True story about Dan Blocker aka Hoss Cartwright

[Aggiebush]

I know that he had a ranch on 154 in Harmony. I would love to fish some of the lakes on that property.

[tex4k]

I had a high school coach that played college ball with him, claimed he enjoyed his daily pint, knowing this particular coach, I think we're more than likely drinking buddies.

[TxMachinist]

He played football at Hardin Simmons not Saul Ross. They have a plaque of him in the alumni hall.

[brianlg31]

He use to own a ranch in Cat Spring. I did some work as a young teenager for him. Met him once when I was 13. Thought it was the neatest thing in the world.

Brian

[KNEE DEEP]

I was fixing to say that i remember he had a place around Cat Springs.I have kinfolks in New Ulm that saw him all the time.

[AtTheWall]

My parents flew on a flight with Dan onboard the plane, back in the 60s. Smokes and a few cocktails, Dan liked to have a few drinks back during the era where a smoke and drink was part of the scene. His heart gave out when he was way too young.

[Thumper]

"Instead of getting out of the hospital in a week, he was there for two weeks, but even that didn't seem too awful. He came home on Friday." Lorne's voice dropped to a whisper, as if he were struggling with an emotion he couldn't control. "The morning after he came home from the hospital he told Dolphia, 'I can't catch my breath! I'm afraid I'm having a heart attack.'"

The big fellow had always been afraid of heart trouble, because at 300 pounds he was frightfully overweight. He'd been proud of the fact that he'd been able to reduce his weight 30 pounds before the surgery. It gave him a better chance; the doctors said it reduced the risk. This was the least he'd weighed since he'd been a sergeant in the Korean War. Instead of that dreamed-of sail down the Thames, he was rushed writhing in pain, with sirens screeching, to a hospital, Dolphia trembling at his side, holding hand in hers. At the hospital doctors discovered that he was suffering from a massive blood clot in the lung. After treatments Dolphia Blocker was told, "Dan has passed the worst part of the crisis. He has a 90 percent chance of being perfectly okay." Dolphia sat in the waiting room quietly outside the intensive care room, when all of a sudden everything broke loose.

"Everyone was rushing around like crazy, dashing in and out of the intensive care room," Lorne went on. "They worked on Dan for hours but finally saw there was no hope. Perhaps it was for the best," he said his voice breaking again, "If they had pulled him through after that crisis he might have been tragically stricken for God knows how long. And Dan, always active, would have hated that."

http://ponderosascenery.homestead.com/files/library/dbarticle1.html

[SNAKEHUNTER]

I had a science teacher in 9th grade that was roomates and played football with Dan Blocker. He showed us a stack of letters he had received from him. They were handwritten on Warner Brothers stationary.




SNAKEHUNTER

[RutnBuk]

He played football at Hardin Simmons not Saul Ross. They have a plaque of him in the alumni hall.

I know he played at Sul Ross in Alpine. 1949.
After a little research he also played at Hardin Simmons before Sul Ross

[BIG IRON]

That was a great show

[Mister Bubba's bulletman]

I remember him coming to Temple and giving a speech. What it was about I don't know but afterwards he shook hands with a lot of people. He might have grabbed my hand but I cant remember. I just remember looking waaay up at him grinning down at me.

[waterdog]

big hoss was also a vet, Blocker was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. He served as an Infantry sergeant in F Company, 2nd Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th infantry Division in Korea, December 1951 to August 1952. He received a Purple Heart for wounds

[mjhaverkamp]

I had always heard he was from Bowie, I guess Bowie County is where that came from.

[twistedmidnite]

Hes also buried in dekalb

[Monark]

I know he played at Sul Ross in Alpine. 1949.
After a little research he also played at Hardin Simmons before Sul Ross

My late Grandfather was in seminary at Hardin Simmons at the same time & swore Dan Blocker went to school there but was expelled for rolling marbles on the gym floor during a basketball game. Who knows. You would think a preacher wouldn't lie to you.