Tarbox, Elmer L.

Elmer Lois Tarbox was a Texas legislator, World War II veteran, businessman, inventor, and philanthropist. Born in 1916 in Bishop, Oklahoma, he received a B.B.A. degree from Texas Technological College in 1939. He was active in football, basketball, and track programs, and set three NCAA records while attending Texas Technological College. Tarbox also participated in the 1939 Cotton Bowl game. During World War II, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps in the China-Burma-India theater with the famed Flying Tiger Squadron. He was awarded the Air Medal, Silver Star, Purple Heart, and the Golden Eagle of China.

After his military service, Tarbox developed, patented, and marketed Elmer's Weights, used primarily for athletic conditioning and physical rehabilitation. He served as State Representative of West Texas' Seventy-Sixth District, Place Two, from 1966-1976 and helped establish the Schools of Law and Medicine at Texas Tech University. Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, he founded the Tarbox Parkinson's Disease Institute in 1972 at the Texas Tech Medical School. Tarbox and his wife, Maxine Barnett, reared four children prior to her death in 1978. Tarbox died in 1987 in Lubbock, Texas.

From the guide to the Elmer L. Tarbox Papers, S 1006. 1., 1863-1978 and undated, (Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University)