Notable Alumni of California State University, Fresno

California State University, Fresno, often called Fresno State, has a rich history of producing notable alumni who have made significant contributions in various fields. This public university, founded as the Fresno State Normal School in 1911, has grown into a comprehensive institution with a strong academic reputation. EduRank places California State University - Fresno at 530th in the world, 198th in North America, and 183rd in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. This article highlights some of the most prominent graduates and former students who have attended Fresno State, showcasing their diverse achievements and impact on society.

A Legacy of Achievement

Fresno State's alumni include celebrities, politicians, business leaders, athletes, and more. The university's commitment to providing quality education and fostering a supportive environment has enabled its graduates to excel in their chosen careers. This list showcases individuals who have not only achieved personal success but have also made significant contributions to their communities and the world.

Athletics

Fresno State has a strong athletic tradition, and many of its athletes have gone on to achieve success at the professional level.

Aaron Judge: An American professional baseball outfielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). A six-time MLB All-Star and two-time American League (AL) Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) winner, Judge set the AL record for most home runs in a season with 62, breaking the 61-year-old record held by Roger Maris. He stands 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall and weighs 282 pounds (128 kg), making him one of the tallest and largest players in MLB.
Paul George: An American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "PG-13", he is a nine-time NBA All-Star and six-time member of the All-NBA Team, as well as a four-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team. He studied at California State University - Fresno from 2008 to 2010.
Davante Adams: An American professional football wide receiver for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). Born in East Palo Alto, California, Adams attended Palo Alto High School where he played football and basketball. He played two seasons of college football for the Fresno State Bulldogs and was named a second-team All-American in 2013 before being selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers.
Rafer Alston: An American retired professional basketball player. Alston first gained basketball fame as a streetball player before joining the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Milwaukee Bucks. While in the NBA from 1999 to 2010, he played for six teams, including the 2008-09 Orlando Magic team that made the NBA Finals.
Casey McGehee: An American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants, and Detroit Tigers. He also played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and Yomiuri Giants.
Logan Mankins: An American former professional football player who was a guard for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the New England Patriots. After playing college football for the Fresno State Bulldogs, he was selected by the Patriots in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft. He spent his final two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Selected to seven Pro Bowls and named a first-team All-Pro twice, Mankins was considered a premier guard in his 11 seasons in NFL, and was also named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team.
Haley Cavinder: An American social media influencer and college basketball player for the Miami Hurricanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Prior to Miami, she played for the Fresno State Bulldogs. Cavinder was an All-Mountain West Conference (MW) selection in each of her three seasons at Fresno State and was named MW Player of the Year in her sophomore season. As a junior, she set the NCAA Division I single-season free throw percentage record before transferring to Miami.
Hanna Cavinder: An American social media influencer and college basketball player who plays for the Miami Hurricanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). She began her college career at Fresno State, where she was a two-time All-Mountain West Conference (MWC) selection and a MWC All-Freshman Team selection.
Matt Garza: An American former professional baseball pitcher. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 2006 with the Minnesota Twins, and also played in MLB for the Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, and Milwaukee Brewers. With the Rays, Garza was named the American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player in 2008, and threw a no-hitter on July 26, 2010.
Dan Gladden: An American former professional baseball player and current radio broadcaster. An outfielder, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants (1983-1986), Minnesota Twins (1987-1991), and Detroit Tigers (1992-1993) before playing a final season in Japan in 1994 with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
Doug Fister: An American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, and Texas Rangers from 2009 through 2018.
Ron Adams: An American basketball coach who is an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Robert Upshaw: An American professional basketball player who last played for the Taoyuan Taiwan Beer Leopards of the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL). He played college basketball for Fresno State and the University of Washington.
Greg Smith: An American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Fresno State before playing in the NBA and overseas.
Jimy Williams: An American professional baseball infielder, coach and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1966 and 1967 and managed the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and Houston Astros.
Augie Garrido: An American professional baseball player and coach in NCAA Division I college baseball, best known for his stints with the Cal State Fullerton Titans and Texas Longhorns.

Arts and Entertainment

Fresno State has also produced notable figures in the arts and entertainment industry.

