- Bob Knight
Robert Montgomery (Bob or Bobby) Knight (born October 25, 1940, in Massillon, Ohio, USA), also known as The General, is the head men's basketball coach at Texas Tech. He was previously head coach at Indiana and at Army. Knight has won more NCAA Division I men's basketball games than any other head coach. As of the 2007 NCAA tournament (3/27/07), that number stood at 890. Knight has won three NCAA championships (1976, 1981, 1987), …
- Mike Leach
Mike Leach (born March 9, 1961 in Susanville, California) is the current head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders football team. Leach has had a winning season every year since his tenure began at Tech. Former Texas A&M head coach Emory Bellard considers Leach the best offensive coach in the nation.
- Marsha Sharp
Marsha Sharp was the head coach of Texas Tech University's women's basketball team, the Lady Raiders, for 23 years. She retired following the 2005-2006 season. Sharp graduated from Wayland Baptist University in 1974 and earned a master's degree from West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M) in 1976. She became the head coach of the Lady Raiders in 1982. Under her leadership, the team won eight conference championships and a national title.
- Sankar Chatterjee
Sankar Chatterjee is a paleontologist, and is the Paul W. Horn Professor of Geosciences at Texas Tech University and Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of Texas Tech University. Dr. Chatterjee's work has focused on the origin, evolution, functional anatomy, and systematics of Mesozoic vertebrates, particularly basal archosaurs, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and birds. He has done important work on poorly known Late Triassic reptiles in India, including phytosaurs, rhynchosaurs, …
- Preston Smith
Preston Earnest Smith was a Democratic governor of Texas from 1969-1973, and the lieutenant governor from 1963-1969. Smith was born into a tenant farming family of thirteen children in Williamson County near Austin. The family later moved to Lamesa in Dawson County on the Texas South Plains, where Smith graduated from high school. He thereafter graduated from Texas Tech University in Lubbock and built a movie theater business by the middle 1940s.
- Kent Hance
Kent Ronald Hance (born November 14, 1942, in Dimmitt, Texas) is a lobbyist and lawyer who was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from west Texas, having served from 1979 to 1985. After his congressional service, he switched to the Republican Party. As a conservative Democrat, Hance represented the 19th Congressional District, which then stretched from Midland and Odessa to Lubbock.
- Jerry S. Rawls
Jerry Rawls was born in Houston. He spent his early years growing up in Texas. An enterprising kid, he took up jobs to earn pocket money, and even became a part of a Junior achievement organization where they made soap and sold it to supermarkets. Jerry Rawls currently serves as Finisar Corporation's President & Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors since March 1989. Finisar was started by Jerry Rawls and Frank H. Levinson in the year 1988.
- Tom Craddick
Thomas Russell “Tom” Craddick is the first Republican to serve as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives since Reconstruction.
- Zach Thomas
Zachary Michael Thomas (born September 1, 1973, in Pampa, Texas) is an American football player for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League; Thomas is a linebacker, and has been with Miami for the eleven seasons he has been in the NFL. He has been selected to the Pro Bowl seven times, and has recorded over 1,500 tackles.
- Randy Neugebauer
Randy Neugebauer (born December 24, 1949) is a politician from the state of Texas, currently representing the state's 19th Congressional district (map). The district includes a large swath of West Texas, including Lubbock and Abilene. He was sworn in on June 5, 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Neugebauer serves on the House Committee on Agriculture, and Committee on Financial Services. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Dana.
- John Carter
John Rodr Carter (born November 6 1941) is the Republican United States Congressional Representative from (map). Carter was born in Houston, but has spent most of his life in central Texas. Since 1971, he has lived in Round Rock, a suburb of Austin. He has been married to Erika Carter for almost 40 years, and they have four grown children. Carter graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in history in 1964, …
- Michael Dini
Michael Lawrence Dini (born 1954, Oakland, California) is a professor of biology at Texas Tech University. He received his PhD from University of Notre Dame and completed his B.S. in Biology from Saint Mary's College of California. In 2003 Dini became the focus of criticism when he refused to write letters of recommendation for students who Failed to either A make an A in the course, or B, write a scientific response to the Theory of Evolution.
- James Dickey
James Dickey is an assistant men's basketball coach at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater. He previously served as the head men's coach at Texas Tech University.
- Cory Morrow
Cory Morrow (born May 1, 1972 in Houston, Texas) is a singer/songwriter who has gained popularity throughout the Southwest. Morrow started playing guitar at Memorial High School in Houston. He continued to develop as a musician while attending Texas Tech University, where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. In 1993, Morrow moved to Austin, Texas to pursue music as a career.
