Celebrity Connections – Central Cascades

Brenden Adams (b. 1995) is an Ellensburg native. The Guinness Book of World Records lists him as the tallest teen-age boy in the world. His father, Willie Adams, and mother, Debbie Ezell, first observed his extreme height condition when he was two months old. Doctors said his condition was caused by a disorder with the 12th chromosome. In 2008 there was a successful attempt to halt his growth when he reached 7-feet, 4.5-inches. At birth he measured 19.5 inches and weighed in at seven pounds, three ounces. See a video called “Being Brenden”. (KXLY video – click on photo or text link to view it.)

Chuck Allen (b. 1939) is a Cle Elum native, former American collegiate and professional football player. He graduated from Cle Elum-Roslyn High School and after 2 Rose Bowl wins with the University of Washington Huskies, went on to become a linebacker for the San Diego Chargers, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles. He played in four AFL Championship games (1961, 1963, 1964 and 1965). He served as Vice President of Football Operations for the Seattle Seahawks for about 15 years. Today the football stadium at Cle Elum-Roslyn High School bears his name. Other professional football players with roots in Kittitas County and in the surrounding region include Brian Habib, George Strugar, Drew Bledsoe and John Kitna.

John Clymer (1907-1989) was a painter and illustrator known for work that portrayed Mother Nature and the Wild West. He was born in Ellensburg and studied art via a correspondence course and in Canada illustrating for various magazines. After marrying in 1937 he moved to Westport, Connecticut, from where he illustrated for Argosy, The Saturday Evening Post, Woman’s Day and Field and Stream. His portfolio includes work for White Horse Scotch Whisky, the Pennsylvania Railroad and Chrysler Corporation. A museum on 416 North Pearl Street in Ellensburg bears his name (the Clymer Museum).(Image courtesy of the Clymer Museum.)

Patrick Deneen (b. 1987) is an American freestyle skier, specializing in moguls. In 2008 he was Freestyle Rookie of the Year. He was the gold medalist at the 2009 International Ski Federation (FIS) Freestyle World Ski Championships. He competed for the U.S. Ski Team in the winter Olympics held in Vancouver in 2010 and in Russia in 2014, the year he finished the World Cup circuit ranked third globally and won the U.S. Freestyle National Championships held at Deer Valley Resort. Deneen was born and raised in Cle Elum where he lives. Today he is focused on his third bid for Olympic Gold in South Korea slated for 2018. (Photo courtesy of Pat Deneen.)

Washoe (1965-2007) was an internationally known female chimpanzee born in West Africa. She was the first non-human to communicate via American Sign Language (ASL), part of a research experiment on animal language acquisition. Washoe learned about 350 words. She even taught her adopted son Loulis a few words. Her last years were spent at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute at Central Washington University in Ellensburg.(Photo courtesy Central Washington University.)

Wade Morisette and Nolan Weis (also see Nolan) beat 1,500 candidates vying for 300 spots as zombie extras on the ScyFy channel’s 2014 series called Z Nation, on tap for a second season in 2015. The dozen-plus shows for the first season were filmed in Spokane. (photo courtesy of Nolan Weis)

Douglas Munro (1919-1942) was born in South Cle Elum and remains the only member of the United States Coast Guard to have received the Medal of Honor. He received the decoration posthumously for his actions as officer-in-charge of a group of landing craft on September 27, 1942, during the September Matanikau action in the Guadalcanal campaign of World War II. His famous last words, “Did they get off?” out of concern for the extracted Marines. He was buried in Cle Elum’s cemetery, Laurel Hill Memorial Park, where every year, on September 27, a graveside ceremony is held in his memory. Learn more at the U.S. Coast Guard’s Douglas A. Munro bio.

Born (1939-1986) in Cle Elum, Francis Richard “Dick” Scobee was an American astronaut. He graduated from Auburn High School and then attended the University of Arizona where he picked up his aerospace engineering degree. He was one of the astronauts who tragically died in 1986 commanding Space Shuttle Challenger after it suffered a booster failure during launch. (Photo courtesy of NASA.)

Brian Thompson (b. 1959) started life in Ellensburg and later became an actor. At Central Washington University he got his start in the performing arts and later learned from such famous people as playwright Edward Albee, Robert Cohen and Jerzy Grotoswski. After graduating from college he secured roles in James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984) and Sylvester Stallone’s Cobra (1986). His 93 roles (so far) included appearances as IA Detective NIcholas Cruz in the new Hawaii Five-0 TV series (2014) Admiral Valdore in Star Trek Enterprise (2005) and as Hercules in Jason and the Argonauts (2000). At this writing, he is currently involved in several projects in production. See Brian’s full iMDb bio … (Photo: By Lord.Nosferatu [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)