Politics

• John Ashcroft
  John Ashcroft
  John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
  
  , former U.S. attorney general
• Matt Blunt
  Matt Blunt
  Matthew Roy Blunt served as the 54th Governor of Missouri from 2005 to 2009. Before his election as governor, Blunt served ten years in the United States Navy, was elected to serve in the Missouri General Assembly in 1998 and as Missouri's Secretary of State in 2000.A Republican, Blunt was elected...
  
  , former governor of Missouri
• Melanie Blunt
  Melanie Blunt
  Melanie Anderson Blunt is the wife of former Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, serving as First Lady of Missouri from 2005 to 2009.During that period, she was the youngest spouse of a U.S. state governor in the United States. She was succeeded as First Lady by Georganne W...
  
  , former first lady of Missouri
• Roy Blunt
  Roy Blunt
  Roy D. Blunt is the junior United States Senator from Missouri. He is a member of the Republican Party. His Senate seat was previously held by Republican Kit Bond, until his retirement....
  
  , U.S. Senator
• Sempronius H. Boyd
  Sempronius H. Boyd
  Sempronius Hamilton Boyd was a nineteenth century politician, lawyer, judge and teacher from Missouri.-Biography:...
  
  , former U.S. representative and ambassador to Siam
• Charlie Brown
  Charles Harrison Brown
  Charles Harrison Brown , known as Charlie Brown, was a two-term U.S. representative from Missouri from the 7th Congressional District....
  
  , former U.S. representative
• Jim Keet
  Jim Keet
  James Holland Keet, known as Jim Keet , is a restaurant owner in Little Rock, Arkansas, a former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives and the Arkansas State Senate...
  
   (born 1949), former member of both houses of the Arkansas
  Arkansas
  Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
  
   legislature, the 2010 Republican
  Republican Party (United States)
  The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
  
   gubernatorial nominee in Arkansas
  Arkansas
  Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
  
  
• Billy Long, U.S. Representative
• Roscoe Patterson, former U.S. senator and representative

Arts, literature, humanities and entertainment

• Lennie Aleshire
  Lennie Aleshire
  Leonard Harrison Aleshire was a versatile American vaudeville and later country music performer from the 1920s into the 1960s. A singer, dancer and songwriter, he was also half of a musical comedy duo, Lennie and Goo Goo, with Floyd Rutledge...
  
  , vaudeville and country music performer
• Bob Barker
  Bob Barker
  Robert William "Bob" Barker is a former American television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, and for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.Born...
  
  , former host of The Price is Right
  The Price Is Right
  The Price Is Right is a television game show franchise originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed...
  
  
• Julie Blackmon
  Julie Blackmon
  Julie Blackmon is a photographer who lives and works in Missouri. Blackmon's photographs are inspired by her experience of growing up in a large family, her current role as both mother and photographer, and the timelessness of family dynamics...
  
  , photographer
• Kim Crosby
  Kim Crosby (singer)
  Kim Crosby is an American singer and actress, primarily on the stage and in concerts. She was the original Cinderella in the Sondheim-Lapine musical Into the Woods, where she met her now-husband Robert Westenberg. The couple married on June 19, 1991. She currently lives in Springfield, Missouri...
  
  , Broadway
  Broadway theatre
  Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
  
   performer
• Ian Eskelin
  Ian Eskelin
  Ian Eskelin , is a record producer, songwriter, solo artist, and founding member and lead singer of the Grammy-nominated Christian rock band All Star United. He won the Dove Award for "Producer of the Year" in 2011 and 2008, and was nominated for the same award in 2007, 2009, and 2010...
  
  , lead singer of All Star United
  All Star United
  All Star United is a Christian rock band that was formed by solo artist Ian Eskelin in 1996. The band is known for clever and sometimes sarcastic lyrics, as they frequently use their songs as vehicles to lampoon perceived excesses in Western culture...
  
