Michael Boatman – Actor/Writer
Michael Boatman is an American actor and writer and WIU graduate. He is known for his roles as New York City mayoral aide Carter Heywood in the ABC sitcom Spin City, as U.S. Army Specialist Samuel Beckett in the ABC drama series China Beach, as 101st Airborne soldier Motown in the Vietnam War movie Hamburger Hill, and as sports agent Stanley Babson in the HBO sitcom Arli$$. Boatman studied acting at Western…
Read MorePhil Bradley – Major League Baseball Player
Philip Poole Bradley is a retired Major League Baseball outfielder/designated hitterwho played for the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox of the American League and Philadelphia Phillies of the National League from 1983 to 1990. Bradley was raised in Macomb were he played high school baseball and football for the Macomb High Bombers. Due to his success there, the Macomb High School baseball field was later dedicated in his name. Also a talented football player, he played college…
Read More“Red” Miller – NFL Champion Coach
Robert “Red” Miller was a professional football coach with the Denver Broncos. Miller was born and raised in Macomb, Illinois and attended Macomb Public Schools and Western Illinois University, where he was later a star player and coach for the Leathernecks football team. He began his coaching career at high schools in Astoria and Canton, Illinois, and at Carthage College. Miller was an assistant coach with Lou…
Read MoreJoe Garner – Best Selling Author
Joseph S. Garner is a former radio executive, keynote speaker and a six-time New York Times bestselling author who was born and raised in Macomb, IL and now resides in Los Angeles, CA. Garner spent twenty years working in the radio industry, over ten of those years of which he was employed as an executive with…
Read MoreTodd S. Purdum – Journalist / Author
Todd Stanley Purdum was born in Macomb, Illinois in 1959. He graduated from Macomb High School in 1978 and from Princeton University in 1982 where he was a member of the University Press Club. Purdum has defined his career as a sharp observer of politics, culture, and Hollywood as a Washington correspondent of The New York Times, national editor at Vanity Fair, and…
Read MoreMarcus Dunstan – Screenwriter/Director
A native of Macomb, IL, Marcus Dunstan is an American screenwriter and director who, along with Patrick Melton, wrote screenplay for the film Feast, which was the winner of Season Three of the filmmaking competition reality TV series Project Greenlight produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Dunstan has since written the screenplays for Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds, Feast III: The Happy Finish, The Collector, Saw…
Read MoreOlan Soulé – Actor
A native of neighboring LaHarpe, IL, Olan Soulé was an American character actor and voice-over performer who had professional credits in nearly 7,000 radio shows and commercials, appearances in over 60 films and 200 television films and series, perhaps best remembered for his appearances onThe Andy Griffith Show. Soule’s voice work on television included his 15-year role (1968–1983) as Batman on several animated series…
Read MoreMary Matalin – Political Consultant / Television Host
Mary Joe Matalin is an American political consultant well known for her work with the Republican Party. A graduate of Western Illinois University in Macomb, she has served under President Ronald Reagan, was campaign director for George H. W. Bush, was an assistant to President George W. Bush, and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney until 2003. Matalin has been chief editor of Threshold Editions, a conservative publishing…
Read MoreJohn Mahoney – “Fraiser” Star / Tony Award Winning Actor
John Mahoney, a Tony Award winning and Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor, was born in Blackpool, England on June 20, 1940, the seventh of eight children. Mahoney moved to the United States aged 18 in March 1959 when his older sister Vera, a war bride living in rural Illinois, agreed to sponsor him. He studied at Quincy University, Illinois, before…
Read MoreCharles Kuhn – Cartoonist
Charles Harris Kuhn (March 20, 1892 – 1989), nicknamed Doc Kuhn, was a cartoonist best known as the creator of the comic strip Grandma. Born in Prairie City, Illinois, he was the son of James B. and Minnie Harris Kuhn. His father ran a restaurant and proudly displayed his son’s drawings in the eatery’s window. At age 12, he…
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