Julian Morrison “CY” Hurst was born January 4th, 1922 and passed peacefully in his sleep on Monday, November 29th, 2010 in League City, Texas, in the home of his daughter, Lynda, where he has kept residence since succumbing to the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Cy was the only child of Henry and Cornelia Hurst of Austin, whom had preceded him in death.
As a young boy, Cy rode the hills of Austin on horseback, hunting and trapping game to sustain his family during the Great Depression. At the age of 13, he became the youngest page ever to work for the Texas State Senate.
Cy enlisted in the Air Force at age 17. He quickly mastered any task or challenge put to him. He was made part of the Motorcycle Squadron and soon advanced to Training as a bomber pilot at the age of 22. After eleven successful bombing missions over Eastern occupied Europe, his plane was shot down. Cy managed to survive and was held for thirteen months in a German prison camp. He was emancipated by Gen. George W. Patton. After returning to the states, he stayed on with the Army Air Corps as a pilot trainer for young troops.
Upon returning to Austin, he courted and married Miss Bettye Williams and inherited three sons, Don, Skip and Mark (“4 for the price of one”, as Cy would say). Cy and Bettye moved to San Antonio, where they conceived their first and only daughter, Lynda. During this time, Cy was eking out a living as a golf professional. Career opportunities transported the family to Beaumont, where he enjoyed a successful career with National Cash Register. However, Cy’s heart has always been sports…golf, baseball, football and racing. Cy coached all of his sons and many of their friends in the art and dignity of sporting, particularly baseball, coaching Pony Leagues, Little leagues and Colt leagues.
As Fate would have it, Cy went to work as a sports reporter for KLVI radio, during which he also found time to do some scouting for the Houston Astros, focusing on local talent from Lamar University. He progressed to become the sports anchor for KFDM Channel 6 and truly became a legend in the Golden Triangle. During this time, Cy developed his catch phrase, “Tell ‘em Cy sent you buy” while touting the benefits of the many sponsors he represented.
One of Cy’s proudest accomplishments, along with George Zaharias, W. L. Pate, Sr. and other notables, was the establishment of the Babe Zaharias Golf Tournament, benefitting the existence and maintenance for the Babe Zaharias museum, honoring Beaumont’s Female Athlete of the Half Century. The tournament is still run annually each year during Memorial Day Weekend.
Left to mourn his parting and celebrate his life are sons, Don James and his former wife Sandra, Mark Hurst and his wife Angela, Skip and his wife Sandy; daughter, Lynda Saxton and her husband Mark; eleven grandchildren; four great grandchildren; and a host of nieces and nephews spread throughout Texas and Georgia.
Cy Hurst was the true definition of a “Real Texan” and an American Hero through and through, and will be sorely missed by family and friends alike. We all love and miss you and have comfort knowing that you are now with Our Lord and the love of your life, Bettye Ann.
A funeral service will be 1:30 p.m., Saturday, December 4,, 2010, at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 1350 N. 23rd, Beaumont, followed by burial with full military honors will follow at Magnolia Cemetery, Beaumont, under the direction of Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin, Beaumont. A gathering of his family and friends will begin at the church from 12:00 noon until the service time, We ask that all flowers and memorials be sent to Broussard’s prior to 9:00 a.m. the day of the service.
