Hollywood has gotten less golden as actress Eva Marie Saint has passed away at 102. Her career spanned seven decades, garnering her an Oscar, a BAFTA, an Emmy, and TWO stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her filmography ranges from NBC television and Columbia Pictures to DC and Nickelodeon, working with visionaries from Elia Kazan and Alfred Hitchcock to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.
Saint got her start in television in 1946 as an NBC page with small roles on NBC shows. In 1949, she was featured in an article for LIFE magazine about breaking into television.
“The name of Eva Marie Saint may someday be a household word like Bankhead, Bergman or Berle.”
LIFE magazine, 9/19/1949
In 1953, she was cast in the stage play The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote, opposite silent era icon Lillian Gish.
After garnering acclaim for this role, Saint made her film debut in Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront starring Marlon Brando.
The film launched Eva Marie Saint into movie stardom and gained her an Academy Award. She was nine-months pregnant when she won the award and gave birth to her son two days later.
She went on to be in big pictures including Alfred Hitchcock‘s North By Northwest with Cary Grant and Otto Preminger’s Exodus with Paul Newman.
In 1980, she was in a horror film called The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb. Below is an interview with Bobbie Wygant about the movie.
Saint played Cybil Shepherd’s mother in the hit 80s show Moonlighting and played Tom Hanks’ mother in the Garry Marshall film Nothing in Commonwith Jackie Gleason.
As her career continued into the 21st century, contemporary audiences may recognize her from films such as Because of Winn-Dixie and Superman Returns as Martha Kent. She was also the voice of Katara in The Legend of Korra, the sequel series to the beloved hit Nickelodeon show Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Eva Marie Saint was married to TV director Jeffrey Hayden from 1951 until his death in 2016. Eva passed away on October 6th, 2026, at age 102. With her gone, the only remaining major movie star from the Golden Age of Hollywood is Sophia Loren.
The tensions surrounding integration in the 1960s were palpable. When James Meredith became the first black man admitted to the University of Mississippi, with the help of NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers, the public reaction was passionate and divisive.
Audio at (00:56)
School officials made efforts to obstruct Meredith’s admission to the university. Even the Mississippi governor, staunch segregationist Ross Barnett, attempted to put him in jail on trumped up charges of “moral turpitude” (for accidentally writing “1960” instead of “1961” while registering to vote). Meanwhile, Barnett was stoking racially charged frenzy among the Ole Miss students and Texas governor candidate Edwin Walker decided to join in on the anti-integration rhetoric.
Audio at (00:24)
Who was Edwin Walker?
Edwin Walker was a major general for the US Army during WWII and the Korean War. After being assigned to Arkansas to protect the “Little Rock Nine” in 1957 and quell the tensions surrounding integration, Walker believed it went against his conscience and resigned in 1961 to pursue his conservative political aspirations.
Despite losing his bid for governor against John Connally, the admission of James Meredith seemed like a good opportunity for Walker to voice his segregationist views and boost his political clout.
Ole Miss Riots
In September 1962, President John F. Kennedy and his brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy negotiated with a reluctant Governor Barnett to allow James Meredith to attend the University of Mississippi (under threat of being jailed for contempt) and ordered U.S. marshals to Oxford to escort Meredith safely.
The clash of angry segregationists (including members of the Ku Klux Klan) and integrationist counter-protestors led to violent riots that led to the death of two people and multiple injuries.
Amidst the chaos, Edwin Walker was arrested on grounds of inciting a rebellion or insurrection. Robert F. Kennedy ordered to have Walker committed to a mental institution where he was held for five days.
1963: AssassiNation
On April 10, 1963, Walker was in his home office when suddenly a bullet shot through his window, fragments striking his arm. Police investigators claimed it was a close call by someone who had demonstrated intent to kill.
Two months later on June 12th, Medgar Evers was murdered at his own home in Mississippi by KKK member Byron De La Beckwith.
Then in November, the nation changed forever.
While investigating the president’s assassination, the Warren Commission confirmed that Lee Harvey Oswald was the shooter that attempted to kill Edwin Walker in April, based on testimony by Oswald’s wife Marina.
Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly went out a bought a rifle after hearing Edwin Walker give an anticommunist speech during his “Operation Midnight Ride” tour with Christian evangelist Billy James Hargis.
Audio at (00:31)
Associated Press v. Walker
In 1964, Walker filed a two-million-dollar libel lawsuit against the Associated Press for reporting that he led the riots at Ole Miss.
