This is a list of the people born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with the city of Terre Haute, Indiana, and its surrounding metropolitan area.

Actors and actresses Wally Bruner – actor, television personality Jose Pablo Cantillo – movies, television Benjamin Scatman Crothers – musician, movies, television Dorothy Dalton – theatre, movies Johnnie "Scat" Davis – musician, bandleader, movies Richard "Skeets" Gallagher – vaudeville, theatre, movies Jess Hahn – French movies Chubby Johnson – movies, television Grover Jones – screenwriter, producer, director, author Joe Keaton – vaudeville, movies; father of actor Buster Keaton Billy Lee – child film star Dave Madden – movies, television; The Partridge Family Rose Melville – actor, vaudeville, movies Alvy Moore – movies, television – Green Acres Maurice Ransford – motion pictures art director Edward Roseman – vaudeville, movies Valeska Suratt – theater, silent movies, vaudeville Bill Thompson – voice actor, Fibber McGee and Molly Jerry Van Dyke – television, movies Stuart Vaughn – actor, award-winning director, Obie Award, Drama Desk Award Hunter von Leer – movies

Artists Mick Mars - Mötley Crüe Amalia Küssner Coudert – miniaturist John Rogers Cox – painter Ray H. French – printmaker John "Dok" Hager – cartoonist Harriet Goodhue Hosmer – sculptor Bryan Hunt – sculptor Edith Pfau – painter, sculptor, art educator Janet Scudder – sculptor D. Omer Seamon – painter Gilbert Brown Wilson – artist, muralist, motion pictures

Athletes Vic Aldridge – baseball Ray Arcel – boxing trainer, International Boxing Hall of Fame Clint Barmes – baseball Armon Bassett – basketball player with Ironi Ramat Gan of Israel Bruce Baumgartner – wrestling, James E. Sullivan Award winner, U.S. Olympic gold medalist Greg Bell – track and field; U.S. Olympic gold medalist Shakir Bell – college and CFL football Junius Bibbs – African-American college football and baseball player; professional baseball player in the Negro leagues Larry Bird – basketball player, coach, NBA executive Mordecai Brown – baseball, National Baseball Hall of Fame Cheryl Bridges – cross country and track; held the World Record in the marathon and US records in 3 mile and 5,000 meter Bill Butland – baseball Cam Cameron – football, college and NFL football coach Max Carey – baseball, National Baseball Hall of Fame Barry Collier – basketball coach, athletic administrator Bruce Connatser – professional baseball Roger Counsil – swimmer, gymnastics coach Glenn M. Curtis – high school, college and pro basketball coach Josh Devore – baseball Terry Dischinger – basketball, U.S. Olympic gold medalist Brian Dorsett – baseball Jim Jumbo Elliott – baseball Danny Etling – football Brian Evans – basketball Bud Fowler – baseball Tiger Jack Fox – boxing Rufus Gilbert – baseball, coach Vencie Glenn – football Alex Graman – baseball Scott Haffner – basketball Frank Hamblen – basketball, NBA coach Russ Hathaway – football John Hazen – basketball Rick Heller – college baseball coach Aubrey Herring – track, hurdles, NCAA champion Eddie Hickey – basketball coach, Basketball Hall of Fame Bill Hodges – basketball coach Paul Humphrey – football Tunch Ilkin – college and NFL football Mark Jackson – football Tommy John – baseball Neil Johnston – baseball, basketball, Basketball Hall of Fame Doug Kay – football coach Bob King – basketball coach, administrator Duane Klueh – basketball, tennis, player, coach Greg Lansing – basketball coach Don Lash – Olympic track, Sullivan Award winner Danny Lazar – baseball Bob Slick Leonard – basketball, ABA and NBA coach, Basketball Hall of Fame Bryan Leturgez – track and field, Olympic bobsled Clyde Lovellette – basketball, U.S. Olympic gold medalist, Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Mallory – football, college coach Johnny Mann – baseball Wally Marks – athlete, athletic administrator Indiana State University Thad Matta – college basketball coach Tony McGee – football tight end Dave McGinnis – football, college and NFL coach Kevin McKenna – basketball, player, coach Trent Miles – football coach Rick Minter – football coach Erica Moore – track & field Paul Moss – two-time college All-American, NFL Albert "Cod" Myers – baseball Nancy Hanks – harness racing Art Nehf – baseball, pitched in four World Series Bill Nelson – baseball Steve Newton – basketball, player, coach Carl Nicks – basketball Greg Oden – basketball Jake Odum – basketball Brian Omogrosso – baseball Jake Petricka – baseball Jamie Petrowski – football Josh Phegley – baseball Dennis Raetz – football, player, coach Kurt Rambis – basketball, player, coach Rick Ray (basketball) – coach Colin Rea – baseball A. J. Reed – baseball player Cheryl Reeve – basketball coach, WNBA Mike Sanford – college football coach Dave Schellhase – basketball, player, coach Ed Seward – "Kid" Seward, baseball Dexter Shouse – basketball Zane Smith – baseball Gordon B. Stauffer – basketball coach Mitch Stetter – baseball Ace Stewart – baseball Ryan Strausborger – baseball Jerry Sturm – football Charles Bernard Bud Taylor – boxer, bantamweight champion, International Boxing Hall of Fame Harry Taylor – baseball Joe Thatcher – baseball Debi Thomas – world champion figure skater Kurt Thomas – gymnast, James E. Sullivan Award winner Anthony Thompson – football player Lyle Bud Tinning – baseball Paul Dizzy Trout – baseball Robert Bobby Turner – college and NFL player and coach Royce Waltman – college basketball coach Bob Warn – college baseball coach Steve Weatherford – football Mike Westhoff – college and NFL football coach John Wooden – basketball, Basketball Hall of Fame

