Patterico's Pontifications

10/20/2012

Farewell to Big Tex

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:58 am



He’s burned up:

If you’ve ever been to the Dallas area during the State Fair of Texas, you no doubt have encountered Big Tex.

He’s impossible to miss. He wears size 70 boots and a 75-gallon hat. His height comes in at a stunning 52 feet. He’s an icon, his western shirt dusted off every year since 1952.

Today, there is stunning news out of Texas: Big Tex is gone. He’s dead. He’s been destroyed by a massive blaze.

Fair spokeswoman Sue Gooding said the fire began inside Big Tex and that there is electrical wiring inside him.

So long, big fella.

36 Responses to “Farewell to Big Tex”

  1. No worries, we Texans brush the dust off, clean up the mess, and move forward… no hand wringing or waiting for the government to help us out!

    2nd Amendment Mother (c2be77)

  2. Two of my sisters have been exchanging E-nails about this. They came into town last night for today’s Longhorn game and we discussed the fire. They told me that Big Tex had recently been refurbished. Apparently not the wiring.

    Felipe (3243af)

  3. A spokesman for Big Tex said: “The new big Tex will be bigger, better, and more animated.

    Felipe (3243af)

  4. The wiring job was not optimal.

    Unix-Jedi (350678)

  5. Actually, we needed a bigger Big Tex anyway.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  6. He’s wearing Dickies, so he must have joined a Mexican gang in the past few years. Then again, he does appear to have buttoned all the buttons on his shirt, not just the top one.

    JVW (f5695c)

  7. Take that, Burning Man!

    bud (8d8936)

  8. Comment by Felipe — 10/20/2012 @ 11:14 am

    Wonder if that refurbishment was let to an OK company?

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (2bb434)

  9. I blame global warming. Or something.

    Elephant Stone (65d289)

  10. I didn’t know this: Big Tex started as Santa Claus. I could have lived without knowing that but it’s kind of interesting.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  11. DRJ–I am surprised that Sammy did not bring this obscure Santa to Big Tex transformation to our attention.

    elissa (0cad09)

  12. Heh. I guess I’m being Sammy today.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  13. DRJ: Bite your tongue!

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (2bb434)

  14. I thought this post should be filed under the Texas Humor post this morning…. clearly as a Californian, I don’t understand Texan’s fixation on all things being “BIG”. That’s not a slight, it’s just interesting what a sub-culture being Texan and all things Texan, is.

    I can’t think of a Californian equivalent to Big Tex…

    Dana (292dcf)

  15. Only the heads of our politicians, Dana.

    Cranius Giganticus

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (2bb434)

  16. I can’t think of a Californian equivalent to Big Tex…

    Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood (though in the non-mechanical category)?

    JVW (f5695c)

  17. Yes, there was an entire chain of those shops in the 50’s-60’s.
    Another still exists in Compton at the corner of Alondra and Atlantic…
    Dales’s Donuts @ 33.8888,-118.192635 – Google Maps
    And a smaller version in Bellflower…
    (33.879341,-118.125193)

    AD-Restore the Republic/Obama Sucks! (2bb434)

  18. They intend to rebuild Big Tex.

    He started out as Santa Claus.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  19. Is that a real comment, Sammy, or have you been mocking us this whole time?

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  20. A Princess Diana-style memorial has sprung up for Big Texas.

    Get a grip, people.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  21. I dispute the single short-circuit theory. There was a second wire on the grassy knoll.

    nk (875f57)

  22. Big Tex asked for additional wiring, but Joe Biden claims they never got the request. Apparently, Obama says there was “faulty intelligence about the faulty wiring,” and the additional wiring got sent to Big Bird instead of Big Tex.

    Elephant Stone (65d289)

  23. Watch the Cowboys-Giants game coming up. The Cowboys have already designed and will be wearing a Big Tex memorial patch.

    We Texans love our kitsch!

    Brian (c5b2a1)

  24. SF: They intend to rebuild Big Tex. He started out as Santa Claus

    20. Comment by DRJ — 10/21/2012 @ 1:56 pm

    Is that a real comment, Sammy, or have you been mocking us this whole time?

    No, it’s true (according to the New York Times) (and others)

    Fire Fells a Really Big Cowboy in Dallas

    The Dallas mayor, Michael S. Rawlings, who rushed to the fairgrounds as word spread, vowed on Twitter, “We will rebuild Big Tex bigger and better for the 21st century.” The state fair president, Errol McKoy, said that Big Tex would be in place for the 2013 season…..

    ..Big Tex began his career not as Big Tex, but as another familiar icon: Santa Claus.

    In the late 1940s, merchants in Kerens, Tex., built what they considered the world’s tallest Santa Claus to promote holiday shopping. In 1951, the state fair president, R. L. Thornton, bought the components of the Kerens Santa for $750, according to “The Great State Fair of Texas: An Illustrated History,” by Nancy Wiley. Mr. Thornton then hired an artist, Jack Bridges, to transform them into a super-size cowboy for the 1952 fair.