  
• Ralph D. Foster
  Ralph D. Foster
  Ralph David Foster , was an American broadcasting pioneer and philanthropist who created the framework for Springfield, Missouri to challenge Nashville, Tennessee as the nation's country music capital during the 1950s...
  
  , broadcasting pioneer
• William Garwood
  William Garwood
  William Garwood was an American stage and film actor and director of the early silent era in the 1910s....
  
  , actor
• John Goodman
  John Goodman
  John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
  
  , actor (born in Affton, Missouri
  Affton, Missouri
  Affton is an unincorporated inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, USA. As of the 2010 census, the community had a total population of 20,307.-Geography:...
  
   and attended Missouri State University
  Missouri State University
  Missouri State University is a public university located in Springfield, Missouri, United States and founded in 1905. It is the state's second largest university, with an official enrollment of 20,802 in fall 2011...
  
  )
• Lucas Grabeel
  Lucas Grabeel
  Lucas Stephen Grabeel is an American actor, singer, dancer, songwriter, director and producer. As a performer, he is best known for his role as Ryan Evans in Disney Channel Original Movie's High School Musical and its sequels High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year , and as...
  
  , actor, singer (High School Musical
  High School Musical
  High School Musical is a 2006 American television film, first in the High School Musical film franchise. Upon its release on January 20, 2006, it became the most successful film that Disney Channel Original Movie ever produced, with a television sequel High School Musical 2 released in 2007 and...
  
  , HSM2, and HSM 3: Senior Year)
• Sara Groves
  Sara Groves
  Sara Groves is an American Contemporary Christian singer, record producer, and author....
  
  , Christian contemporary recording artist
• Speedy Haworth
  Speedy Haworth
  Herschel Haworth, Jr. , better known as Speedy Haworth, was an American guitarist and singer who was involved with the golden age of country music broadcasting in the Ozarks...
  
  , guitarist and singer
• Tess Harper
  Tess Harper
  Tess Harper is an American actress.-Early life:Born Tessie Jean Washam on August 15, 1950 in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. Her parents' names are Ed and Rosemary Washam. She grew up around lots of quilts and quilt makers. On her own time, she liked to sit on the porch-swing and read...
  
  , actress graduated from Missouri State University
  Missouri State University
  Missouri State University is a public university located in Springfield, Missouri, United States and founded in 1905. It is the state's second largest university, with an official enrollment of 20,802 in fall 2011...
  
  
• Jay Kenneth Johnson
  Jay Kenneth Johnson
  Jay Kenneth Johnson is an American actor from Springfield, Missouri.- Career :He has had roles on The Young and the Restless, Days of our Lives, and North Shore and won a role in the Aaron Spelling pilot Hotel. Johnson is also the lead singer of the band Solid Jones...
  
  , actor
• The Jordanaires
  The Jordanaires
  The Jordanaires are an American vocal quartet, which formed as a gospel group in 1948. They are best known for providing vocal background for Elvis Presley, in live appearances and recordings from 1956 to 1972...
  
  , singing group
• King's X
  King's X
  King's X is an American hard rock band that combines progressive metal, funk and soul with vocal arrangements influenced by gospel, blues, and British Invasion rock groups. The band's lyrics are largely based on the members' struggles with religion and self-acceptance...
  
  , musical group
• Brenda Lee
  Brenda Lee
  Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...
  
  , singer (moved to Springfield in 1956 at age 11)
• Jim Lowe
  Jim Lowe
  Jim Lowe is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1956 number-one hit record, "The Green Door". He also served as a disc jockey and radio host and personality, and has been considered an expert on the popular music of the 1940s and 1950s.-Biography:Born in Springfield, Missouri, Lowe...
  
  , country music singer
• Josh Heinrichs
  Josh Heinrichs
  Josh Heinrichs is an American reggae singer/songwriter who was the former lead singer of internationally known indie reggae band, Jah Roots. Since leaving the band in 2008, Heinrichs has launched a solo career with an iTunes Top 5 Best Selling Reggae album....
  