- Kristy Curry
Kristy Curry (born Kristy Lynn Sims in Olla, Louisiana) is the head coach of Texas Tech University's women's basketball team, the Lady Raiders. She took the job on March 30, 2006, following the retirement of Marsha Sharp. Curry graduated from Northeast Louisiana University in 1988. Her career started with coaching jobs at Weston and Mansfield High Schools in her home state of Louisiana. She held several college assistant coaching jobs, including Tulane, Texas A&M, …
- Lauro Cavazos
L auro F. Cavazos (PhD '54, physiology) has devoted his life and his career to medicine and education, consistently breaking new ground along the way. Dr. Cavazos is a sixth-generation Texan who earned his BA and MA in zoology from Texas Tech University before earning his doctorate from Iowa State University. His academic career has been focused largely on medical education and research, and he is a recognized expert in several medical disciplines.
- Dirk West
Gerald Glynn "Dirk" West was an editorial cartoonist and journalist from Lubbock, Texas most famous for his caricatures of collegiate mascots. He was born in Littlefield, Texas but his family moved to Lubbock soon after. He attended Texas Tech University where he drew cartoons for "The University Daily" student newspaper. He appeared as "Uncle Dirk" on a local children's program for three years while heading up his advertising agency, West Advertising.
- Mac Thornberry
William McClellan "Mac" Thornberry (born July 15, 1958), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1995. He represents the 13th Congressional District of Texas, which includes much of the Panhandle and stretches as far east as Wichita Falls (map). He currently serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee. Thornberry is a lifelong resident of Clarendon, the seat of Donley County, …
- Doug Smith
Doug Smith is a composer/pianist who graduated from Kermit High School in 1981 and began classes at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas in the fall of the same year. His goal was to earn a degree in telecommunications but that same year he started working with music recording for the first time and 'Just For You', Smith's first recording, was released in the spring of 1982, is a collection of songs ranging from ragtime originals to romantic ballads.
- George Eads
George Coleman Eads III (born March 1, 1967) is an American actor, best known for his role as Nick Stokes on the CBS crime drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation". George was born in Fort Worth, Texas and grew up in Belton, Texas, 130 miles south of Fort Worth. His father is Arthur Coleman "Cappy" Eads, and his mother is Vivian Baker. George's stepfather, Dudley Baker, is a gynecologist.
- Glenna Goodacre
Glenna M. Goodacre (born 1939 in Lubbock, Texas, USA) is a sculptor best known for having designed the Sacagawea dollar that entered circulation in the United States in 2000. She also designed the Vietnam Women's Memorial located in Washington, D.C.
- Colby Donaldson
Originally from Christoval, Texas, Colby Donaldson is a successful, self-employed custom auto designer and builder currently living in Dallas, Texas. He graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in business marketing and began working as a sales representative at an HMO carrier until he decided to leave the security of a successful corporate job to pursue a passion and start his own company. Donaldson describes himself as imaginative, dedicated and flexible.
- Deena Katz
Deena B. Katz (Born February 12, 1950) is an American Certified Financial Planner, author, and president of the Miami, FL investment firm Evensky & Katz. She also serves as a Practitioner in Residence at Texas Tech University.
- Thomas C. Butler
Thomas Campbell Butler, M.D., is an American scientist specializing in infectious diseases including cholera and bubonic plague at Texas Tech University since 1987. He is credited with making oral hydration the standard treatment for diarrhea. Butler was arrested in 2003 (Kimberly, 2003) and prosecuted aggressively by the United States Justice Department and served a two year jail term ending in December 2005.
- William Curry Holden
William Curry Holden was an archaeologist and historian who taught for many years at Texas Tech University. He authored a number of books and articles on the history and culture of the Southwestern United States and Mexico and was instrumental in establishing the Southwest Collection and the Museum of Texas Tech University. He also conducted archaeological excavations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark.
- Andre Emmett
Andre Emmett (born August 27 1982 in Dallas, Texas) is an American professional basketball player. He currently plays for the NBA Development League team the Los Angeles D-Fenders. Emmett played college basketball at Texas Tech University. Emmett won the 2004 NCAA slam dunk contest, leaping over six children to take the title. Emmett earned the only perfect score of the night in the semifinals by tossing a bounce pass to himself off the back wall.
- Susan Graham
Susan Graham (born 1960, Roswell, New Mexico) is an American mezzo-soprano. She was raised in Midland, Texas. She is a graduate of Texas Tech University and of the Manhattan School of Music. She studied the piano for 13 years. She was a winner in the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions, and also a recipient of the Schwabacher Award from the Merola Program of San Francisco Opera. Graham made her international début at Covent Garden in 1994, …
- B.J. Symons
Brian Symons better known as B.J. Symons (born November 19, 1980 in Houston, Texas) is an American football quarterback. He currently holds the NCAA Division I-A record for most passing yards in a single season, with 5,833 in 2003, also in that year, he had 52 TD passes, which is third all-time. He was originally selected in the seventh round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans out of Texas Tech University.
