Emigdio Vasquez (1939–2014) was a Chicano-American artist, social realist muralist and educator, known as the "Godfather of Hispanic artists". Most of his murals depict Chicano and Latin American history and feature a photorealistic style.
Alvie Self is an American singer and guitar player from the Verde Valley in Arizona. His contributions to rock and roll are recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Greater Arizona Country Music Association Hall of Fame and the Western Swing Music Association Hall of Fame.Self's first recording was "Rain Dance." He is well known for several early recordings on Don Ray Records, such as "Let's Go Wild" and "Nancy."
Harold Louis Humes, Jr. (May 11, 1926 – September 10, 1992) was known as HL Humes in his books, and usually as "Doc" Humes in life. He was the originator of The Paris Review literary magazine, author of two novels in the late 1950s, and a gregarious fixture of the cultural scene in Paris, London, and New York in the 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1966, in London, he took large amounts of LSD, which was given to him by Timothy Leary, and he became paranoid and sometimes delusional. After this, he no longer published any writing. When he returned to the US in 1969, he reinvented himself as a "guru on campus", a self-appointed visiting professor, and spent the next 20-odd years living on or near-campus at Columbia University, Princeton University, Bennington College, Monmouth College (now University) and Harvard University, dependent on both his family and on students who were fascinated by his mixture of erudition and mental illness.
Lee Frost was a film director, producer, cinematographer, editor and occasional actor. Frost directed a string of exploitation films including Love Camp 7, Chain Gang Women, Chrome and Hot Leather, The Thing with Two Heads, The Black Gestapo, Dixie Dynamite and Private Obsession.
Mickey McMahan (August 23, 1930 – June 11, 2008) was an American born big band musician who played with the Lawrence Welk orchestra from 1966 to 1982. His instrument was the trumpet.
Marshall Trimble (born 1939) is an American author, singer, former community college professor, and Arizona's official state historian. In addition to his position as director of Southwest studies at Scottsdale Community College, he is a popular speaker and True West Magazine's question-and-answer man.
Donald Lee Stewart (October 25, 1939 – January 24, 2024) was an American Pentecostal minister and purported faith healer. He was a televangelist who hosted Power and Mercy on Black Entertainment Television, The Word Network, and other television channels. He was the successor to the late A. A. Allen's organization.
Gordon Chilton Smith (born April 9, 1939) is a former American football player and coach. He played professionally as a tight end in the National Football League (NFL) with the Minnesota Vikings for five seasons, from 1961 to 1965. Smith played college football at Arizona State University and the University of Missouri under head coach Dan Devine.
After retiring from playing, Smith became an assistant football coach at the University of Arkansas in 1966. In December 1967, he was hired as an assistant football coach at Iowa State University under new head coach, Johnny Majors with whom Smith worked as an assistant at Arkansas. Smith served as offensive coordinator at Iowa State before resigning after the 1970 season to take a job with the federal government.
Steven Douglas Paxton (January 21, 1939 – February 20, 2024) was an American experimental dancer and choreographer. His early background was in gymnastics while his later training included three years with Merce Cunningham and a year with José Limón. As a founding member of the Judson Dance Theater, he performed works by Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown. He was a founding member of the experimental group Grand Union and in 1972 named and began to develop the dance form known as Contact Improvisation, a form of dance that utilizes the physical laws of friction, momentum, gravity, and inertia to explore the relationship between dancers.
Paxton believed that even an untrained dancer could contribute to the dance form, and so began his great interest in pedestrian movement. After working with Cunningham, he attempted to remain reclusive, except when performing, teaching, and choreographing internationally.
Curtis Edwin Lee (October 28, 1939 – January 8, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. He is known for his early 1960s hits "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" (US #7) and "Under the Moon of Love" (US #46), both of which were produced by Phil Spector.