The Stanford Chaparral was established in 1899 by Bristow Adams and Larrey Bowman.

The magazine's most recent brush with the national media was its feature in The New Yorker[1] by Evan Ratliff.

[6] In addition to Adams, the magazine has a number of prominent alumni, including cartoonist Chris Onstad, creator of the webcomic Achewood, The Simpsons executive producer Josh Weinstein, National Medal of Science recipient Bradley Efron, Louis Padulo, President of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, novelist Trey Ellis, author and attorney Daniel Olivas, Bruce Handy, editor of Vanity Fair and Spy Magazine, Goodwin Knight, governor of California, comedian Doodles Weaver, legendary Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, Disney writer/director/producer James Algar, actor Frank Cady (Sam Drucker on Green Acres) and nerdcore rapper MC Lars (Andrew Nielsen).

The magazine's editor-in-chief is termed the "Old Boy," a tradition reaching back to the earliest Chappie numbers.

The Old Boys in recent years are as follows: The Chaparral is nationally distributed, in their minds.