Roy Bedichek

(June 27, 1878 - May 21, 1959) Born in Illinois to J. M. and Lucretia (Craven) Bedichek, Roy came to Falls County at the age of six. Educated first in his parents' school at Blevins and later at the Bedichek's Eddy Literary and Scientific Institute, he graduated from the University of Texas in 1903. He and Lillian Greer were married in 1910; their children were Mary, Sarah, and Bachman. Bedichek was a reporter, editor, teacher, and homesteader before joining the staff of the University of Texas in 1917; he became the second director of the University Interscholastic League (UIL) in 1922. For twenty-six years he tailored league policies to the American ideal of education for every child. His use of educational competition as "a spur to industry and a whetstone of talent" has shaped the lives of the countless students who have participated in UIL academic, athletic, and musical contests. A lifelong outdoorsman and animal lover, Bedichek wrote "Adventures with a Texas Naturalist," which was published in 1947; his letters, evidence of his enthusiastic correspondence, were collected into two books. Bedichek is fondly remembered as a conversationalist, folklorist, and storyteller who related all experience to the natural world. "He had the most richly stored mind of any man I ever knew," said his friend J. Frank Dobie. (1998)

Roy Bedichek is a historical marker in Eddy, Falls County. It is one of 64 historical markers documented in Falls County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 70 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 31.2855, -97.2547 near Eddy. The nearest cataloged historic site is Boyhood Home of Tom Connally (historical marker), about 1.4 miles away. Others within a short drive include Blevins Cemetery, Blevins Community and School, and Mooreville Cemetery.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5145011871. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.