Red Steagall tells his remarkable life story
By Glenn Dromgoole
Cowboy musician and poet Red Steagall tells his life story in Texas Red, and what an inspirational story it is.
He grew up in the Texas Panhandle and was on his way to a football scholarship and veterinary school at Texas A&M when he came down with polio in 1954 and lost the use of his left arm.
“I found that you can take almost any situation that is negative, lose the negativity, find something positive, and go on with life,” he writes. “It’s been a great lesson.”
He went on to get a college degree from West Texas State and became a songwriter and music executive in Hollywood, a country-and-western bandleader, a revered cowboy poet, a radio and TV show host, and a dear friend to countless celebrities and acquaintances.
One of those friends, Reba McEntire, penned the foreword to Red’s autobiography.
“I would call Red a national treasure,” she writes. “I would call him a humanitarian and a loyal American, But best of all, I get to call him my friend.”
So do I. I enjoyed reading his story, and I think you will, too. (Texas Tech University Press, $26.95 hardcover).
Karen Witemeyer’s Latest: The Abilene novelist’s new book is Cloaked in Beauty, the third tale in her “Texas Ever After” historical romance series from Bethany House ($17.99 trade paperback).
The back cover synopsis draws you in: “Letty Hood has spent the last fifteen years of her life hidden away with her grandmother in the backwoods of East Texas to escape the deadly schemes of an uncle who wants her dead. Now, with her twenty-first birthday on the horizon, she is forced to accept the escort of a stranger and return to Houston in secret so she can claim a birthright that will make her one of the wealthiest women in Texas. If she lives long enough to inherit.”
Exploring the West: Veteran Texas author Mike Cox takes readers on a historical tour of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in Finding the Wild West ($19.95 trade paperback).
And the first two entries in the Texas section are Abilene and Albany. He tells about Fort Phantom Hill and Fort Griffin and also relates the story of Abilene City Marshal John Clinton firing his pistol at midnight on New Year’s Eve to let the bars know it was time to close.
Cox relates vignettes like that from all three states as well as providing information about places to visit.
Baseball Trivia: Tales from the Dugout by Tim Hagerty ($16.95 paperback) has 362 pages filled with “1,001 humorous, inspirational and wild anecdotes from minor league baseball.”
Here’s one from San Antonio: “The visiting Fort Worth Panthers were given a forfeit victory on May 21, 1925, when San Antonio Bears fans emptied the stands, rushed onto the field, and mobbed the umpire in the fifth inning.”
Another Fort Worth-San Antonio entry: “Texas League umpire William Wilson was suspended 90 games in 1939 for pulling a knife on players who were harassing him.”
“Bar 352, the Double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles’ open-air tavern, sits 352 feet from home plate.”
Stuff like that.
