Distinguished Alumni
LARRY D. BUTLER
Dr. Larry D. Butler received
his Bachelor of Science degree
in Wildlife Management in
1974. He went on to receive a
Master of Agriculture degree
from Texas A&M University
and a PhD. from Utah State University.
Dr. Butler currently serves as State Conservationist of Texas for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to
this job he served as Director for the National
Grazing Land Technology Institute with the
NRCS. Dr. Butler has currently served 32 years of
service with the NRCS.
Dr. Butler has been honored with many
awards including the Outstanding Achievement
Award from the Society for Range Management
and the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the
Department of Natural Resources Management at
Texas Tech University in 2005.
Dr. Butler has provided countless hours of
dedicated service to his chosen field of service.
D.D. HARDEE
Dr. D.D. Hardee received his
Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with honors in 1960 majoring in Agronomy. He continued his education in 1962 with
a Master of Science in Entomology degree and finally a doctorate of philosophy
in entomology in 1964 from Cornell University.
Dr. Hardee recently retired in 2004 after 27
years of service with the United States Department of Agriculture. He served as Location Coordinator, Laboratory Director and Research Leader in Stoneville, MS. Prior to this he served as National Program Leader of Field Crop Entomology
for the USDA – ARS in Beltsville, MD.
Dr. Hardee received more than 450 hours in
training provided by ARS and other federal agencies on various topics, such as Federal Productivity and Quality Improvement Seminar and Congressional Briefing Conference.
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H. H. (LAD) LINTHICUM
RONALD BRUCE SMITH
Mr. H. H. “Lad” Linthicum
received his Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural
Economics in 1953.
Mr. Linthicum is a Veteran of the United States Air
Force. He also served as Director of the Texas
and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
He retired from serving as Director of Crockett
National Bank and also retired from the Irion
County Water Board. Mr. Linthicum has also
been involved with Veribest Cattle Feeders and
Lipan Cattle Feeders. Mr. Linthicum has ranched
all his life with goals of raising excellent sheep
and cattle. Mr. Linthicum is proud to say he has
improved the ranch while under his care. He and
his son have managed the brush and pear on the
30,000 acre ranch.
Mr. Linthicum’s family is deep with Texas Tech
pride, all five members of his family has attended
Texas Tech. He also has one grandson who is currently attending Tech.
Mr. Ronald Bruce Smith received a Bachelor of Science
degree in Agricultural Education in 1970. He later received
a Master of Education degree
from Texas Tech in 1976.
Mr. Smith has taught Vocational Agriculture
and Agricultural Sciences at Dumas High School
for the past 35 years. Prior to that Mr. Smith
taught Vocational Agriculture at Roosevelt High
School from 1970-1972.
Mr. Smith has been a member of the Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association for 37 years.
He was also elected and served on the VATAT
board of directors from 1979 to 1992. Additionally Mr. Smith has been awarded both the Honorary Lone Star FFA Degree and the Honorary
American FFA Degree.
HORST SCHACH
Mr. Horst Schach received
his Bachelor of Science degree in Park Administration in
1964. He went on to receive
his Master of Landscape Architecture in 1966 from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mr. Schach currently serves as Professor and
Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Kentucky in Lexington,
Kentucky. Prior to this he served as Program Chair
for the Landscape Architecture Program in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture from 1976-1999 at the University of Kentucky.
Mr. Schach has received numerous awards
including the Student Government Association,
Dr. Robert G. Zumwinkle Student Rights Award
and the Merit Award for Residential Design from
the Kentucky Chapter of the American Society of
Landscape Architecture to name a few.
ROBERT H.
MOORHOUSE
Mr. Robert H. Moorhouse
received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Animal Business in 1972.
Mr. Moorhouse is currently
Vice President and General Manager of the Pitchfork Land and Cattle Company of Guthrie and
Benjamin, Texas and Eskridge, Kansas, where
commercial Hereford and crossbred cattle are
raised as well as Quarter horses. He also has personal ranch land in Knox County, Texas.
Among many outstanding achievements Mr.
