People of Historical Interest
A list of notable people who were born, lived, or died in the Rio Grande Valley includes:
- David V. Aguilar (Chief Border Patrol Agent, United States Border Patrol, Rio Grande Valley Station, Texas)
- Gloria E. Anzaldúa (Writer/Poet, Hargill, Texas)
- Cathy Baker (T.V. performer, Edinburg, Texas)
- Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. (U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Mission, Texas)
- James Carlos Blake (Novelist, Brownsville)
- Harlon Block (Iwo Jima flag raiser, died on Iwo Jima, Weslaco, Texas)
- William S. Burroughs American writer, his time as a farmer in the valley (Pharr, TX) is chronicled, briefly, in his books Junky and Queer
- Rolando Cantu is a Mexican football player who used to play for the Arizona Cardinals in the USA and graduated from McAllen High School. (McAllen, TX)
- Thomas Haden Church (Actor, Harlingen, Texas)
- Kika de la Garza (U.S. Representative, Mission, Texas)
- Freddy Fender (Musician/Actor lyricist, San Benito, Texas)
- Mike Fossum (Astronaut, McAllen, Texas)
- Reynaldo Guerra Garza (Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Brownsville, Texas)
- Roberto Garza (Professional Football Player Chicago Bears, Rio Hondo, Texas)
- Tony Garza (U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Brownsville, Texas)
- Alfredo C. Gonzalez (Medal of Honor Recipient, U.S. Marine Veteran, Edinburg, Texas)
- Matt Gonzalez (2008 Vice Presidential candidate; former president of the San Francisco, California, Board of Superviors; born, McAllen, Texas)
- Esteban Jordan (Accordionist, Elsa, TX)
- Bill Haley (Musician, Harlingen, TX)
- Catherine Hardwicke (Film director, writer, producer, McAllen, TX)
- Rubén Hinojosa (U.S. Representative, Edcouch Elsa, Texas)
- Kris Kristofferson (Musician, actor, song writer, Brownsville, Texas)
- Tom Landry (American football coach, Mission, Texas)
- Bobby Lackey (College Football Player Weslaco, TX)
- Jose M. Lopez (Medal of Honor Recipient, Mission, TX)
- Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas is a musician currently part rock band MuteMath,(McAllen, TX)
- Jack Morava is a mathematician from Mercedes at Johns Hopkins University
- Rachel McLish (Ms. Olympia, actor, Harlingen, Texas)
- Bobby Morrow (Olympic gold medalist, San Benito, Texas)
- Major Samuel Ringgold (Father of modern artillery, served at what is now Fort Ringgold, Rio Grande City, Texas)
- Valente Rodriguez (Actor, Edcouch, Texas)
- Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, USA, Ret. (Ground forces commander in Iraq, Rio Grande City, Texas)
- Julian Schnabel (Filmmaker, Brownsville, TX)
- Merced Solis aka Tito Santana (Wrestler, Mission, Texas)
- Nick Stahl (Actor, Harlingen, Texas)
- Rigo Tovar (Musician/actor/composer, Matamoros, Tamps)
- Filemon Bartolome Vela (Federal judge, Harlingen, Texas)
- Eric Miles Williamson (Novelist/Literary Critic/Professor, McAllen, Texas)
Read more about this topic: Rio Grande Valley
Famous quotes containing the words people, historical and/or interest:
“No, you think too much, that is your trouble. Clever people and grocers, they weigh everything.”
—Michael Cacoyannis (b. 1922)
“Some of us still get all weepy when we think about the Gaia Hypothesis, the idea that earth is a big furry goddess-creature who resembles everybody’s mom in that she knows what’s best for us. But if you look at the historical record—Krakatoa, Mt. Vesuvius, Hurricane Charley, poison ivy, and so forth down the ages—you have to ask yourself: Whose side is she on, anyway?”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“Take it all around, I was feeling ruther comfortable, on accounts of taking all this trouble for that gang, for not many would a done it. I wished the widow knowed about it. I judged she would be proud of me for helping these rapscallions, because rapscallions and dead beats is the kind the widow and good people takes the most interest in.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)