{"id":199257,"date":"2026-03-11T02:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T02:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/199257\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T02:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T02:41:07","slug":"wt-student-places-high-in-statewide-contest-with-tale-of-texas-bootlegger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/199257\/","title":{"rendered":"WT Student Places High in Statewide Contest with Tale of Texas Bootlegger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

CANYON, Texas \u2014 The story of an infamous Texas bootlegger won a West Texas A&M University student a top prize at a prestigious competition.<\/p>\n

August Vinson, a senior history major from Amarillo, placed third in the storied Battle of Flowers<\/a> oratorical contest with a speech recounting the life of Tom \u201cPinkie\u201d Roden.<\/p>\n

\u201cPinkie was the father of the University of Texas\u2013Permian Basin, a bootlegger and a man who acquired an incredible amount of tainted money and used it for selfless ventures,\u201d Vinson said.<\/p>\n

The 101st Battle of Flowers was held Feb. 27 at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, where Vinson placed third and won a $1,500 scholarship. This year\u2019s theme for the contest, the second-oldest collegiate oratorical contest in the country, was \u201cLawmakers and Lawbreakers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted someone who was not quite either of those\u2014someone with a rebellious streak but who had some sort of moral tuning,\u201d Vinson said. \u201cPinkie fell into my lap.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a young man, Roden went to prison for bootlegging, then when Prohibition was repealed, started selling alcohol legally in Odessa, while also making sure that customers in dry cities like Lubbock could still get their fill. Roden\u2019s eponymous liquor stores are still in business around the region, including two storefronts in Amarillo.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Roden\u2019s lobbying efforts led not only to the founding of UTPB, but also to a variety of alcohol-related laws, including those restricting the liquor sales to package stores and the abilities of cities and towns to decide if they would allow alcohol sales within the city limits or even in specific precincts, Vinson said.<\/p>\n

Vinson, a student employee of WT\u2019s Center for the Study of the American West<\/a>, saw in Roden the chance to show a statewide audience of historians that Texas history extends beyond central Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople joke that West Texas is off the map,\u201d Vinson said. \u201cI thought Pinkie\u2019s story would be relevant to judges in San Antonio and Austin but also tied into my hometown.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmarillo is a very unique place,\u201d she continued. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get the kind of reputation it deserves. There\u2019s a lot of history here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her speech on Roden, Vinson has done a significant amount of research into the Amarillo Fire Department, where her father, Lance Vinson, is a battalion chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cAugust is in her second semester as a CSAW intern and is a fantastic asset to the program,\u201d said Dr. Alex Hunt, CSAW director, Regents Professor of English and Vincent-Haley Professor of Western Studies. \u201cHer research project on the history and archival collection of the Amarillo Fire Department, funded by Amarillo National Bank, is yielding excellent results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vinson also has qualified in five events for the American Forensics Association\u2019s national speech tournament in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cAugust is an exceptional member of the forensics team,\u201d said Dr. Kelsey Abele, director of forensics and assistant professor of communication in the Department of Communication<\/a> in the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting for her to be part of the legacy of the esteemed Battle of Flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Promoting regional research is a key aim of the University\u2019s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That plan is fueled by the historic\u00a0One West<\/a>\u00a0comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign, which is now winding down, has raised more than $175 million.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

About West Texas A&M University<\/p>\n

A Regional Research University, West Texas A&M University is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 16 men\u2019s and women\u2019s athletics programs.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014WT\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu \u00a0 CANYON, Texas \u2014 The story of an infamous Texas bootlegger won…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-199257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-texas","9":"tag-texas-headlines","10":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}