Top Ten Celebrities Who’ve Visited NLC

A scene from the very first episode of Walker, Texas Ranger, in which Chuck Norris meets his partner (played by Clarence Gilyard, Jr.) for the first time at the North Lake College natatorium.

In 1985, North Lake College played host to the award-winning novelist James Baldwin, author of Go Tell It on the Mountain and a major artistic icon of the African-American civil rights movement.

Emmy Award-winning actress Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane in the original Superman movie series with Christopher Reeve, campaigned for presidential candidate Walter Mondale at North Lake College in 1984.

Beloved novelist Kurt Vonnegut visited NLC in 1985. After being awarded a Purple Heart in World War II, Vonnegut became celebrated for anti-war classics like Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat’s Cradle.

This undated 1980s photo documents Jane Goodall’s visit to NLC to talk about her decades of work with chimpanzees in Tanzania.

Stokely Carmichael

Stokely Carmichael, a civil rights movement leader who was arrested at least thirty times during Freedom Rides, sit-ins, and protest marches, spoke to NLC students about his experience in 1985.

San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros spoke at the 1987 NLC Commencement. Cisneros went on to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and president of the television network Univision.

Astronaut Scott Carpenter cut the ribbon at the 1992 grand opening of North Lake’s C building, which houses science classrooms and labs. Carpenter was the fourth American in space and the second American to orbit Earth.

Wilma Mankiller, photographed speaking to NLC students in 1991, was the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation. For her efforts to improve the lives of the Cherokee people, Mankiller was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Oscar-nominated actor James Earl Jones helped open North Lake College’s new library building in 2002. Jones is best known for voicing Darth Vader in the Star Wars series and Mufasa in The Lion King.