From Yuma to fame

Many people who have gone on to achieve great success in their lives once lived in the Yuma area. They include NFL stars, politicians, journalists and activists.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Thomas Bradley lived for a few years near Somerton as a child.

Bradley was the son of sharecroppers in Calvert, Texas. Poverty forced his family to move several times during his childhood, first to Dallas, Texas, then to Somerton and finally to Los Angeles in 1924.

According to Volume 11 of the Young Oxford History of African Americans, their living conditions were so dire that five of his siblings died of poor health as children.

Following an “outstanding” academic and athletic career at Los Angeles Polytechnic High School, Bradley won a scholarship to UCLA. In 1941 he entered a police academy and, upon graduation, served as an officer for the Los Angeles Police Department for 20 years, reaching the rank of lieutenant.

He attended law school at night and passed the California bar in 1956. He began to practice law after leaving the force in 1961. He was then elected to the city council in 1963 and served in that position until 1973.

After the Watts Riots in August of 1965, Bradley criticized the police for officers' treatment of minorities, which led to a public battle with the LAPD and Mayor Sam Yorty.

He ran against Yorty and became mayor of LA in 1973. He was re-elected four times. During his tenure, LA hosted the 1984 Olympic Games, Rodney King was beaten in 1991 and the Los Angeles Riot occurred in 1992 over a jury's acquittal of police officers accused in King's beating. He served as mayor until 1993 and died in 1998.

Cesar Estrada Chavez, founder of United Farm Workers, was born in Yuma and died in San Luis, Ariz.

He advocated for the rights of farm workers, acting to increase wages and improve their working conditions through strikes and nationwide boycotts of agricultural products he organized. Chavez rallied his followers with the motto “Si, se puede” (“Yes, it can be done”).

According to UFW, Chavez was born to Librado Chavez and Juana Chavez near Yuma on March 31, 1927. Chavez's Childhood Home was located in the North Gila Valley. The Chavez family had a small farm, and operated a country store, but lost both properties in 1937 as the Great Depression intensified. The family then moved to California.

In June 1939, the family settled in San Jose. They lived in the barrio called “Sal Si Puedes” (Get Out If You Can).

In 1942, Chavez graduated from the eighth grade and became a migrant farm worker. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1946 at the age of 19 and served for two years.

In 1962, Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association, which would become the United Farm Workers. By 1970, the UFW got grape growers to accept union contracts and had effectively organized most of that industry, at one point in time claiming 50,000 dues paying members.

Chavez died peacefully in his sleep on April 23, 1993, in San Luis, in the concrete-block home of Dofla Maria Hau, a former farm worker and longtime friend.

March 31 is now Cesar Chavez Day, and many local schools and streets are named after him.

Curley Culp, NFL star, was a Yuma High School alumnus.

Culp was born in Yuma on March 10. As a student at YHS, Culp was a state champion wrestler in both 1962 and 1963. He was also first-team all state in football in 1963.

After graduating high school, Culp played college football at Arizona State University. He then played professionally for the Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Oilers and the Detroit Lions. He was an AFL All-Star in 1969 and a six-time AFC-NFC Pro-Bowler. He played 14 NFL seasons and helped the Kansas City Chiefs win Super Bowl IV.

Ron Jessie, another YHS alumnus, also played in the NFL.

Born in Yuma, on Feb. 4, 1948, Jessie played football and track at Yuma High. After graduation, he continued to play both sports at Imperial Valley College in El Centro, Calif. He transferred to the University of Kansas in 1969 and continued to excel in athletics.

In 1969, Jessie earned All-America recognition as a long jumper. He was the national indoor long-jump champion, and part of the Kansas indoor team that won the 1969 U.S. Track and Field Federation national championship.

During two football seasons at the university, Jessie ran the ball 138 times for 619 yards, caught 33 passes for 644 yards, and returned 35 kickoffs for 793 yards. He also scored five touchdowns.

In 1971, Jessie became an eighth-round draft selection of the Dallas Cowboys. He was traded during training camp to Detroit, where he played the next four seasons.

Jessie played in the NFL for the next ten years. He played for Buffalo during his last two seasons, and left the league in 1981. He had 138 career receptions for 4,276 yards and scored 30 touchdowns.

TV and radio personality Lou Dobbs got his start as a radio producer at KBLU-AM in the 1970s.

Dobbs was born in Childress, Texas. He graduated from high school in Idaho in 1963, and then from Harvard University in 1967. After graduating from Harvard, Dobbs worked for federal anti-poverty programs in Boston and Washington, D.C. and as a cash-management specialist for Union Bank in Los Angeles.

In about 1970, Dobbs moved to Yuma and got a job as a police and fire reporter for KBLU-AM. In the mid-1970s, he moved to Phoenix where he worked as a television anchor and reporter.

After working for a TV station in Seattle later in the decade, Dobbs caught the attention of Ted Turner, who was laying the groundwork for CNN. Dobbs joined CNN when it launched in 1980. He stayed with the network for almost three decades before quitting in 2010.

He now hosts “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on Fox Business Network.