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.
