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Texas Famous People Trivia

Texas Famous People Trivia Quizzes

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Fun Trivia
5 quizzes and 70 trivia questions.
1.
  Tag the Texans    
Collection Quiz
 20 Qns
Select the people who were born in the state of Texas while avoiding those born elsewhere.
Average, 20 Qns, Stoaty, Oct 28 24
Average
Stoaty gold member
Oct 28 24
320 plays
2.
  The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You   best quiz  
Match Quiz
 15 Qns
Texas claims as its own a number of people who gained the eyes not only of Texas, but of the entire world. Can you identify these famous (or infamous) Texans from their descriptions?
Very Easy, 15 Qns, looney_tunes, May 06 16
Very Easy
looney_tunes editor
806 plays
3.
  Famous Texans Speak   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
Howdy, I am a Famous Texan and I will introduce myself, then you tell me who I am. All of us are early Texans in this first quiz. Enjoy! It's all multiple choice!
Tough, 15 Qns, rwminix, Mar 16 08
Tough
rwminix
972 plays
4.
  Women's History Texas Style   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
In celebration of Women's History Month (March), match the quote with the famous Texas woman. Research resource was the Listing of Great Texas Women.
Easier, 10 Qns, spice2, Mar 20 11
Easier
spice2
874 plays
5.
  Famous Texans and their Hometowns   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This should be interesting even for those who have never been to Texas! It is about notable Texans who made it big and their small town roots.
Tough, 10 Qns, drushalli, Aug 17 10
Tough
drushalli
518 plays
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Texas Famous People Trivia Questions
1. "What the people want is very simple. They want an America as good as its promise." This quote is credited to what former Texas member of the US House of Representatives?

From Quiz Women's History Texas Style

Answer: Barbara Jordan

Barbara Charline Jordan (1936-1996) was elected to the US House of Representatives from the 18th District of Texas (1973-1979). She was the first African-American woman from a southern state to be elected to the House. In 1994, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was also inducted into both the Texas and the National Women's Hall of Fame.

2. Famed screenwriter and Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Larry McMurtry lovingly dedicated his 1966 novel, "The Last Picture Show", to his hometown. He also opened a bookstore there in 1988. What is his hometown?

From Quiz Famous Texans and their Hometowns

Answer: Archer City, Texas

McMurtry was born in Wichita Falls, but grew up on a ranch near Archer City. The Last Picture Show is set in a fictional West Texas town named Thalia, but McMurtry based the book on his years in Archer City. He received his B.A. from North Texas State University in Denton and an M.A. from Rice University in Houston. His first "Booked Up" book store was opened in Georgetown, DC in 1970.

3. "Women who stepped up were measured as citizens of the nation, not as women. This was the people's war, and everyone was in it." What former military officer said those words?

From Quiz Women's History Texas Style

Answer: Oveta Culp Hobby

Oveta Culp Hobby (1905-1995) was the first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps. She earned the rank of colonel and was also awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for her efforts during World War II. In 1953, she became the first female secretary of the new Health, Education and Welfare Department.

4. Where did Rock and Roll legend Roy Orbison form his first band when he was only thirteen years old?

From Quiz Famous Texans and their Hometowns

Answer: Wink, Texas

Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, but his family moved to Wink when he was a young boy. He formed a country/western band, "The Wink Westerners," eventually to be renamed "The Teen Kings." They performed at West Texas school dances, on The Saturday Jamboree show at KERB radio, Kermit, Texas, and on local TV shows in Odessa. He would later begin writing and performing Rock and Roll, become a contemporary of Johnny Cash, and record with famed Sun Records and producer Sam Phillips.

5. What was Janis Joplin's hometown?

From Quiz Famous Texans and their Hometowns

Answer: Port Arthur, Texas

While a student at Lamar University in Beaumont, Joplin often traveled to Austin to perform, but she was born and raised in Port Arthur. After becoming a rock star, she told interviewer Dick Cavett that she was going back to her 10th high school reunion in Port Arthur because she'd been laughed "out of class, out of town, and out of the state" -- and she was going back!

6. "Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels." Who was this former Texas governor with which this quote has been associated?

From Quiz Women's History Texas Style

Answer: Ann Richards

Dorothy Ann Willis Richards (1933-2006) was the second female governor of Texas from 1991-1995, and was defeated for re-election by George W. Bush in 1994. She was well known for her sense of humor. Ann Richards died on September 13, 2006 of esophageal cancer.

7. The tombstone of legendary 19th century gunfighter Clay Allison states that "He Never Killed a Man That Did Not Need Killing." Where is he buried?

From Quiz Famous Texans and their Hometowns

Answer: Pecos, Texas

Allison had a storied and dangerous career as a western gunfighter before retiring to the relative peace of a rancher's life near Pecos. He died there, at age 37, after falling from his wagon while driving a load of supplies to his ranch.

8. This Texas woman said, "pastor, not a woman pastor...I think women are called in the same sense that men are called to be pastors. I think God regards us as people." Who was this pastor?

From Quiz Women's History Texas Style

Answer: Bettye Jo Carr

Bettye Jo Crisler Carr (1926-2007)was the first woman appointed superintendent in the Northwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Before she died, she made known what text she wanted used at her memorial service. Genesis 33:9 reads in part, "I have enough, my brother." She wished to express her gratitude for all she had experienced in living, loving and serving.

