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Jeter & Son Funeral Home
4830 W. Illinois
214-330-4700


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Tyler Street United Methodist Church (Winnetka Heights area) (214) 946-8106

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Notable Natives
Famous (and infamous) People From Oak Cliff

  

Oak Cliff has had its share of famous and infamous characters. Here are a selection of some of these memorable people who were from Oak Cliff or lived (or live) here. We've tried to check out the facts in these stories but if you know some additional information, we'd like to hear from you. Click on comment and send us information about these or any other Oak Cliff personalities that you know about.

Please visit some of the other pages on the Oak Cliff site that include trivia, remembrances and history contributed by web site readers.


A-C  D-F  G-K  L-P  Q-Z


Sheryl Sheryl Stamps Leach
(Creative Arts )

Sheryl Stamps Leach -- Sheryl graduated from Kimball in 1971. She is the creator of the Barney the Dinosaur character that is the idol of millions of kids worldwide. She received an honorary Doctorate from Texas A&M-Commerce in 2000. 'Children are more div ine than we are. They're closer to that spark of the Divine. They think anything is possible and they can do anything...we want to keep that spark alive.' -Sheryl Leach


Kara Kara Lennox
(Creative Arts )

Kara Lennox, a.k.a. Karen Leabo, has written more than 40 novels of romance and romantic suspense for both Harlequin/Silhouette and Bantam-Dell.  Before her career in romance, Kara was an art director, typesetter, textbook editor and freelance nonfiction w riter with hundreds of magazine articles under her byline.  She's worked at a boutique, a health club and an ad agency.  She's been an antiques dealer and even a blackjack dealer.  But no work has made her happier than writing romance novels. W

For more information: www.karalennox.com


Nancy Lieberman
(Sports )

Basketball Hall of Fame member Nancy Lieberman (Native New Yorker who was an All American at Old Dominion and first player drafted in the Women's Professional Basketball League/by the Dallas Diamonds in the late 1970s) lived in the Kessler area of Oak Clif f while single then later with  her husband former semi-pro player Tim Cline. She was the first woman in basketball to have her own signature shoe contract and was the first true female professional basketball player. She later coached in the N


Mike Livingston
(Sports )

Mike Livingston - Graduated from SOC in 1964.  Mike lettered in football, baseball, basketball and track all three years of high school for a total of twelve letters. He played football at SMU and went on to quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1968 to 1979.


Richard Mabry
(Creative Arts )

Richard Mabry, MD, is the author of The Tender Scar: Life After The Death Of A Spouse, as well as having written or edited a number of medical textbooks. He lived in Oak Cliff while in medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and after specialty training in ear, nose and throat, practiced in Oak Cliff, and later in Duncanville, for 26 years, before becoming a professor at the same medical school from which he graduated. He has written two novels, both of which are u

For more information: www.rmabry.com


Dan Malone
(Creative Arts )

Dan Malone, Kimball H.S. '73 shared  a Pulitzer Prize for investigating reporting while at the Dallas Morning News. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.  Malone now teaches reporting classes at the University of North Texas


Paul Mansfield
(Infamous )

Paul Mansfield graduated from Sunset in 1946 and was Jayne Manfield's first husband.  Jayne graduated from Highland Park HS.


Harvey Harvey Martin
(Sports )

Former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Harvey Martin, (South Oak Cliff High School, 1969) once a Super Bowl MVP, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 51 in 2001. Part of the famed Dallas Cowboy's Doomsday Defense under coach Tom Landry, Martin played 11 se asons with the Cowboys from 1973-83 and earned four Pro Bowl trips. He remains the Cowboys' leader in all-time sacks with 113.


Kenyon Martin
(Sports )

Kenyon Martin – All-star forward in the NBA lived in Oak Cliff and attended Tyler Street Christian Academy -- during the ’93-’94 when Tyler Street won the state championship.  He transferred to Bryan Adams High School then to  the University of Cincinnati.   He recently signed with the Denver Nuggets.


Jerry Jerry Mays
(Sports )

Jerry Mays, Played Tackle and End for Kansas City Chiefs from 1961-70, Superbowl Championship team graduated from Sunset and attened Southern Methodist University. He died in 1994. "A six-time AFL All-Star, Jerry Mays was selected to the All-Star team at t wo different positions: at defensive tackle in 1962 and 1964, and at defensive end in 1965 through 1968." He is a member of the American League Football Hall of Fame.