  , reggae singer
• Robin Luke
  Robin Luke
  Robin Luke is an American rockabilly singer who is best known for his 1958 song, "Susie Darlin". He has been enshrined in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
  
  , musician
• The Marksmen
  Marksmen
  The Foggy River Boys was the name of two related American male singing quartets from southern Missouri specializing in spiritual and country music in the 1940s and 50s.-1940s group:...
  
  , singing quartet (originally The Foggy River Boys)
• The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, musical group
• The Philharmonics
  Philharmonics
  The Philharmonics were a versatile African-American vocal quintet from Springfield, Missouri who became successful despite origins in a then-racially-intolerant town and era. They were at their peak in the 1950s and performed across the United States. The group could adapt to many styles of music...
  
  , singing quintet
• Brad Pitt
  Brad Pitt
  William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
  
  , actor
• Jah Roots
  Jah Roots
  Jah Roots was a reggae band from Springfield, Missouri. The band was active from 2001 to 2009. They produced records under the independent label GanJah Records. The band released several albums and has a local and international following...
  
  , reggae band
• Scott Siman
  Scott Siman
  Scott Foster Siman is a leading American country music entertainment executive based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is president of RPM Management and co-owns RPM Music Group, a Nashville music publishing company...
  
  , music producer and executive
• Si Siman, music producer and broadcast executive
• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
  Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
  Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is an indie pop band from Springfield, Missouri. Their first full-length album Broom, independently released in 2005, received good reviews from Spin Magazine and they are now signed with Polyvinyl Record Co....
  
  , musical group
• Tony Tost
  Tony Tost
  Tony Tost is an American poet. His first book Invisible Bride won the 2003 Walt Whitman Award judged by C.D. Wright.Tost was born in Springfield, Missouri, and raised in Enumclaw, Washington. He is a graduate of Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington, and College of the Ozarks in...
  
  , poet
• Kathleen Turner
  Kathleen Turner
  Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
  
  , actress
• Speedy West
  Speedy West
  Wesley Webb West , better known as Speedy West, was an American pedal steel guitarist and record producer. He frequently played with Jimmy Bryant, both in their own duo and as part of the regular Capitol Records backing band for Tennessee Ernie Ford and many others...
  
  , steel guitarist and record producer
• Robert Westenberg
  Robert Westenberg
  Robert Westenberg is an American musical theatre actor and acting teacher. He married actress and singer Kim Crosby on June 19, 1991, and the couple now have three children.-Early Life:...
  
  , Broadway performer
• Adrienne Wilkinson
  Adrienne Wilkinson
  Adrienne Marie Wilkinson is an American actress.- Biography :Adrienne Wilkinson was born in Memphis, Missouri. She is of Irish, Scottish, English, Cherokee, Danish and German heritage....
  
  , actress (graduated from Kickapoo H.S.)
• Slim Wilson
  Slim Wilson
  Clyde Carol Wilson , better known as Slim Wilson, was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and radio and TV personality who was a cornerstone of country music in the Ozarks for more than 50 years beginning in the 1930s; both in his own right, and as a member of The Goodwill Family and The...
  
  , musician, radio and TV personality

Sports

• Scott Bailes
  Scott Bailes
  Scott Alan Bailes , is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who pitched for three teams during a 13-year Major League career. At some point during his youth, he moved to Missouri, and participated in Little League, Pony League, and American Legion teams...
  
  , former American League pitcher in the 1980s and 1990s; now the color commentator for the Springfield Cardinals baseball franchise
• Lori Endicott
  Lori Endicott
  Lori Ann Endicott is a retired female volleyball player from the United States, who won the bronze medal with the USA National Women's Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. She also competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics, finishing in seventh place. She was also an All-American...
  
