Byers, William Bowling, 1920-

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William Bowling "Bo" Byers was born in 1920 in Miami, Missouri. After moving to Austin to live with an aunt and uncle, Byers graduated from Austin High School in 1936 and the University of Texas at Austin in 1941, where he received a Bachelor of Journalism degree. His first news story appeared in the Austin American-Statesman in December 1932.

Byers volunteered for the Army Air Corps and was inducted in September 1942. He flew 30 missions as a B-17 navigator in the 351st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, England, and was separated from service in September 1945. He worked for the Marshall News-Messenger and received a fellowship to teach journalism at UT, but left the fellowship after one semester to join the Associated Press Capitol Bureau in Austin, for whom he worked for 10 years. He joined the Houston Chronicle 's Austin Bureau in 1957, became bureau chief in 1961, and continued reporting, writing, and directing the bureau until his retirement in 1983. He then went on to report at the state government level, and also served as a deacon and elder in Central Presbyterian Church as well as five years on the City of Austin Parks and Recreation board.

Kathie Anderson interviewed Byers for a Qualitative Measures course at the University of Texas at Austin and produced a paper, Bo Knows: Fifty Years of Texas Journalism.

From the guide to the Byers, Bo, Oral History Collection 92-230., 1992, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Anderson, Kathie Ryckman, 1950-. Byers, Bo, Oral History Collection, 1992 University of Texas Libraries
creatorOf Byers, Bo, Oral History Collection 92-230., 1992 Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
referencedIn Byers, Bo, Oral History Collection 92-230., 1992 Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Anderson, Kathie person
associatedWith Anderson, Kathie Ryckman, 1950- person
associatedWith Associated Press corporateBody
associatedWith Byers, William Bowling, 1920- person
associatedWith Houston Chronicle (Houston, Tex.) corporateBody
associatedWith University of Texas. School of Journalism corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Austin (Tex.)
Houston (Tex.)
Subject
Interviews
Journalism
Journalism
Journalism
Oral history
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1920-04-24

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