List of people from Roanoke, Virginia

The following is a list of notable people who were either born in, raised in, or were one-time residents of Roanoke, Virginia. Roanoke natives are also referred to as Roanokers.

Born in Roanoke

Tony Atlas, wrestler^[1]
Ronde Barber, NFL player^[2]
Tiki Barber, NFL player
Beth A. Brown, NASA astrophysicist
George E. Bushnell, Michigan Supreme Court justice
Tai Collins, model and actress
Lew DeWitt, founding tenor and guitarist of the Statler Brothers
Henry H. Fowler, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Dorothy Gillespie, artist, sculptor
Antoinette Hale, painter
Luke Hancock, basketball player
Jim Harrell, professional wrestler
K. J. Hippensteel, tennis player
James Hylton, racing driver
Louis A. Johnson, United States Secretary of Defense
Danny Karbassiyoon, soccer player
Henrietta Lacks, medical patient^[3]
George Lynch, NBA player
John C. Mather, astrophysicist and Nobel laureate
John Alan Maxwell, artist
Walter Muir, International Master of Correspondence Chess
John Payne, actor
Don Pullen, jazz pianist
Billy Sample, MLB player
John St. Clair, NFL player
Curtis Staples, basketball player^[4]
Lee Suggs, NFL player
Nicholas F. Taubman, former United States Ambassador to Romania
Lois Weaver, artist, activist, writer, director, and Professor of Contemporary Performance at Queen Mary University of London
Eric Weinrich, NHL player

Raised in Roanoke

George Canale, MLB player
India Ferrah, drag queen
Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association of America^[5]
John McAfee, founder of McAfee
Wayne Newton, singer^[6]
J. J. Redick, NBA player^[7]
Joshua Strachan, musician

One-time resident

Fleming Alexander, minister, businessman and publisher of the Roanoke Tribune
Nelson S. Bond, author
Sarah Johnson Cocke, writer and civic leader
Whitney Cummings, comedian and actress
Nidal Hasan, shooter in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting
Oliver Hill, civil rights attorney
Kermit Hunter, playwright
Johan Kriek, tennis player
Quigg Lawrence, Anglican bishop
Samuel W. Martien, Louisiana cotton planter and politician
Oscar Micheaux, early 20th century filmmaker
John Forbes Nash, mathematician and Nobel laureate
Harry Penn, dentist and civic rights activist
John Henry Pinkard, businessman, banker and herb doctor
G. Samantha Rosenthal, historian, author, and academic
Curtis Turner, NASCAR driver and Hall of Famer
Harriet French Turner, folk artist

References

^ "Tony Atlas Biography". WWE. Archived from the original on June 30, 2022. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
^ Berman, Mark (February 9, 2022). "Hard work has put Ronde Barber on cusp of Canton". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on February 9, 2022. Retrieved July 16, 2022.(subscription required)
^ "WHO honors Henrietta Lacks, Roanoke native whose cells served science". WDBJ7.com. October 13, 2021. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
^ Lundquist, Jerry (June 20, 2022). "Jerry Lundquist's Sports Memories: Catching Up with Curtis Staples". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Archived from the original on June 23, 2022. Retrieved July 19, 2022.(subscription required)
^ Dan Casey (January 6, 2013). "Sunday's column: Rename high school for Wayne LaPierre?". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2023. To consider them, let's take a single school -- Patrick Henry High in Roanoke. That happens to be Wayne LaPierre's alma mater. He was in the class of '67.
^ Quinlan, Adriane (August 1, 2006). "For Wayne Newton, It's Viva Virginia". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 6, 2023. Retrieved July 19, 2022.(subscription required)
^ Berman, Mark (September 21, 2021). "Former Cave Spring star J.J. Redick retires from the NBA". Roanoke.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021.(subscription required)

[1] "Tony Atlas Biography". WWE. Archived from the original on June 30, 2022. Retrieved July 16, 2022.

[2] Berman, Mark (February 9, 2022). "Hard work has put Ronde Barber on cusp of Canton". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on February 9, 2022. Retrieved July 16, 2022.(subscription required)

[3] "WHO honors Henrietta Lacks, Roanoke native whose cells served science". WDBJ7.com. October 13, 2021. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved October 13, 2021.

[4] Lundquist, Jerry (June 20, 2022). "Jerry Lundquist's Sports Memories: Catching Up with Curtis Staples". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Archived from the original on June 23, 2022. Retrieved July 19, 2022.(subscription required)

[5] Dan Casey (January 6, 2013). "Sunday's column: Rename high school for Wayne LaPierre?". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2023. To consider them, let's take a single school -- Patrick Henry High in Roanoke. That happens to be Wayne LaPierre's alma mater. He was in the class of '67.

[6] Quinlan, Adriane (August 1, 2006). "For Wayne Newton, It's Viva Virginia". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 6, 2023. Retrieved July 19, 2022.(subscription required)

[7] Berman, Mark (September 21, 2021). "Former Cave Spring star J.J. Redick retires from the NBA". Roanoke.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021.(subscription required)

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