List of University of Notre Dame alumni
Encyclopedia
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
and its graduate and professional schools. Since the university's founding in 1842, there have been 162 commencement exercises
Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...
at the university. Although only two degrees were awarded to the first class in 1849, today the living alumni, known collectively as the "Fighting Irish", number near 120,000.
Educators
Nobel Laureates
Professors, Scientists, Inventors and Researchers
Art and architecture
Business
Gerardo Galvis
Entertainment
Government and law
Members of the United States Congress
United States governors
Ambassadors from the United States
Government officials outside of the United States
Other U.S. political and legal figures
Journalists and media personalities
Literature and writing
Military
NASA astronauts and administrators
Religion
Sports
Although Notre Dame is highly ranked academically, it is also strong in athletics, producing a large number of athletes. Over 400 students have gone on to play professional American footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
, American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
, or the All-America Football Conference
All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations...
, including recent graduates, like Brady Quinn
Brady Quinn
Brayden Tyler "Brady" Quinn is an American football quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. Quinn was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Notre Dame.-Early Years:Brayden Tyler "Brady" Quinn was born on...
and Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
rs like Joe Montana
Joe Montana
Joseph Clifford "Joe" Montana, Jr. , nicknamed Joe Cool, Golden Joe, The Golden Great and Comeback Joe, is a retired American football player. Montana started his NFL career in 1979 with the San Francisco 49ers, where he played quarterback for the next 14 seasons...
. Additionally, Notre Dame had had 47 former students inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
, including football pioneer Knute Rockne
Knute Rockne
Knute Kenneth Rockne was an American football player and coach. He is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history...
. In addition to football, Notre Dame has had a number of athletes go professional in basketball, like Women's National Basketball Association
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...
member Megan Duffy
Megan Duffy
Megan Duffy is an American professional basketball player in the WNBA, currently playing for the New York Liberty.Duffy was born in Dayton, Ohio. After graduating from Chaminade-Julienne, a Catholic high school in Dayton, she attended college at University of Notre Dame and graduated in 2006 with...
, in baseball, like National Baseball Hall of Fame
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
r Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox . He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career...
, and in other sports. Notre Dame has also produced a number of Olympians, including current student Mariel Zagunis
Mariel Zagunis
Mariel Leigh Zagunis is an American Olympic sabre fencer, of Lithuanian heritage. She won the gold medals in the individual sabre at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. She is only the second American ever to have won a gold medal in Olympic fencing.-Biography:Zagunis is the...
.
