List of people from Bloomington, Illinois

The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Bloomington, Illinois. For a similar list organized alphabetically by last name, see the category page People from Bloomington, Illinois.

Academics and writing

Name	Birth	Death	Known for	Association	Reference
Kate Charles	1950		Mystery writer
Eyestone, Lura	Oct 14, 1872	Mar 9, 1965	Educator	Born in Bloomington
Elbert Hubbard	Jun 19, 1856	May 7, 1915	Essayist	Born in Bloomington
Frederic W. Goudy	Mar 8, 1865	May 11, 1947	Typographer	Born in Bloomington
Gertrude Hull	Nov 16, 1866	Mar 22, 1947	Teacher	Born in Bloomington
John Wesley Powell	Mar 24, 1834	Sep 23, 1902	Naturalist		^[1]
Harold Sinclair	May 8, 1907	May 24, 1966	Novelist, jazz musician	Born in Chicago, lived in Bloomington since age 8
Wilson Tucker	Nov 23, 1914	Oct 6, 2006	Author
Curtis White			Author, novelist, essayist, and theorist		^{[citation needed]}

Name	Birth	Death	Known for	Association
George J. Mecherle	Jun 7, 1877	Mar 10, 1951	Founder of State Farm Insurance	Lived and died in Bloomington
Marc W. Miller	1947		Award-winning game designer	Lives in Bloomington
Verne Winchell	Oct 30, 1915	Nov 26, 2002	Founder of Winchell's Donuts	Born in Bloomington

Name	Birth	Death	Known for	Association	Reference
Wally Bishop	Aug 17, 1905	Jan 15, 1982	Cartoonist	Grew up in Bloomington
Ryan Bliss			Digital artist; founder of Digital Blasphemy
Tim Bradstreet	Feb 16, 1967		Eisner Award-nominated artist and illustrator	Graduated BHS, Class of 1985	^{[citation needed]}
David S. Broder	Sep 11, 1929	Mar 9, 2011	Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post journalist	Worked for Pantagraph newspaper in Bloomington
Sidney Smith	Feb 13, 1877	Oct 20, 1935	Million-dollar "Chicago Tribune" cartoonist of The Gumps	Worked for The Sunday Eye newspaper in Bloomington
John Campbell	Jul 7, 1955		Jazz pianist	Born in Bloomington
Rachel Crothers	Dec 12, 1870	Jul 5, 1958	Playwright	Born in Bloomington
Joel Higgins	Sep 28, 1943		Actor (Edward W. Stratton, III on Silver Spoons)	Born in Bloomington
Pawnee Bill	Feb 14, 1860	Feb 3, 1942	Wild West showman	Born in Bloomington
Pokey LaFarge	June 26, 1983		Musician and songwriter focusing on the American roots genre	Born in Bloomington
Cleo Madison	Mar 26, 1883	Mar 11, 1964	Silent-film actress and director	Born in Bloomington
Frederic Remington	Oct 4, 1861	Dec 26, 1909	Artist and sculptor of the Old West	Lived in Bloomington
Paul Rhymer	1905	Oct 26, 1964	Scriptwriter and humorist, creator of Vic and Sade	Grew up in Bloomington
McLean Stevenson	Nov 14, 1927	Feb 15, 1996	Actor (Henry Blake on MASH*)	Grew up in Bloomington area
Kathleen McClellan	Apr 28, 1970		Actress, Former Miss Illinois Teen USA in 1988	Grew up in Bloomington
Dawn Upshaw	Jul 17, 1960		Singer		^{[citation needed]}

Name	Image	Birth	Death	Known for	Association	Reference
Henry Blake				Character on the TV show MASH*

Military

Name	Birth	Death	Known for	Association
Sharon K.G. Dunbar	Jul 12, 1960		US Air Force major general – graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in the 3rd class to accept females; commanded Air Force Basic Military Training; first female to command the Air Force District of Washington; highest ranking Korean-American general in the Air Force.	Raised in Bloomington
Ralph Eaton	Aug 5, 1898	May 1, 1986	US Army brigadier general – graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point; WWII Chief of Staff 82nd Airborne Division, Army Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit.	Born in Bloomington
James Harbord	Mar 21, 1866	Aug 20, 1947	US Army general in World War I	Born in Bloomington
Marie Meyer (espionage)	Apr 7, 1897	Dec 1969	US linguist who worked on Venona project	Raised in Bloomington
William Orme	Feb 17, 1832	Sep 13, 1866	Union Army general in the Civil War	Lived in Bloomington later half of life
James I. Poynter	Dec 1, 1916	Nov 4, 1950	US Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient for actions at The Battle of Chosin Reservoir in Korean War	Born in Bloomington
Sidney S. Wade	Sep 30, 1909	Nov 24, 2002	US Marine Corps major general who commanded Marine Forces during 1958 Lebanon crisis	Born in Bloomington

