Valuable Player of 1982 NCAA basketball championship game, winner of three NBA titles with Los Angeles Lakers, broadcaster (Gastonia) Anthony Wright (born 1976), former NFL quarterback (Vanceboro) Debbie Yow (born 1950), former Athletic Director of Saint Louis, Maryland, and NC State (Gibsonville) Kay Yow (1942–2009), women's college basketball coach, member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (Gibsonville) Ryan Zimmerman (born 1984), All-Star third baseman for Washington Nationals (Washington) Writers Jason V. Brock (born 1970), author, artist, editor, filmmaker (Charlotte) Don Brown (born 1960), author, attorney, former naval officer (Plymouth) Betsy Byars (1928–2020), children's author (Charlotte) Wiley Cash, novelist (Gastonia) Fred Chappell (born 1936), author and North Carolina Poet Laureate 1997–2002 (Canton) Jennie Thornley Clarke (1860-1924), educator, writer, and anthologist Ellis Credle (1902–1998), author of books for children and young adults, including Down Down the Mountain (1934) (Hyde County) Sarah Dessen (born 1970), writer of novels for young adults (Chapel Hill) Thomas Dixon Jr. (1864–1946), author of The Clansman (Shelby) Fanny Murdaugh Downing (1831-1894), first resident novelist of Mecklenburg County Pamela Duncan (born 1961), novelist whose books often focus on working-class Southerners (Asheville) John Ehle (1925–2018), author (Asheville) Charles Frazier (born 1950), author of best-selling novel Cold Mountain (Asheville) Kaye Gibbons (born 1960), author of novels Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman (Rocky Mount) Jim Grimsley (born 1955), novelist and playwright (Pollocksville) Mary Coffin Johnson (1834–1928), activist, writer (North Carolina) Jan Karon (born 1937), novelist (Hudson) Margaret Maron, award-winning author of mystery novels (Greensboro) Armistead Maupin (born 1944), writer known for his Tales of the City series of novels based in San Francisco (Raleigh) Sharyn McCrumb (born 1948), writer whose books celebrate the history and folklore of Appalachia (Wilmington) William Sydney Porter (1862–1910), prolific short story writer under pen name O. Henry whose works include The Ransom of Red Chief and The Gift of the Magi (Greensboro) Tom Robbins (born 1932), author of best-selling novels including Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (Blowing Rock) Emily McGary Selinger (1848–1927), writer, poet (Wilmington) Theodore Taylor (1921–2006), author of more than 50 books for young adults including The Cay (Statesville) Timothy Tyson, historian at Duke University and author of the best-selling book Blood Done Sign My Name (Oxford) Sarah J. C. Whittlesey (1824–1896), author, poet, hymnwriter (Williamston) Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938), author of classic novels such as Look Homeward, Angel and You Can't Go Home Again (Asheville) Aviation