From Hollywood to the Olympics to folk music: Nine more famous people from New Bedford

NEW BEDFORD — An Olympic bronze medalist, a former NFL player, a music producer who was worked with Busta Rhymes and LL Cool J, and the screenwriter of "Saturday Night Fever" — the New Bedford area has no shortage of residents who achieved fame in their respective fields.

On the heels of last week's list, here are nine more New Bedford natives that have earned celebrity status.

Robert Archbald Watkins Jr. 

Watkins is known for playing halfback at Ohio State University under coach Woody Hayes and playing for three years with the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cardinals.

Born in New Bedford, Watkins attended New Bedford High School where he left behind quite the legacy. In 1949, he scored 19 touchdowns and 114 points to finish second among the leading scorers in eastern Massachusetts, according to a previous Standard-Times article.

Watkins also helped New Bedford win over the University of Southern California in the 1955 Rose Bowl.  In October 2017, the City of New Bedford honored Watkins naming the New Bedford High School fitness center the Robert Archibald “Bobby” Watkins Jr. Fitness Center.

Watkins lives with his wife Rillis Watkins, in Dartmouth. He is 89-years old.

Leo Larrivee

Born in Fall River, Larrivee grew up in New Bedford. He is know for being the first New Bedford resident to win a bronze medal at the Olympics. Larrivee was only three years out of New Bedford High School, attending the College of the Holy Cross, when he competed in the 1924 Olympics in Paris.

Buddy Thomas: Larrivee’s fairy tale led to the Olympics

"His success during the track season earned Larrivee an invitation to the trials," penned Buddy Thomas in a Standard-Times article. "After failing in the 1,500-meters, he returned to the track and earned a spot on the United States’ 3,000-meter team."

After the Olympics, he attended Loyola University in Chicago to major in medicine with the hopes of being a doctor. Sadly, in 1928, he was killed in a car accident. He was 25 years old.

Irwin M. Jacobs

Jacobs is best known for co-founding Qualcomm, a company that creates software and semiconductors that services wireless technology. (For example, Qualcomm owns patents connecting to 5G.)

Jacobs grew up in New Bedford, in the Mouth Pleasant neighborhood in the North End. He attended Cornell University majoring in electrical engineering. He received his mater's and doctorate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is chair of the board of trustees of the Salk Institute.

Making dreams come true: Irwin & Joan Jacobs help city students see their future

According to a previous Standard-Times article, Jacobs and his wife have made leading contributions toward the last two major expansions of the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Jacobs has also given money for laptops at New Bedford High School.

In 2017, an elementary school in the South End of New Bedford was named after Jacobs. In January 2021, his granddaughter Sara Jacobs was sworn in as the youngest member of the California Congressional delegation. 

Duane DaRock

DaRock is referred to as a "super producer" to most. He is also a rapper, singer/song writer and actor from New Bedford. He has collaborated with LL Cool J, Common, Jay-Z, The Pussycat Dolls, Shaquille O'Neal, Mary J. Blige, and Busta Ryhmes.

Thanking New Bedford:Prolific music producer praises the city for the motivation to his success

DaRock started rapping in Bay Village, he says he owes his stellar career to New Bedford for pushing him to pursue his dreams.

“I want to be a motivation to everybody that you can make it,” DaRock said in a previous Standard-Times interview. “Like there's nothing in the way. I want to be an inspiration to New Bedford youth."

DaRock also co-wrote the hook for the song, “Letter to B.I.G.” for the 2009 feature film, “Notorious” about the story of the late-Christopher Wallace (aka The Notorious B.I.G.), who went from nothing in Brooklyn to stardom in the world of rap music. DaRock will also be guest starring on the new series, “Partners in Rhyme” starring MC Lyte.

Marie Equi 

Equi was best known for her work as a doctor providing care for working class and poor patients in the early and mid-1900s. She also provided birth control and performed abortions, in 1898, when it was widely prohibited.

Born in New Bedford, she was the fifth daughter in a large working-class family. She attended New Bedford High School for one year, but dropped out so she could work in a textile mill to help support her family.

