Original Sin Cityites: Athletes, performers call valley their home
They come to Las Vegas on a regular basis, but rarely do celebrities come from it. Compared to the hundreds who have called the valley home over the decades, only a surprising few were raised here.
"Growing up in Las Vegas was very strange," says late-night TV talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel, one of the city's most visible exports to popular culture. "I didn't realize it when I was growing up, but you realize it now, when you talk to people who didn't grow up in Vegas."
Kimmel, 42, says his indelible childhood memories include watching Sammy Davis Jr. shop for pants at Saks Fifth Avenue -- "in the boys' department." There also was that time he spotted Liberace at the Mayfair Market in the middle of the night.
"He was shopping for meat," Kimmel says. "You don't see that in, say, Toledo."
Kimmel was 9 when his dad landed a job with Howard Hughes' Summa Corp. and relocated his family from Brooklyn, N.Y. They lived in Spring Valley, near relatives who had made the move before them (including Kimmel's Uncle Frank and Aunt Chippy Potenza, now regulars on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!").
Kimmel's first year in the neighborhood, 1977, was punctuated by a pivotal event.
"It snowed, almost magically," Kimmel recalls. "It hadn't snowed in nine years or something. And it was great because I didn't know that many people, but I knew how to play in snow. I knew how to build an igloo fort and have snowball fights.
"I was like the general of the neighborhood that day."
The snowstorm cemented what became a lifelong bond between Kimmel and his across-the-street neighbor, Cleto Escobedo III, who now serves as Kimmel's bandleader.
"I got a kick out of him, and he really helped shape my sense of humor," Kimmel says.
Kimmel's years at Clark High School, from which he graduated in 1985, were influenced by the city's boundless energy and cheap food and drink specials.
"Binion's Horseshoe had a $2 steak dinner, which we ate, I think, 37 nights in a row one summer," he says, also recalling the 99 cent foot-long hot dog at the Westward Ho and the 49 cent shrimp cocktail at the Golden Goose.
"It wasn't even shrimp," Kimmel says. "It was really like a glass full of sea monkeys covered with cocktail sauce."
Kimmel says he didn't realize Vegas was Las Vegas, however, until "Late Night with David Letterman" arrived to tape a week's worth of shows in May 1987. (Kimmel was such a fan, his license plate read "L8NITE.")
"I couldn't believe they were coming," he says. "Now it makes sense -- it's Vegas, it's an iconic destination. But then, it was mind-boggling to me."
Further realization that Vegas was unlike other cities struck when Kimmel transferred out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas after a year to attend Arizona State University.
"I'd never heard of closing time," he says. "I didn't even know there was a closing time, and I didn't know what to do. I'd drive around and look for people at Denny's at three in the morning."
Although Kimmel still visits Las Vegas often (last in late May), he's able to discern the changes in his hometown.
"The Strip is so long now," he says. "We went to a concert at the M Hotel and I was like, 'Wow, this is Henderson?' Henderson used to seem like a faraway land where trailer people lived."
Kimmel catches himself sounding like one of those "it's expanded too much" people.
"People were saying that when we moved there, too," he says.
OTHER LAS VEGAS-BRED CELEBS
ANDRE AGASSI
Occupation: Author, philanthropist and former tennis champion
Age: 40
High school: Valley
Graduated: 1988
Perhaps the most famous tennis player who ever lived, Agassi has scored wins at every major tournament. His professional career was launched at age 16 at the behest of a controlling father. In his 2009 book, "Open," Agassi recalls the completion of the most important addition to his childhood home: "Suddenly my father had his backyard tennis court, which meant I had my prison."
TONI BASIL (nee Antonia Christina Basilotta)
Occupation: Choreographer and former singer and actress
Age: 66
High school: Las Vegas
Graduated: 1961
As an actress, she starred in both "Easy Rider" and "Five Easy Pieces." As a choreographer, she has directed dance moves for David Byrne, David Bowie and most recently Bette Midler's Caesars Palace show. But you know her for her 1982 hit single, "Mickey."
KURT AND KYLE BUSCH
Occupation: NASCAR drivers
Age: Kurt, 32; Kyle, 25
High school: Durango
Graduated: Kurt in 1996, Kyle in 2002
Kurt and Kyle are among only 20 drivers to win in all three of NASCAR's top divisions. Kyle is playing -- as he has his whole life -- a decent game of catch-up, winning the NASCAR Nationwide championship in 2009, five years after Kurt won the Sprint Cup championship. Racing's latest superstar brothers began their careers by careening go-carts around their cul-de-sac at Sahara Avenue and Jones Boulevard.
BRANDON FLOWERS
Occupation: Musician
Age: 28
High school: Chaparral
Graduated: 1999
The frontman for The Killers -- history's biggest Las Vegas-hatched rock combo -- grew up partially in Henderson, then moved to Utah when he was 8, and back to Vegas in his junior year of high school. The Killers formed in 2001 and played the clubs for years without success. Their Vegas roots feature prominently on their shirt and album sleeves. (The Killers called their double-platinum sophomore studio album "Sam's Town," while Flowers' soon-to-be-released solo debut is titled "Flamingo.")
MATTHEW GRAY GUBLER
Occupation: Actor
Age: 30
High school: Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts
Graduated: 1998
Gubler, who also attended The Meadows School, stars as Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS TV show "Criminal Minds." He's also a director, having helmed a music video for The Killers' "Don't Shoot Me Santa" and several Vegas-set movies for classes at New York University film school (from which he graduated in 2002). Gubler's mom, Marilyn, was the first woman to serve as Republican state chairman. His grandfather, Maxwell Kelch, was the first president of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and founded the city's first radio station, KENO-AM, in 1940.
STEVEN JACKSON
Occupation: Football player
Age: 26
High school: Eldorado
Graduated: 2001
The St. Louis Rams superstar signed a six-year contract worth $44 million in 2008, making him the highest paid running back in the NFL. As a running back for the Eldorado Sundevils, he was named the Sunrise Regional MVP and rushed for 6,396 yards and 81 touchdowns.
JENNA JAMESON (nee Jenna Massoli)
Occupation: Former porn star
Age: 36
High school: Bonanza
Graduated: 1992
After failing to meet the height requirement to follow in her mother's showgirl heel steps, Jameson became a stripper, nude model and, finally, the world's most famous actress that husbands get in trouble for recognizing.
GREG MADDUX
Occupation: Former baseball player
Age: 44
High school: Valley
Graduated: 1984
A shoe-in for the Baseball Hall of Fame, this Las Vegas native won more games than any other pitcher during the 1990s. The first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award for four consecutive years (1992-95), he was also the first to win 15 or more games for 17 straight seasons, and he holds the record for most Gold Gloves (18). Maddux played for the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers, with whom he ended his career in 2008.
FRANK MIR
Occupation: Mixed martial artist
Age: 31
High school: Bonanza
Graduated: 1998
Mir began his wrestling career at Bonanza, where as a senior he went 44-1 and won the state championship. He won the UFC heavyweight title in 2004, but was forced to give it up after a motorcycle accident the following year.
NE-YO (ne Shaffer Smith)
Occupation: R&B singer
Age: 30
High school: Rancho
Graduated: 1998
The former Shaffer Smith has charted two No. 1 albums and five Top 10 songs (starting with 2006's "So Sick") as well as several R&B singles written for other artists. Raised in the valley after his mother separated from his father and relocated from Arkansas, Smith received his stage name -- a play on Neo from "The Matrix" -- from an early music producer.
Contact reporter Corey Levitan at clevitan@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0456.