The court eventually granted Edwin Walker $800,000 in damages.
Interview with Walker after the ruling. Audio begins at (02:05)
Aftermath
James Meredith endured harassment and racist threats but managed to graduate from the University of Mississippi in 1963 with a degree in political science. In June 1966, he began a one-man “March Against Fear” from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi to stand against racism in the South. On his second day of marching, he was shot by a white man in Hernando, Mississippi. Meredith survived his injuries and continued marching, inspiring thousands of Black Americans to register to vote and fight for social change.
This photograph of James Meredith after being shot by Aubrey James Norvell won the 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.
James Meredith is still alive today.
Edwin Walker’s political career went nowhere and he died in 1993.
Both men are mentioned in the protest song “The Ballad of Oxford” by Phil Ochs.
Today, North Texas football legend “Mean” Joe Greene turns 80!
Greene was a defensive tackle for North Texas from 1966-1968 under coach Odus Mitchell.
The strong defensive front helped lead the Eagles to back-to-back conference titles.
Greene made history as the first North Texas All-American.
Joe Greene was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1969 NFL draft. He was named the Defensive Rookie of the Year and selected for the Pro Bowl.
Even after being drafted to the Steelers, Greene returned to North Texas to promote his alma mater.
With the help of Greene and powerful defensive line known as the “Steel Curtain,” the Steelers went from a lackluster team to a powerhouse of the 1970s. Greene would carry the Steelers to four Super Bowl championships, two of which were against the Dallas Cowboys.
Despite his “Mean” persona on the field, Joe Greene’s reputation as a nice was permanently established with the 1979 Coca-Cola commercial in which he tosses a coke to a young boy. It is still considered one of the greatest Super Bowl commercials of all time.
After the Texas Longhorns’ unbelievable comeback against #1 Ohio State, I wanted to showcase a father-son legacy that demonstrated their athleticism at the University of Texas and went on to the big leagues. This is the Ernie Koy story.
Ernie Koy Sr.
Ernie Koy was born in Sealy, TX in 1909. He attended the University of Texas in 1930, where he played a fullback on the football team and was captain and outfielder for the baseball team.
November 16, 1930
November 1, 1930
April 9, 1931
May 2, 1931
May 15, 1931
After playing baseball and football for the Longhorns, Koy was signed to play for the Kansas City Blues (now the Royals) but his contract was transferred to the New York Yankees and eventually settled with the Brooklyn Dodgers, playing under coach Babe Ruth. He debuted in April 1938, knocking the ball out of the park for a home run on his first time up to bat.
Known for his speed, Koy participated in an exhibition 100-yard dash, beating Jesse Owens — the man who famously won the Olympics in front of Adolf Hitler, and is widely considered one of the greatest athletes in American history.
After playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and Philadelphia Phillies, Koy ended his contract to fight for the Navy in World War II in 1946. After being discharged, he became the head football coach at Bellville High School but swiftly resigned to focus on his business ventures. He died in 2007 at age 97.
Ernie Koy Jr.
Born in Bellville, TX in 1942, Koy Jr. was a football star at Bellville High, where he was selected as an All-American and Most Valuable Player in 1960.
He joined the University of Texas football team in 1961 under coach Darrell Royal (who the stadium is now named after) where he was a top scorer and voted Outstanding Freshman.
Despite a leg injury in 1962, he went from wingback to punter, helping to bring the Longhorns a Southwest Conference Title before losing at the Cotton Bowl to LSU.
While he was injured and ill throughout his sophomore year, he returned for the 1963 season as a fullback and helped bring the UT Longhorns to an undefeated season, giving them the program’s first ever national championship.
He returned for the 1964 season as a running back.
Defeat against Texas Tech (23-0)
Defeat against Oklahoma (28-7)
The ’64 season was near-perfect except for a heartbreaking loss by one point against Arkansas.
Defeat against Rice (6-3)
Defeat against SMU (7-0)
Defeat against Texas A&M (26-7)
At the 1965 Orange Bowl, Ernie Koy Jr. faced off against the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide led by legendary coach Bear Byrant and quarterback Joe Namath, who would go on to be considered one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. The Crimson Tide’s undefeated season came to an end in a dramatic upset.