Military Charles G. Abrell – Medal of Honor, Korean War George W. Biegler – Medal of Honor, Philippine–American War Charles Cruft – teacher, newspaper publisher, lawyer, Union Civil War general William Henry Harrison – Governor Indiana Territory, commander of Fort Harrison, President of the United States Nick Popaditch – Gunnery Sergeant, USMC, Gulf War, Iraq War Peter J. Ryan – Medal of Honor, Civil War Josiah Snelling – military leader, commander of Fort Harrison John T. Sterling – Medal of Honor, Civil War William Maxwell Wood – naval surgeon, first Surgeon General

Musicians Leo Baxter – musician, composer, band director Steven Caldwell – musician, folk singer Scatman Crothers – musician, actor Johnnie "Scat" Davis – singer, bandleader Paul Dresser – vaudeville actor, composer, "On The Banks of the Wabash, Far Away," "My Gal Sal" Edwin Franko Goldman – bandleader, composer Indiana Gregg – singer, songwriter Mick Mars – born Robert Alan Deal; Mötley Crüe guitarist Hank Roberts – jazz cellist, vocalist Claude Thornhill – pianist, arranger, bandleader, composer

Politicians Simon Bamberger – governor of Utah Birch Bayh – U.S. Senator Evan Bayh – governor of Indiana and U.S. Senator Thomas H. Blake – U.S. Congressman, Commissioner of the U.S. Land Office, resident trustee of Wabash and Erie Canal Newton Booth – governor of California, U.S. Senator James Bopp – conservative attorney known for Citizens United v. FEC; Republican National Committeeman Joseph Gurney Cannon – Speaker of the United States House of Representatives P. Pete Chalos – four-term mayor of Terre Haute John G. Davis – U.S. Congressman John Wesley Davis – physician, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, governor of the Oregon Territory Eugene Victor Debs (1855–1926) – Socialist candidate for president Joseph V. Graff – U.S. Congressman Abram A. Hammond – lieutenant governor of Indiana, governor of Indiana Edward A. Hannegan – U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator, diplomat Arvin Singh - Secretary of Health, West Virginia Russell Benjamin Harrison – son of President Benjamin Harrison William H. Harrison – five-term U.S. Congressman Nicholas Hood – Detroit City Council member and Congregationalist minister Elisha Mills Huntington – attorney, federal judge, Commissioner of U.S. Land Office Virginia E. Jenckes – first U.S. Congresswoman from Indiana Brian Kerns – Republican Congressman John Edward Lamb – Congressman, political leader William Carr Lane – military surgeon, mayor St. Louis, governor New Mexico Territory Dick Thompson Morgan – author, U.S. Congressman John H. O'Neall – U.S. Congressman P.B.S. Pinchback – politician, governor of Louisiana Edward James Roye – merchant, president of Liberia Everett Sanders – U.S. Congressman, secretary to President Calvin Coolidge, chairman of the Republican National Committee John Gould Stephenson – fifth Librarian of Congress Richard Wigginton Thompson – U.S. Congressman and Secretary of the Navy under President Rutherford B. Hayes Ralph Tucker – five-term mayor of Terre Haute John Palmer Usher – Indiana Attorney General, Secretary of Interior under President Abraham Lincoln Daniel Wolsey Voorhees – U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator Fred Wampler – U.S. Congressman James Whitcomb – Commissioner of U.S. Land Office, governor of Indiana, U.S. Senator

