Alumni
1959-1970 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
The Distinguished Alumni Award is the most prestigious honor bestowed by Texas State University and the Texas State Alumni Association. The award recognizes graduates who have achieved prominence and distinction in their chosen business, profession, or life work on a national or international level. The leadership shown by these alumni inspires all members of the Texas State community.
1970 Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees
Farley Peebles ('46)*
The American most decorated by the government of South Vietnam; awarded the Anglo-American Award three times by the U.S. Ambassador to England
1969 Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees
Walter Richter ('38 & '39)*
Regional director of the Office of Economic Opportunity; state senator; social policy expert; trustee of State Colleges and Universities Board
1967 Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees
Willard Deason ('30)*
Appointed by LBJ to the Federal Interstate Commerce Commission; helped organize the Texas Association of Broadcasters; teacher
Robert Montgomery ('16)*
Chief of economic objectives of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Brain Trust” during World War II; professor and lecturer for 50 years
1966 Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees
Roy J. Beard, Jr. ('13)*
Owner of Star Engraving Company; established the Roy J. Beard Educational Art Foundation, which provided scholarships for art students
Carr P. Collins ('10)*
Founder and chairman of Fidelity Union Life Insurance; director of the United Negro College Fund; president of the Baptist Foundation of Texas
1965 Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees
Jesse C. Kellam ('23)*
Succeeded boyhood friend LBJ as National Youth Administration director; one of three founders of the Texas High School Coaches Association
1963 Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees
Mamie Brown ('19)*
First person to graduate from Southwest Texas Normal College; she received three permanent teaching certificates from the Normal
1959 Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees
Dr. Lyndon B. Johnson ('30 & '62)*
36th president of the United States; as president, Johnson returned to the Southwest Texas campus to sign the Higher Education Act of 1965
*Deceased