Ernie Koy Jr. was selected by the New York Giants in the 1965 NFL draft, and he was thrilled to play in New York like his father did with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was selected for the Pro Bowl in 1967. After retiring, he worked as an assistant coach at Sam Houston State University.
His younger brother Ted Koy would also go on to play for the UT Longhorns and be part of the 1969 National Championship team. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1970 and played for the Buffalo Bills from 1971-1974.
Fashion designer and icon Bob Mackie has passed away. Known for his inventive and sparkly eye-catching designs, Mackie was affectionately known as the “Sultan of Sequins” and the “Guru of Glitter,” designing outfits for Carol Burnett, Elton John, Dolly Parton, Cher, and many other larger-than-life personalities.
1970s cocktail dress on display at the “On Bodies: Highlights from the UNT Texas Fashion Collection and the Goss-Michael Foundation” exhibition.
“The Swamp Dress” from Spring 1986.
One of Mackie’s earliest assignments was drawing the original sketch of Marilyn Monroe’s 1962 dress when she infamously sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy, skyrocketing her reputation as a sex symbol. The outfit is now one of the most valuable dresses in fashion history and has only ever been worn by one other person: Kim Kardashian.
In 1966, Bob Mackie was hired to design all of the costumes of Mitzi Gaynor’s Vegas show at the Riviera, and would continue to design for her for 50 years.
He also designed the outfits for Pia Zadora’s Vegas show:
Mackie would become a high-demand designer for stars including Bette Midler, Tina Turner, Anne Margaret, and Raquel Welch, and was the designer for The Carol Burnett Show and The Cher Show.
While Mackie was known for over-the-top couture for glamourous celebrities, he also wanted everyday women to afford his designs. Here is a KXAS interview he did with Bobbie Wygant about a benefit fashion show at Neimen Marcus in Fort Worth:
Into the 21st century, Mackie would design for the likes of Miley Cyrus and Sabrina Carpenter, and made guest appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race and Hacks. He passed away September 14, 2026, at age 87, leaving behind a sequin-covered legacy of unforgettable fashion.
The World Cup is here! Athletes and fans have been gathering from all the globe into North America to compete and spectate the world’s favorite sport. The DFW has been hosting matches including teams from the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, England, Croatia, Argentina, Austria, and Jordan at AT&T Stadium.
UNT Special Collections just finished hosting an exhibit showcasing the career of Bob Kap, a Yugoslavian-Canadian coach that mentored Texas’ first professional soccer team, the Dallas Tornado Soccer Club. Among the materials within the Bob Kap Collection were personal film reels of the 1962 World Cup in Chile. One clip in particular seemed to get an unexpected amount of attention: the June 3rd Group 4 match between Hungary and Bulgaria.
Apparently, this match has been a topic of debate in Bulgarian sports history.
The 1962 World Cup marked the Bulgarian national football team’s first appearance at the FIFA World Cup, playing in Rancagua, Chile against Argentina, Hungary, and England. Of the three matches, they only scored a single goal. Due to limited technology at the time, the games were not televised live and there is very little footage available. As a result, there have been contradicting records regarding which Bulgarian player scored the single goal in the heavy 6-1 defeat against Hungary. It doesn’t help that the two players in question were both 19-year-old forwards named Georgi.
Georgi Sokolov (#14) The son of a prominent Bulgarian goalkeeper Apostol “Potso” Sokolov, Georgi Sokolov debuted at age 15 with the club Spartak Pleven and went on to help secure a Bulgarian victory in the UEFA European Under-18 Championship in 1959. He is widely regarded as one of the most talented Bulgarian footballers of all time.
Georgi Asparuhov(#15) Georgi “Gundi” Asparuhov was a striker that debuted with Levski Sofia at age 17. He briefly joined the club Botev Plovdiv in 1962 where he won the Bulgarian Cup before returning to Levski Sofia in 1963. Unfortunately, he was killed in a 1971 car crash in the Balkan Mountains alongside teammate Nikola “Koteto” Kotkov. He was 28 years old. The Levski Sofia stadium was renamed after him and he was named the Best Bulgarian Footballer of the 20th Century.
While the referee that recorded the match’s stats wrote down #14 in his notes, insinuating that Sokolov scored the Bulgarian goal, teammate #12 Dobromir Zhechev claimed that it was in fact Asparuhov that made the goal. Even Sokolov himself would admit that he assisted Asparuhov with a header and Asparuhov was the one that actually completed the goal. Despite this testimony, most sports history records credit Georgi Sokolov with scoring the first ever Bulgarin World Cup goal.
