I always want to get my bearings when I'm in a new place. And how do I do that? Well, I find out what famous people were born/are from the place I'm in! Turns out I don't really know any of these people, though I'm sure some would make interesting party guests!
Famous people born in Joplin, Missouri
- Tony Alamo, religious evangelist, convicted child sexual abuser and polygamist
- John Whitby Allen, photographer and model railroading pioneer
- Emily Newell Blair, was an American writer, suffragist, national Democratic Party political leader, a founder of the League of Women Voters and feminist.
- Robert Cummings, actor
- Langston Hughes, poet and writer
- Hale Irwin, golfer
- Jack Jewsbury, midfielder for the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer
- Tito Landrum, baseball player
- Jamie McMurray, NASCAR driver
- Charles McPherson, jazz musician
- Elva Miller, singer
- Darrell Porter, baseball player
- Mel Purcell, tennis player
- Pattiann Rogers, poet
- William Tobin, journalist[15]
- Dennis Weaver, actor
- Percy Wenrich, composer
- Grant Wistrom, football player
- Billy Cook (criminal), a serial killer
- Christofer Drew Ingle, musician, lead singer of indie pop group Never Shout Never
[edit]Notable residents of Joplin, Missouri
- Ferrell Anderson, baseball player
- Thomas Hart Benton began his art career with a local newspaper
- Lonny Chapman, actor, graduated from Joplin High School and Joplin Junior College (now Missouri Southern State University)
- Alan Cockrell, coach, Seattle Mariner
- H. Dale Jackson, Baptist minister and ethicist, lived here with his wife when they were newly married in 1949
- Oliver Winfield Killam, Texas oil industrialist; former Oklahoma state legislator
- Preston Lacy, member of the cast of Jackass' graduated from Joplin High School
- Mickey Mantle, played with the Class C 'Joplin Miners' minor league baseball team, 1950
- Jamie McMurray NASCAR driver, 2003 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, 2010 Daytona 500 champion.
- J. Eddie Peck, actor, was raised in Joplin graduating from Parkwood High School
- Rod Smith, wide receiver for the NFL's Denver Broncos, graduated from Missouri Southern State University
- Gabby Street, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, adopted Joplin as his hometown
- James Thrash, wide receiver for the NFL's Washington Redskins, graduated from Missouri Southern State University
The other thing I learned was that H is kind of a liar. She says Joplin is very hot. Wikipedia states quite clearly that the average temperature in June is 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The current temperature is a comfortable 78 degrees. Hardly "hotter than the surface of the sun".
The local population concerns itself with water quality, mostly. Or at least I think so. I got kind of tired of researching.
1 comment:
Wow!!! I JUST SAW THIS and am SO HONORED! Thanks for the props!!! I'm over the moon with joy! I learned everything I know about blogging from YOU masters of the witty word! I must explain about the heat, however. 78 in Joplin would be like 412 in Denver. The humidity index is so high they don't even have a number for it on the local nightly news. They just say that it will be, once again, "hotter than the hubs of hell" tomorrow. When I went to get in my car today to drive to Kansas City, it had melted! True story! Happily, locally born Nascar driver, Jamie McMurray was able to give us a ride. (Which was pretty lucky because Billy Cook was chasing us!) We listened to Never Shout Never all the way to K.C. Anytime you two want to visit, you just let us know! Will, Bailey and I will take you all over town and serve you ONLY the very highest quality of water that one can find in good old J to the oplin, MO!!! Word!
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