2019 Top Texan: Sam Houston!
The dust has settled from 2019’s Top Texan Tournament — March Madness, Texas History style. Nearly 20,000 votes were cast over six rounds. The winner, by an overwhelming margin, was Sam Houston, who took home the Top Texan honors for the third time in four years (2016, 2017, and 2019).
“I’m pleased to announce that Sam Houston has earned enough votes to be crowned the 2019 Top Texan in Texas History,” said Commissioner George P. Bush. “ While I’m obviously disappointed my bracket was busted, I applaud Sam Houston for his impressive record of service to Texas that spanned decades. He commanded the Texas Army at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto, was a multiple-time President of the Republic of Texas, and later served terms as governor and U.S. senator for the state of Texas. Now he can add ‘Three-time Top Texan winner’ to his list of achievements. Thank you to the thousands of Texans who took part in the Top Texan Tournament, and took the time to learn more about 64 great Texans. This tournament is one of the educational programs that the Save Texas History program of the General Land Office operates to help educate Texans about the rich history of our great state.”
Here’s Sam’s path to glory this year:
-Round 1: defeated Thomas Jefferson Rusk, 89.6% to 10.4%
-Round 2: defeated Stephen F. Austin, 67.8% to 32.2%
-Round 3: defeated David Crockett, 72.6% to 27.4%
-Round 4: defeated William B. Travis, 79.3% to 20.7%
-Final 4: defeated George Strait, 61.7% to 38.3%
-Finals: defeated Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, 71.2% to 28.8%
Running through that list of Top Texan candidates is quite the accomplishment for Sam Houston!
As we celebrate Sam Houston’s win, we also congratulate the winner of the bracket prediction contest, username HornedFrog, who will take home several prizes from the Save Texas History Program.
Below is a list of round-by-round prize winners:
-Round 1: Bbbbbbbnb
-Round 2: CurtisJack81
-Round 3: TxHistoryMSM
-Round 4: captainkilljoy318
-Round 5: Texaswalt (runner-up to HornedFrog)
Thanks to all who participated in this year’s Top Texan Tournament! We’re already looking forward to building the field and seeing who comes out on top for the fifth annual Top Texan Tournament in 2020!
