A look at notable New Mexicans with birthdays on New Year's Eve, New Year's Day

For some people, ringing in the new year really does mean ringing in a new year. For others, leaving the year behind means starting a new year in their life.

While it may be hard to quantify the exact number of people around the world with birthdays on Dec. 31 or Jan. 1, it isn’t difficult to find some notable New Mexicans who have birthdays on the first and last days of the year. Here’s a look:

Dec. 31 birthdays

Eric Green

meteorologist, KOAT-TVGreen, the Emmy Award-winning weatherman whose been with the Albuquerque-based ABC affiliate since January 2010, told the Journal on Tuesday that New Year’s Eve has “always been a fun day” to have a birthday, which he shares with his son, Gus, 11. Green, who noted his is traveling for the holidays this year, said his wife, Kathrine, has always made his birthday “so sweet” and special.

Diego Sanchezmixed martial artistSanchez, 43, was born in Albuquerque and graduated from Del Norte High School in 2002, according to a biography of him from the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame. His “frenetic (and) highly entertaining style” helped earn him the nickname “Nightmare,” the Journal reported. A longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship member, the organization recently cut ties with Sanchez, who is currently with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, according to a report from the Sportster. His loss to fellow mixed martial artist Austin Trout in February 2023 and a bitter fallout with former coach Joshua Fabiois, the Sportster said, landed Sanchez some negative headlines. But the mixed martial artist has something else to be proud of with the release of documentarian Charlie Minn’s film “Nightmare (UFC Legend Diego Sanchez),” now available on Amazon Prime, the Journal reported.

John Denver

singer-songwriter; activistThe performer known for hits such as “Rocky Mountain High” and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” was born in Roswell, where his father was stationed at Walker Air Force Base, according to an Associated Press report the Journal ran in October 1997, when Denver died at age 53 when the plane piloted by him crashed just off the California coast. Denver left Roswell when he was a child, the report said, and there was “apparently little if any contact between the city and the musician in later years.” However, then-Roswell Mayor Tom Jennings was quoted saying he had tried to get in touch with the singer when he was alive to honor him for his contributions to music and to the Arbor Day Foundation.

Jan. 1 birthdays

Gary Johnson former N.M. governor, 1995-2003; Libertarian Party presidential candidate, 2012 and 2016

Johnson, now 71, took the oath of office for governor on his 42nd birthday, which included then-Lt. Gov. Walter Bradley breaking with the inaugural program and leading an impromptu singing of “Happy Birthday” with all the guests, the Journal reported. Johnson, red-faced with the honor, told the crowd about an encounter he had with singer-songwriter John Denver. The singer-songwriter told him it was “a very powerful, very good omen” to have a birthday on Jan. 1 because “the full moon moved into Capricorn on that day,” Johnson said, according to the news report. “Somebody is going to have to tell me what this means,” Johnson said.

Jeffrey Taylor

NBA basketball player, Texas Tech Hall of Fame member

Taylor, originally from Hobbs, attended Hobbs High School. He was then admitted to Texas Tech University, where he scored big for the Red Raiders in the late 1970s and early 1980s, landing him in the institution’s Hall of Fame, according to a report from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. In 1982, when the Houston Rockets drafted him, Taylor played 44 games for the team in the 1982-83 season. He played 12 games for the Detroit Pistons in the 1986-87 season, the report said. Taylor also played professionally in Sweden and remained there after he retired, according to the report. Taylor died in Sweden in March 2020 after a long illness, the report said.