George Robert Phillips McFarland ("S
(Creative Arts )

George Robert Phillips McFarland ("Spanky" of Little Rascal fame) was born at Methodist Central on October 2, 1928. He became "Spanky" at the age of 3 at the Hal Roach Studios. I was contacted last year by a company placing memorabilia at the new Oak Clif f Applebee's on Illinois. They wanted pictures of Spank for their Home Town Hero area of the restaurant. I supplied these and the display is wonderful, altho the bio information has some mis information we are getting corrected. For instance


C. C. C. Miller
(Service )

C. C. Miller -- Principal of Sunset in the Mid 50's. He  passed away at the age of 101. Click here for obituary.


Belita Belita Moreno
(Creative Arts )

Belita Moreno, whose mother taught Spanish at Kimball and who graduated from there in 1967 has appeared on a number of TV shows and stars on the George Lopez Show and formerly on Perfect Strangers.


Lewis Mullins
(Sports )

Lewis Mullins, aka Skipper Mullins was raised in Oak Cliff.  He graduated from Justin F. Kimball High School. He won seven World Karate Championships, worked with Chuck Norris on Walker, Texas Ranger and is a member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.


Michael Michael Martin Murphy
(Creative Arts )

Michael Martin Murphy -- Called 'Today's Best Selling Singing Cowboy' graduated from Adamson High School (1963). He also attended North Texas and UCLA. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Music and American Studies at Utah State University, spec ializing in songwriting from a cultural and historic perspective. His first professional venue was 'The Rubiayat' on McKinney Avenue and his first album was Geronimo's Cadillac. For information on where he's performing – 

For more information: http://www.michaelmartinmurphey.com/


Jack Jack Nance
(Creative Arts )

Jack Nance graduated feom SOC in 1962.  He was the lead actor in David Lynch's "Eraserhead". He played in all of David's films except "Elephant Man" up to the time of his death in 1996.  Jack attended North Texas State Univ. He also studied acting at the D allas Theater Center. Jack's biographical documentary film was released in 2001 titled "I Don't Know Jack" and has won a number of Film Festival Awards, including Best Actor(Jack Nance), five years after his untimely death.


Josephine Oliver
(Creative Arts )

Josephine Oliver (Class of '26), neighbor and student of Frank Reaugh, was a concert violinist and played with the Dallas Symphony.  She is a noted water colorist and her work will be featured at the Valley House Gallery (Carter Museum) in Ft. Worth in Apr il, 2007.  She was also Miss Dallas in 1927 in a sort of Miss America  pageant.


Rob Preece
(Creative Arts )

Rob Preece is the electronic publisher of www.booksforabuck.com and has written a number of romance and mystery novels available on the web. A full-time author and book reviewer, Rob is also a black-belt in Tae Kwon Do and a student of Jujitsu. His novel, ONE HANDSOME DEVIL is currently among the top sellers.

For more information: www.booksforabuck.com


Ray Ray Price
(Creative Arts )

Ray Price -- Country Music Star known as the 'Cherokee Cowboy' -- Born Nobel Ray Price in Perryville, Texas in 1926, Ray attended Boude Storey Junior High School in Oak Cliff. Number one music hits include 'For the Good Times,' 'I Won't Mention It Again,' 'She's Got to Be a Saint,' and 'You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.' He was inducted into Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996.


Hank Hank Price
(Creative Arts )

Hank Price is a 1963 graduate of Adamson High School married to Martha Campbell, a 1964 Adamson grad. While attending Adamson, Hank had the lead in musical productions such as “The Merry Widow.”  He was part of a popular Oak Cliff folk band, The Kingsmen, along with Michael Martin Murphy and Tom McGown (deceased), both Adamson graduates. The Kingsmen played for Adamson assemblies on a regular basis. After graduating from Adamson in 1963, Hank earned his B.A. in music at the University of North T


Ken Pritchett
(Business )

Ken Pritchett -- graduated 1956 from Sunset.  He is a builder known all across the country and has served as President of the National Home Builders Association, the Dallas Home Builders Assoc, as well as the Duncanville Home Builders Assoc.  He has


For more Oak Cliff Notables go to the next page


Those Who Served -- We're working on a memorial to Oak Cliff men and women who died in the service to America. If you have any information, comments, ideas or pictures, let me know.
 
Do you know some Oak Cliff trivia or a famous Oak Cliffite? Do you have corrections or additions to any of the bios I've listed here?  

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This page was last edited on April 04, 2008