25 exports.

IN HIS BOOK "ARKANSAS: A Bicentennial History," former Arkansas Gazette editor Harry Ashmore wrote, "Until very recent years, Arkansas' most valuable export has been her sons and daughters."

Although we'd like to think that's even less true than it was in 1978, when the book was published, the state has sent out into the world some notable figures--for which the world can thank us, or not.

Our list of exports is in alphabetical order because, with the exception of Bill Clinton, listing them in order of fame is too problematic. As for the merit or endurance of their contributions--we'll leave that up to the reader.

1 Maya Angelou

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Her childhood sounds like a recipe for failure: A black girl from a broken family. Sent away to be raised by small-town relatives in Stamps (Lafayette County). Raped as a child, then blaming herself when the rapist died. Exposed to racism from neighbors and school officials. Moving again. And again. Giving birth at 16 and leaving home.

Yet what grew from these experiences was the soul of a poet, and Angelou became a distinct voice of her generation. Her life took her around the nation, into Africa and back to America. Her beliefs led her to the civil rights movement and political activism. Her talents were called upon by three presidents.

The caged bird found her voice early, and never stopped singing.

2 Frank Burge and Ronny Clay

Planning to sell a bank? Well, history tells us a typical target price is two times book value. But maybe Arkansans Frank Burge (from Little Rock) and Ronny Clay (from Russellville) didn't study that kind of history.

The duo bought Destin Bank in Florida on a whim in 1992, when it was facing hard times and had just $22 million in assets. By 2005, they had pumped it up to an institution with $470 million in assets. When Whitney Bank of New Orleans came calling, they sold Destin Bank--for 5.7 times the book value.

Estimated payout when the deal closed in 2005? $115 million in cash and stock.

3 Sarah Caldwell

"Impresario" is not a word used lightly in opera circles. But for Caldwell--born in Missouri but schooled at Fayetteville High, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and Hendrix College--the accolade barely suffices.

An opera visionary, she cobbled together her own company in Boston in 1957 and staged operas that became world-renowned for their imagination, spectacle and energy--and, often, shoestring budgets.

In 1975, Time magazine declared her "music's Wonder Woman," unequaled as an operatic director. She was the first woman ever to conduct the New York Metropolitan Opera and the first recipient of a Kennedy Center Award for Excellence.

When Caldwell died in 2006, the Washington Post memorialized this dynamo as "a towering figure in American opera."

4 Bill Clinton

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Forty-second president of the United States. Need we say more?

Well, yeah, we do. Because no Arkansan in the last quarter-century has commanded the world stage as Clinton did--maybe none ever has. His eight years in the White House encompassed both stellar economic growth and seamy personal scandal. He drew the ire of the political right on a scale previously unseen, yet his loyalists were just as passionate.

Post-presidency, Clinton has laid claim to the limelight by raising millions of dollars to support a number of causes, from Asian tsunami relief to the local THEA Foundation. His William J. Clinton Foundation is a major player on the world scene, fighting poverty, global warming and HIV/AIDS.

People are liable to say just about anything when you mention Bill Clinton, but the one thing they won't say is, "Never heard of him." (And, as if anyone could forget, he was born in Hope.)

5 Gene Foreman

Ask a true newsie to name the great East Coast papers, and the Philadelphia inquirer is bound to be mentioned. For a quarter-century, until his retirement in 1998, Gene Foreman led that fabled newsroom in various capacities--including editor and vice president--and during his tenure the paper collected all 18 of its Pulitzer Prizes.

Foreman, born in Wabash (Phillips County) started at the Pine Bluff Commercial, and he also paid his dues at the Democrat and the Gazette before heading to New York, where he worked for The New York Times and Newsday.

On the faculty of the Penn State College of Communications since 1998, he's helping shape new generations of muckrakers.

6 John Grisham

Arkansas has produced many noteworthy writers and attorneys, but Grisham, birthed in Jonesboro, is perhaps the first to meld both vocations so seamlessly and successfully.

