O.C. Fisher
Junction, Kimble County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Author, attorney and politician Ovie Clark Fisher (1903-1994) was born at the Kimble County Ranch Home of his parents, Jobe and Rhoda (Clark) Fisher. He graduated from Junction High School and received a law degree from Baylor University. He married Marian DeWalsh in 1927, and the couple had one daughter. O.C. was Tom Green County Attorney from 1931-35 before serving as State Representative and then District Attorney. In 1942 he was elected to the U.S. Congress, and represented west Texas for nearly 32 years. A prolific author, he compiled oral interviews for it occurred in Kimble, and how (1937), and wrote several books about Texas history and his life in politics. He and his wife are buried at Junction Cemetery. (2017)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Ovie Clark Fisher (1903–1994) was born on his parents' Kimble County ranch, graduated from Junction High School, and earned a law degree from Baylor before entering public life as a county attorney, state representative, and district attorney. Elected to Congress in 1942, he represented West Texas for nearly 32 years. A prolific writer, he gathered oral histories for his book on Kimble County and authored several works on Texas history and his own political career.
Why it matters
Fisher's long career links the ranch-country roots of West Texas to national politics, and his histories helped preserve the region's frontier memory.
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Related people
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Nearby & related markers
John Sterling Durst Pioneer Minister
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Born in Leon County in 1841 to pioneer Texan parents, John Sterling Durst served in the Confederate Army before a sermon called him to the ministry of the Church of Christ. When he moved his family to still-frontier Kimble County in 1883, he preached both locally and on summer tours across the state, and he won his neighbors' trust as county judge and school superintendent.
Coach Bear Bryant and the Junction Boys
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In 1954 Paul "Bear" Bryant, newly hired as head football coach at Texas A&M, hauled nearly 100 players 250 miles to a remote adjunct campus at Junction for a brutal ten-day preseason camp. A punishing drought had baked the ground bare and sharp with sandspurs, and the heat and grueling practices drove players to slip away by night — only 35 boarded the buses home. The team went on to its only losing season under Bryant, yet two years later the survivors, the "Junction Boys," won the Southwest Conference and finished fifth in the nation.
Bear Bryant and the Junction Boys
Kimble County, TX
In the brutal Texas summer of 1954, new Texas A&M football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant hauled his squad to the tiny Hill Country town of Junction for a preseason training camp that became the stuff of legend. In punishing heat and spartan conditions, the vast majority of players quit; the hardened few who endured came to be remembered as the "Junction Boys." The ordeal became a defining chapter in the mythology of Bryant, who went on to become one of the most celebrated coaches in American football.
Site of Ivy Chapel and School
London, TX
The Ivy community took its name from brothers Sam, Jack, and Bob Ivy, who came to Kimble County in 1883. S. H. Ivy deeded land for a school in 1898 and again in 1917, when a new schoolhouse rose that doubled as a community chapel, voting place, and site of box suppers and other social gatherings. Though the school consolidated with London in 1939, the chapel has continued to serve the area.