Bob Kap’s partial footage was shot behind the Bulgarian goalkeeper (ANOTHER Georgi [Naidenov]), so it is assumed the two forwards in question are on the opposite side of the pitch. Asparuhov can be briefly spotted at the 00:53 mark, but no clear sign of Sokolov. While the footage does not provide a clear solution to the 64-year-old mystery, it has allowed Bulgarian sports fan the opportunity to get a rare glimpse of a game they would have otherwise never seen.
Check out the rest of the Bob Kap Collection in the Portal to Texas History and be sure to grab a Bob Kap T-shirt from Special Collections to wear for your World Cup viewings!
Today marks 56 years since the notorious Kent State shootings that left four unarmed college students dead at the hands of the Ohio National Guard while protesting operations in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. It was a boiling point for intranational tensions in a turbulent time of civil rights struggles, antiwar sentiment, and a skyrocketing distrust towards authority.
WBAP-TV news script for May 4, 1970.
As footage of frightened, wounded, and killed students spread across America, the imagery carried with it the same bleak message as the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr., Sharon Tate, or Meredith Hunter: the sixties were over. Peace and love had failed. In the words of Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider, “we blew it.”
While the shootings at Kent University were a watershed moment in American counterculture that inspired many protests in reaction to the campus tragedy, it had originally been one of several demonstrations in reaction to President Richard Nixon’s announcement on April 30th, 1970, that he would be invading Cambodia, rather than keeping his promise to end the conflict in Southeast Asia. Following Nixon’s announcement, protests spread across the country from Seattle to Cincinnati to Princeton.
One of these displays of activism took place at the University of Maryland. In March 1970, UMD student activists took over a building in response to two beloved professors being denied tenure. 87 students were arrested, inciting the formation of a student-faculty solidarity group.
The activists rallied beginning on May 1st to protest the invasion of Cambodia. After the May 4th Kent shootings, protesters aimed their outrage at the authorities for violating the civil rights of American students. It wasn’t long before Governor Marvin Mandel sent the National Guard and Maryland State Police to intervene.
At the UNT Libraries Special Collections, our Bell Helicopter Records collection contains a large compilation of Maryland State authorities utilizing Bell helicopters for medical evacuations, fires, car accidents, train derailments, and other emergencies.
Tucked away in the 16mm footage is about a minute-long clip of the state police clashing with the student protesters on the University of Maryland campus.
Protests continued across the country to demonstrate solidarity with the students that lost their lives at Kent State University at the hands of American law enforcement. Marches and strikes took place at campuses including Ohio University, Wesleyan, University of Virginia, Yale, University of Texas at Austin, and here at North Texas.
North Texas students marching in solidarity with signs donning the names of the four students that were killed at Kent State University: Jeff Miller (20), Sandy Scheuer (20), Allison Krause (19), and Bill Schroeder (19).
On May 9th, 1970, tens of thousands of protesters marched on Washington to let President Nixon know that they the American youth would not tolerate authoritarian violence overseas or on their campuses.
WBAP News script for May 9, 1970.
Over 50 years later, it is hard not to find disturbing parallels to our current political climate rife with tensions both foreign and domestic. Promises of peace have devolved into declarations of war. Speech and education feel under attack. The American Dream seems more like a Silicon Valley Deepfake. But fear not. The actions in Maryland, Kent State, and many other college campuses should be a reminder that everyone has a voice and the right to wield it for the cause they deem worthy. The sixties are long over, but peace and love are evergreen. As long as truth, solidarity, courage, and justice prevail, we didn’t blow it yet.
KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAKONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA
[Disclaimer: Contains graphic news footage and written details some may find disturbing]
May 22, 1953. In his palatial residence in the exclusive Park Hill neighborhood of Fort Worth, 61-year-old oilman William P. Clark is found with a rifle by his side and a bullet in the head. He had been dead for three days.
While initially ruled a suicide, the Justice of the Peace would recant his verdict upon reviewing the autopsy and details regarding missing jewelry and cash. This was murder.
As investigators try to get leads, Clark’s attorney Leo Brewster tries to prevent the estranged wife, now widow, from gaining access to the $750,000 estate. William P. Clark had been married to the young Mary Clark for less than two years when he told her he wanted a divorce. They had been separated about six months when he was killed. As arguments over Clark’s will drag on for two years, the murder case goes cold.