A perennial occupant of The New York Times bestseller list, he is a last-name-basis author now: When you say "it's a Grisham," people understand. More than 60 million copies of his legal thrillers are in print, and a bunch have been made into movies.

He has never forsaken his love of baseball; youth teams he coaches have occasionally played at historic Lamar Porter Field in Little Rock. Plus, he was the salvation of Oxford American literary magazine, which he once bailed out of financial misery. A lawyer perhaps even Shakespeare's Dick the Butcher could love.

7 John Hendrix

Sevier County native and self-professed hillbilly John Hendrix went to Texas because that's where the oil and gas are. And boy, did he find some--so much that in 1982 he made Forbes magazine's first-ever list of the 400 richest Americans.

Yet it is banking that brought his attention back to his home state. Family ties in the business went back a ways, and Hendrix honored that tradition. Now his First National Security (grown from First National Bank in De Queen) has assets of about $780 million.

Not bad for a hillbilly.

8 Mike Huckabee

In a state traditionally smitten with conservative Democrats, Huckabee, yet another son of Hope, has set a new standard for Republican success.

A populist nonpareil, even his critics are likely to acknowledge his incredible appeal. He trounced all challengers as governor and defied all expectations with a legitimate run at the GOP presidential nomination. When dogged by accusations of gift-addiction and unwise pardons, he seemed to simply shed scandal with a shrug and a smile.

Still a resident of Arkansas--specifically, North Little Rock--Huckabee now belongs to the whole country, with a talk show on Fox News and a solid base heading into 2012.

9 Rex Humbard Sr.

Born in Little Rock to evangelists, Rex Humbard didn't merely follow his parents' calling; he magnified it exponentially. His "Cathedral of Tomorrow" show made him the first nationally televised evangelist and at one point was broadcast in 600 countries.

Fifty years ago in Ohio, he built one of the first megachurches, designed to accommodate TV broadcasts and hold 5,400 people.

Humbard's brand of Pentecostalism ignited faith in people worldwide, and he drew huge crowds to his sermons. He even landed a place in pop culture history when he was asked to officiate at Elvis Presley's funeral.

Brother Humbard went to his own reward in 2007.

10 J.R. "Pitt" Hyde III

When your buddy Sam Walton drives you around in his old Buick, some ideas (and some dog hair) are bound to rub off. In fact, Pitt Hyde said the information flowed both ways, and he used that inspiration, as well as his own ample acumen, to parlay a family supermarket business into a national player--in auto parts sales.

Hyde had noticed auto parts stores had high profits and lousy customer satisfaction. So he built AutoZone from scratch, starting in Forrest City, and based it on the concept of good and knowledgeable service. Now from Maine to Mexico, the Memphis-based company can help you find spark plugs and enjoy the experience.

11 Jerry Jones

Win a national football title with the Hogs and you'll never have to pay for your own drinks in Arkansas.

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Buy "America's Team" in the NFL--the Dallas Cowboys--and lead them to three Super Bowl victories, and you're a certifiable sports legend (or villain, depending on whom you ask).

Jones has done both, and in between he made a fortune in oil and gas; today he ranks among the world's billionaires.

Jones has taken heat for unpopular moves (such as firing original Cowboys coach Tom Landry), bankrolled a replacement for landmark Texas Stadium and portrayed himself in a Pepsi commercial.

Jones, raised in the North Little Rock neighborhood of Rose City, has a legitimate claim on being Arkansans' favorite Texan.

12 James V. Kelley

When regional banking giant BancorpSouth of Tupelo, Miss., acquired First United Bancshares Inc. of El Dorado through a $455.7 million stock swap in 2000, it got more than the border town's First National Bank. It got Chairman, President and CEO James V. Kelley to boot.

The Little Rock native and Ouachita Baptist University grad immediately assumed the chairman and CEO jobs at the combined company and has held them since. He brought Bancorp South to the Little Rock market through the purchase of Pinnacle Bancshares.