  , 1996 Olympic volleyball player
• Ryan Howard
  Ryan Howard
  Ryan James Howard is a Major League Baseball first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies. Nicknamed "The Big Piece", Howard stands and weighs . He bats and throws left-handed....
  
  , current MLB player, 2005 NL Rookie of the Year, 2006 Home Run Derby Champion, 2006 NL Most Valuable Player
• Jack Jewsbury
  Jack Jewsbury
  Jack Jewsbury is an American soccer player who currently plays for Portland Timbers in Major League Soccer.-Youth and College:...
  
  , MLS player for the portland timbers
• Josh Kinney
  Josh Kinney
  Joshua Thomas Kinney is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He throws a slider, 4-seam fastball, curveball, and a 2-seam fastball.-Early and personal life:...
  
  , first Springfield Cardinal (AA) to make the St. Louis Cardinals major league roster
• Stan Musial
  Stan Musial
  Stanley Frank "Stan" Musial is a retired professional baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals . Nicknamed "Stan the Man", Musial was a record 24-time All-Star selection , and is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball...
  
  , Hall of Fame baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals, played for the original Springfield Cardinals minor league baseball team in the late 1930s
• Larry Nemmers, NFL referee
• Steve Rogers, former MLB starting pitcher with Montréal Expos. Remembered as most successful pitcher in Expos history
• Payne Stewart
  Payne Stewart
  William Payne Stewart was an American professional golfer who won three majors in his career, the last of which occurred only months before he died in an airplane accident at the age of 42....
  
  , professional golfer
• Jackie Stiles
  Jackie Stiles
  Jackie Marie Stiles is a retired basketball shooting guard who set scoring records in college, and then played briefly in the Women's National Basketball Association .-High school:...
  
  , NCAA all-time leading scorer in women's basketball
• Anthony Tolliver
  Anthony Tolliver
  Anthony Tolliver an American professional basketball player who plays for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves. He attended Creighton University in Nebraska.-High school and college career:...
  
  , NBA basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves

Business

• David Glass, former CEO of Wal-Mart and owner of the Kansas City Royals
• John Q. Hammons
  John Q. Hammons
  John Q. Hammons is an American businessman and one of the nation's premier developers of upscale luxury hotels and resorts. With over 50 years of experience in the hotel industry, John Q. Hammons has built and developed nearly two hundred hotels...
  
  , founder of John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts
• Roy E. Winegardner, 1920-2009, former CEO of Holiday Inns, partner with John Q. Hammons in Winegardner and Hammons
  Winegardner and Hammons
  Winegardner and Hammons is a full-service hotel management and development company established in 1961 Roy E. Winegardner and John Q. Hammons. It is one of the original franchisers of Holiday Inn.-Company history:...
  
  .
• Charles F. O'Reilly (father) and Charles H. O'Reilly (son), founders of O'Reilly Auto Parts in 1957.

• Jack Stack
  Jack Stack
  Jack Stack is the founder and CEO of SRC Holdings, a company comprising more than 35 separate companies. SRC's companies do everything from consulting to packaging to building high-performance engines. Stack went to SRC in 1979 as the Plant Manager of International Harvester after eleven years of...
  
  , founder of SRC Holdings

Other

• Jimmie Angel
  Jimmie Angel
  James Crawford "Jimmie" Angel was an American aviator after whom Angel Falls in Venezuela, the tallest waterfall in the world, is named.-His birth and early life:...
  
  , aviator, discoverer of Angel Falls, highest free-falling waterfall in the world
• J. Alan Groves
  J. Alan Groves
  Ryan William Stanley Groves was a Hebrew Bible scholar, theologian, educator, and church elder. Born in Springfield, Missouri, he earned a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Engineering from Dartmouth College in 1975, a Master of Arts in Religion and Master of Theology from Westminster Theological...
  
  , Biblical Hebrew scholar, editor of Groves-Wheeler Hebrew morphology database
• Janet Kavandi, NASA astronaut