CHRIS LEDOUX

Last March the Country-Western music world lost one of its own outstanding singers and songwriters and very few people may know that Chris LeDoux at one time lived in Denison and attended Denison schools.  In 1963 Bill Blankenship, now a retired school administrator, was coaching McDaniel Junior High School Hornet ninth grade football. Bill remembers Chris as a member of that very successful team that lost only two games, both to McKinney. Henry Scott, now DISD Superintendent, also coached that team.  "McKinney beat us easily both times we played them," The two games were the first and last games of the Hornet’s season.
 

"Chris, was a very aggressive player and gave his best effort every time he was on the field," Bill said, after reading about his death on March 9.  Chris, 56 at the time of his death, had produced 37 albums and $5 million in record sales. He died in a Casper, WY hospital of complications of liver cancer. He had undergone a liver transplant in 2000 and a disease that blocked the bile duct that lead to cirrhosis.

Chris was born in Biloxi, MS and moved to Austin in 1960 when he was 12. When his dad came to Denison with the Red Cross, the family lived in the area near Ray Yards. Here he met a Denison boy his same age. Dusty Hunt lived in the same area and they played football together and became good pals.  Dusty remembers him as the only kid he knew who had a horse in the backyard and he got raw dough from Pillsbury to feed it. He had the makings of a country-western star even back then when he wore his boots and hat to school at B. McDaniel Junior High every day.

In about 1995 when Dusty’s graduating class held a reunion, Chris came back and did a benefit at Outlaws while he was enroute to Fort Worth to sing at Billy Bob’s.  He came in early and he and Dusty made the rounds. There were two places he wanted to go, Watson’s downtown drive-in and to the Railhead Restaurant in the Katy Depot, where they had dinner.

Dusty found some pictures taken as the two were growing up and sent them to Chris in Wyoming. He signed them and sent them back, along with a promotional picture of his own. February 1995 was the last time that Dusty saw him, but they did talk on the telephone several times.  Dusty remembers Chris as wearing a #51 Hornet jersey for McDaniel and thinks he stayed here through the10^th grade before the family moved and ended up in Wyoming. In 1976, not too many years after leaving Denison Chris earned the title of World Bareback Rider from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

He began dabbling in songwriting when he was in high school and his first album was released in 1973. Before and during his rodeo days he was self-releasing cassettes of his brand of country that included rock ‘n’ roll, folk, blues and Old West.  In a letter to Dusty in 1995 Chris said "It’s been a long time since we listened to the Beatles and the Beach Boys and had burgers at Watson’s, but I still remember those days with fond memories. That whole era was like the "Happy Days" TV show."

He said he had stopped in Denison a few years before and spent an afternoon just wandering around and reliving the 60’s.  All three Denisonians remember him as being a tough kid – in a good way. Dr. Scott said he was small, but a hustler and tough on the football field. He said he was the cowboy type back even back in junior high.

In 1992 Chris cut a gold CD, "Whatcha Gonna Do With a Cowboy," a duet with Garth Brooks that made the Top 10 list. Another of his songs, "Cadillac Ranch" made the Top 20. His career sales almost reached $6 million in albums.

About 10 months after his liver transplant Chris was back on the concert circuit. His 2002 CD was titled "After the Storm." His final album in 2003 was "Horsepower" demonstrated in a song, "The Ride".  Chris lived with his family on a ranch at Kaycee, WY. Dusty said he was married only once, to the same woman until he died. - Donna Hunt

Home | About Us | Alumni News | Articles | Photo Gallery