By West                                                H.R. No. 684
         77R11109 MDM-D                           
                                 R E S O L U T I O N
 1-1           WHEREAS, For 35 years, Jay H. Mehaffey provided West Texas
 1-2     residents with their daily dose of sports, and the death of this
 1-3     broadcast pioneer on March 2, 2001, at the age of 80, has deeply
 1-4     saddened all who knew and admired him; and
 1-5           WHEREAS, A native of Grinnell, Iowa, he was a 53-year
 1-6     resident  of Odessa, where he started his broadcast career with
 1-7     KOSA Radio after majoring in English and radio speech at Drake
 1-8     University; his responsibilities included those of national sales
 1-9     manager and play-by-play sports announcer, and in 1955 he was a
1-10     member of the group granted a television license for KOSA-TV in
1-11     Odessa, which brought the first live network television to Permian
1-12     Basin viewers; and
1-13           WHEREAS, Mr. Mehaffey presented evening sports segments and
1-14     handled station management duties, and although he sold his
1-15     interest in a chain of television and radio stations in 1966, he
1-16     continued his dual roles on both sides of the camera until retiring
1-17     in 1976; after a short retirement, he returned to local programming
1-18     as sports director and account executive at KMID-TV, where he gave
1-19     his last sportscast in 1983; and
1-20           WHEREAS, Well respected by his professional colleagues and
1-21     local citizens alike, he received the Excellence for Community
1-22     Service Award for media from the Heritage of Odessa Foundation in
1-23     1995 and the 1988-1989 Addy Award for Excellence in Advertising;
1-24     and
 2-1           WHEREAS, Mr. Mehaffey was retired from the United States Army
 2-2     with the rank of captain, having served in the 5th Ranger
 2-3     Battalion, which led the cliff climb at Omaha Beach and
 2-4     Point-Du-Hoc during the Normandy D-Day landings of World War II; he
 2-5     received many honors, including the prized French Croix Du Guerre,
 2-6     for his part in the invasion, and was a member of the Oil Patch
 2-7     chapter of the Retired Officers Association and a life member of
 2-8     the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, and the
 2-9     Veterans of Foreign Wars; and
2-10           WHEREAS, In addition, he was a charter member of the Odessa
2-11     Kiwanis Club and a congregant of Westminster Presbyterian Church;
2-12     in his leisure time, Mr. Mehaffy was an  avid golfer who achieved a
2-13     hole-in-one on September 5, 1988, the date of his final retirement;
2-14     and
2-15           WHEREAS, Jay Mehaffey will long be remembered by those whose
2-16     lives he touched through his work as a broadcast journalist and his
2-17     myriad contributions as a leading citizen of Odessa; now,
2-18     therefore, be it
2-19           RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 77th Texas
2-20     Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Jay H. Mehaffey and
2-21     extend deepest sympathy to his family: to his wife, Jeanette Bowden
2-22     Mehaffey; to his stepsons, Larry and Harry Phillips; to his sister,
2-23     Shannon Rae Brown; to his three grandchildren; and to the other
2-24     relatives and many friends of this esteemed gentleman; and, be it
2-25     further
2-26           RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
2-27     prepared for the members of his family and that when the Texas
 3-1     House of Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of
 3-2     Jay H. Mehaffey.