Susan Howlet Butcher (December 26, 1954 – August 5, 2006) was an American dog musher, noteworthy as the second woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1986, the second four-time winner in 1990, and the first to win four out of five sequential years. She is commemorated in Alaska by the Susan Butcher Day.
Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American former racing driver who competed in numerous disciplines of motorsport. He is best known for his open wheel racing career, and for becoming the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. He holds the most American National Championship titles in history, winning seven.
Foyt competed in United States Automobile Club (USAC) Championship cars, sprint cars and midget cars. He raced stock cars in NASCAR and USAC. He won several major sports car racing events. He holds the USAC career wins record with 159 victories, and the Indy car racing career wins record with 67.Foyt is the only driver to have won the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Daytona 500, and the 24 Hours of Daytona. In the NASCAR stock car circuit, Foyt won seven times, including the 1964 Firecracker 400 and the 1972 Daytona 500. He survived three major crashes that caused serious injuries and narrowly escaped a fourth. Foyt's success has led to induction into numerous motorsports halls of fame.
In the mid-1960s, Foyt became a team owner, fielding cars for himself and other drivers. Since retiring from active race driving, he has owned A. J. Foyt Enterprises, which has fielded teams in CART, the IndyCar Series, and NASCAR.
Dale Smith (February 6, 1928 – January 15, 2017) was an American rodeo cowboy and administrator.
Fay Owen "Buster" Welch (May 23, 1928 – June 12, 2022) was an American cutting horse trainer and inductee into the NCHA Members Hall of Fame, American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame, NCHA Rider Hall of Fame, and Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. Buster was chosen as the recipient of the 2012 National Golden Spur Award for his "outstanding contributions to the ranching and livestock industry".
Buster won the NCHA World Championship four times, and the NCHA World Championship Futurity five times. The most notable horses he trained include Marion's Girl, Chickasha Mike, Money's Glo who he trained and in 1962 won the first NCHA World Championship Futurity, in 1963 he won it on Chickasha Glo, in 1966 on Rey Jay's Pete, in 1971 on Dry Doc, and in 1977 on Peppy San Badger. He won the NCHA World Championship on Marion's Girl in 1954 and 1956. He trained Mr San Peppy and won the NCHA World Championship in 1974 and 1976.
Helen Kleberg Groves (October 20, 1927 – May 6, 2022) was a horsewoman and cattle rancher dubbed the "First Lady of Cutting" by the San Antonio Express-News and inducted in 1988 into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. She was born in San Antonio, Texas, and raised in Kingsville, Texas, on the King Ranch, founded by her great-grandfather, Richard King. In 1946, she led the King Ranch's Thoroughbred racehorse, Assault, into the winner's circle after his Triple Crown victory in the Preakness. Groves attended all three of his Triple Crown races. Assault was, and still is, the only Texas-bred winner of the Triple Crown.Helen Kleberg was the only child of Robert Justus Kleberg Jr. and Helen Campbell Kleberg. Robert Kleberg Jr. was the son of Robert Kleberg and Alice King-Kleberg, who was the daughter of Henrietta and Richard King, founder of the King Ranch. Her father developed the Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle. The role played by Elizabeth Taylor in the movie Giant was modeled after her mother. In 1950, the Klebergs established a private foundation under the name "Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen Campbell Kleberg Foundation", which has awarded grants to scientific research, as well as to wildlife and habitat stewardship projects.Helen was raised on the King Ranch which was headquartered in Kingsville, Texas. She attended Vassar College.Helen's first husband was John Deaver Alexander MD, with whom she had six children. After her first husband's death, she remarried. Her second husband was Lloyd J. Groves.
Bhagavan Mahamayavi "Doc" Antle (born Kevin Antle; March 16, 1960), is an American animal trainer, roadside zoo operator, and felon convicted of wildlife trafficking.Antle began raising dogs in his youth, and started operating a private zoo in 1983. Antle has worked as an animal trainer for films including Ace Ventura and Dr. Doolittle in addition to appearing as a guest on several television shows. In 2020, he was featured in the first season of Netflix true crime documentary series Tiger King. Antle was the subject of a follow-up documentary Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story released in December 2021.Antle has faced accusations of animal cruelty throughout his career. In October 2020, Antle was charged with two felony counts related to wildlife trafficking and 13 additional misdemeanors after an investigation by the Attorney General of Virginia. Antle has also has faced public allegations of inappropriate relationships with minors at the private Buckingham County, Virginia zoo, and of operating a cult at the Myrtle Beach Safari location, claims that Antle denies. On June 3, 2022, Antle was arrested by the FBI on federal charges related to money laundering. In addition to evidence that Antle had laundered money and falsified paperwork to facilitate the illegal sale of exotic animals, federal authorities uncovered evidence that Antle had laundered cash he believed to have been obtained through human smuggling.In June 2023, Antle was convicted in Virginia of wildlife trafficking. In October, he was fined $10,000 and banned from owning wildlife in Virginia for five years. In November, he pleaded guilty to federal wildlife trafficking and money laundering charges, and faces up to five years in federal prison for each charge.
Jean Mill (née Sones; May 14, 1926 – June 6, 2018) was an American cat breeder. Mill is best known as the founder of the Bengal cat breed: Mill successfully crossed the wild Asian leopard cat with a domestic cat, and then backcrossed the offspring through five generations to create the domestic Bengal. Mill made contributions to two other cat breeds: the Himalayan and the standardized version of the Egyptian Mau. Mill and her first husband, Robert Sugden, were involved in a precedent-setting case about the United States government's power to monitor short wave radio communications. She also authored two books on Bengal cats.
Eleanor Ruth Keaton (July 29, 1918 – October 19, 1998) was an American dancer and variety show performer. She was an MGM contract dancer in her teens and became the third wife of silent-film comedian Buster Keaton at the age of 21. She is credited with rehabilitating her husband's life and career. The two performed at the Cirque Medrano in Paris and on European tours in the 1950s; she also performed with him on The Buster Keaton Show in the early 1950s. After his death in 1966, she helped ensure Keaton's legacy by giving many interviews to biographers, film historians, and journalists, sharing details from his personal life and career, and also attended film festivals and celebrations honoring Keaton. In her later years, she bred champion St. Bernard dogs, was a gag consultant for Hollywood filmmakers, and was an invited speaker at silent-film screenings.
Charles William Cascio (August 7, 1932 – November 2, 2022), better known as Bubba Cascio or C. W. Cascio, was an American race horse trainer, and two-time winner of the All American Futurity, having won in 1968 with Three Oh's, and again in 1970 with Rocket Wrangler. He also trained Dash For Cash, twice Champion of Champions winner sired by Rocket Wrangler. In 2002, Cascio was inducted into the Texas Racing Hall of Fame, and in 2008, into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame. He has been referred to as a "Texas racing legend". In 2016, he was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame as "one of the most successful trainers in the horse racing industry for over 40 years."Cascio died on November 2, 2022, at the age of 90.
