his more than 100 film appearances, more than 60 were in Westerns (Charlotte) Dean Smith (1931–2015), retired men's basketball coach for the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame; earned 879 wins and two national championships in his career (Chapel Hill) Lee Smith (born 1944), author and instructor at North Carolina State University, winner of the O. Henry award for short-story writing (Hillsborough) Nicholas Sparks (born 1965), author of romance novels; born in Omaha, Nebraska and grew up in California (New Bern) Edward Teach (1680–1718), pirate known as Blackbeard, who kept his hide-out in the harbor of Ocracoke Island on North Carolina's Outer Banks (Ocracoke) John Tesh (born 1952), musician and television personality, best known as the host of the television series Entertainment Tonight 1986–1996 (Winston-Salem) George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862–1914), billionaire who created the Biltmore Estate in the North Carolina mountains; it is the largest privately owned mansion in the Western Hemisphere and North Carolina's top tourist attraction (Asheville) Blake R. Van Leer (1893–1956), president of Georgia Tech, inventor and civil rights advocate (Raleigh) Daniel Wallace (born 1959), author of the best-selling novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions (Chapel Hill) Hugh Williamson (1735–1819), physician; third NC signatory of the Constitution (Edenton) Kristi Yamaguchi (born 1971), figure skater and member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, former North Carolina resident (Raleigh) Brittany York (born 1989), Miss North Carolina USA 2011 (Wilmington) Spent time or studied in North Carolina Mark Alarie (born 1963), former college basketball player for Duke University, played for the NBA's Denver Nuggets and Washington Bullets (Durham) Grayson Allen (born 1995), former college basketball player for Duke University, current NBA player (Durham) Sandra Bullock (born 1964), movie actress; attended East Carolina University (Greenville) Nick Cannon (born 1980), actor, comedian, television personality; graduated from Quail Hollow Middle School (Charlotte) Perry Como (1912–2001), popular crooner and host of "The Perry Como Show", part-time resident of the NC mountains (near Asheville) Dan Cortese, MTV host, graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill) Joey Dorsey (born 1983), NBA basketball player for the Sacramento Kings and alumnus of Laurinburg Institute (Laurinburg) Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919–2021), poet and owner-operator of the City Lights Bookstore famous for promoting the works of beatnik writers and poets; attended UNC Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill) Mia Hamm (born 1972), former soccer player for UNC-Chapel Hill, two-time Olympic gold medalist, twice