As it happens, Tupelo Coliseum took the BancorpSouth name just before Kelley arrived. Coincidence? Who's to say.

13 Mark Martin

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Not that Nascar was hurting for popularity in Arkansas, but Batesville's driving ace has stamped his name all over the sport since he notched his first win in 1987. He has been one of the dominators on the oval track, showing near-legendary consistency and piling up 35 wins and nearly 400 top 10 finishes.

In the finest tradition of modern pro sports, he has announced his retirement, held a farewell tour--and then kept on racing.

He's also credited as author of the "Nascar for Dummies" book and owns what's probably the only combination auto dealership and museum in the state --a museum to himself.

14 Houston Nutt

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The Razorback Nation is not easy on football coaches, and Nutt got the full spectrum of emotion--from adulation to vitriol--during his 10-year career at Fayetteville.

He had plenty of high points, including signing the best running back in school history, Darren McFadden, and pulling off a three-overtime, 50-48 win over No. 1 LSU in the last game of 2007. However, that same year the transfer of a hyped duo of quarterback and offensive coordinator brought criticism, and reports of his many texts to a female news anchor in Fort Smith made him the butt of jokes.

Soon after, Little Rock native Nutt bolted to the Ole Miss Rebels--and had the last laugh when they beat his old team 23-21 in their next meeting.

15 Jack Plating

Verizon's purchase of homegrown phone company Alltel could bring a local boy back into the picture, if not back to the state.

Jack Plating, raised in North Little Rock, left UA with a bachelor's degree in business administration and ensconced himself in what would become known as the telecommunications industry. Motorola wasn't a household name in 1975 when he started working there, but he clearly knew a good thing.

Having moved up through the industry's evolving layers--paging, mobile, a Baby Bell--he's now COO at Verizon, which has become the nation's largest telecom provider. Can you hear him now?

16 Wesley Pruden Jr.

Before Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and the blogosphere, there was the Washington Times, a staunchly conservative paper founded in 1982 by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Just months after its creation, Wesley Pruden joined the staff.

A newspaperman since Pulaski Heights Junior High--when he started his own paper, not sanctioned by the school--Pruden rose steadily through the ranks at the Times and was editor in chief from 1992 to 2008.

The paper has been lambasted by liberals for its distinct right-wing viewpoint, but Pruden was never an apologist for the Times. To him it was just, as he declared in a 1995 C-SPAN interview, "a good newspaper."

17 Alex Sheshunoff

His name certainly isn't a household word--unless you're in the market for a bank. In that case, Alex Sheshunoff and his namesake consulting firm were on speed dial.

The Magnolia native and his wife built the company in Austin, Texas, and earned a reputation for being the place you called if you wanted to sell a bank. Sheshunoff had a knack for ferreting out essential information about a bank's well-being, communicating that clearly to potential suitors, and finding the right buyers with the right offer.

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18 Frederick W. Smith

Though he was in Little Rock for only a few years in the 1970s, the entire state might have been a different place if Fred Smith had been able to put his idea for a new kind of business into action here. It was a crazy-sounding plan, based on an economics paper he wrote as a Yale student in 1962: Use a fleet of planes to reliably deliver packages the next day, nationwide.

Smith bought a small air carrier at the Little Rock airport, but a variety of hurdles--including airport bureaucracy--hindered him. So he went to Memphis with his fledgling business, called Federal Express, where you might say it became an overnight success.

19 Mary Steenbergen

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It's a little too storybook, almost: Young actress from North Little Rock catches the eye of Jack Nicholson while awaiting an audition, wins the part and is catapulted to movie stardom.

But who would grudge little Mary Nell her success? In so many ways, she's the antithesis of the Hollywood diva: Dark-haired, down-home, disinclined to boozy binges and tabloid exploits. No, her Oscar is for girl-next-door authenticity (actually, it's for Best Supporting Actress, but we're making a point here).