9. Journalist and former CBS anchorman Dan Rather, the son of a pipeline worker, was born in Wharton, Texas and grew up in Houston. From what Texas college did he graduate?

From Quiz Famous Texans and their Hometowns

Answer: Sam Houston State University

Rather grew up in Houston and returned there upon graduation from Sam Houston State in Huntsville. During college he had worked for a radio station in Huntsville and for the AP and UPI wire services. Before joining CBS, he worked at The Houston Chronicle and Houston radio and television stations.

10. What famed Texas journalist, who was raised in Houston, held early career positions with the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Times Herald, Minneapolis Tribune and New York Times?

From Quiz Famous Texans and their Hometowns

Answer: Molly Ivins

Ivins was educated at Smith College and Columbia University, but she took her first newspaper job in the complaint department of the Houston Chronicle. Her witty, often irreverent columns appeared in the Texas Observer and were syndicated out of her home newspaper of the Ft. Worth Star Telegram. She co-authored the book "Shrub," about the younger president George W. Bush, the son (or shrub) of George H.W. Bush. She died at her home in Austin in 2007, after an eight-year battle with breast cancer.

11. "It's not just enough to swing at the ball. You've got to loosen your girdle and really let the ball have it." This quote is credited to what famous Texas athlete?

From Quiz Women's History Texas Style

Answer: Both - they are the same person

Mildred Ella (Babe) Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956)was one of the greatest American women athletes. She was an accomplished athlete in golf, basketball and track and field. She won 3 medals in the 1932 Olympic Games, 2 gold and 1 silver. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1953, and died at the age of 45 in 1956.

12. What United States President was born and raised in a poor farming community in Texas Hill Country and graduated from what was then known as the Southwest Texas Normal School at San Marcos?

From Quiz Famous Texans and their Hometowns

Answer: Lyndon Baines Johnson

LBJ taught school before entering politics. He is responsible for the Great Society legislation of the 1960s which established programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, federal subsidies to lower income school districts, and the Higher Education Act of 1965 which provided loans, work study opportunities and grants to students seeking college educations. In addition to the social, educational, and health care programs he established, he is considered to have escalated the Vietnam War.

13. Well, I am a little jealous of my fellow founding Texans because I died way too young at the Alamo. Actually, I was in command there. I was still a great Texan, no matter how briefly. Who am I?

From Quiz Famous Texans Speak

Answer: William B.Travis

I am William Travis (1809-1836), and I could have been President or VP or that other stuff too, if it had not been for that darn Santa Anna. He killed all of us at the mission or there would have been more competition for Sam and Stephen and the rest of them. I was from South Carolina and was a lawyer in San Felipe, Texas. Remember the Alamo!

14. "It's an honor to be the first woman on the Supreme Court, but it will be even better when we get the second cowgirl on the Supreme Court." Who was this famous jurist?

From Quiz Women's History Texas Style

Answer: Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor was born March 26,1930 in El Paso. She served as a Supreme Court Justice from 1981-2006, after being appointed by former President Ronald Reagan.

15. During the late 19th century, Justice of the Peace Judge Roy Bean considered himself "The Law West of the Pecos." He dispensed justice from his saloon, the "Jersey Lily." Where was it located?

From Quiz Famous Texans and their Hometowns

Answer: the Chihuahuan desert

Judge Roy Bean named his saloon along the Mexican border "The Jersey Lily" in honor of British actress and songstress Lily Langtree. She was en route to finally meet the man who had been writing her for years, when Bean died while visiting Del Rio, Texas in 1903. He has been portrayed on film by Walter Brennan, Edgar Buchanan and Paul Newman.

16. "You can't espouse something that doesn't make you happy. It has to make your heart sing before it can make anybody else's sing." What First Lady said this?

From Quiz Women's History Texas Style

Answer: Lady Bird Johnson

Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson (1912-2007) was First Lady of the United States from 1963-1969. Her major initiatives included beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources. Lady Bird Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Gerald Ford on January 10, 1977. She also received the Congressional Gold Medal on May 8, 1984.

17. What notable Texas heart surgeon was born and raised in Houston, Texas, was a star athlete, graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in zoology, and attended medical school at the Texas College of Medicine at Galveston?

From Quiz Famous Texans and their Hometowns

Answer: Dr. Denton Cooley

Dr. Cooley transferred from the Galveston school to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore where he also did his internship and assisted Dr. Alfred Blalock in developing the "blue baby" congenital heart repair surgery. He returned to Houston to work with Dr. Michael DeBakey at Baylor. He pioneered innovative technologies and surgical techniques in the fields of artificial heart values, heart transplants, the heart-lung bypass machine, and the removal of aortic aneurysms and pulmonary embolisms. In Houston, he established the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Foundation, the Texas Heart Institute, and The Heartbeats, the latter being a band comprised of physicians and in which Dr. Cooley plays bass.

18. Well, I should have been first since I am even older than the Frenchman. I go all the way back to the 15th century. I really struggled in Texas while exploring the land and native peoples and even spent some time enslaved. Who am I?

From Quiz Famous Texans Speak

Answer: Cabeza de Vaca

I am a Spaniard, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1490-1555) and one of the earliest significant explorers of Texas. I was born and also died in my home of Espana (Spain) but spent many years exploring what you now call Texas under severe hardship and poverty, including a time in captivity by the local natives. You're welcome!

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