Enter Harry Huggins.
Huggins, a career criminal, had been brought to the police on burglary charges in 1955. He had decided to start singing about a job he took part in two years earlier that he had thought was going to be a burglary until his associates escalated it into a hit job.
The hit? William P. Clark.
Even more chilling, Huggins named his associates: Leroy “Tincy” Eggleston and Cecil Green. Two of the deadliest gangsters in Dallas-Fort Worth.
After near two years of investigating, Huggins, Eggleston, Green, and William P. Clark’s widow Mary Clark are all arrested in April 1955 and charged on suspicion that Mrs. Clark hired the men to stage a robbery/murder to ensure her access to her husband’s fortune.
The case got murkier. On May 2, 1955, less than a month out on $20,000 bond, Cecil Green was shot seven times outside of a Jacksboro Highway tavern.
He died in the hospital, refusing to identify the person who gunned him down.
On August 25, Tincy Eggleston is reported missing after his Cadillac is found abandoned and covered in blood.
Days later, his body was found dumped at the bottom of a well, riddled with bullets.
With Green and Eggleston dead, the trial continued for Harry Huggins and Mary Clark in November 1955. The courthouse was packed with spectators hoping to gawk at the alleged femme fatale that hired ruthless gangsters to bump off her wealthy husband.
Love letters to an alleged former paramour were even read aloud in the courtroom to further push the narrative that she was a calculating gold-digger that loved another, married Clark for his money, and hired Green and Eggleston to have him killed.
A witness testified that she had seen Mary Clark with Tincy Eggleston multiple times in her department store months leading up to the murder of William P. Clark.
The defense countered that the man Mrs. Clark had written letters to, New York playboy Julius Laneri, did not return her affection and was never intimate with her.
The attorney also proved that Mrs. Clark was at her brother’s funeral the day she was alleged to have paid off Tincy Eggleston and was with family friends the day her husband was murdered.
Witnesses also claimed that Mary Clark was actually seen with a friend that resembled Tincy Eggleston, causing reasonable doubt that she had ever actually been witnessed associating with the late gangster. Her attorney demanded an acquittal.
On November 27, 1955, after the longest trial in Tarrant County history at the time, Mary Clark is found innocent of all charges involved in the murder of her husband William P. Clark.
With Tincy Eggleston and Cecil Green dead, only Harry Huggins faced justice. Due to his guilty plea and his cooperative testimony that helped get Mrs. Clark acquitted, Huggins was sentenced to five years for his participation in the Clark job, and an additional three for the burglary he had originally been brought in for the day he confessed.
Mary Clark was given half of her husband’s estate and spent the rest of her life in the very house he had tried to evict her from.
There was likely no connection to the murders of Cecil Green and Tincy Eggleston and the William P. Clark case. They were in the midst of multiple gangland slayings at the time–many of which they are accused of being responsible for–and their underworld ways finally caught up to them.
November 6, 1954. It’s college football season, and New Haven is roaring. The Yale Bowl is packed with 73,600 fans — over twice the attendance of any home game of the season — as the Bulldogs face off against the Army Cadets.
Towering over the throngs of spectators and sportsmen is the press box filled with journalists. Men in helmets are closely observed by men in fedoras hovering over their typewriters, scribing play-by-plays of the excitement.
This informal fraternity of writers, mostly former war correspondents, have carved out what they consider to be a sacred space for sharp-minded wordsmiths to capture the atmosphere and bask in the microcosmic celebration of masculine vigor.
Meanwhile, fellow sportswriter Faye Loyd is banished to the bleachers. No girls allowed.
Two weeks prior, Faye had made history, becoming the first woman ever to be granted press box access as a sports journalist, in order to cover the SMU/Kansas game at the Cotton Bowl.
A week later, she was the first woman permitted to the press box at Baltimore Memorial Stadium to cover the Notre Dame/Navy rivalry game.
(Original Caption) The feminine touch goes to the press box as United Press woman sports writer Faye Loyd joins her male colleagues in reporting the football game between Navy and Notre Dame. Left to right are: Frank Yuetter, Philadelphia Bulletin; Larry Robinson, (standing) New York World Telegram and Sun; John Carmichael; Chicago Daily News; Miss Loyd; and Dick Hackenberg, Chicago Sun Times.
