Hall of Famer John Kimbrough Passes Away
May 09, 2006 | Football
May 09, 2006
John Kimbrough, a Texas A&M football hero, movie star and former state lawmaker, has died in his West Texas hometown of Haskell at age 87.
Kimbrough died Monday after a bout with pneumonia.
Known as "the Haskell Hurricane," the fullback played for Texas A&M's 1939 national championship team and finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1940.
Kimbrough went on to a pro football career before entering show business. He starred in two Westerns in 1942, "Sundown Jim" and "Lone Star Ranger."
Kimbrough also served in the Army during World War II and in the Texas Legislature from 1953 to 1955.
Mrs. Kimbrough, his wife of 64 years, said her husband still received letters asking for autographs.
Gov. Rick Perry, a Texas A&M graduate also from Haskell County, described Kimbrough as "bigger than life." Kimbrough attended Perry's wedding.
"No one else at Texas A&M even comes close to measuring up to the man and the legend John Kimbrough was," Perry said. "He was a once-in-a-lifetime person and captured the country's imagination."
He is survived by his wife, Barbara Kimbrough, two children, two grandchildren and one great grandchild.
The funeral will probably be Friday or Saturday in Haskell.
