If you can remember any other particulars—middle name, place of birth, date of birth, where he went to high school, etc.—there are several other routes you can take. For example, try Classmates.com if you know where and when he graduated from high school, or if you can remember a sibling’s name who might be listed there even if he isn’t.
Another option is to dredge out of your memory the name of a friend of his, someone whose name is not common. I found an old high school friend that way: the friend’s name was common, but his best buddy’s wasn’t. A search on the buddy’s name took me right to his web page, and there was his photo, still eminently recognizable, along with a little sidebar about our hometown. So I knew I had the right guy. And it turned out that nearly 40 years later, he and my old friend were still in touch.
I also know of an outstanding research service that performs searches for a fee. A very reliable and resourceful researcher runs the service. He has access to nonpublic records and helped me locate an update on someone I hadn’t seen in more than 30 years…unfortunately a year too late to find him alive. It looks like he’s still in business right here: xooxleanswers.