Editing Las Cruces, New Mexico (section)

==Notable people==

[[File:Frank Borman.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Frank Borman]]]]
[[File:Buck Pierce.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Buck Pierce]]]]
[[File:Delano lewis.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Delano Lewis]]]]
* [[Richard Artschwager]], painter and sculptor, grew up in Las Cruces.
* [[Anwar al-Awlaki]], alleged Al-Qaeda spokesman and regional leader, was born in Las Cruces; he was killed by the U.S. government in 2011 for his alleged propaganda on behalf of [[Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula]]
* [[Luis Barraza]], soccer player<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luis Barraza |url=https://www.mlssoccer.com/players/luis-barraza/ |access-date=January 6, 2025 |website=[[Major League Soccer]]}}</ref>
* [[Barnard Elliott Bee, Jr.]], a career U.S. Army officer and a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War, spent six years in Las Cruces prior to the war.
* [[Rich Beem]], a professional golfer who played high school and college golf at Las Cruces High School and NMSU, was the winner of the 2002 [[PGA Championship]].
* [[Joseph Benavidez]], Mexican-American mixed martial arts fighter
* [[Baxter Black]], cowboy, poet, philosopher, former large-animal veterinarian, and radio commentator, grew up in Las Cruces and attended NMSU.
* [[Frank Borman]], NASA astronaut and engineer, had a home and auto dealership in Las Cruces. He is known for [[Gemini 7|Gemini VII]], a nearly 14-day, low-Earth-orbital mission (1965) and [[Apollo 8]], the first humans to leave low-Earth orbit, reach and orbit the Moon, and return safely (1968).
* [[William Bowers]], Oscar-nominated screenwriter, was born in Las Cruces.
* [[Randy Brown (basketball)|Randy Brown]], professional basketball player for the [[Chicago Bulls]] while winning three [[NBA]] titles during 1996–98, had previously played at NMSU.
* [[Pamela Burford]], novelist, was born in Las Cruces.
* [[Edgar Castillo]], soccer player who represented the [[Mexico national football team|Mexico]] and [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]] national teams<ref>{{Cite web |title=Edgar Castillo |url=https://www.mlssoccer.com/players/edgar-castillo/ |access-date=March 24, 2025 |website=[[Major League Soccer]]}}</ref>
* [[Denise Chávez]], author, playwright, and stage director
* [[Steve Colter]], a professional basketball player in the [[NBA]], played at NMSU.
* [[John A.D. Cooper]], physician and educator, and first president of the [[Association of American Medical Colleges]], grew up in Las Cruces.
* [[Sharon Douglas]], actress, attended Las Cruces Union High School.
* [[Doug Eddings]], Major League Baseball umpire, lives in Las Cruces.
* [[Albert Fall]], U.S. senator from New Mexico and [[U.S. Secretary of the Interior]]
* [[Richard Farrer]], South African–American soccer player, grew up in Las Cruces.
* [[Albert Jennings Fountain]], a lawyer, Indian fighter, and Republican politician in Texas and New Mexico, whose disappearance remains a mystery
* [[Chuck Franco]], [[first lady|first gentleman of New Mexico]]
* [[Pat Garrett]], Old West lawman who killed [[Billy the Kid]]
* [[Mimi Reisel Gladstein]], professor of English and Theatre Arts at the [[University of Texas at El Paso]], is a specialist on authors [[Ayn Rand]] and [[John Steinbeck]].
* [[Lou Henson]], basketball coach, led NMSU and [[University of Illinois]] teams to the [[Final Four]].
* [[Po James]], a running back who played four seasons for NFL's [[Philadelphia Eagles]], played collegiately at NMSU.
* [[Albert Johnson (New Mexico politician)|Albert Johnson]], first black mayor in New Mexico<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 2, 1976 |title=First black mayor |page=53 |work=[[Albuquerque Journal]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56795016/albuquerque-journal/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200807194541/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56795016/albuquerque-journal/ |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=September 21, 2020 }}</ref>
* [[Charley Johnson]], [[NFL]] quarterback, professor of chemical engineering at his alma mater, NNMSU, resides in Las Cruces.
* [[Freddy Juarez]], American soccer coach and former player.
* [[Paul Wilbur Klipsch]], engineer and high-fidelity audio pioneer, is known for developing the high-efficiency, folded-horn loudspeaker; he graduated from NMSU.
* [[Timothy Kraft]], a political consultant and the [[U.S. presidential election, 1980|1980]] [[campaign manager]] for [[Jimmy Carter]], retired in Las Cruces.
* [[Kiki Lara]], soccer player, was born in Las Cruces/
* [[Delano Lewis]], former U.S. ambassador to South Africa and president and CEO of [[National Public Radio]], resided in Las Cruces.
* [[Kerry Locklin]], football coach, was most recently defensive line coach for NFL's [[New York Jets]].
* [[Mireille Marokvia]], a French writer best known for two books about her ordeals during World War II in Nazi Germany, lived in Las Cruces later in life until her death in 2008.
* [[Mark Medoff]], Tony Award-winning playwright of ''[[Children of a Lesser God (play)|Children of a Lesser God]]''
* [[Rose Marie Pangborn]], scientist and pioneer in the sensory analysis of food, was born in Las Cruces.
* [[J. R. Patton]], racing driver, was born in Las Cruces.
* [[Bertha M. Paxton]] was the first woman elected to the [[New Mexico Legislature]].<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Eisenstadt | first1 = Pauline | last2 = Belshaw | first2 = Jim | title = A Woman in Both Houses: My Career in New Mexico Politics | publisher = University of New Mexico Press | date = 2012 | isbn = 9780826350244 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mnuHrGKSqQgC&pg=PP1}}</ref>
* [[Lenny Pickett]], the saxophonist and musical director of the ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' band, was born in Las Cruces.
* [[Buck Pierce]], professional Canadian football quarterback who played for NNSU, lives in Las Cruces during the off-season.
* [[Bashir Ramzy]], a long jumper in track and field, won a bronze medal in the 2007 Pan American Games; he was born in Las Cruces.
* [[Patricia Ryan (author)|Patricia Ryan]], writer of romance, mystery and erotic novels, was born in Las Cruces.
* [[Mai Shanley]], Miss USA 1984
* [[Tom Smith (playwright)|Tom Smith]], playwright and director, teaches at NMSU, and resides in Las Cruces.
* [[Clyde Tombaugh]], the astronomer who discovered [[Pluto]], lived in Las Cruces until his death in 1997.
* [[Xochitl Torres Small]], congressional representative from New Mexico and [[United States Deputy Secretary of Agriculture]]
* [[Austin Trout]], a former WBA light-middleweight champion of the world, was born in and fights from Las Cruces.
* [[Prentiss Walker]], member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from [[Mississippi]], lived part of his childhood in Las Cruces.
* [[Cora Witherspoon]], stage and screen character actress, was a Las Cruces resident along with her sister, Maud Witherspoon.
* [[Fredd Young]], four-time Pro Bowl football player for the [[Seattle Seahawks]] and the [[Indianapolis Colts]], played for NMSU, and lives in Las Cruces.