Vernon E. Clark is a retired admiral who served as the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) of the United States Navy. He retired on July 22, 2005, making his tenure of five years the second-longest serving CNO behind Arleigh Burke. He currently sits on the board of directors of Raytheon and SRI International. In November 2009, he was selected along with former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo West by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to lead the military investigation into the Fort Hood massacre.
Edward Higgins "Ed" White II was an American aeronautical engineer, U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut.
Hays County is a county on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. Hays County is part of the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, its official population had reached 157,107. The county seat is San Marcos. Hays, along with Comal and Kendall counties, was listed in 2017 as one of the nation's ten fastest-growing large counties with a population of at least ten thousand. From 2015 to 2016, Hays County, third on the national list, had nearly ten thousand new residents during the year. Comal County, sixth on the list, grew by 5,675 newcomers, or 4.4 percent. Kendall County, the second-fastest-growing county in the nation, grew by 5.16 percent. As a result of this growth, the counties have experienced new home construction, traffic congestion, and greater demand for public services. Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, grew by 1.75 percent during the year, but its sheer number of new residents exceeded 33,000.
Wimberley is a city in Hays County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,626 at the 2010 census. Wimberley is known to be a conservative town in middle ground Hays county.
James Albert Michener was an American author. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were lengthy, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating solid history. Michener had numerous bestsellers and works selected for Book of the Month Club, and was known for his meticulous research behind the books.
St. Edward's University is a private, Catholic university in Austin, Texas. It was founded and operated in the Holy Cross tradition.
Richard Michael "Mike" Mullane is an engineer and aircraft pilot, a retired USAF officer. and a former NASA astronaut. During his career, he flew as a mission specialist on STS-41-D, STS-27, and STS-36.
William Frederick Fisher is an American physician and a former NASA astronaut. Fisher went into space in 1985 on board the Space Shuttle. He retired from NASA in 1992 and returned to the full-time practice of medicine. His time at NASA coincided with that of his former wife and fellow astronaut Anna Lee Fisher.
William Weaks Morris was an American writer and editor born in Jackson, Mississippi, though his family later moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, which he immortalized in his works of prose. Morris' trademark was his lyrical prose style and reflections on the American South, particularly the Mississippi Delta. In 1967 he became the youngest editor of Harper's Magazine. He wrote several works of fiction and non-fiction, including his seminal book North Toward Home, as well as My Dog Skip.
Aaron Dale Allston was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the X-Wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill. He wrote two entries in the New Jedi Order series: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: Betrayal, Exile, and Fury, and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: Outcast, Backlash, and Conviction.
Tinker Linn Hatfield, Jr., is an American designer of numerous Nike athletic shoe models, including the Air Jordan 3 through Air Jordan 15, the twentieth anniversary Air Jordan XX, the Air Jordan XXIII, the 2010 (XXV), the 2015 Air Jordan XX9 (XXIX), and other athletic sneakers including the world's first "cross training" shoes, the Nike Air Trainer. Hatfield oversees Nike's "Innovation Kitchen". He is Nike's Vice President for Design and Special Projects. For his many innovative designs and numerous creations over more than three decades, Hatfield is considered a legend of design.
Rodney J. McKinley is a retired airman of the United States Air Force who served as the 15th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force from 2006 to 2009.
Butch Hancock, is a country/folk music recording artist and songwriter. Hancock is a member of The Flatlanders along with Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, but he has principally performed solo.
Academy Sports + Outdoors is an American sporting goods discount store chain. It has corporate offices in the Katy Distribution Center in unincorporated western Harris County, Texas, United States, near Katy and west of Houston. For 74 years it was a privately held company owned by the Gochman family, until its May 2011 acquisition by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co investment firm.
Major General Clarence Leonard Tinker (Osage) was a career United States Army officer, the highest ranking Native-American officer and the first to reach that rank. During World War II, he had been assigned as Commander of the Seventh Air Force in Hawaii to reorganize the air defenses.
General John Louis Piotrowski is a retired United States Air Force four-star general who served as Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force (VCSAF), from 1985 to 1987; and Commander in Chief, North American Aerospace Defense Command/Commander in Chief, U.S. Space Command (CINCNORAD/USCINCSPACE), from 1987 to 1990.
Edward Larocque Tinker was an American writer and philanthropist who developed a deep interest in the culture of Latin America and spent much of his life exploring it. Tinker was the grandson of Joseph Larocque. He studied at Columbia University Law School. He achieved Ph.D.'s in literature from the University of Paris and the University of Madrid. He also wrote extensively on the culture and history of the city of New Orleans.
Howard Van Smith, born Howard Smith, was an American journalist. A longtime staffer for The Miami News and several other newspapers, he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1959.
The 12th Flying Training Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) as part of AETC's Nineteenth Air Force. It is headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. The wing is also the parent organization for the 479th Flying Training Group, a geographically separated unit (GSU) located at NAS Pensacola, Florida. The wing is also the parent organization for the 306th Flying Training Group, a geographically separated unit (GSU) located at The United States Air Force Academy, Colorado. The 12 FTW is the only unit in the Air Force conducting both pilot instructor training and combat systems officer training.
