Dr. Bradley Rothermel was born in Monroe Center, Illinois into a family of educators. He attended Northern Illinois University in De Kalb for his bachelor’s degree and the University of Illinois for his Master’s and PhD. Rothermel’s work history includes coaching in the Chicago Cubs organization and at Kansas State and West Virginia University as athletic director and business manager, before arriving at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in 1981.

George Simmons was born on July 26, 1937 in Roxton, Texas. He studied at Texas Southern University and at the University of Texas. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1963 with his wife Eva. George Simmons designed homes for Sproul Homes in the 1960s, then was hired by the engineering firm Holmes and Narver. He worked for Holmes and Narver on a Department of Defense contract at the Nevada Test Site and in downtown Las Vegas. He is active in community groups and Black Golfers Association. Simmons retired in December of 2013.

Henry Shepherd was born and raised on a plantation in Tallulah, Louisiana, where the primary crops were peanuts and corn. When he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1967, he worked as a bartender at the Sands Hotel. Shepherd was able to send his daughter to college because he was working for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226. Leaving the Sands Hotel, he went to the Landmark Hotel and Casino, and then went to Circus Circus Hotel. The Luxor Hotel and Casino was his final stop in a bartending career that spanned over three decades.

Paul Huffey was born 1938 in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1947, Huffey’s father purchased a lot of land in Paseo Park and built a home for his wife and only child. In 1956, Huffey graduated from Las Vegas High School, enlisted in the United States Army Reserve and enrolled in the University of Nevada, Reno. He taught history at Basic High School in Henderson, Nevada for nine years.

Noll Gray Thompson was born April 05, 1919 in Durham, North Carolina. Thompson was raised in a devout Christian household. He joined the United States Navy in 1941 and was stationed in San Francisco, California where he met his wife. They married in 1946 and remained married for 64 years. Thompson and his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1989. He was a poet that wrote about protests and gay love in the Las Vegas Bugle for many years. Thompson died November 13, 2010.

Born in St. Thomas, Nevada on May 6, 1914, Vivian “Viv” Frehner was a lifelong resident of southern Nevada. He worked on the construction of the Hoover Dam before becoming deputy sheriff in Caliente, Nevada in the 1950s. Frehner also worked as a rancher and heavy equipment operator. Viv Frehner died on July 18, 1999.

Source:

Bass, Debra D. “Nevadan Who Loved Horses and Rodeo ‘Viv’ Frehner Dies at Age 85.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 21, 1999.

Christina Gentile was born in Colorado and her family moved to California when she was a year old. After her parents divorced, her father moved to Carson City, Nevada. Christina worked in the Hotel Nevada in Ely and became a dealer there. She moved to Las Vegas and worked as a dealer at the King 8 Hotel. It was sold to Station Casinos and became the Wild Wild West Hotel and Casino, and she got into management there. Christina also worked as a table games manager at Boulder Station, Red Rocks Casino, and at the Wynn Las Vegas.