Emanuel Cleaver II (born October 26, 1944) is a United Methodist pastor and the U.S. Representative for Missouri's 5th congressional district, serving since 2005. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and in January 2010 became chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

His district includes the southern three-fourths of Kansas City, including virtually all of the city south of the Missouri River. It also includes most of the city's suburbs in Jackson County.

Born in Waxahachie, Texas, Cleaver grew up in public housing in Wichita Falls, Texas. He graduated from Prairie View A&M University where he was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Cleaver then moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he founded a branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and received a Master of Divinity degree from St. Paul School of Theology.

Cleaver served as Kansas City City Councilman from 1979 to 1991 and as mayor of Kansas City for two terms from 1991 until 1999. He is the first African American mayor of Kansas City. During the last days of his tenure as Mayor, Reverend Cleaver agreed to an international visit to London, England. On the invitation of UK NGO Operation Black Vote he assisted in campaigning for increased electoral participation in the elections for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. His visit culminated in a keynote speech at Westminster City Hall alongside British political figures including Ken Livingstone, Simon Hughes and Lee Jasper.

Claire Conner McCaskill (pronounced /məˈkæskəl/; born July 24, 1953) is the senior United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Democratic Party. She defeated Republican incumbent Jim Talent in the 2006 United States Senate election, by a margin of 49.6% to 47.3%. She is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri in her own right. She became the state's senior U.S. Senator upon the retirement of Kit Bond in 2011.

Before her election to the U.S. Senate, McCaskill was State Auditor of Missouri from 1999 to 2007. She previously served as Jackson County Prosecutor (1993–1998) and a member of the Missouri House of Representatives (1983–1988). She was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Missouri in the 2004 gubernatorial election. She is a native of Rolla and graduate of the University of Missouri.

In the U.S. Senate, McCaskill serves as a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Special Committee on Aging. She is chairperson of the Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight.

Jerry Schmidt (born September 19, 1962) is the Director of Sports Enhancement for the University of Oklahoma Sooners' football team.

Schmidt was a 1980 graduate of Harvard High School in Harvard, Nebraska. He then attended the University of Nebraska, where he graduated in 1986.

Schmidt has coached at Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Florida, and Oklahoma as an assistant, director, coordinator, and director of sports enhancement. In his career with those teams, he has coached in five national title games. He owns championship rings from Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Florida. Schmidt was the 1991 Strength Coach of the Year by USAFitness, and he has worked with five Heisman winners. He has also worked with 20 NFL first-round draft picks. He is known for his discipline, intense workouts, and his advanced and innovative knowledge of his profession. His slogan, which is painted across a wall in Oklahoma's weight room, is "Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn't Work Hard!"