- Dwayne Slay
Dwayne Slay (born June 21, 1984 in Brunswick, Georgia) is an American football safety who plays for the Chicago Bears of the NFL. Primarily a free safety, pundits believe he is also capable of playing strong safety as well. While only playing for one season as a starter at Texas Tech, Slay set a new Big 12 record with eight forced fumbles in a single season. This achievement, along with Slay being one of the top tacklers in the Big 12, …
- Kishor C. Mehta
Dr. Kishor C. Mehta is recognized worldwide as an authority on Wind Engineering. He is the first person from the Texas Tech University selected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering for his systematic studies of structural damage caused by windstorms and leadership in the development of structural design standards for wind loads. Dr.
- Charles Stenholm
Charles Walter "Charlie" Stenholm, (born October 26, 1938) is a politician from the state of Texas. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives for 13 terms, from 1979 to 2005. Stenholm was born in Stamford, Texas and he graduated from Texas Tech University - with a B.S. (1961) and an M.S. (1962) in Agriculture Education (1961). He has operated a cotton farm in West Texas for many years.
- Mary Jeanne van Appledorn
Mary Jeanne van Appledorn (b. Holland, Michigan, United States, October 2, 1927) is an American composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. She studied with Bernard Rogers and Alan Hovhaness at the Eastman School of Music. She received her Ph.D. in music theory from Eastman in 1966. She has served on the music faculty of Texas Tech University since 1950. She has composed numerous works for various instrumental combinations and has also composed computer music.
- Ted Fujita
Tetsuya Theodore "Ted" Fujita was a severe storms researcher of the twentieth century. Born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, he studied at Kyushu Institute of Technology and was an associate professor there until 1953 when he was invited to the University of Chicago after a professor there became interested in his research. His research at the University of Chicago on severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, …
- Dallas Braden
Dallas Lee Braden (born August 13, 1983 in Phoenix, Arizona) is a left-handed pitcher for the Oakland Athletics. He was drafted out of Texas Tech University in the ninth round of the June, 2004 draft by the Athletics. Before playing at Texas Tech University, Braden posted a combined record of 12-4 in two seasons at American River College. He threw a complete game against Fresno College while allowing one hit and striking out 14 batters.
- Duane Simolke
Duane Simolke (born 1965) is an American writer based in Lubbock, Texas, who has authored "The Acorn Stories", "Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure", "Holding Me Together", "The Return of Innocence" (with Toni Davis), and "New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio", based on the original Sherwood Anderson classic. He edited and co-wrote the spin-off "The Acorn Gathering" and donated the royalties of that work to the American Cancer Society.
- Manuel Ramirez
Manuel "Manny" Ramírez is a football player who played for Texas Tech. He is one of the top Offensive Guard prospects available for the 2007 NFL Draft. Manny started for four years on an offense that was in the top three in passing offense in NCAA Division-I Football every year. Ramirez is majoring in exercise sport science and was married in July of 2006 to Iris Castillo. He stands at 6'3" and weighs 335 lbs.
- Aaron Hunt
Aaron Hunt (born June 19, 1980 in Denison, Texas) is a defensive lineman for the B.C. Lions of the CFL. He is 6'3, weighs 270 lbs. and currently wears number 90. Hunt attended Texas Tech University and played for the Texas Tech Red Raiders football team. In 2003, he was selected in the 6th round(194th overall) by the Denver Broncos in the 2003 NFL Draft.
- Gene Gibson
Gene Gibson coached the Texas Tech Red Raiders men's basketball team from 1961-1969. A former player for Texas Tech, during his first year as coach, he led the team to the second round of the NCAA tournament. He completed his coaching career with a record of 101-91 and the third-most conference victories in Tech's history. Gibson died on June 26, 2007 in Plano, Texas.
- Peter Lewis
Peter Lewis is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy specializing in quantum mechanics) at the University of Miami, Florida. He received his B.A. in physics (1988) from Oxford University, and his M.A. (1992) and Ph.D. (1996) in philosophy from the University of California, Irvine. Prior to arriving at Miami in August 2000, he was Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Texas Tech University (1996-2000) and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Hong Kong (1998-2000).
- M. M. Ayoub
Dr. M.M. Ayoub is a retired P.W. Horn Professor of Industrial Engineering at Texas Tech University. He is a pioneer in the field of ergonomics, specifically relating to the application of mechanics to manual material handling. Dr. Ayoub holds a BS degree in Aeronautical Engineering which he earned at the University of Cairo, graduating in 1953. His MS (1955) and PhD (1964) are in Industrial Engineering from the University of Iowa. Dr.