Now at Yale, she is reduced to the sidelines, having to communicate with the press box by a dangling telephone and sending up her copy through a runner.
A snippet of the Yale News article following the Yale/Army game from the Yale Daily News Historical Archives.At least Faye got to write about Yale’s crushing defeat, even from outside the press box
While Yale insisted the choice was based on a well-honored male tradition, the decision to ban Miss Loyd from the press box gained national attention, with many angered individuals speaking out. Especially women.
“The only ‘legitimate objection’ to women in press boxes is that male reporters might have trouble keeping their minds on the game…I felt I was tearing down some sacred male tradition.”
Faye Loyd speaking on her Yale press box ban at Wabash College
It didn’t help that a photograph of Loyd reapplying her lipstick in the press box during the Navy/Notre Dame game was taken. The implication was obvious. How can a lady expected to be a serious journalist if she’s focusing on her makeup while sportsball is going on??
So, who was Faye Loyd?
Born in 1928, Loyd grew up in Gilmer, TX. She majored in journalism at the University of Texas and was a member of Gamma Phi Beta and Theta Sigma Phi. She was the associate sports editor for the Daily Texan and became the second-ever female editor-in-chief in 1946.
After graduating UT, she worked at the Houston Post for two years before returning for a year of law school. She was the legislative correspondent in Beaumont before beginning her career at United Press in 1951.
After a couple of years of being relegated to the “women’s pages” and local puff pieces, Loyd worked her way back up to her sportswriting wheelhouse in 1954.
Early article by Loyd credited as a United Press Sports Writer weeks before she gained national attention.
Amidst the hoopla surrounding Yale’s controversial decision, other universities and organizations were quick to show their support or try to make the situation right. Loyd was asked to cover more sporting events and to speak at several press events to discuss strides needed to accept women in sports journalism, including an event hosted by Yale alumni.
Loyd even received a humorous yet warm reception from the Bonehead Club begging her to cover the Cotton Bowl instead of flying off to California to cover the Rose Bowl!
“I have been humbled and honored by those who have come to the defense, voluntarily, of a Texas country girl.”
Faye Loyd, speaking at the Texas Press Association meeting
In November 1955, barely over a year after she became a household name, Faye Loyd announced her retirement from journalism. She married Time journalist Harrison ‘Red’ Lilly, had two children, and passed away in 1987.
Her first (and possibly only) byline as a married woman. No more covering sports.
What makes the Faye Loyd story worth remembering is not just the wave of support a quiet trailblazer received in the face of casual sexism posturing as tradition. It was the inspiration she gave to other inspiring female journalists.
Faye Loyd’s career may have been brief, but impactful. While writing newspaper articles about college football games doesn’t sound like the grandest hill to die on, the fact that it was even a battle speaks volumes about the strides needed for equality.
“Who knows? Move over, Faye Loyd, you may have company in a few years.”
Shirley Burgess, sportswriter
Cut forward and we have gone from one woman sportswriter to 1 in 5 sports journalists being female. It’s these little victories we can be proud to celebrate. Even if it is from the sidelines.
Pat Kirkwood. Gambler. Stock car racer. Businessman. Beatnik Beelzebub. The great and powerful Ozymandian charlatan of chivalry and charm.
Lord of the underworld weirdos from hipsters to gangsters with connections to anyone from Gene Autry to Amon G. Carter, George Carlin to Jack Ruby.
A man of controversy and public service, admired and reviled by the public alike, this eccentric character and his after-hours coffeehouse the Cellar made their mark in the alternative circles of Fort Worth…and have their place in one of the darkest days in American history.
Dark Prince of Jacksboro Highway
Fay Kirkwood promoting a performance for the 1955 Texas Prison Rodeo.
Kirkwood had the “amusement” business in his blood. His mother Fay was a rodeo star that performed in Gene Autry shows and produced the first all-women’s rodeo during World War II. His father W.C. “Pappy” Kirkwood was a passionate gambling man who ran the Four Deuces Club at 2222 Jacksboro Highway (though if anyone asked, he was an ‘oil operator’).
Pappy Kirkwood and his club were among the gambling kingpins of the notorious Jacksboro Highway alongside Fred Browning, Bert Wakefield, Tiffin Hall, and Benny Binion. Son Pat grew up in the seedy world of illegal Texas gambling and speakeasy hospitality.
Watching his father wet the whistles and grease the palms of the likes of Amon G. Carter, Frank Buck, and Texas Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, Pat learned a great deal about making friends, keeping friends, and handling enemies.
