Marvin Harold Zindler (August 10, 1921 – July 29, 2007) was a news reporter for television station KTRK-TV in Houston, Texas, United States. His investigative journalism, through which he mostly represented the city's elderly and working class, made him one of the city's most influential and well-known media personalities.
Richard S. "Cactus" Pryor (January 7, 1923 – August 30, 2011) was an American broadcaster and humorist. He received his nickname after the old Cactus Theater on Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, which was run by his father, "Skinny" Pryor.
Pryor was first heard on Lady Bird Johnson's radio station 590 KLBJ, though his face became as well known as his voice once he moved to television broadcasting on Austin television station KTBC.In addition to his work in radio and television, Pryor also appeared in two films starring John Wayne, both released in 1968: Hellfighters and The Green Berets. Pryor was the author of a 1995 collection of some 40 essays entitled Playback. At KTBC, Pryor had served as programming manager and had hosted a variety of shows. He had conducted interviews with celebrities such as Arthur Godfrey and Dan Blocker and narrated behind-the-scenes programs about KTBC.As part of his involvement with the Headliners Club of Austin journalists, Pryor starred in satires of television news. He provided the voiceover for the 1960 KTBC film “Target Austin”, which presents the scenario of a nuclear missile strike on Austin.
In 1950, Pryor had a novelty hit on the country music charts with the number 7 "Cry of the Dying Duck in a Thunder-Storm", a parody of Tennessee Ernie Ford's "The Cry of the Wild Goose".He regaled audiences on Austin radio with a daily 2-minute trip down memory lane, reminiscing about places and people from his past well into the 2000s. He was a self-described liberal, but acknowledged that his children do not share his beliefs. He claimed to have been one of the first people to have heard of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, having been at the ranch of then-vice president Lyndon Baines Johnson at the time.
Pryor had for several years, been a radio spokesman for the Austin-based Tex-Mex restaurant chain Serrano's. In these ads, he is often called "Nopalito," which loosely means little cactus, after the Spanish word nopal. His broadcasting sign-off consisted of a nonsense word, "thermostrockimortimer," the meaning of which (if any) was never made public. Cactus stated that, "The phrase is in the Bible; if you don't find it, keep reading." "Thermostrockimortimer!" appears on the shared headstone of Cactus Pryor and his wife Peggy in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.
In 2007, Pryor told his radio audience that he was battling Alzheimer's disease. He died on August 30, 2011, in Austin, Texas, aged 88, weeks after breaking his leg in a fall.
His son, Don Pryor, is co-host of the "Todd and Don Show" on News Radio KLBJ. Another of Cactus's sons, Paul Pryor (1949-2015), once worked in Austin radio as well.
Joseph Dahr Jamail Jr. (October 19, 1925 – December 23, 2015) was an American attorney and billionaire. The wealthiest practicing attorney in America, he was frequently referred to as the "King of Torts".In 2015, his net worth was estimated by Forbes to be $1.7 billion. Jamail died on December 23, 2015 in Houston from complications related to pneumonia.
Val Joe Walker (January 7, 1930 –December 25, 2013) was a defensive back in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted in the seventh round of the 1952 NFL Draft by the New York Giants and would later play four seasons with the Green Bay Packers and one with the San Francisco 49ers.
James H. Fields (June 26, 1920 – June 17, 1970) was a United States Army captain and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration for valor—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in France during World War II.
John Howland Wood Jr. (March 31, 1916 – May 29, 1979) was an American lawyer and judge from Texas. He served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas before being assassinated by contract killer Charles Harrelson outside Wood's home in San Antonio, in 1979. Wood's killing was the first assassination of a federal judge in the 20th century.
John Robert Silber (August 15, 1926 – September 27, 2012) was an American academician and candidate for public office. From 1971 to 1996, he was President of Boston University (BU) and, from 1996 to 2002, Chancellor. From 2002 to 2003, he again served as President (Ad Interim); and, from 2003 until his death, he held the title of President Emeritus.In 1990, he won the Democratic gubernatorial primary to become one of two major-party candidates for governor of Massachusetts in the general election of 1990. He lost that election to the Republican William Weld, who won by 38,000 votes.After receiving his PhD from Yale, Silber became professor of philosophy and served as dean of the University of Texas's College of Arts and Sciences (1967–70). He had a liberal reputation in his days at Texas, though at Boston University he was best known as a conservative spokesman in academia.
John Gleason Cramer Jr. (born October 24, 1934) is a professor emeritus of physics at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, known for his development of the transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics. He has been an active participant with the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.
Frederick Hagaman Benners (June 22, 1930 – January 6, 2023) was an American football player. He played the 1952 NFL season for the New York Giants. Benners also played at Southern Methodist University and is considered one of the greatest Mustang players of all time.
A native of Dallas, Texas, Benners attended Highland Park High School in the Dallas suburb of University Park. In 1947 he took the Scots to the Texas state final, which his team lost 22-13 to Brackenridge High School of San Antonio. Benners then attended Sewanee, and later Southern Methodist in Dallas, where he was part in one of the greatest upsets in college football history. On October 13, 1951, SMU beat University of Notre Dame 27-20 in a rare nationally televised game, powered by Benners' historic performance, as he hit on 22 passes in 44 attempts for 326 yards and four touchdowns. “No one could have been more adroit in picking the spot for a super-duper performance,” wrote The New York Times.Already picked in the 1951 NFL Draft by the New York Giants at 97th overall, Benners played his rookie season in 1952. He then, however, left the NFL, pursuing a career as lawyer in Dallas.
Allen Ellsworth Ludden (born Allen Packard Ellsworth; October 5, 1917 – June 9, 1981) was an American television personality, actor, singer, emcee, and game show host. He hosted various incarnations of the game show Password between 1961 and 1980.