Port Arthur

Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is... well known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations. Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor and the Combines are a combination of both, but he also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1993. Rauschenberg lived and worked in New York City as well as on Captiva Island, Florida until his death from heart failure on May 12, 2008. Rauschenberg was born as Milton Ernest Rauschenberg in Port Arthur, Texas, the son of Dora Carolina and Ernest R. Rauschenberg. His father was of German and Cherokee ancestry and his mother of Anglo-Saxon descent. His parents were Fundamentalist Christians. Rauschenberg studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the Académie Julian in Paris, France, where he met the painter Susan Weil. In 1948 Rauschenberg and Weil decided to attend Black Mountain College in North Carolina.
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James William "Jimmy" Johnson is an American former NCAA and National Football League head coach. As of 2010, he is currently an analyst for Fox NFL... Sunday, the Fox network's NFL pregame show. He was the first football coach whose teams won both an NCAA Division 1A National Championship and a Super Bowl. In 1993, Johnson wrote Turning The Thing Around: My Life in Football . Johnson as of 2010 lives in Islamorada in the Florida Keys. Born in Port Arthur, Texas, Johnson graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, where one of his classmates was singer Janis Joplin. He went to college at the University of Arkansas and was a member of the 1964 National Championship football team, where he was an all-SWC defensive lineman for Hall of Fame coach Frank Broyles, and a teammate of future Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Other teammates were Ken Hatfield, Jim Lindsey, Ronnie Caveness and Loyd Phillips. Several future head coaches were assistant coaches for Frank Broyles and the Razorbacks during Johnson's career in Fayetteville: Hayden Fry, Johnny Majors and Barry Switzer.
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Evelyn Louise Keyes was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. Evelyn Keyes... was born on November 20, 1916, in Port Arthur, Texas, to Omar Dow Keyes and Maude Ollive Keyes, the daughter of a Methodist minister. After Omar Keyes died when she was three years old, she moved with her mother to Atlanta, Georgia, where they lived with her grandparents. As a teenager, Keyes took dancing lessons and performed for local clubs such as the Daughters of the Confederacy. A chorus girl by age 18, Keyes was put under contract by Cecil B. DeMille. After a handful of B movies at Paramount Pictures, she landed her most notable role, that of Scarlett O'Hara's sister Suellen in Gone with the Wind . Columbia Pictures signed her to a contract. In 1941, she played an ingenue role in Here Comes Mr. Jordan. She spent most of the early 1940s playing leads in many of Columbia's B dramas and mysteries. She appeared as the female lead opposite Larry Parks in Columbia's blockbuster hit The Jolson Story . She appeared in 1949 role as Kathy Flannigan in Mrs. Mike.
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George William "G.W." Bailey is an American stage, television and film actor. Although he appeared in many dramatic roles, he may be best remembered... for his "crusty" comedic characters such as Staff Sergeant Luther Rizzo in M*A*S*H ; Lieutenant—and later, Captain—Thaddeus Harris in Police Academy , and Captain Felix Maxwell in Mannequin . He currently stars on the TNT series The Closer as Lt. Provenza. Bailey was born in Port Arthur, Texas. He went to Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur with Janis Joplin and Jimmy Johnson. He started college at Lamar University in nearby Beaumont and transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He left college and spent the mid-1960s working at local theater companies before moving to California in the mid-1970s, where he landed roles on television programs of the day such as Starsky and Hutch and Charlie's Angels. His film debut was in A Force of One , an early Chuck Norris film. He then got his breakout role as Rizzo in M*A*S*H. He returned to college in 1993, attending Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.
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Kevin Everett, is a former American football tight end who played for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Bills... in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Miami after transferring from Kilgore College. On September 9, 2007, Everett sustained a fracture and dislocation of his cervical spine that his doctors characterized as "life-threatening" the day after the injury, and stated it is likely to leave him with permanent neurological impairment. However, on September 11, 2007, Everett showed significant movement in his arms and legs, which led doctors to speculate that he might eventually be able to walk again. Indeed, Everett walked in public for the first time at Ralph Wilson Stadium before the home finale against the New York Giants on December 23, 2007. Everett attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas, where he was a three-year letterman in football. As a senior, he won Class 5A All-State honors in 2000. He had six quarterback sacks, 49 solo tackles and eight tackles for losses.
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Johnny Preston was an American pop music singer, who was best known for his international number one hit in 1960, "Running Bear". Born as John... Preston Courville in Port Arthur, Texas, of Cajun ancestry, Preston sang in high school choral contests throughout the state of Texas. He formed a rock and roll band called "The Shades", who were seen performing at a local club by J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The song "Running Bear", was originally written about Paul F. and Jen, but then he realized they weren't Native Americans. Richardson offered Preston the chance to record a teenage tragedy song he had written, "Running Bear", which they did in Houston, Texas, in 1958. The "Indian" sounds on the record were performed by Richardson and George Jones. The record was released after the Big Bopper's death in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. It entered the U.S. Hot 100 in October 1959, reaching number one in January 1960 and remaining there for three weeks. It was a transatlantic chart-topper, reaching #1 in the United Kingdom in March 1960.
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Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is... well known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations. Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor and the Combines are a combination of both, but he also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1993. Rauschenberg lived and worked in New York City as well as on Captiva Island, Florida until his death from heart failure on May 12, 2008. Rauschenberg was born as Milton Ernest Rauschenberg in Port Arthur, Texas, the son of Dora Carolina and Ernest R. Rauschenberg. His father was of German and Cherokee ancestry and his mother of Anglo-Saxon descent. His parents were Fundamentalist Christians. Rauschenberg studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the Académie Julian in Paris, France, where he met the painter Susan Weil. In 1948 Rauschenberg and Weil decided to attend Black Mountain College in North Carolina.
more

