Calvin Coolidge – 30th President of the United States (Amherst 1894)

John W. “Johnny” Carson – Former Host, NBC “Tonight Show” (Nebraska ’49)

Jack W. Nicklaus – Professional Golfer (Ohio State ’61)

Dean E. Smith – Former University of North Carolina Basketball Coach (Kansas ’53)

Stuart Evey – Former Chairman of ESPN (Washington ’56)

Phil Knight - Founder, Owner, and President of Nike, INC (Oregon ’59)

McLean Stevenson – Colonel Blake on MASH (Northwestern ’52)

Byron “Whizzer” White – Former Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (Colorado ’38)

Bobby Rahal – Indy Car Driver (Denison ’75)

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale – editor of Guideposts and author of The Power of Positive Thinking (Ohio Wesleyan ’20)

John Ritter – Actor, “Three’s Company” (Southern Cal ’70)

Persistence

“Nothing in the world can take place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.  The slogan, ‘Press On’, has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

--Calvin Coolidge
U.S. President 1924-1929