# Who is the most famous person from Kansas?

> A state of just under three million people has produced a president, a president's general, a jazz revolution and the most famous missing person in the world. Rank them.

*By YPB Team · Published August 31, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-is-the-most-famous-person-from-kansas*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Dwight D. Eisenhower** — score 1000/1000
   Commanded the Allied invasion of Europe, then served two terms as president; his library is in Abilene.
2. **Amelia Earhart** — score 942/1000
   Born in Atchison in 1897, and the reason a Kansas river town has an aviation museum.
3. **Langston Hughes** — score 692/1000
   Grew up in Lawrence and became the defining poet of the Harlem Renaissance.
4. **Buster Keaton** — score 538/1000
   Born in Piqua, and the deadpan face of silent comedy's most dangerous stunts.
5. **Barry Sanders** — score 440/1000
   From Wichita, and still the running back other running backs name first.
6. **Melissa Etheridge** — score 440/1000
   From Leavenworth, with a Grammy and an Academy Award for original song.
7. **Hattie McDaniel** — score 323/1000
   Born in Wichita, and the first African American to win an Academy Award, in 1940.
8. **Walter Chrysler** — score 323/1000
   Grew up in Ellis working on railroad engines and founded the Chrysler Corporation in 1925.
9. **Wilt Chamberlain** — score 323/1000
   Played at the University of Kansas before scoring 100 points in a single NBA game.
10. **Gordon Parks** — score 179/1000
   The first Black photographer on the staff of Life, and the director of Shaft; born in Fort Scott.
11. **Charlie Parker** — score 179/1000
   Born in Kansas City, Kansas, and rebuilt jazz around bebop before he turned thirty.

Tags: usa, celebrities, places, kansas