New Members Named to Texas Heritage Hall of Honor in 2004

Five prominent Texans, distinguished by their contributions to agriculture and ranching, were inducted into the Texas Heritage Hall of Honor on opening day of the 2004 State Fair. The Heritage Hall of Honor was established in 1992 as a biennial program. Every two years, nominees – living and deceased – are considered for induction. The five honorees elected in 2004 bring total membership to 44 individuals who have made significant contributions to the agricultural heritage of Texas.

Othal E. Brand, Sr., William S. Ikard, Tom Lasater, J. Roy Quinby and W. L. Stangel were elected to membership for 2004. The Texas Heritage Hall of Honor was established in 1992 by the State Fair of Texas to recognize lifetime achievement in agriculture.

Othal Brand has been the leading figure in the Texas vegetable industry since World War II. His efforts led Texas into becoming one of the nation's largest vegetable producers, processors and shippers. As CEO of Griffin & Brand, he built a major refrigeration, packing and distribution center at the McAllen headquarters in the late 1950s. Brand served as mayor of McAllen for 20 years.

Raised in Parker County, W.S. "Sude" Ikard and his brothers got into the cattle business after the Civil War. They drove herds up the Chisholm Trail to Kansas as often as three times a year with exceptional success. Later, the Ikards acquired range land in Wichita, Archer, Clay and Jefferson counties. Sude Ikard bought 10 head of Hereford cattle at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 and introduced the breed to Texas. He was a founder of the Texas Cattle Raisers Association.

Tom Lasater is recognized as the father of the Beefmaster breed of cattle – a cross of superior Brahman, Hereford and Shorthorn bloodlines. Raised on a South Texas ranch, Lasater began managing his father's cattle in 1931. He came to realize that three-way cross breeding produced optimal results, a selection criterion that was conducive to his approach to cattle raising. USDA officially recognized the Beefmaster as a distinct breed in 1954. Lasater actively ranched in Colorado until his death in 2001.

J. Roy Quinby was known as "Mr. Sorghum." While acting as superintendent of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station at Chillicothe, this agronomist, plant breeder and geneticist developed a system to produce hybrid seed for sorghum. It forever changed the agriculture of the Great Plains. Sorghum yield in the U.S. increased three-fold due to his initial genetic successes; improvement of the crop made Texas a major feed grain producing state and, ultimately, benefited agricultural programs worldwide.

W.L. Stangel was a member of the first faculty at the newly chartered Texas Technological College in Lubbock in 1925. Twenty-year chair of the Animal Husbandry Department, he was named Dean of the School of Agriculture in 1945, a position he held until retirement in 1958. Stangel was instrumental in developing modern breeds of Texas livestock. He organized and coordinated livestock shows for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition and served as the State Fair's general livestock superintendent from 1936-1973.

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