b'E d i t o rFinding Hope in the Many Great Corpus Christians The man who discovered Spielberg, the co-founder of Boeing, three pro sports team owners, three of the worlds most famous F rank Sinatra famously sang that if you can make it in old New York, youFarrah Fawcett Selena Quintanilla Sidney Sheinbergwomenall got their starts in Corpus Christi.can make it anywhere. For us Coastal Benders who have run a busi-ness or aspired to achieve success in our hometown, we know the real truthif you can make it here, you can make it anywhere! Corpus Christiwith Steven Spielbergis a training ground for those in need of overcoming rejection, devel-oping resilience and the ability to come back from loss and setback, for those who have been boxed out by the jealousy of others and those desperately protecting inherited advantage. Basically, getting ones start in life and business in the Coastal Bend is boot camp for success in the larger worldand the proof is in the dozens of our neighbors who have made it to the big time.Sidney Sheinberg grew up on Oleander Street and finished Ray High School as a top student, later graduating from Columbia University Law School in New York and then taking a job teaching law at UCLA. Before long, he entered Hollywoods entertainment industry where, as president of Universal Pictures, he discovered di-rector Steven Spielberg in the late 1960s. Together, Sheinberg and worlds most celebrated director produced the highest-grossing films of all-time, including Jaws, E.T., Back to the Future, Schindlers List, and Jurassic Park. Sheinberg died in 2019.Three of the most famous and successful women in entertainment got their startsEva Longoriain Corpus Christi. Farrah Fawcett was also a Ray High School graduate who left UT Austin after her third year as an art major to pursue her dream of Hollywood stardom. After scoring multiple guest roles on numerous ABC Television primetime dramas, Farrah landed the role that would define her for all time, that of Jill Munro on Charlies Angels. That iconic photo of Farrah in the red one-piece bathing suit against an Indian blanket background became the best-selling poster of all-time, with over 13 million sold. Farrah lost her very public battle with cancer in 2009.The legend of Selena Quintanilla speaks for itself. Born in Lake Jackson, her fam-ily moved to Corpus Christi in search of opportunities in the Tejano music world. By age 23, Selena had earned the title Queen of Tejano, selling out stadiums fromDabney Coleman Lou Diamond PhillipsHouston to Mexico City. On one of the most tragic days in our citys history, Selena was murdered by her fan club manager on March 31, 1995. Eva Longoria grew up in the Molina neighborhood of the citys west side, working at Wendys while at- Billy Powelltending Miller High School. After graduating from Texas A&M Kingsville, Eva went to Hollywood where she landed a lead role on the hit ABC drama, Desperate House-wives, her start to a long career as an actor, director, and television host.Dabney Coleman was the most recognizable actor of dirty rat characters whose name few fans knew. Coleman and his three siblings were raised by their single mother in Corpus Christi after his father died when he was four, graduating from C.C. High School (later Roy Miller) and excelling as a nationally-ranked junior ten-nis player. After landing TV roles in Hollywood, he portrayed memorable bad guy characters in the films 9 to 5, Tootsie, and The Muppets Take Manhattan, among his 175 film appearances. Coleman died in California in 2024. Lou Diamond Phillips (his real name) was a Flour Bluff kid whose dad worked at CCAD and who excelled 22THECOASTALBENDMAGAZINE TheCoastalBend.com'