    This seems taken from: http://www.bigtex.com/sft/AboutUs/BigTex.asp

    The promotion was a big success during the 1949 holidays, but the novelty wore off the following year, and community support waned. In 1951, State Fair president R. L. Thornton purchased Santa’s components for $750 and hired Dallas artist Jack Bridges to create a giant cowboy out of the material.

    Big Tex made his debut at the 1952 State Fair of Texas….

    On Google books:

    You Know You’re in Texas When…: 101 Quintessential Places, … – Page 13
    books.google.com/books?isbn=0762738111
    Donna Ingham – 2006 – Preview

    There’s at least one sure ‘nough big old boy at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. … His name is Big Tex, and he’s been the official symbol of the state fair since 1952. … Chamber of commerce members in the little town of Kerens, Texas, 75 miles south of Dallas, built what they claimed was the world’s largest Santa Claus out …

    Backyard Brawl: Inside the Blood Feud Between Texas and Texas A&M – Page 106
    books.google.com/books?isbn=1400051118
    W.K. Stratton – 2003 – Preview – More editions

    Its a sad thing, Bill’s last trip to the State Fair of Texas and the college game of games. Terribeth has been telling … (Prior to becoming Big Tex, he spent a year in Kerens, Texas, billed as the World’s Tallest Santa Claus.) Today he’s wearing a …

    Actually, that was maybe 2 years.

    Calling Texas Home: A Lively Look at What It Means to Be a Texan
    books.google.com/books?isbn=1885171382
    Wells Teague – 2000 – Preview

    Big Tex, the gatekeeper at the Texas State Fair in Dallas, is fifty-two feet tall. He came to the fair in 1952 as a three-year-old. He started life as Santa Claus for a pageant down the road at Kerens, sixty miles south. Tex is as big as Paul Bunyan.

    I should stop here, maybe, as the following doesn’t really add anything (except phrasing) BTW, I’ve ha to correct an obvious error in scanning or two, and these occasional words broken up by hyphens, like fairgo- ers

    Explorer’s Guide Dallas & Fort Worth: A Great Destination – Page 24
    books.google.com/books?isbn=1581571267
    Laura Heymann, Monica Prochnow – 2011 – Preview

    PROGRESS THAT IS AS SLICK AS OIL In 1930, oil was struck near Henderson, Texas, about 100 miles east of Dallas. … Although Dallas was not fully spared the pains of the Great Depression, the oil discovery lessened its damage. … Big Tex, the famous cowboy statue with a movable, waving arm that welcomes fairgoers, made his debut at the 1952 State Fair. … Tex, however, did not start his life as a cowboy, but as a Santa Claus, and he was purchased from his original home in …

    Sammy Finkelman (a64d54)

  25. Does this even come close to solving the riddle that is SF, DRJ?

    elissa (3ce65a)

  26. Sammy, DRJ had already said that, with a link not a cut and paste, in comment #11. Sheesh!

    nk (875f57)

  27. Sammy is . . . special.

    Icy (e24ec9)

  28. I still like him, Icy. He has never attacked any other commenter here, not even in self-defense. I do blame him for missing DRJ’s comment and link. If you read only one comment on a thread it should be DRJ’s.

    nk (875f57)

  29. As some of us already explained, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency did NOT have the authority to strip Lance Armstrong of his Tour de France titles. However . . .
    GENEVA (AP) – Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by cycling’s governing body Monday following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams. UCI President Pat McQuaid announced that the federation accepted the USADA’s report on Armstrong and would not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

    Icy (e24ec9)

  30. I don’t think Sammy reads my comments, because I’ve asked him things but he rarely responds. That’s probably because I’ve said I often skip his lengthier comments. But I’ve never had the feeling he was insincere until this thread.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  31. I hope they re-build Big Tex into Bigger Tex. I wonder if, by definition, that would qualify the old Big Tex into a post-mortem Mini-Me of the new Bigger Tex. Or something.

    One day, the former President Obama will happen along Bigger Tex, and he’ll say, “You didn’t build that !”

    Elephant Stone (65d289)

  32. I don’t think he reads anybody’s comments. But I will still give him the benefit of the doubt. My ten-year old still does not say “Good morning” to her teacher even when her teacher says “Good morning” to her. 😉

    nk (875f57)

  33. nk,

    I agree he should get the benefit of the doubt. we all should.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  34. A Texan travels to Chicago, to visit his in-laws, who put him up at their home. They show him Lake Michigan. He says, “The gulf is bigger”. They show him Soldier Field. He says, “Our stadiums are bigger”. To make a long story short, to him, everything is bigger in Texas than it is in Chicago.

    While he’s sleeping, his nephew’s pet turtle crawls into his bed. At breakfast he says, “I have to admit you have the biggest bed bugs”.

    nk (875f57)

  35. Its such as you read my thoughts! You seem to understand a lot about this, like you wrote the e book in it or something. I believe that you just can do with a few p.c. to pressure the message house a bit, however other than that, this is great blog. An excellent read. I’ll definitely be back.

    How to get 2 referals for penny matrix in 24 hours (2b6074)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0874 secs.