Raising Arizona Raising Arizona

Raised in Phoenix, Arizona, the ‘Godfather of Shock Rock’, Alice Cooper (February 4, 1948), was once the star of the Cortez High School Track Team. According to school friends, the naturally athletic Cooper was headed for a professional running career until he and his teammates donned mop-top wigs at a school talent show in 1964 and performed Beatles parodies with the lyrics altered to reference running (Google it). After that, Cooper knew he wanted to be in showbiz and traded his track shoes for platform boots and a lot of eyeliner. 

Linda Ronstadt (March 15, 1946) was born in Tucson, Arizona, and before she began stacking Grammy’s as a vocalist, she was bringing home medals as a cross-country champion. While the ‘Your No Good’ singer never broke any records or found athletic fame beyond her home state, a full-page photo of Ronstadt competing in Flagstaff was featured in the May 1962 issue of Sports Illustrated. Ronstadt has said in multiple interviews that her early training in long-distance prepared her for the rigors of being a touring musician. 

Technically, Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio (December 18, 1946), but his family relocated to Phoenix in 1957 where, at age 14, he became the youngest person in U.S. history (at that time) to run 10 miles in under 60 minutes. Spielberg’s time of 58:47:00 remained the U15 national record until—you can’t make this stuff up—it was broken by Bryan Cranston in 1970. Spielberg is still running today, but nowhere near as fast.

Pioneering jazz musician Charles Mingus (April 22, 1922) was born in Nogales, Arizona, and before discovering his love of jazz, he was in a steady relationship with the 200-meter sprint. Between 1940 and 1944, Mingus ran for the United States Track and Field Team and was even tapped for the 1944 London Olympics (canceled due to WW2). In 1946, however, a chance meeting with legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker landed Mingus in his first quartet, so he quit running, and the rest, as they say, is ski-bop-a-do-bap-zip-bitty-wow.

Fleetwood Mac songbird Stevie Nicks (May 26, 1948) was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and besides being really into shawls and warbling, she also enjoyed track and field. Her family relocated to California in 1963, where she established herself as Arcadia High School’s star sprinter and the state’s U16 200m champion. While competing in an athletic tournament in New Mexico, Nicks met Paul Stanley (high jump) and became a member of the earliest iteration of the rock band KISS. A year later, she formed Buckingham Nicks (a double act with songwriter Lindsay Buckingham), which Fleetwood Mac later absorbed.

As a kid growing up in Arizona, Bret Michaels (July 12, 1963), frontman of 90s glam metal outfit Poison, was encouraged by his high school track coach to train for what was then the Mesa-Phoenix marathon (it’s now known as the Mesa Marathon). Micheals accepted the challenge and, at age 17, became the second youngest winner in the race’s history. He returned and won three more times before sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll beckoned him to LA. When hair metal took its last gasp in the mid-90s, Michaels returned to Phoenix, where he now coaches the NBAGT (Nothing but a Good Time) track and field team.

Before being cast as ‘Wonder Woman’ in the hit TV series Wonder Woman, Phoenix-born Lynda Carter (July 24, 1951) was better known for her explosive speed and power in the 4x400 relay. In 1972, Carter was slated to represent the USA at the Munich Olympics (along with Mable Ferguson, Cheryl Toussaint, and Madeline Manning), but came down with rinderpest and was replaced by Kathy Hammond. The disappointment drove Carter to seek a new career in Hollywood, and to this day she refuses to answer questions about her athletic past. 

Better known as the only architect anyone can name, native Arizonian Frank Lloyd Wright (August 30, 1867) was once a promising middle-distance runner. During his time at The University of Arizona, FLW was unbeatable in both the 800m and the 1500m, but his athletic dreams were dashed when he developed Haglund’s Deformity in his left foot and had to quit the track team. Frank’s loss was the world’s gain, however, as he could now wholly dedicate himself to studying architecture and come up with all the cool stuff he came up with. 

Edward Clive Vedder III, frontman of the rock group Pearl Jam, was better known as ‘Fast Eddie’ by his schoolmates at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix. Vedder (September 30, 1961) performed well across all types of distances and terrains, but it was his prowess in the 100-meter dash that caught the eye of Hanover-based talent scout Ernst Whistler, who offered the future grunge god a well-compensated scholarship at Dartmouth College. Vedder accepted and, after finishing high school, moved to New Hampshire, where he met future Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard at Jeff Bezos’ 21st birthday party. 

Raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, comedian and actor David Spade (October 29, 1964) was a keen long-distance runner and even considered a career as an ultrarunner after entering and placing 6th in Wisconsin’s inaugural Badgerland F/X 24 Hour race in 1983. Sadly, he developed a femoral hernia (possibly brought on by the physical exertion at Badgerland) and underwent surgery that left him unable to train for nine months. During his recovery, Spade met Chris Farley, who was visiting friends in Scottsdale. Farley invited Spade to drive to Chicago with him, where they joined the Second City Theatre, eventually leading to SNL and no more running for David.

American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison (Dec 18, 1956) was born in Tucson, and before serving as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992, she ranked nationally as a member of Stanford University track and field team. Jemison shattered indoor and outdoor records in the women’s U20 800 meters and ran the eighth fastest time in collegiate history. Unfortunately, you can’t be an Olympian and an astronaut, so Mae Jemison flipped a coin and took a job at NASA. 

Two-time Academy Award-winning actress Emma Stone (January 7, 1988) was born in Scottsdale, Arizona, and at a young age, developed a passion for endurance sports that saw her competing in some of the world’s most grueling ultramarathons, including Badwater, Leadville, and UTMB. Despite garnering lucrative sponsorship deals with High5, Merrell, Injini, and Yoplait, Stone shifted her focus to acting, drawing upon the resilience and determination she developed as an ultra-athlete to hit the big time in Hollywood.