She's never forgotten her native state, either, lending her name to laudable causes and leading workshops for aspiring high school thespians.

To purloin a phrase: She's a sweetheart, but she's our sweetheart.

20 Joseph Stroud

When you start your career at the McGehee Times, there's no telling how far you'll go. For Stroud, it was the top editor's job at the Detroit Free Press.

He worked that newsroom for 25 years, starting in 1968, and his crews brought home three Pulitzers while Stroud, himself, was an editorial writing finalist in 1982. His resume also includes the Hendrix College Profile, and papers in Pine Bluff, Conway, Little Rock and North Carolina.

After retiring, he became director of the Gerald R. Ford Institute for Public Safety at Albion College in Michigan in 1999, and had just signed on for three more years when his final deadline came in 2002.

21 Richard Thalheimer

Conspicuous consumers, behold your patron saint.

Started in 1977, Thalheimer's company, The Sharper Image, flogged merchandise from the unusual to the exotic. Can you say Razr Scooter? ionic Breeze? If so, it's because Thalheimer was a marketing genius with an uncanny eye for what the public wanted.

Success, though, drew outside attention. A hedge fund bought into the company in 2006 and eventually forced Thalheimer out as CEO. Yet that downfall led to perhaps his shrewdest business deal: selling out. Board members bought his shares for some $25 million in 2007; within a year the stock had tanked, and the company went bankrupt in 2008.

22 Harry Thomason

If you watched television in the late 1980s or early '90s, odds are Harry Thomason was in your living room. And if you were into politics, he may have influenced your vote.

"Designing Women" established his chops as a TV producer, and it was followed with "Evening Shade," "Hearts Afire" and others.

Noteworthy was that he depicted Southerners as ... well, real people. Not stereotypes, victims of inbreeding or anti-intellectuals. Rather they were elegant, and well versed, and stylish, and gosh-darn admirable.

And it was with largely the same intentions he turned the camera on his friends the Clintons, producing campaign biopics for each plus the documentary "The Hunting of the President."

23 Billy Bob Thornton

Ol' Billy Bob, he didn't wait for Hollywood to come a-callin'. Nosirree, he just grabbed a sling blade from the storage shed and cut his own swath to Tinseltown and nabbed one of them little golden figurines. in the years since, he's piled on cinematic successes.

And he has the kind of life story that's hard to ignore: Born to poverty; a childhood baseball prodigy (though a wild pitch ended his one shot at the pros); he paved roads, worked in a sawmill, toured in a ZZ Top tribute band; filmed "Sling Blade"; wooed, won and lost Angelina Jolie (Angelina Jolie, gentlemen!); has an irrational fear of harpsichords; and he's got a star on a Hollywood sidewalk.

Not bad for an old boy from Hot Spring County, mm-hmm.

24 Alice Walton

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Daughter of one of America's wealthiest families, Walton could've spent her golden years traveling the world and making the occasional (if uncommonly large) philanthropic donation. Instead, Walton, though she now makes Texas her home, has chosen to indulge the entire state of Arkansas by establishing the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

The ongoing acquisitions of some of the nation's most acclaimed artworks have occasionally sparked uproar--how dare they hang a masterpiece in flyover country, after all?--but speak highly not only of the vision of the museum's founder, but the potential for Crystal Bridges to become a benchmark institution of Americana.

Her daddy would be proud.

25 Mark Wright

It's a story lots of folks would like to live: Young man moves to Nashville and becomes a star in the music industry. But you won't find this Fayetteville native fronting a band--rather, he's fronting a record label.

Wright got his start penning lyrics, and over a 30-year career, he either wrote or produced 56 No. 1 country singles. He worked with the biggest names in country music and produced Gretchen Wilson's first album, "Here for the Party," which debuted at No. 1.

Such results get attention, and in late 2006 he was named president of Universal Records South. How's that for a golden record?