William Afflis – professional player (Green Bay Packers) and professional wrestler known as "Dick the Bruiser", class of 1947
Frank J. Anderson – first African-American sheriff of Marion County, Indiana, IHSWCA Hall of Fame wrestler, class of 1956
Mary Ritter Beard – historian and feminist scholar, class of 1893
Easley Blackwood – composer, pianist and professor of music at University of Chicago; class of 1950
Claude G. Bowers – newspaperman, historian, author, and US ambassador; class of 1896
Dan Burton – member of  United States House of Representatives; class of 1956
Mary Fink - civil servant; class of 1934
Marcellus Greene – football player, class of 1976
Clinton L. Hare – manager, organizer, football coach, attorney, grocer; class of 1883
Paul Harmon, management consultant and business author
Andrew Jacobs, Jr. – member of U.S. House of Representatives; class of 1949
Charles Jordan - professional basketball player with the Indiana Pacers and in, Europe; class of 1972
Ethel Black Kealing - writer, arts patron in Indianapolis
Albert William Levi – philosopher, first Ralph Waldo Emerson Award recipient, first Washington University Humanities Chair, and Black Mountain College Rector (1947–1950)
Bill Libby – sports author
Richard Lugar – United States Senator; class of 1950
Lloyd "Skip" Martin – jazz musician, played in the Shortridge band, and went on to write for Count Basie, Duke Elligton and to play with many big bands such as Glenn Miller and Charlie Barnett; class of 1934
William E. McAnulty Jr. – attorney, first African American justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court; class of 1965
Don Mellett – journalist, editor, Pulitzer Prize winner (posthumous); class of 1909
Hans Paul Mengering – structural engineer, highly decorated and wounded World War II 82nd Airborne glider veteran, and late stepfather (1983–2013) of humorist David Letterman; class of 1940 
Honor Moore – poet and non-fiction writer whose works include The Bishop's Daughter, memoir of relationship with her father, Episcopal Bishop Paul Moore; class of 1963
Woody Myers - Indiana state health commissioner
Madelyn Pugh – writer for I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show; class of 1938
Henry J. Richardson Jr. – civil rights lawyer and activist, member of the Indiana House of Representatives (1932–1936); class of 1921
William H. Riker - political scientist, Public Choice formal theorist, elected to National Academy of Sciences (1974), the American Academy of the Arts & Sciences (1975), president of the American Political Science Association (1983);.
class of 1938 
Maurice E. Shearer – Brigadier General, Marine Corps, led Marines in World War I Battle of Belleau Wood, France; awarded Navy Cross, Army Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, French Legion of Honor, aide to Secretary of the Navy Fleet, used USS Indianapolis as his normal flagship, US Ambassador
Bill Shirley – actor and singer
Ada Walter Shulz – painter
Noble Sissle – musician and composer
Raymond A. Spruance – admiral, commander of Task Force 16 at Midway; as Commander of Central Pacific Force, later 5th
Dave Strack - college basketball coach, class of 1941
Booth Tarkington – author (attended but did not graduate from Shortridge)
Wallace Terry – journalist and oral historian; class of 1956
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. – acclaimed best-selling author of Slaughterhouse-Five and other novels, lecturer, professor, World War II veteran; class of 1940
Kurt Vonnegut, Sr. –
architect of Vonnegut & Bohn and Vonnegut, Wright & Yeager; class of 1902
Dan Wakefield – author; class of 1950
Sharon E. Watkins – general minister and president of Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); delivered sermon at National Prayer Service in Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2009, at invitation of President Barack Obama, class of 1972
Lebbeus Woods – experimental architect and artist; class of 1959
Marguerite Young – English teacher at Shortridge who received international recognition for her 1965 novel Miss MacIntosh, My Darling; class of 1926
William Afflis – professional player (Green Bay Packers) and professional wrestler known as "Dick the Bruiser", class of 1947
Frank J. Anderson – first African-American sheriff of Marion County, Indiana, IHSWCA Hall of Fame wrestler, class of 1956
Mary Ritter Beard – historian and feminist scholar, class of 1893
Easley Blackwood – composer, pianist and professor of music at University of Chicago; class of 1950
Claude G. Bowers – newspaperman, historian, author, and US ambassador; class of 1896
Dan Burton – member of  United States House of Representatives; class of 1956
Mary Fink - civil servant; class of 1934
Marcellus Greene – football player, class of 1976
Clinton L. Hare – manager, organizer, football coach, attorney, grocer; class of 1883
Paul Harmon, management consultant and business author
Andrew Jacobs, Jr. – member of U.S. House of Representatives; class of 1949
Charles Jordan - professional basketball player with the Indiana Pacers and in, Europe; class of 1972
Ethel Black Kealing - writer, arts patron in Indianapolis
Albert William Levi – philosopher, first Ralph Waldo Emerson Award recipient, first Washington University Humanities Chair, and Black Mountain College Rector (1947–1950)
Bill Libby – sports author
Richard Lugar – United States Senator; class of 1950
Lloyd "Skip" Martin – jazz musician, played in the Shortridge band, and went on to write for Count Basie, Duke Elligton and to play with many big bands such as Glenn Miller and Charlie Barnett; class of 1934
William E. McAnulty Jr. – attorney, first African American justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court; class of 1965
Don Mellett – journalist, editor, Pulitzer Prize winner (posthumous); class of 1909
Hans Paul Mengering – structural engineer, highly decorated and wounded World War II 82nd Airborne glider veteran, and late stepfather (1983–2013) of humorist David Letterman; class of 1940 
Honor Moore – poet and non-fiction writer whose works include The Bishop's Daughter, memoir of relationship with her father, Episcopal Bishop Paul Moore; class of 1963
Woody Myers - Indiana state health commissioner
Madelyn Pugh – writer for I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show; class of 1938
Henry J. Richardson Jr. – civil rights lawyer and activist, member of the Indiana House of Representatives (1932–1936); class of 1921
William H. Riker - political scientist, Public Choice formal theorist, elected to National Academy of Sciences (1974), the American Academy of the Arts & Sciences (1975), president of the American Political Science Association (1983);. class of 1938 
Maurice E. Shearer – Brigadier General, Marine Corps, led Marines in World War I Battle of Belleau Wood, France; awarded Navy Cross, Army Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, French Legion of Honor, aide to Secretary of the Navy Fleet, used USS Indianapolis as his normal flagship, US Ambassador
Bill Shirley – actor and singer
Ada Walter Shulz – painter
Noble Sissle – musician and composer
Raymond A. Spruance – admiral, commander of Task Force 16 at Midway; as Commander of Central Pacific Force, later 5th
Dave Strack - college basketball coach, class of 1941
Booth Tarkington – author (attended but did not graduate from Shortridge)
Wallace Terry – journalist and oral historian; class of 1956
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. – acclaimed best-selling author of Slaughterhouse-Five and other novels, lecturer, professor, World War II veteran; class of 1940
Kurt Vonnegut, Sr. – architect of Vonnegut & Bohn and Vonnegut, Wright & Yeager; class of 1902
Dan Wakefield – author; class of 1950
Sharon E. Watkins – general minister and president of Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); delivered sermon at National Prayer Service in Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2009, at invitation of President Barack Obama, class of 1972
Lebbeus Woods – experimental architect and artist; class of 1959
Marguerite Young – English teacher at Shortridge who received international recognition for her 1965 novel Miss MacIntosh, My Darling; class of 1926
Shortridge High School