Being from Tennessee I still sometimes feel like I'm not really from Texas. I see native Texan everything displayed with pride. My wife is a 7th generation Texan and definitely has an air about her when she proudly proclaims it. Since I was old enough to remember I had some sort of calling to be in Texas. Maybe it had something to do with early history classes talking about the Tennessee Volunteers at the Alamo. My best friend was from Ft Worth, but moved to Tn in 4th grade and introduced me to some Texas culture and mexican food. I have been a Cowboys fan since the dropped endzone pass in the Super Bowl. I always wanted my family to come here on vacation, but my dad always chose the beaches of Florida instead. Then Uncle Sam brought me here 25 years ago by chance to Ft Hood, I fell in love and never left. Since I can remember I've always wanted to be here and I'm still here and have no intentions of ever leaving. In 1990 I fell in love with everything UT and have probably been to more UT functions athletically and academically than probably 99% of those that live here and call themselves Texas fans. Through the years I've attended at least 200 sporting events from just about every bowl game, every home game and many away games for almost a decade, baseball, basketball, football, volleyball and even a rugby match. Academically I've attended, probably illegally, regular class lectures(I know I'm a geek), speaking engagements, graduations etc probably numbering in the 50's to my best count. I never attended the university because I just couldn't afford it on my $4hr job and no one would give me a student loan at the time. Then my career got in the way. Some would say I didn't want it bad enough an you may be right. I'm no Rudy! I came within a split second of getting into a fist fight with my brother because while he was stationed at Ft Hood in the late 90's all he could say is how arrogant Texans were. I'd have nothing to do with that crap! With all this being said the reason I am posting this is because I still feel like an outsider (insecurity maybe?). Not a Texan nor a Longhorn becuase I'm not from here nor did I attend the school. Is there any time someone can be a Texan when they're not a Texan?
I was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and my family moved to Texas when I was 6. I've lived in Dallas, Ft. Worth, El Paso, Austin, Houston, Kerrville, Lake Worth and Red Rock and have never lived outside of Texas since the family moved here. The only time I don't consider myself fully Texan is when I look at my passport and it says place of birth "Tennessee", or when someone asks where I was born. Then I think it's kind of exotic to be able to say "Memphis". I think Texas is more of a state of mind than how long you've been here. If you've found a home where you fit, then I think you are fully a Texan.
Sad I have to cite King of the Hill, but it's really appropriate. They had an episode called "Yankee Hankee" where Hank learned he had been born in New York, not Texas. He went through a lot of anxiety over it. He eventually ended up in the Alamo and saw the flags of the birthplaces of the Alamo defenders. He reads that they were born in many places, but died Texas heroes. At the end of the episode, his wife goes through something convoluted to rationalize him being a native Texan. He cuts her off and says- "No, I'm not a native Texan. I'm just a Texan." That moral stuck with me- I wasn't born here, but this is my state.
My mama used to say that if you could stand to live here through five consecutive Texas summers, you're as Texan as the rest of us. Y'all are Texans in my book.
What is a Texan? What does it mean to identify oneself with a geography — is it the culture we’re talking about, or the history? What if we don’t fully conform to the culture as it’s commonly perceived? I don’t understand the “pride” aspect of it all — one’s place of birth is random. Would you be ashamed if you were born and raised somewhere else? I was born here and have lived in Texas all my life, and I have had people tell me I “don’t seem like a Texan” because I don’t like hunting, fishing, country music, BBQ or beer. Am I a bad Texan if I don’t care about which state people lived or grew up in?
I despise hunting and fishing and only listen to classic country (I think contemporary country music is from the devil or Taylor Swift, which are probably the same thing). I love barbecue and beer. I don't care what other people like or dislike, except that I want to thank Dionysus for leaving more BBQ and beer for me.
I'm not a native Texan and there are still aspects of my native New Mexico I long for even though I left before starting the 4th grade. But I'm more Texan than anything else. I love beer, barbeque (not that sweet KC or Carolina kind neither) and the look of a pasture full of bluebonnets. But I love my green chile, flat enchiladas, cool to cold July nights and being able to look 20 miles down the highway and see only two other cars.
I would like to visit New Mexico, I have heard it is nice. I love Northern California as well, and Washington except for all the rain. San Diego is fantastic. Don’t care for the northeast (Boston, NY, Philly, etc) at all, except to visit for some of the culture/entertainment, no way would I live there. Winters there and the midwest are the suck. I hear Nebraska is classy this time of year.
Texans by choice are just as good as Texans by birth. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome in my birth state anytime and I'm glad you're a Longhorn by choice too.
Come on man...crazy you have to ask this question. Famous Texans and Place of Birth: Sam Houston - Born in Shenandoah, VA (also was The Governor of Tennessee) Stephen F. Austin - Virginia Davy Crockett - Greene County, Tennessee William Travis - South Carolina James Bowie - Kentucky Lorenzo de Zavala - Yucatan, Mexico Juan Seguín - Nuevo Laredo, Mexico James Bonham - South Carolina Bernando Galvez - Spain Charles Goodnight - Illinois Oliver Loving - Kentucky Bose Ikard - Tennessee Captain Richard King (King Ranch) - New York City Captain Bill McDonald (Texas Ranger) - Mississippi Col. John Coffee "Jack" Hays (Texas Ranger) - Tennessee Gene Kranz - Ohio Alan Shephard - New Hampshire GHWB - Mass/Connecticut GWB - Connecticut Darrell Royal - Oklahoma Mack Brown - Tennessee Ricky Williams - California Hakeem Olajuwon - Nigeria Roger Clemens - Ohio Priest Holmes - Arkansas Major Applewhite - Louisiana Colt McCoy - New Mexico Admiral William H. McRaven - North Carolina And finally, from the literary side: Captain Woodrow F. Call - Scotland Captain Augustus McCrae - Tennessee Considering you were born in Tennessee, I don't think you need to lose sleep over this.
7th Generation no **** My daughter and sons are 8th My Grandson is 9 The first Sanchez walked to Texas from Alabama when he was twelve years old after he had been orphaned. If I can live long enough to see a 10th generation Native Texan Sanchez I will die a happy man.
Parents born in the Midwest; was born in Southern California (Inglewood), resided there until age 5 (Long Beach); forcibly relocated to the panhandle of Texas; attended K-12 in Texas, earned a BS at The School Formerly Known as West Texas State University and a MA at The University of Texas at Austin; and have lived here ever since. Been working in Houston for the last 20+ years (and when I was in college, I swore that Houston would be the one city that I would never, ever, reside or work in. LOL). Not a true Texan in the manner of my wife (whose family dates back many generations here); call me a quasi-Texan or a neo-Texan or a transplant, whatever.
A person is a U.S. citizen if their parents are, regardless of where they are born. It is on that basis that I claim my right to be a Texan. My parents were native Texans, but my dad was a U.S. Marine....I was born on a military base in California....as soon as my Dad retired from the marines(I was 10), we moved back to Texas, and I've been here ever since, except for a 1 year sentence in Iowa (don't ask).