Some of you may know that I grew up in Arizona and still have family out there. Although the Phoenix area, where I lived and went to school and occasionally return "home" to visit is, arguably, a concrete jungle, Arizona is a fascinating place.

One of the things that makes Arizona fascinating is the odd folk who live and work around its fringes and small towns. Heroes, villains, drifters, scoundrels, religious loons, washed-up hippies, you name it - Arizona has them all

Every now and then I take note of an odd character from Arizona, usually through a casual mention in Arizona Highways magazine. But I note with a little bit of sadness at the passing of one such character, and no small measure of amazement.

In January, Arizona lost J.P.S. Brown at the age of 90, in the town of Patagonia, AZ. (Photo via Tucson Weekly and Leo Banks)

He's rightly remarked upon as an author of books set in the American West, but more about that later.

Joe Brown seems to be one of those larger than life characters you couldn't make up if you wanted to. He seems to have worked his way through 5 marriages, 7 heart attacks, at least 2 murder attempts, and at least one crash landing in his plane.

In a day and age where "cowboy" is used as an epithet more than a description of an occupation, JPS Brown was, almost unbelievably, a fifth generation Arizona cowboy and rancher.

His parents were, collectively (and I lose the plot tracking it), part Irish, part Basque, part Cherokee, part Choctaw. His gene pool was a cross-section of the American experience.

When he was born in Nogales, allegedly his father drove the family's 2000 head of cattle past the newborn so that they could meet each other.

He went to boarding school in New Mexico, and then went to Notre Dame and earned a degree in journalism. Quite a thing for a ranching kid from Arizona.

His career as a rancher was interwoven with a career as a writer. Forays into other careers happened. Boxer. He boxed in high school and at Notre Dame.

Marine. He served in the Marine Corps for 4 or 5 years (sources vary). He boxed through his time in the Corps, which took him to Korea and Japan.

His boxing career continued into his thirties. He fought several professional bouts in Mexico - his ranching was always a trans-border operation, as it very often is with these old Arizona ranching families.

I heard a rumour that he was even scheduled to fight Sonny Liston, but then got ill. (30 secs of google shows that this appears to be true.)

He also had a whole sideline smuggling whisky into Mexico. Seems various clubs would pay him to bring Johnny Walker over the border. His relationship with alcohol was like that of Hemingways - quite promiscuous.

He worked as a journalist for a bit. He wrote for a few Arizona papers and for a time wrote for the El Paso Herald-Post.

He dabbled a bit once as a gold prospector.

His illness in 1964 led him to a bit of a period of convalescence, which led to him writing novels. Very arguably, as he's up against stiff competition, he captured ranching and horses and The West as good as anyone.

His first novel "Jim Kane" was published in 1970, and turned into a movie called "Pocket Money" a few years later, with Paul Newman and Lee Marvin

Arizona Highways magazine quotes Lee Marvin, himself no slouch of a man and a war hero in his own right, calling Joe Brown "the wildest son-of-a-bitch" that ever walked.

His books are listed here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/197490.J_P_S_Brown

His interaction with Hollywood led to yet another part time career as a movie set wrangler.

In any case, Arizona is now robbed of this man, but enriched by his legacy. There's more about JPS Brown if you google a bit.

I could do more, but I don't have the time. Rest in Peace, Joe. Read one of his books. I did in school. They're good.

Have a nice day, y'all.