Man and his pet snake remembered for entertaining countless people around Wichita

Most Wichitans probably don’t know the name James Rangel Jr., but thousands would recognize him and his pet snake, Maximus the Magnificent, as the duo who entertained them at a variety of public places over the years.

“He particularly talked about how much joy it brought little kids,” said Kenzie Borland-Massey, one of Rangel’s two daughters. “He just loved, like, making . . . anyone smile.”

Rangel, 62, and Maximus both died unexpectedly a few days apart earlier this month.

“They went out together,” Borland-Massey said.

Though Rangel had been ill, he died from complications of what he thought was a minor fall.

Maximus’ death is more unclear, but Borland-Massey said he may have been mishandled by someone other than her father.

Rangel’s other daughter, Olivia Borland, never was a fan of all the snakes her father had through the years, but she liked how he entertained people with them.

“He realized how much joy it brought people.”

Borland-Massey, co-owner of Dead Center Vintage in Old Town, said she’d often be driving around downtown and see her father walking with Maximus around his neck and a QuikTrip drink in his hand “just literally feeling the breeze on his face and enjoying Wichita.”

James Rangel Jr. was ‘one of the bravest people’

From the time his girls were little, Rangel took them on walks through Riverside, including its alleys, and they would have “just very imaginative . . . little adventures together,” Borland said.

They’d pretend the treehouses they saw along the way were castles. Sometimes, they’d pretend they were dinosaurs, and Rangel would refer to “The Land Before Time” and its Great Valley by calling their stomping grounds the Great Alley.

Rangel grew up in the Planeview neighborhood surrounded by a close-knit extended family who encouraged his creativity in art and music, which was an inspiration to him.

He was of Mexican and American Indian descent.

“He was proud of his heritage,” Borland said.

After spending a year studying graphic design at Wichita State University, Rangel dropped out and then spent most of his career in various kitchens across the city, including Scotch & Sirloin, Merle’s, Riverside Cafe and, for his last full-time job, Bite Me BBQ.

“That’s also where he also started his sobriety journey,” Borland said.

Rangel would have celebrated six years of sobriety this summer.

“His sobriety was basically . . . the beginning of a second life for him,” Borland-Massey said.

She said her father had been addicted to drugs and alcohol since he was 14.

“He quit cold turkey,” she said. He was “in severe withdrawal but just kept going.”

Borland-Massey said she and her sister “view him as one of the bravest people we know.”

Borland said her father’s “sobriety retirement passion” was going to the gym.

“That is really what became his anchor.”

‘A man with a snake roaming the bar’

Even in sobriety, Rangel’s favorite place was Central Standard Brewing.

“I mean, he was there all the time,” said Cassandra Hatfield, CSB’s front of house manager.

She said she remembers when her staff first called to tell her there was a man with a snake roaming the bar.

“We were all pretty like, ‘What’s going on?’ ” Hatfield said.

However, she said he was “super friendly” and seemed to know everyone, and people seemed to like him and Maximus.

“We just kind of let him do his thing.”

Rangel often tagged CSB in his social media posts. After his death, his daughters found lots of scrapbooks filled with hundreds if not thousands of photos of him and Maximus or other snakes out in the community meeting people.

Dale Small, a friend of Borland-Massey’s, first knew of Rangel about a decade ago before realizing he was her father.

“Being a young, creative person . . . I was like, oh, this guy’s crazy, but he seems so cool and interesting,” Small said. “I think I even took a portrait of him a long, long time ago.”

‘An animal lover through and through’

Small is a photographer and today is an owner in Allen-Lee Screen Printing, but several years ago, he experienced a period where he was houseless, as he put it.

“Maybe there was a part of me that saw a little bit of myself in him,” Small said.

He said Rangel had a genuine quality, and Small was “drawn to his energy and how he treated me and the people around me.”

Then, of course, there was Maximus.

“It’s not every day you meet someone who’s carrying around a snake with them while they’re riding their bicycle.”

Borland-Massey said Rangel’s love extended to all animals, not exclusively to snakes.

At one point, he had a one-eyed cat named One-Eyed Bob.

“He was an animal lover through and through.”

A GoFundMe to help with expenses

Though Rangel “lived in pretty severe poverty most of his life,” Borland said, he was always thoughtful.

“He always gave us handmade gifts,” she said.

On each of his daughters’ birthdays, he’d give them a new portrait of themselves.

The daughters have started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for their father’s medical bills, funeral costs and any remaining bills associated with him.

They plan a celebration of their father on May 20.

Funeral services will be at noon at the St. Paul WSU Catholic Center followed by a party at CSB.

Borland said the goal is to have a celebration “that is colorful and lively and him.”

This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 2:43 PM.