Politics

Name	Birth	Death	Known for	Association
David Davis	Mar 9, 1815	Jun 26, 1886	Appointed to US Supreme Court by Abraham Lincoln	Lived and died in Bloomington
Joseph W. Fifer	Oct 28, 1840	Aug 6, 1938	19th Governor of Illinois	Attended Illinois Wesleyan University, served as city attorney of Bloomington
John Marshall Hamilton	May 28, 1847	Sep 22, 1905	18th Governor of Illinois	Lived in Bloomington.
Ward Hill Lamon	Jan 6, 1828	May 7, 1893	Personal friend and bodyguard of Abraham Lincoln
John Brown Lennon	Oct 12, 1850	Jan 18, 1923	Labor union leader and American Federation of Labor treasurer
George Lincoln Rockwell	Mar 9, 1918	Aug 25, 1967	American Nazi leader	Born in Bloomington
Rick Scott	Dec 1, 1952		45th Governor of Florida; United States Senator from Florida	Born in Bloomington
Kelly Loeffler	Nov 27, 1970		United States Senator from Georgia	Born in Bloomington
Adlai E. Stevenson I	Oct 23, 1835	Jun 14, 1914	23rd Vice President of the United States under Grover Cleveland; his wife Letitia Green was born in Bloomington	Was raised in Bloomington and attended Illinois Wesleyan University
Adlai E. Stevenson II	Feb 5, 1900	Jul 14, 1965	31st Governor of Illinois, US presidential candidate, and US Ambassador to the United Nations	Was raised in Bloomington and attended University High School

Name	Birth	Death	Known for	Association
Bill Conroy	Feb 26, 1915	Nov 13, 1997	Catcher for Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox	Born in Bloomington
Jim Cox	May 28, 1950		Second baseman for Montreal Expos	Born in Bloomington
Bill King	Oct 6, 1927	Oct 18, 2005	Radio sports announcer for Oakland Athletics and Oakland/LA Raiders; Baseball Hall of Fame	Born in Bloomington
Lyle Luttrell	Feb 22, 1930	Jul 11, 1984	Shortstop for Washington Senators	Born in Bloomington
Bernie Neis	Sep 26, 1895	Nov 29, 1972	Outfielder for Brooklyn Robins, Boston Braves, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox	Born in Bloomington
Jack Powell	Jul 9, 1874	Oct 17, 1944	Pitcher for Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Perfectos, St. Louis Browns and New York Highlanders	Born in Bloomington
Old Hoss Radbourn	Dec 11, 1854	Feb 5, 1897	Pitcher in Baseball Hall of Fame	Lived and died in Bloomington
Curt Raydon	Nov 18, 1933	Mar 3, 2018	Pitcher for Pittsburgh Pirates	Born in Bloomington

Name	Image	Birth	Death	Known for	Association	Reference
Jim Crews		Feb 14, 1954		NCAA basketball player and coach	Attended University High School	^{[citation needed]}

Name	Birth	Death	Known for	Association	Reference
Bump Elliott	Jan 30, 1925	Dec 7, 2019	Player for Michigan and Purdue; head coach at Michigan (1959–1968); athletic director at Iowa (1970–1991); College Football Hall of Fame	Raised in Bloomington
Pete Elliott	Sep 29, 1926	Jan 4, 2013	Quarterback of undefeated Michigan football teams (1947 and 1948); head coach at Nebraska, Illinois, Cal, and Miami; College Football Hall of Fame	Born in Bloomington	^{[citation needed]}
Michael Hoomanawanui	Jul 4, 1988		Tight end for New Orleans Saints	Born in Bloomington
Brandon Hughes	May 23, 1986		Former NFL cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles	Born in Bloomington

Name	Image	Birth	Death	Known for	Association	Reference
Ogonna Nnamani		Jul 29, 1983		US volleyball team member in the 2004 Olympics and 2008 Olympics (silver medalist); graduate of University High School	Born in Bloomington

Name	Image	Birth	Death	Known for	Association	Reference
Don Pyke		Dec 5, 1968		Head coach of Adelaide Football Club in Australian Football League,^[2] player for West Coast Eagles 1990s.	Born in Bloomington

^ Bearnson, Margaret S. "John Wesley Powell". Utah History Encyclopedia.
^ "Pyke named new Crows coach". afc.com.au. Adelaide Crows. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.