District Attorney's office. He was, along with Marcia Clark, a prosecuting attorney in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson. He received criticism during the trial from legal observers. His worst blunder may have been his request that Simpson try on the "bloody gloves," which seemed not to fit. Darden received a B.A. from San Jose State University, …
- Tariq Abdul-Wahad
Tariq Abdul-Wahad is a French professional basketball player. Abdul-Wahad was born in France from parents who migrated from French Guiana. He changed his name to Tariq Abdul-Wahad after converting to Islam in 1997. He is the first player to be born and raised in that nation and play in the NBA. Tariq first played college ball at the University of Michigan, but later transferred to San Jose State, and was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in 1997.
- Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston is a Japanese American writer. She was born in Inglewood, California in 1934 and graduated from San Jose State University. Her writings are mostly focused to the ethnic diversity of the United States. In her well-known "Farewell to Manzanar" (1973) J.W. Houston presents her experiences in a Japanese American relocation camp during World War II. Other publications include "Don't Cry, …
- Ed Oates
Ed Oates (1946-) co-founded Software Development Labs in August 1977 with Larry Ellison, and Bob Miner. Software Development Labs later became Oracle Corporation. Ed Oates graduated with a BA in mathematics from San Jose State University in 1968, and worked at Singer, the US Army Persinscom (drafted), Ampex, and Memorex before co-founding Oracle. He retired from the company in 1996 and is currently a member of the board of advisors of Auguri Corporation and Gloolabs, …
- Steve Deberg
Steven L. DeBerg (born January 19, 1954 in Oakland, California) is a former American Football quarterback who played for the San Francisco 49ers (1978-1980), Denver Broncos (1981-1983), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1984-1987, 1992, 1993), Kansas City Chiefs (1988-1991), Miami Dolphins (1993), and Atlanta Falcons (1998). He was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the 10th round of the 1977 NFL Draft. Prior to joining the NFL, he played quarterback for San Jose State.