John Kimbrough, 87; Football Star, B-Movie Actor, Texas Legislator

John Kimbrough, 87, a Texas A&M; football great who starred in two B-westerns in the 1940s and became a Texas state legislator, died of pneumonia Monday in Haskell, Texas.

Dubbed the “Haskell Hurricane,” Kimbrough was a fullback for Texas A&M;’s 1939 national championship team. In 1940, he finished second to the University of Michigan’s Tom Harmon in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

Kimbrough parlayed his gridiron fame and good looks into a Hollywood contract, starring in the 1942 westerns “Sundown Jim” and “Lone Star Ranger.”

After serving as an Army pilot in the Pacific during World War II, he played for the Los Angeles Dons of the All-American Football Conference, a short-lived rival of the NFL.

Kimbrough, who served in the Texas Legislature from 1953 to 1955, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.