Rex Allen: A Cross-Eyed Hero from Willcox

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Most fans of the old Western B movies watched Rex Allen fight the outlaws and rescue the heroines without ever realizing that he was once a cross-eyed country singer who performed at barn dances.

Fortunately for everyone involved (Allen and fans alike), he had corrective surgery shortly after his singing career took off in Chicago. But his eye problem is prominently mentioned on a bronze plaque placed next to his statue in Railroad Avenue Park in Willcox. The larger-than-life bronze sits across the street from the Rex Allen Arizona Cowboy Museum and the Willcox Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Tribute to a Fallen Earp

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Western movies never mention him, but there was another Earp sibling involved in Arizona’s history. His name was Warren and, unlike his three more famous brothers, he didn’t survive his gunfight.