Scientists and engineers Willis Blatchley – scientist, naturalist H. R. Cox (Herald Rea Cox) – bacteriologist Ernest R. Davidson – chemist, educator, National Medal of Science recipient David Deming – scientist, author, professor at the University of Oklahoma Lee Alvin DuBridge – educator, physicist, college administrator Barton Warren Evermann – biologist Thomas Lomar Gray – educator, engineer, college administrator Sam Hulbert – educator, scientist, inventor James Arthur Lovell, Jr. – astronaut William R. McKeen, Jr. – engineer, inventor of the McKeen railmotor and McKeen Car; founder of the McKeen Motor Car Company Thomas Corwin Mendenhall – physicist William A. Noyes – chemist, educator, recipient of Priestley Medal and Gibbs Medal John Adelbert Parkhurst – astronomer William Wesley Peters – architect, structural engineer Abe Silverstein – engineer, space aerodynamicist Jill Bolte Taylor – "The Singing Scientist," neuroanatomist, author Edward Tryon – astrophysicist, cosmologist Robert Tryon – engineering fatigue analyst

Writers Lyman Abbott – minister, magazine publisher and editor Claude Bowers – journalist, author, diplomat Troy Brownfield – journalist, comic book writer, author, Prince Dracula Winnifred Harper Cooley – author, journalist Helen Corey – Syrian-American cookbook author, The Art of Syrian Cookery (1962) and Food from Biblical Lands (1989) George W. Cutter – The Song of Steam, Buena Vista Theodore Dreiser – An American Tragedy Max Ehrmann – A Prayer, Desiderata Philip Jose Farmer – science fiction author Robert Greenleaf – author Ida Husted Harper – suffragist, newspaper editor, History of Woman Suffrage, The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony John Jakes – Kent Family Chronicles Howard Andrew Jones - American speculative fiction and fantasy author and editor William Harrison Mace – educator, historian, author, Lincoln, The Man of the People Edward J. Meeman – journalist and environmentalist Terry Pettus – journalist Susie Lankford Shorter – wrote Heroines of African Methodism (1891) Virginia Sorensen – winner of 1957 Newbery Medal William Strunk, Jr. – educator, author, "The Elements of Style" Martina Swafford — poet Agness Underwood – first female city editor of a metropolitan daily Will Weng – author, crossword puzzles editor New York Times

Others Saint Mother Theodore Guerin – educator, religious leader Eva Mozes Kor – Holocaust survivor, founder of CANDLES Holocaust Museum Robert Hayes Gore – newspaper executive, author, former Governor of Puerto Rico Matt Branam – late college president of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Ellen Church Marshall – first airline stewardess Horace G. Burt – president, Union Pacific Railroad Ray S. Cline – CIA, author Lotus Coffman – educator, college administrator W.C. Coup – circus magnate