Edward James Olmos: An American actor best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in Miami Vice (1984-1989), American Me (1992) (which he also directed), William Adama in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009), Detective Gaff in Blade Runner (1982) and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and the voice of Mito in the 2005 English dub of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. For his performance as high school math teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver (1988), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Joe Odagiri: A Japanese actor most famous for portraying Yusuke Godai, the titular hero of the 2000 tokusatsu series Kamen Rider Kuuga.
Dot Jones: An American actress and retired athlete who has had multiple roles in television. She attended California State University, Fresno, where she set records for shot put. Jones is also a 15-time world arm wrestling champion. She was a recurring guest star starting in the second season of the musical television series Glee as Coach Beiste, and appeared through the show's sixth and final season, when she was promoted to starring status. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011, 2012, and 2013 for her portrayal of Coach Beiste.
Robert Beltran: An American actor known for his role as Commander Chakotay on the 1990s television series Star Trek: Voyager. He is also known for stage acting in California, and for playing Raoul Mendoza in the 1982 black comedy film Eating Raoul.
Noreen Corcoran: An American film and television actress best known for playing Kelly Gregg in the American sitcom television series Bachelor Father.
Daniel Levitin: An American-Canadian polymath, cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, writer, musician, and record producer. He is the author of four New York Times best-selling books, including This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, which has sold more than 1½ million copies.

Politics and Public Service

Fresno State has a strong tradition of producing leaders in politics and public service.

Read also: A Legacy of Fresno State Football

Marcus Garvey: A Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL, commonly known as UNIA), through which he declared himself Provisional President of Africa. Garvey was ideologically a black nationalist and Pan-Africanist. His ideas came to be known as Garveyism.
Alexander Bustamante: A Jamaican politician and labour leader, who, in 1962, became the first prime minister of Jamaica.
Paul Bogle: A Jamaican Baptist deacon and activist. He is a National Hero of Jamaica. He was a leader of the 1865 Morant Bay protesters, who marched for justice and fair treatment for all the people in Jamaica. After leading the Morant Bay rebellion, Bogle was captured, tried and convicted by the colonial government (who had declared martial law), and hanged on 24 October 1865 in the Morant Bay court house.
Paul H. O'Neill: An American businessman and government official who served as the 72nd United States Secretary of the Treasury for part of President George W. Bush's first term, from January 2001 until his resignation in December 2002. Prior to his term as Secretary, O'Neill was chairman and CEO of industrial giant Alcoa and chairman of the RAND Corporation. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from California State University - Fresno.
Jim Costa: A U.S. Representative for California's 21st congressional district since 2023, previously representing the 20th congressional district from 2005 to 2013 and the 16th congressional district from 2013 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, his district includes most of Fresno.
Cruz Bustamante: An American politician who served as the 45th lieutenant governor of California from 1999 to 2007, under governors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. A member of the Democratic Party, Bustamante also served in the California State Assembly and was the speaker from 1996 to 1998.
Emi Kaneko: A Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party, who serves as a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. A native of Fukushima Prefecture, she did her undergraduate study at Hosei University and later earned master's degrees from California State University, Fresno and Fukushima University.
Lee Patrick Brown: An American politician, criminologist and businessman; in 1997 he was the first African-American to be elected mayor of Houston, Texas. He was re-elected twice to serve the maximum of three terms from 1998 to 2004.
Brian Thomas Carroll: An American teacher who was the American Solidarity Party's presidential nominee in the 2020 United States presidential election. He is a proponent of Christian democracy. He Graduated with Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from California State University - Fresno.

Science and Technology

Fresno State alumni have also made their mark in the fields of science and technology.

Rick Husband: An American astronaut and fighter pilot. He traveled into space twice: as pilot of STS-96 and commander of STS-107. Husband and the rest of the crew of STS-107 were killed when Columbia disintegrated during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. He is also a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Other Fields

Daniel Silva: An American journalist and author of thriller and spy novels.

Fresno State's Impact

California State University, Fresno has grown into a comprehensive university with a wide range of academic programs and a diverse student body. The university's commitment to providing access to quality education has made it a vital resource for the Central Valley and the state of California.

Campus and Facilities

The university's facilities include an on-campus planetarium, on-campus raisin and wine grape vineyards, and a commercial winery where student-made wines have won over 300 awards since 1997. Members of Fresno State's nationally ranked equestrian team have the option of housing their horses on campus, next to indoor and outdoor arenas. The library was opened in 2009. In February 2006, the Student Recreation Center opened.

Academics and Rankings

California State University, Fresno is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission. The five engineering programs in the Lyles College of Engineering are each accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. The Craig School of Business is AACSB accredited. The Smittcamp Family Honors College is a program providing top high school graduates a fully paid President's Scholarship, which includes tuition and housing, as well as other amenities for the duration of their studies.

In 2024, Washington Monthly ranked Fresno State 22nd out of 438 schools on its National Universities list, and 9th on the social mobility rankings. In 2025, Forbes magazine's "America's Top Colleges" list ranked Fresno State 185th out of 500 universities, liberal arts colleges, and service academies nationwide.

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Student Life

Fresno State is a member of the NCAA Division I Mountain West Conference. The university's 22 varsity sports teams are known as the Bulldogs, and the school's colors are cardinal red and blue. The Collegian is the campus student-run newspaper. KFSR Radio is the campus radio station. Two branches of the military are represented on campus at Fresno State: Army and Air Force.

Read also: Student Life at Fresno State

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