The paper 04 07 16

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Volume 46 - No. 14

April 7, 2016

By Frederick Gomez

Being a home-grown Californian can be a most remarkable odyssey. And growing up in San Diego was like hitting the lottery in life. Where else can you surf, snow ski, or enjoy adrenalin-charged dune-buggy rides in hot desert climate – all in the same afternoon? That extreme polarity of climate – in the same day -- is a very rare boast that San Diego County can lay claim to. As a California boy, I skateboarded almost before I could run; I snorkeled (skin dived) off the world-famous La Jolla cove, and even excelled in playing tennis.

As a proud San Diegan, it simply amazes me at just how many famous people were born right here in San Diego County. The ledger of famous San Diegans is overwhelming in its diversity and scope. The number of famous people born and spread out across these United States is one thing, but the cluster of such luminaries that claim San Diego County as their birthplace is, well, intoxicating to ponder. It makes my head swim.

Frederick W. Sturckow, famed NASA astronaut, veteran of four Space Shuttle missions and on record as one of only two humans to visit the International Space Station four times, is originally from La Mesa, California. Famed actor and director, Robert Duvall, a seventime Academy Award nominee, and most notable for his Lonesome Dove mini-series, was born in San Diego. So was towering Oscar-winning movie legend, Gregory Peck (1916-2003), who was named by the American Film Institute as among “The Greatest Male Stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema,” in 1999, ranking No. 12, topping countless thousands of other immortals of the silver screen, was born in La Jolla, California. Arguably, the greatest baseball player of all-time, Ted Williams, nicknamed “The Splendid Splinter” and “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived,” was carried home from the hospital as an infant, right here in San Diego. In music, the music group Blink-182, originated out of Poway, California, in 1992. They are truly international in their rabid fan base, having sold well over 35 million albums worldwide and moving The New York Times in 2011 to assert, “No punk band of the 1990s has been more influential than Blink-182.” Mighty powerful praise coming from one of the world’s most powerful newspapers, 3,000 miles away in New York; praise that has been echoed by other media giants from as far away as Japan, England, and Germany. Popular music legend, Stephen Bishop, also hails from San Diego, having attended Crawford High School here. Golfing greats Billy Gasper, one of the most prolific tournament champions on the PGA Tour, as well as Phil Mickelson, who swung his golf club in garnering five major championships including three Masters titles, the PGA

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Championship, and the 2013 British Open, are both native San Diegans. And aside from astronauts, actors, athletes, and singers, San Diego has been a lush garden for producing some of the most beautiful women in the world, born and bred right here on San Diego County soil. Playboy Magazine’s “Playmate of the Month” heartthrob, Arlene Baxter, who became one of the most popular models for Victoria’s Secret and Saks Fifth Avenue, made her original debut at Oceanside, California, the place of her birth. And drop-dead gorgeous actress, Cameron Diaz, was born in San Diego 43 years ago, in 1972. I remember when my friends and I first saw Cameron Diaz in the 1994 movie, “The Mask,” starring Jim Carrey. I had to take cold showers for a week. And when my Irish-Catholic friend, Seamus, first saw her on the

movie screen, he thought he was having a religious experience. Cameron Diaz, the blond bombshell, as of 2015 grossed over $3-billion as a movie star, worldwide, making her the highest-grossing U.S. domestic box office actress! The list of famous people born in San Diego County is eclectic, even embracing the great Jimmie Johnson, six-time NASCAR Sprint Series Champion. Johnson is a product of El Cajon. My only claim to fame is that I think I once passed Jimmie Johnson on the freeway. (Hmm, maybe not.) But aside from NASCAR great, Jimmie Johnson, El Cajon would see other megastars emerge from their soil, including multi-Olympic Gold Medalist, Greg Louganis, famed diver who miraculously transformed water into gold at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games, stunning a planet’s

inhabitants on global television. After making a worldwide splash before an international viewing audience, the El Cajon native received additional honors in the United States as the most outstanding athlete. Mayim Bialik, from San Diego, stars on the nation’s top-rated comedy series, “The Big Bang Theory,” where she plays hilarious Amy Farrah Fowler. The CBS star is a four-time nominee for the Emmy Award (television’s highest accolade) for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. The native San Diegan has also won the Critic’s Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Many do not know that San Diego’s Mayim Bialik who portrays the comedic role of neuroscientist, Amy Farrah Fowler is, in real life, a neurosci-

‘Famous San Diegans’ Continued on Page 2


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