The election of Texas State Rep. Sam Johnson, Class of ’47, to replace Steve Bartlett at U.S. representative from the Third Congressional District makes Sam the fourth U.S. congressman to have graduated from Woodrow.

Others include the late Jim Collins, the late Howard Runnels (who served as congressman from New Mexico), and Jim Mattox, who also served as Texas attorney general.

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Jim Collins once was quoted as saying: “More congressman have been elected from Woodrow than any other high school in the nation.” With Sam’s election, perhaps that status is ensured.

Help, I Need Somebody…

Last month, I mentioned that three Dallas County assistant district attorneys were Woodrow graduates. Well, make that four.

Joe Shearin ’78 joins the crowd. Joe was an academic All-American lineman at Woodrow and Texas. He played pro football with Tampa Bay and the Dallas Cowboys. Following his football career, he attended Baylor University law school…

If you’re a Woodrow alum and can’t get help from the D.A.’s office, you might try the Better Business Bureau, where Ron Berry ’70 is president…

Congrats to Class of 1991

Forty-four graduates of the Class of ’91 won scholarships totaling more than $600,000. That’s almost $14,000 per student. Colleges awarding scholarships include SMU, Dartmouth, Duke, M.I.T., Trinity, TCU, Colorado, Rice, Louisiana State, Texas Tech, Texas and Texas A&M.

I’ll announce the Woodrow Alumni Association Scholarship winners next month, but here is a list of other winners:

Lilia Aguayo, Faustino Aguero, Teresa Alexander, Ruth Allen, Anthony Armstrong, Paul Baker, Krystal Barron, Lolita Brown, Scott Canada, Avery Cording, Colin Corgan, Oralia Figueroa, Jennie Flowers, Kenneth Gasch, Hermon Ghebrehiwet, Javier Gutierrez, Jeffrey Gruenich, Alison Harris, Marqua Harris, Erin Henderson, Isabel Hernandez, Irma Hurtado, Dominga Lira, Richard Mancia, Nicole Mariner, Christine Myck, Bichly Nguygen, Linda Nguygen, Thu Loan Nguygen, Jerome Patterson, Leigh Peden, Stacie Rasche, Victoria Redington, Sandra Salazar, Maritza Siu, Leslie Sookma, Dora Southivong, Leigh Ann Stovall, Joe Torres, Lorena Villanueva, Dawn Walker, Claudia Werle, Latricia White and Vicky Zamora.

These new alums include six National Merit Semi-Finalists, four of whom became National Merit Scholars. Three more received National Merit letters of commendation.

You may now smugly ask your friends, relatives or co-workers who live in the suburbs or who pay private-school tuition: “Why?”