James William "Jimmy" Johnson is an American former NCAA and National Football League head coach. As of 2010, he is currently an analyst for Fox NFL... Sunday, the Fox network's NFL pregame show. He was the first football coach whose teams won both an NCAA Division 1A National Championship and a Super Bowl. In 1993, Johnson wrote Turning The Thing Around: My Life in Football . Johnson as of 2010 lives in Islamorada in the Florida Keys. Born in Port Arthur, Texas, Johnson graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, where one of his classmates was singer Janis Joplin. He went to college at the University of Arkansas and was a member of the 1964 National Championship football team, where he was an all-SWC defensive lineman for Hall of Fame coach Frank Broyles, and a teammate of future Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Other teammates were Ken Hatfield, Jim Lindsey, Ronnie Caveness and Loyd Phillips. Several future head coaches were assistant coaches for Frank Broyles and the Razorbacks during Johnson's career in Fayetteville: Hayden Fry, Johnny Majors and Barry Switzer.
more

Evelyn Louise Keyes was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. Evelyn Keyes... was born on November 20, 1916, in Port Arthur, Texas, to Omar Dow Keyes and Maude Ollive Keyes, the daughter of a Methodist minister. After Omar Keyes died when she was three years old, she moved with her mother to Atlanta, Georgia, where they lived with her grandparents. As a teenager, Keyes took dancing lessons and performed for local clubs such as the Daughters of the Confederacy. A chorus girl by age 18, Keyes was put under contract by Cecil B. DeMille. After a handful of B movies at Paramount Pictures, she landed her most notable role, that of Scarlett O'Hara's sister Suellen in Gone with the Wind . Columbia Pictures signed her to a contract. In 1941, she played an ingenue role in Here Comes Mr. Jordan. She spent most of the early 1940s playing leads in many of Columbia's B dramas and mysteries. She appeared as the female lead opposite Larry Parks in Columbia's blockbuster hit The Jolson Story . She appeared in 1949 role as Kathy Flannigan in Mrs. Mike.
more

George William "G.W." Bailey is an American stage, television and film actor. Although he appeared in many dramatic roles, he may be best remembered... for his "crusty" comedic characters such as Staff Sergeant Luther Rizzo in M*A*S*H ; Lieutenant—and later, Captain—Thaddeus Harris in Police Academy , and Captain Felix Maxwell in Mannequin . He currently stars on the TNT series The Closer as Lt. Provenza. Bailey was born in Port Arthur, Texas. He went to Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur with Janis Joplin and Jimmy Johnson. He started college at Lamar University in nearby Beaumont and transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He left college and spent the mid-1960s working at local theater companies before moving to California in the mid-1970s, where he landed roles on television programs of the day such as Starsky and Hutch and Charlie's Angels. His film debut was in A Force of One , an early Chuck Norris film. He then got his breakout role as Rizzo in M*A*S*H. He returned to college in 1993, attending Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.
more

Kevin Everett, is a former American football tight end who played for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Bills... in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Miami after transferring from Kilgore College. On September 9, 2007, Everett sustained a fracture and dislocation of his cervical spine that his doctors characterized as "life-threatening" the day after the injury, and stated it is likely to leave him with permanent neurological impairment. However, on September 11, 2007, Everett showed significant movement in his arms and legs, which led doctors to speculate that he might eventually be able to walk again. Indeed, Everett walked in public for the first time at Ralph Wilson Stadium before the home finale against the New York Giants on December 23, 2007. Everett attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas, where he was a three-year letterman in football. As a senior, he won Class 5A All-State honors in 2000. He had six quarterback sacks, 49 solo tackles and eight tackles for losses.
more

Johnny Preston was an American pop music singer, who was best known for his international number one hit in 1960, "Running Bear". Born as John... Preston Courville in Port Arthur, Texas, of Cajun ancestry, Preston sang in high school choral contests throughout the state of Texas. He formed a rock and roll band called "The Shades", who were seen performing at a local club by J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The song "Running Bear", was originally written about Paul F. and Jen, but then he realized they weren't Native Americans. Richardson offered Preston the chance to record a teenage tragedy song he had written, "Running Bear", which they did in Houston, Texas, in 1958. The "Indian" sounds on the record were performed by Richardson and George Jones. The record was released after the Big Bopper's death in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. It entered the U.S. Hot 100 in October 1959, reaching number one in January 1960 and remaining there for three weeks. It was a transatlantic chart-topper, reaching #1 in the United Kingdom in March 1960.
more