Moorhouse is also recognized for his distinguished work as a photographer. A collection
of Mr. Moorhouse’s photographs became the
AQHA’s first traveling exhibits. The photographs
have traveled extensively throughout the United
States and Europe.
Outstanding Agriculturalists
RICKEY BEARDEN
ROSS WILSON
Rickey Bearden is a third-generation cotton
farmer born and raised in Plains, Texas. He began farming with his father in 1975 on 160 acres.
In 1987 he broke off on his own and now produces cotton, milo, and blacked-eyed peas on
6,000 acres.
Bearden is on the National Cotton Council
Board of Directors, is the Chairman of the National Cotton Council Crop Insurance Task Force,
an officer of the Cotton Incorporated Board of
Directors, a Southwest Board member of the
American Cotton Producers, past president of
the Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., past member
of the Yoakum County Farm Bureau, serves on
the Western High Plains Boll Weevil Eradication
Zone Grower Committee, a past member of the
Plains ISD School Board, and is a Deacon of the
First Baptist Church in Plains.
Bearden is very proud to be in involved in
agriculture and to be a voice for producers. He
says that farming is what he loves to do. Rickey
and his wife, Karen, have two children-- a son,
Tracy, who lives in Denton, and a daughter, Kyley
Ross Wilson serves as President & CEO of
Texas Cattle Feeders Association, headquartered
in Amarillo. He was named to that position in
March 2006.
As President & CEO, Wilson is responsible for
the day-to-day operations of the Association, including supervising a staff of 17 and carrying out
policy established by the TCFA Board of Directors.
He has been on staff since 1985, serving previously as Vice President from 1998 to 2006 and Director of Government Affairs from 1985 to 1998.
Wilson serves as Co-Chairman of the Texas
Agricultural Council, a 60-member coalition of
Texas agricultural groups working to protect the
agricultural industry on legislative, regulatory
and political issues. Wilson also serves on the
board of the International Stockmen’s Education Foundation and is a member of the Texas
State Technical Committee of USDA’s Natural
Resource and Conservation Service, the TCC Research Institute Task Force on Land Use and has
served as chairman of the Agricultural Advisory
Committee to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Wilson is a 1980 honors graduate of Texas
Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics. He was selected in 2001 as
a Distinguished Alumni of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and is a
2004 recipient of the “State Friend of Extension”
award from Epsilon Sigma Phi, the National
Honorary Extension Fraternity. He was raised
on a diversified livestock and grain farm near
Claude, Texas and lives in Canyon with his wife,
Melody and has a grown son and daughter.
Agricultural Production
with husband, Greg, who live and farm in Terry
County. His parents are Ray and Joyce Bearden
of Tokio, Texas, and he says he is eternally grateful for his years of farming and partnership with
his dad.
Agribusiness
JAROY MOORE
Public Service
Jaroy Moore was born in Brady, Texas and
raised on a stock-farm in northwest McCulloch
County; he graduated from Lohn High School.
He received an associate BS degree from Tarleton
State College and then transferred to Texas A&M
where a degree in Agronomy was conferred in
1964. He continued his education at Texas A&M
and received an MS and PhD in Soil Physics.
Moore was named Resident Director at the
TAMU Agricultural Research Center in El Paso
in 1995. In March of 1998 he was requested to
move to Lubbock to assume the Resident Director’s position which Dr. John Abernathy occupied
prior to being named Dean at TTU’s CASNR. Agricultural Leadership expressed a desire for more
cooperation between Texas Tech, ARS and the
Texas A&M Ag agencies to effectively utilize capital and human resources and assure continued
funding support for the entities. Joint faculty appointments between Texas Tech and the TAMU
Center have grown from five to thirteen with
both universities having scientists residing at the
ARS Lab. Joint funding at the State and Federal
level continued to increase.
Moore and his wife Bennie, a retired school
teacher have two children. A son, Greg is now deceased. Their daughter Meredith Fowler and husband John reside in Lubbock. Meredith teaches in
Idalou and John is employed by Dean Foods. All
are members of First Christian Church of Lubbock.
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