InForum history columnist Curt Eriksmoen concludes the story of William Jennings Gardner, a North Dakota-born football player who crossed paths with Jim Thorpe and helped take down Al Capone.
InForum history columnist Curt Eriksmoen concludes the story of William Jennings Gardner, a North Dakota-born football player who crossed paths with Jim Thorpe and helped take down Al Capone.
If you live in a place long enough, you begin to think you know it. Or that it defines you or becomes part of your DNA. And if you were born there, its role in your identity is official. But that certainly wasn’t how I felt at the March 8, 2022 regular meeting of the Hill County Commissioners Court in Central Texas,
Keeping the Eyes: New Evidence By UTgrad 08 on Mar 4, 2021, 2:49pm CST 42
Since June, I have done my own investigation into the history of the Eyes of Texas. Recently, I have come across new pieces of evidence regarding William Prather, Robert E. Lee, and the origin of the phrase, the eyes of Texas. All of three of the following excerpts were found using the database Newspapers.com.
1. From an article by Eudora Garrett in the
Austin-American Statesman, June 6, 1926: .Mr. Prather.is also famous for the origination of the song The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You; Mr. Prather had used the phrase in one of his early lectures, and on countless occasions afterwards, which gave the idea for the song.