W. B. RAY MASCOT. Hipshot.

The original comic strip first appeared in 1958.

Rick O'Shay was kid faced main character. Others included Hipshot Percussion, Quyat Burp, Deuces Wild, Horse's Neck, Gay Abandon, Basil Metabolism MD. The comic appeared on front page of a number of newspapers "funnies" section including Corpus Christi Caller Times. Drawn by Stan Lynde.

Rick O'Shay was the sheriff. While the town was sort of lame, Conniption was relatively tame, the comic strip also had a little biblical tone. Not unusual to catch Rick, or even Hipshot the local gunslinger, praying or giving thanks.

 Somewhere along the line W. B. Ray Fighting Texans where I attempted to go to school 1975-77 before getting kicked out by Funk, Ray decided to use Hipshot as a mascot. Stood out among local animal mascots we never see in the wild, or pirates going down Leopard street, even a team named after condoms. Ok, here come the "deer meester ette" emails. So a Texan especially Hipshot from the popular comic series was neat. I think the Robstown Cottonpickers name is cool, and also Port Lavaca Sandcrabs too.

So I can't tell you when Hipshot was first being used as a mascot. I can tell you he was still being used as a mascot in 1980s at W. B. Ray. Still had his six shooters on side too. Don't know when whoever decided to get rid of his guns though.

For the record, the comic strip ended in 1981. The comic creator Stan Lynde died in 2013, his comic strip had rabid following of 15 million readers.

Stan was 81. The W. B. Ray "Texan" so far as I know if still being used in Year 2022.

PHOTOS: Photo #1. Hipshot as seen in the W. B. Ray "Silver Spur" yearbook. Depends on year, he may or may not had a pencil thin mustache. Might not have been Hipshot at all, just modeled after the character.

Photo #2. The Rick O'Shay gang, funny, I don't remember most of these characters from the comic strip in Corpus Christi Caller Times though.

Photo #3. Rick O'Shay with Hipshot, in the 1970s the artist Stan Lynde art had was more pronounced. Just great artwork if you a comic fan. Some Sunday ones were one panel, mountain scene for instance.

Photo #4. Stan Lynde himself looked a lot like Hipshot. Imagine if he would have shown up at W. B. Ray as a guest! If he showed up with me would have gotten expelled.

Photo #5. Rick O'Shay & Hipshot in a book "The Great Sunday Pages" you can still find for sale.

Photo #6. Nothing to do with W. B. Ray mascot or even Hipshot, but years ago Archie comics had The Punisher show up at their high school dance as a chaperone. If you know The Punisher, enough said! You can find these on ebay. I was big fan of Archie comics in early 1970s. Note the band playing is Josie & The Pussycats. Was big fan of them too, especially the drummer Melody.

Photo #7 is W B Ray in 1950. I can't tell you if anyone smoked weed in smokestack in 1950, but a number of us did in 1977.

Go Texans