Sam Houston: General Sam Houston was general of the armies of Texas in rebellion, president of the Republic of Texas, governor and senator of the State of Texas. Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna and the Mexican army, drank heavily and disagreed with almost all everybody.

James Jackson Gathings: Colonel Gathings was a planter, entrepreneur, frontiersman, indian trader and founder of Covington, Texas ( 1852). The Comanche indians called him "Gath" because they couldn't pronounce Gathings. Also, Colonel Gathings owned one of the largest hog ranches in Texas.

Belle Starr (The Bandit Queen): Billed as a Dixie Belle gone bad, Belle Starr was just a simple farm girl who had this thing for men who went around shooting people. Her livery stable in Dallas was a hideout for bad ol' boys like Jesse James and Cole Younger. Belle was regularly hauled into court for horse thievery, was married four times (twice to Indians) and was shot once in the back.

Sam Bass: Texans loved this affable young outlaw because he only robbed railroads and banks (universally hated) and treated anyone he met to a drink. On his way to case a bank in Round Rock, Bass was shot in the chest by Texas Ranger Dick Wade, who ran out of a barbershop with lather on his face to do the deed. After that, Texans began singing ballads about Sam Bass.

Hondo Crouch: The owner of a puny little Texas Hill Country hamlet and home of Hondo and the place he became famous as a prankster, goat rancher and professional Texas folk hero. When John Connolly was governor of Texas he ran across his old friend Hondo and asked him, "What are you doing these days?" Hondo's reply was, "Oh, still herding goats in the hills. What are you doing now?"

Judge Roy Bean: An illiterate ex-cattle rustler, Bean was installed as a judge by the Texas Rangers in 1882 in the West Texas town of Vinegaroon. Bean renamed the town Langtry, after the English actress Lillie Langtry, with whom he was obsessed (a less romantic version of the tale has the town named after a local railroad official), opened a saloon called the Jersey Lilly and started handing down verdicts that kept everyone west of the pecos in stitches. He once fined a corpse forty dollars for carrying a gun.

Leander H. McNelly: The toughest, meanest Texas Ranger of them all. In the middle of a raid into las Cuevas, Mexico, to retrieve stolen cattle, the U.S. Secretary of war sent McNelly a cable telling him to retreat. McNelly sent back a telegram telling him to go to hell.

Cynthia Parker: This is one story the Texas Rangers have been trying to live down. Carried off by Comanches in 1837, Cynthia forgot her english, married the warrior Nocona and lived as a squaw. In 1860 a troop of Rangers found her and bought her back to the white man's world. She died of despair a few years later.

Sheriff T. J."Mr. Jim" Flouroy: Before Mr. Jim had to close down the beloved Chicken Ranch, he courteously used his six-foot frame, Colt 45 and sheriff's badge to remove anyone who started cussin' and fussin' at Miss Edna's establishment. When it was over, he told Larry King: "Them girls are clean, they got regular inspections and didn't allow no rough stuff.