Richard S. "Cactus" Pryor (1923 - 2011) was a comedic television and broadcast personality from Austin, Texas. Pryor was born straight into the entertainment business. His father owned the Cactus Theater on Congress Avenue (hence the nickname), and he started making stage appearances before shows at three years old. Pryor attended the University of Texas at Austin and served in the US Army Air Corp. When he returned to Austin from his service in 1944, Pryor joined the broadcasting team at Lady Bird Johnson's KLBJ radio station, where he worked until 2008. He joined the world of broadcast television in 1951 at KTBC, where he was program manager and hosted a variety of television programs, including a football program with Darrell K Royal and many celebrity interviews. Pryor appeared in two films with his friend John Wayne, Hellfighters and The Green Berets.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, 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. Pryor 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 Austin's Headliners Club, 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.

Darrell K Royal was a collegiate football coach revered for leading the Texas Longhorns in 20 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 at Austin, 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 20 years without a single losing season. During his tenure, Texas won national championship titles in 1963, 1969, and 1970. They also won 11 Southwest Conference titles and went to 16 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. Darrell Royal died on November 7, 2012, from complications with Alzheimer's. His wife founded the Darrell K Royal Research Fund for Alzheimer's Disease in his honor.