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The Austin Citivan Open with Betsy Rawls (1962)
Cactus and Peggy Davis Pryor
Sound
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1962
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B/W
  • Map
  • Highlights
    Professional Golfer Betsy Rawls
    Golfers Mickey Wright (L) and Betsy Rawls (R) 
    Longhorn Football Coach Darrell K Royal 
    Betsy Rawls (L) and Darrell K Royal (R)
    Golfer Bettye Danoff
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This footage captures scenes of Cactus Pryor with women golfers before the Austin Citivan Open, an LPGA Tournament in Austin in 1962. Scenes include Cactus emceeing a Women in Golf reception, then interviewing female golfers Betsy Rawls and Mickey Wright about women's professional golf. Following is footage of Betsy Rawls and Coach Darrell K Royal playing in the Pro-Am Tournament the day before the Austin Citivan Open, also at the Austin Country Club, then discussing their golf performances. Texas golfer Sandra Haynie won the Austin Citivan Open, her first win in what became a long and successful career.
  • Cactus Pryor
    Richard S. "Cactus" Pryor was a comedic television and broadcast personality from Austin, Texas. Cactus, an Austin native, was born in 1923, straight into the entertainment business. His father owned the Cactus Theater on Congress Avenue (hence the nickname), and starting at just 3 years old, Cactus made stage appearances before the shows began. Cactus attended the University of Texas and served in the US Army Air Corp. When he returned to Austin from his service in 1944, Cactus joined the broadcasting team at Lady Bird Johnson's KLBJ radio station, where he worked until 2008. He joined the world of broadcast television at KTBC in 1951 where he was program manager and hosted a variety of television programs, including a football program with Darrell K Royal and many celebrity interviews. Cactus appeared in two films with his friend John Wayne, Hellfighters and The Green Berets. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, he became a sought-after speaker and event host, famous for his roasts of entertainers and politicians, most of whom he counted as close friends. Cactus was also known for his disguises. He would appear at functions in character, often pulling a fast one on the crowd as he charmed them first in disguise, then again as he revealed himself and used his earlier conversations to entertain the crowd. As an active member of the Headliners Club of Austin, Pryor starred in many humorous television news satires alongside Texas politicians, some of which can be seen in his film collection, as well as the Gordon Wilkison Collection and the Wallace and Euna Pryor Collection.  He was nationally-known, but kept Austin his home, helping put the city on the map in the 60s and 70s. Cactus Pryor announced to his KLBJ listeners in 2007 that he had Alzheimer's disease, and Austin's "original funnyman" died in 2011.
  • Betsy Rawls
    Betsy Rawls is a retired American professional golfer who won eight major championships and 55 LPGA Tour events throughout her career and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Rawls was born in 1928 and grew up in Arlington, Texas. She attended the University of Texas, and while in Austin, began training with Harvey Pennick of the Austin Country Club, who would remain her coach for most of her career. She began playing and winning amateur golf events in the late 1940s, culminating in her finishing second at the U.S. Women's Open as an amateur in 1950. The following year, Rawls turned professional and joined the LPGA Tour. She won her first tournament that year, then went on to win 55 LPGA events, eight major championships, and the 1959 LPGA Vare Trophy. She led the LPGA Tour in wins three times - in 1952, 1957, and 1959. She was inducted to the Hall of Fame of Women's Golf in 1960, which would later become part of the World Golf Hall of Fame. She served as LPGA President from 1961-62 and was one of the inaugural inductees into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame in 1967. After retiring in 1975, she became a tournament director for the LPGA. 
  • Darrell K Royal
    Darrell K Royal was a collegiate football coach revered for leading the Texas Longhorns in twenty winning seasons from 1957 to 1976.
     
    Royal was born on July 6, 1924 in Hollis, Oklahoma. His middle name, K, has been said to represent his mother, Katy, who died of cancer when Royal was a baby. He experienced more tragedy with the deaths of two of his sisters at young ages. During the hard economic times of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, Royal had to supplement his father's income by taking on a paper route and picking cotton. His family was so poor that he used a can of baking powder as a football until he and his brothers were able to pool their money to buy a real one.
     
    With the outbreak of World War II, Royal joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. While playing football for the 3rd Air Force team, he was scouted by the University of Oklahoma. There he majored in business and became a star quarterback and defensive back. When he graduated, Royal knew he wanted to coach football. He held assistant coaching positions at North Carolina State, Tulsa, and Mississippi State. He briefly coached the Edmonton Eskimos in Canada before returning to Mississippi as head coach in 1954, where he remained for two years.
     
    In 1956, Royal became head coach at the University of Texas, where he became the most successful coach in the history of the program. In his first year, he quickly turned the losing team into a winning one, ending the season with an appearance at the Sugar Bowl. Royal remained for a record twenty years without a single losing season. During his tenure, Texas won national championship titles in 1963, 1969, and 1970. They also won eleven Southwest Conference titles and went to sixteen bowl games. Although he received some criticism for his coaching tactics, Royal was ultimately considered a legend. He retired in 1976, but stayed at Texas as an athletic director for four more years. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983, and the football stadium at the University of Texas was renamed in his honor in 1996. 
     
    Royal married Edith Thomason in 1944, and they had three children -- Mack, David Wade, and Marian. Two of his children, David and Marian, preceded him in death. Darrel Royal died on November 7, 2012 from complications of Alzheimer's. His wife founded the Darrell K Royal Research Fund for Alzheimer's Disease in his honor. 
     
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