Marie Equi: A working class New Bedford woman's upbringing spurred social justice advocacy

She became a political activist advocating civic and economic reforms geared toward women's right to vote and an eight-hour workday. In 1913, during a workers' strike, she was clubbed in the head by a police office. In response, she aligned her efforts with anarchists and the radical labor movement.

Equi also had a close relationship with Harriet Speckart. They lived together and eventually adopted a young girl. This established Equi as the first openly gay woman, in 1905, on the West Coast.

Equi is featured in the Whaling Museum's "Lighting the Way: Historic Women of SouthCoast" exhibit.

Norman Wexler

Born in New Bedford in 1926, Wexler was a screenwriter known for classic films such as "Saturday Night Fever," "Serpico," and "Joe." He was nominated for two Academy Awards.

According to actor and comedian Bob Zmuda, "Saturday Night Fever" made Wexler a wealthy man and it led to Wexler serving as a "script doctor," helping to rework several top scripts around Hollywood. Wexler also reportedly suffered from bipolar disorder and was arrested in 1972, for threatening to assassinate President Richard Nixon.

Battling his biggest foe: Former Ohio State football star diagnosed with Alzheimer's and dementia

Wexler also wrote numerous off-Broadway plays such as "Red's My Color, What's Yours?" and "Forgive Me, Forgive Me Not." He received the Julie Harris playwriting award in 1996. He passed away on August 23, 1999.

Paul Clayton

Clayton is known for his folk songs in the 1950s and 60s. He was a prominent figure in the revival of folk music, although he is rarely credited. Born in New Bedford in 1931, on Summer Street, Clayton grew up in a family of musicians. He hosted a radio show on WFMR, at age 15, playing only folk songs. 

After graduating from New Bedford High School, he attended the University of Virginia and worked with the renown folklorist, A.K. Davis. 

Clayton's first album, "Whaling Songs & Ballads," was released as a collaboration with the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

In his recent autobiography, Bob Dylan explains Clayton as “an intellectual, a scholar and a romantic with an encyclopedic knowledge of balladry.” Dylan's popular song, “Gotta Travel On," was originally written by Clayton.

In 1962, Clayton filed a lawsuit against Dylan for also stealing Clayton's song "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right". Dylan claimed he "borrowed" it. The two settled out of court and remained friends until Clayton's death in 1967. He is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.

“He was above the general run of kids running around,” recalled Oscar Brand, a friend, in a previous Standard-Times interview. “He was very graceful and soft-spoken, he was very gentle. He was a gentleman.”

Tynisha Keli Soares 

Born and raised in New Bedford, Soares started singing when she was 8. She is best known for the single, "I Wish You Loved Me."  She moved to Los Angeles after high school, where she lived for seven years before moving to Atlanta.

Much of her success resides in Japan. Her first album "The Chronicles of TK," was released in April 2009, hitting #12 on the Japanese Albums Chart and selling over 600,000 copies. 

“A lot of people like to have ‘yes’ people around you," Soares said in a 2008 Standard-Times interview. "I want people who are going to tell me if I’m stepping out of line and put me in my place. I remind myself how far I have come and to be grateful always for the blessings that God has given me.”

Her second album "The 5th Element," debuted at No. 1 on Japan's iTunes including her single "Love Hurts" which which also landed the top spot. She is currently working on a third album.

Joseph Barboza Jr. 

Barboza, also known as "the Animal," was a mobster and worked closely with the Patriarca crime family during the 1960s. He was born in New Bedford in September 1932 and grew up in local reform school.

In a previous Standard-Times article, Barboza was described as "not much of a fighter, but showed an affinity for violence. He is said to have beaten a man to death with a banister. all accounts, he killed at least 20 men before being gunned down in 1976 at the age of 43."

In 1969, the FBI tried to end Barboza's violent reign in the East Coast. After he was released from containment in California, he was forced to live with his wife and two children in the are as a condition of his release, stating that he could never set foot in Massachusetts ever again.

On Feb. 11, 1976, Barboza was gunned down by Gennaro Angiulo, while Barboza was walking toward his car. It was rumored that Gennaro Angiulo was hired by mobster, J.R. Russo. Barboza was buried in the South Dartmouth Cemetery.

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.