Sacramento State’s latest class will graduate this spring with commencement ceremonies at Golden 1 Center on Friday, May 16 + Saturday, May 17, and boy are they in good company. Here some of the most notable Hornets to have graced the university’s halls.
🎓 Tom Hanks
One of Sac State’s buzziest alumni is also arguably its most famous dropout. The Oscar-winning actor transferred to Sac State after studying theater for two years at Chabot College in Hayward. Hanks left after one year to intern full time at the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland. However, his son Colin Hanks was born + raised in Sac — and even made a documentary about Tower Records.
🎓 Ryan Coogler
The Oakland-born director of “Black Panther” — who made the whole world say “Wakanda forever” — majored in finance at Sac State. He also played football for the Hornets for four years, racking up 112 receptions (which ranks fourth all-time in Sac State football history) for 1,213 yards + six touchdowns across four seasons.
🎓 Lester Holt
The Cordova High School alum best known for anchoring “NBC Nightly News” and his work on NBC’s “Dateline” is another of the university’s famous dropouts. He left during his junior year to work at a San Francisco radio station, but was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the school in 2015 with his father, Lester Holt Sr. — another Sac State alum — in attendance.
🎓 Bobby McFerrin
The Grammy Award-winning folk + jazz musician who told the world “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” originally planned on being a minister of music before he attended Sac State, after which he joined Ice Follies — an ice skating show with pop music bands which would later produce “Disney on Ice” — as their piano player.
🎓 Maya Angelou
While not technically a student, we would be remiss not to include Ms. Angelou — who was a visiting professor at Sac State in the 1970s — on this list. The world-renowned poet + author not only taught literature, writing, and philosophy to students at Sac State, but made appearances and spoke at Sac City College, UC Davis, and University of the Pacific.
