Dirk West

Dirk West
Born	1930
Died	26 July 1996
Occupation	Cartoonist, journalist, actor, politician

Gerald Glynn "Dirk" West (1930 – July 26, 1996) was an editorial cartoonist, journalist, and mayor from Lubbock, Texas, most famous for his caricatures of collegiate mascots. He was born in Littlefield, Texas but his family moved to Lubbock soon after. He attended Texas Tech University where he drew cartoons for The University Daily student newspaper. He appeared as "Uncle Dirk" on a local children's program for three years while heading up his advertising agency, West Advertising. Beginning in the 1960s, he cartooned for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

West's most famous works featured caricatures of the sports mascots of various universities, mostly those of the Southwest Conference (and later the Big 12 Conference), but other schools appeared as well, usually because they were playing Texas Tech. His cartoons appeared in program books, on posters, and in magazines.

Two of his characters would eventually be officially adopted by their respective universities: Texas Tech's Raider Red and the University of Nebraska's Herbie Husker.

West drew a semi-weekly one-panel comic in the Avalanche-Journal's sports section where he would lampoon college mascots and coaches alike, as well as the stereotypes of various universities. Thus there was the dim-witted Texas A&M Aggie, the devout but overemotional Baylor Bear, the arrogant University of Texas at Austin Longhorn and of course Raider Red, whose bullet-riddled Stetson showed by the number of holes the number of game losses for Texas Tech so far that season.

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