And, a ranger who casts spells will be familiar to anyone who played D&D for more than a year between 1975 and 2008. And will only seem un-familiar to a very hypothetical fan who only played D&D in 2009.
A non-spellcasting outdoorsman class specializing in the wilderness, however, would be familiar pre-4e.
In 1e, it took years for your Ranger to get spells if playing as expected. The guys that played with Gygax stated that after years of playing they never got above levels 9-11 (or thereabout) and were shocked to hear about other players bragging about being in the mid to high teens. So, unlike 5e it really wasn't expected that a player would get to the point of having spells and, if you did, it would take years. Also, for players that wanted a non-magical outdoorsy specialist that received ranger outdoor skills and additional bonuses in certain terrain, there was the barbarian class which was not a rager (Unfortunately, Barbarian players did have to deal with the whole thing about spellcasters and magic items)
Additionally, although not published in a TSR book, Gygax had a 1e Hunter Class that he published in the magazine Realms of Adventure (1988). He also suggested using the Archer or Bandit NPC classes as another optoin.
So, yes, officially, no non-spellcasting rangers, but the concept of a similar non-spellcasting wilderness specialist class did exist and would be familiar to many 1e players.
2e. Second Edition did have a non-spellcasting ranger in The Mighty Fortress book.
3e. Third also had a non-spellcasting ranger. In fact, there were actually had two. First, there was crappy one in Complete Warrior (2003). The second was in the Complete Complete (2007) and gave up spells for Fighter bonus feats.