Pappy wanted a classy joint for high-rollers and knew how to enforce an atmosphere of respect despite the “anything goes” outlook on vice. Something Pat would take away when he would start the Cellar.
“Specializing in Coffee and Confusion”
September 24, 1959: The Cellar opens at 509 1/2 Main Street in downtown Fort Worth. Cover is a dollar. Girls get in free (because they bring the boys). There are no chairs. Only beanbags and low tables. There is no elevated stage, so the live music feels more intimate.
Unlike the honky-tonks in the area, the Cellar promotes jazz, folk, dirty blues, performance art, and freeform poetry. It attracts cool cats and hosts early performances of Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughn, ZZ Top, and George Carlin.
Above the stage in bold white painted letters reads “YOU MUST BE WEIRD OR YOU WOULDN’T BE HERE”.
They do not sell alcohol (officially), so they are allowed to stay open until 6 in the morning. There are scantily clad waitresses serving coffees and cokes (spiked with grain alcohol and green food coloring if you were in the know). Sometimes they dance. Occasionally they strip. But no funny business. Pat Kirkwood invested plenty in his battalion of bouncers that were no strangers to putting drunken cowboys, would-be burglars, rowdy bikers, and grabby teen boys in their place.
“For three years running, the TCU varsity football team came down to the Cellar with the intent of whippin’ the beatniks. And three years running, the TCU varsity football team all wound up in the hospital.”
Arvel Stricklin, former house musician for the Cellar
Much like his father, Pat Kirkwood commanded a room of respect through good manners (and intimidation) and would not hesitate to confront those that disturbed the peace, man. The Cellar grew a reputation as a haven for misfits and a hotspot for mischief. Complaints of brawls, vagrancy, indecent exposure, and unsolicited beat poetry brought the cops to the coffeehouse on a regular basis to the point that Kirkwood had to request an injunction to keep police from harassing his customers.
Ah, yes. Truly fiendish acts from the seedy underbelly.
The hipster joint was not without its legitimate incidents, including a shootout in 1961, a stabbing in 1962, and a police raid apprehending a man wanted for the rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl in 1963.
House musician Johnny Carroll survived this stabbing and went on to manage the Cellar in Dallas.
However, it was later that year when Pat Kirkwood and the Cellar would receive national attention and public scrutiny in the aftermath of one of America’s greatest tragedies.
Two Jacks and the King of Clubs
As shock and grief loomed over the country, Dallas-Fort Worth was put under a microscope in a demand for answers. Just hours before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, seven of his off-duty secret service agents were in a club basement partying with members of the press at this hip joint they had heard of back in D.C.
They were at the Cellar.
The Warren Commission Report was quick to emphasize that the Cellar was a coffeehouse that did not serve alcoholic beverages, and the agents in question were only drinking grapefruit juice. It does not mention that the grapefruit juice was lousy with Everclear. Kirkwood was discreet with this information so no one would get in trouble, especially him. Things got crazier for Kirkwood when a particular thorn in his side decided to kill Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV.
Jack Ruby was a former mule for Al Capone and a wannabe-kingpin that ran the Carousel Club in Dallas. He was known by other club owners to be a nuisance, showing up looking for girls to poach for his strip acts. One of these girls was Karen “Little Lynn” Bennett from the Cellar, who would provide testimony about both employers to the Warren Commission. She had spoken with police investigators back in May about Pat Kirkwood and his particularly swingin’ parties.
While there was no substantial connection between Pat Kirkwood and the killings of President Kennedy or Lee Harvey Oswald, it was just enough to elevate his and the Cellar’s notoriety to a legendary status.
The original location closed its doors August 1972. He unsuccessfully ran for Tarrant County Sheriff in 1984 and became a real estate broker in 1985. He passed away in 2001.
Depending on who you asked, Pat Kirkwood could be the most eccentric man you’d ever met or the embodiment of pure evil. He was sociable but mysterious. Friendly but intimidating. Hospitable but demanding.
An anti-establishment folk legend and a duplicitous anti-hero. A man you hated to love and loved to hate.
Whatever one’s opinion may be of the man, he was a colorful character whose wild lifestyle and infamous coffeehouse brought interesting new ‘sights and sounds’ and contributed to the weirder aspects of DFW culture and history. After all, if you weren’t weird, you wouldn’t be here.
