{"id":258235,"date":"2026-04-20T18:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/258235\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T18:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:44:08","slug":"texas-cavaliers-mark-100-years-with-new-coffee-table-book-record-charitable-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/258235\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Cavaliers mark 100 years with new coffee table book, record charitable giving"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Before the Texas Cavaliers and the King Antonio title became synonymous with San Antonio\u2019s Fiesta<\/a> celebration, the organization spent decades trying to figure out its identity \u2014 starting with what to call its king.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1896, there was a King Cotton, and then after that, there were three King Selamats \u2014 which is Tamales spelled backwards,\u201d Cavalier Wendell Hall said. \u201cThen there was a one King Omala, which is King Alamo spelled backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization even crowned a King Zeus, Rex and Alegria before finally landing on King Antonio. And the numbering? That\u2019s a mystery all its own.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne, two, three, four, and they skipped five, and no one knows why, and then they went to Kings seven and eight,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

John B. Carrington was King Antonio VIII when the Texas Cavaliers were officially founded in 1926. Early on, the king\u2019s look leaned more theatrical than tactical.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a flowing robe behind him in tights and something that looked very regal,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

But that changed quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1928, a group of Cavaliers revolted,\u201d Hall said. \u201cAnd they sketched out a uniform that they thought would be appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new look was far more practical.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had red britches and riding boots, and a blue jacket with a sand brown belt \u2014 much more military looking,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was made for riding, because most all the men were riders and had horses, and rode horses.\u201d<\/p>\n

A hospital visit that changed everything<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s original mission was to promote and maintain horsemanship during the early era of the automobile \u2014 but a chance hospital visit in 1929 gave the organization a new sense of purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cKing Antonio, back in 1929 \u2014 King Antonio Jack Beretta, he was King Antonio XI \u2014 went to Santa Rosa Hospital because one of his aides\u2019 wife had just had a baby,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile they were there, the Sisters of Charity said, \u2018Would you all mind going to see the children in the children\u2019s wing?\u2019\u201d Hall said. \u201cAnd while you\u2019re at it, would you go to two of our orphanages that we support?\u201d<\/p>\n

The royal entourage obliged \u2014 and came away forever changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened was the king and his entourage were more inspired by those visits than the kids,\u201d Hall said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s when the Cavaliers found their heart for the children of San Antonio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall said the impact of that visit cannot be overstated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s really no overstating how deeply that experience impacted the Cavaliers from that date forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

From $100 checks to $3 million: Charitable giving takes root<\/p>\n

Decades later, the Cavaliers Charitable Foundation was officially founded by Fred Middleton, who seeded it with $1,000 of his own money. The early days of giving were humble.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first few years, our contributions to children\u2019s charities were literally $100 checks, which were small and somewhat embarrassing,\u201d Hall said. \u201cBut over the years, it started to catch on.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has more than caught on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Fiesta will finally break the $3 million mark and give more than $3 million to children\u2019s charities in San Antonio,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

River Parade roots: Poles, paddles, real roses<\/p>\n

A good chunk of that charitable fundraising comes from the Texas Cavaliers\u2019 annual River Parade, a beloved San Antonio tradition that dates to 1941.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the first one in San Antonio, because the WPA had just created the River Walk only a few years earlier,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

With only about six months to prepare, organizers and volunteers worked together to pull off something no one had ever attempted on the San Antonio River.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all worked together for a week or more building these launches and learning how to guide them down the river,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

There were no motors back then \u2014 just muscle and creativity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey propelled them with poles and paddles,\u201d Hall said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t have motors in those days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even the decorating was a family affair.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the Cavalier wives helped decorate these launches with real roses and flowers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Getting the floats in and out of the water was no small feat, either \u2014 much like how barges are handled today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how far they went along the river, but that had to be really hard work,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n

That first parade drew 50,000 spectators. Today, more than 250,000 people turn out each year, helping fuel the Cavaliers\u2019 mission to serve the children of San Antonio.<\/p>\n

Wendall said while the River Parade is the organizations most recognized endeavor, he hopes over the next 100 years, The Cavaliers are most recognized for their contribution to children\u2019s charities of San Antonio. <\/p>\n

The coffee book is still awaiting final testimony, numbers and photos from Fiesta 2026. Production will be complete and the book will be available for purchase post-Fiesta. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Before the Texas Cavaliers and the King Antonio title became synonymous with San Antonio\u2019s Fiesta…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7185,82,84,83,37380],"class_list":["post-258235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-fiesta","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-texas-cavaliers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258235","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=258235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}