Arizona Historymakers selections include Bob Boze Bell
(Photo provided by Historical League, Inc.)
Bob Boze Bell recognized with six other Arizonans and a couple as a Prestigious Arizona Historymaker on Feb 19.
Bob Boze Bell was honored as one of the Historical League’s Inc., chosen Arizona Historymakers of 2025 at the Arizona Heritage Center’s announcing celebration in Tempe.
More than 100 guests were introduced to the new Historymakers’ accomplishments, and contributions in the world of agriculture, medicine and community outreach.
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Arizona Historymakers selections include Bob Boze Bell
(Photo provided by Historical League, Inc.)
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BIO
Writer, humorist, artist and Old West historian, Bob Boze Bell was obsessed with the Old West as a youngster growing up in Kingman in the 1950s. TV was full of westerns; his grandmother told him stories of how he was related to Billy the Kid and other outlaws, and how that TV hero Wyatt Earp was a real jerk. “True West” was his favorite magazine.
But his passion for the Old West took a major detour. He was a drummer in a rock and roll band. He attended the University of Arizona majoring in art. He co-founded an underground humor magazine. From 1986 to 1994, he did a legendary and often controversial morning drive radio show on KSLX, filled with wacky humor.
He returned to his Old West roots in 1992 with the first of 15 books, “The Illustrated Life and Times of Billy the Kid.” In 1999, he purchased his beloved “True West” magazine, then a failing publication, and brought it back to life. It strives to separate the truth from the myths of the Old West.
Failures, he says, are the key to success: “A winner is a loser who tried one more time,” he told the “Payson Roundup” last year.
Bob Boze Bell recognized with six other Arizonans and a couple as a Prestigious Arizona Historymaker on Feb 19.
Bob Boze Bell was honored as one of the Historical League’s Inc., chosen Arizona Historymakers of 2025 at the Arizona Heritage Center’s announcing celebration in Tempe.
More than 100 guests were introduced to the new Historymakers’ accomplishments, and contributions in the world of agriculture, medicine and community outreach.
In presenting Bell, Diane Smith, Historical League’s Committee Co-Chairman, highlighted Bell as a youngster growing up in Kingman with a passion for the Old West.
He became a drummer in a rock and roll band, started an art career and had a controversial morning radio show on KSLX. In 1992 he returned to his Old West roots by publishing 15 books on the West. He purchased “True West Magazine,” which he stated strives to separate the truth from the myths of the Old West.
Along with Bell the 2025 Historymakers included, Diana “Dede” Yazzie Devine, Sharon and Oliver Harper M.D., Sister Adele O’Sullivan, CSJ, M.D., Ronald Rayner, Eric Reiman M.D., and David Wooten M.D.
Also recognized during the evening were past Arizona Historymakers Elizabeth White, Honorable Jim Bruner, Stevie Eller, Merrill Mahaffey; and Harry and Rose Papp.
The night celebrated Arizona’s statehood, and a tribute to White on her 102nd birthday.
The Arizona Historymakers’ program created in 1992 by the Historical League Inc., awards Arizona individuals, who have distinguished themselves with noted achievements and have maintained their ties to Arizona. To date more than 90 Historymakers have been honored over the years at celebration events, and inclusion in the Historymakers Hall exhibit at the Arizona Heritage Center.
Their videos, oral histories and transcripts are uploaded to the League’s website, YouTube, and preserved in the Library and Archives of Arizona Historical Society’s Heritage Center at Papago Park.
The Historymaker Committee is presenting Turquoise & Treasures, a celebration evening Oct. 25 to honor and share how the 2025 Arizona Historymakers have contributed to Arizona and the nation.
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