Six Famous People Who Spent Time in San Antonio

1

Pope John Paul II

On September 13, 1987, the eyes of the world focused on San Antonio when Pope John Paul II stopped here during his second visit to the United States.

Months of planning was required to handle security, transportation, and sanitary concerns for the visit. A mass site to accommodate an expected 500,000 worshippers was chosen in the then-undeveloped area of Westover Hills.

Two obstacles prevented it from being a perfect day. First, an overly cautious public health official expressed her concerns to the local media that due to the stifling heat, hundreds would die at the papal mass site. Fortunately, her fears were unfounded, but they managed to persuade enough people to stay away that the crowd was a more manageable 350,000. And despite wearing heavy robes and a miter, the pope stayed cool thanks to a special air-conditioned chair.

Second, a few days before the event, heavy winds toppled two towers that framed the stage for the mass. There was little time to rebuild the towers, so cranes were brought in to support the remaining backdrop.

The only ones disappointed were those hoping to capitalize on the pope’s visit. Despite the hundreds of thousands of visitors who flocked to the city, the worshippers chose not to buy papal lawn sprinklers (dubbed “Let Us Spray”), paper papal hats, “pope-sicles,” and other cheap souvenirs that could be found on every street corner.

In spite of an early rush on accommodations and concerns that there might be a lodging shortage, most hotels ended up with a lot of empty rooms. Many pilgrims stayed with host families who volunteered their homes through local churches of every denomination.

The pope’s itinerary in San Antonio included a visit to Assumption Seminary, where he had lunch with the bishops of Texas, and a visit to Plaza Guadalupe on the west side, one of the poorest sections of the city. There he spoke on the importance of parish life. The first Polish pope ended his day back at Assumption Seminary, where he met a delegation of Polish Americans from Panna Maria. Thousands also lined the streets to watch his motorcade drive to various appointments. Without a doubt, the visit of Pope John Paul II touched every person in San Antonio in some way.

2

Phil Collins

When rock star Phil Collins was growing up in London, he watched the 1950s Disney series featuring Fess Parker as Davy Crockett. This kick-started his fascination with the Alamo, which Collins refers to as “a love affair” that he’s had with the Shrine of Texas Liberty since he was about five years old.

In 1973, when his band Genesis was touring the United States, Collins scheduled a day off to visit San Antonio. “I was just spellbound when I first saw it in person,” he recalled. “Having lived all my life, to see it in books and movies and the pictures in magazines, it was really quite extraordinary.”

His wife at the time bought him his first artifact in the 1990s. Over the years his collection grew to over 200 items valued at millions, including Davy Crockett’s rifle and Jim Bowie’s knife. “Some people would buy Ferraris. Some people would buy houses. I bought old bits of metal and old bits of paper,” Collins said.

On June 20, 2014, Collins announced that he was donating his collection to the state of Texas for display at the Alamo. “It’s at my home, in my basement in Switzerland. I look at it every day, but no one else was enjoying it.” He pledged that he would continue to purchase artifacts and donate them after a period of time.

3

Charles Lindbergh

Charles A. Lindbergh flew his own private plane to San Antonio’s Stinson Field on March 24, 1924, and entered the army as a cadet at Brooks Field. The number of aviators who started training on the Jenny aircraft was 104. However, in September, only 34 cadets advanced to the next step of training at Kelly Field, where they trained on the more powerful De Havilland aircraft.

Nine days before his graduation, Lindbergh had an accident and had to bail out of his aircraft. Luckily, he was a member of the first class of cadets who’d trained with a newfangled invention called the parachute (he was the twelfth military person ever to use one). On March 25, 1925, he graduated at the top of his class and accepted a second lieutenant commission and an assignment in the Air Service Reserve Corps.

A park was named for the famed aviator on Kelly Air Force Base and is now an office park site at Port San Antonio.

4

Pola Negri

Many celebrities traveling through San Antonio become enchanted with the Alamo City’s charm. Occasionally, someone is so taken by the city that they decide to make it their home. Such was the case with silent film star Pola Negri.

Negri was born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec in Lipno, Poland, where she was a star of stage and screen in Eastern Europe. She became one of the first foreign film stars to achieve success in Hollywood, appearing in such silent classics as Bella Donna, The Spanish Dancer, Forbidden Paradise, Shadows of Paris, Woman on Trial, and A Woman of the World. Her most famous role was that of Carmen in the classic Gypsy Blood. Her first talking motion picture was Woman Commands. She was often linked romantically with many of Hollywood’s most famous leading men, including Charlie Chaplin. Her one great love was for Rudolph Valentino, who died in 1926.

She lived in Europe in the 1930s and returned to the United States during the Second World War. In 1957 she visited San Antonio with her friend Margaret West and was so taken by it that in 1959 she moved to the city and mostly retired from show business. Despite many motion picture offers, she preferred to lead a quiet life writing her memoirs and enjoying local life. She accepted one final offer in 1968, a Disney project titled The Moon-Spinners. In 1968 she was awarded the HemisFair Film Festival Award for her contributions.

Many believed that Negri was a recluse, a faded star who jealously guarded her privacy. Such was not the case. An active member of the community, she was on the board of directors of the San Antonio Symphony and of San Antonio Little Theater. She was a member of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church and a supporter of the Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine on the city’s southeast side. In 1964 she donated her 700-volume library containing many rare books to Trinity University, and in 1970 she donated her rare recording collection to St. Mary’s University. She contributed to Henry Cisneros’s campaign for mayor in 1984 and died in San Antonio in 1987.

5

Antonio López de Santa Anna

Yes, that Santa Anna, from the Battle of the Alamo. After his surrender in San Jacinto, Santa Anna lived in a variety of places, including Cuba and Staten Island, New York. His time in San Antonio is well documented. What is lesser known is his role in the invention of chewing gum.

According to Jennifer Mathews’s book Chicle: The Chewing Gum of the Americas, from the Ancient Maya to William Wrigley, Santa Anna was trying to find a way to fund a return to the presidency of Mexico while living in New York. He had brought with him from Vera Cruz a supply of chicle—a chewy snack made out of sapodilla sap. With the assistance of amateur inventor Thomas Adams, Santa Anna tried to create a valuable substitute for rubber using chicle. When their attempt failed, Santa Anna returned to Mexico, penniless. Adams, left with a large supply of chicle, cut it into bite-size pieces and sold it as candy. Adams called his treat Chiclets and eventually made his fortune. The rest is history.

6

Rube Waddell

On Block 5, Lot 182, Space 2 of the Mission Burial Park South in San Antonio sits the rather impressive grave of George Edward “Rube” Waddell. The grave site doesn’t get many visitors. Few in San Antonio remember him or know he is buried here. If not for the generosity of baseball team owner H. J. Benson and baseball legend Connie Mack, who paid for the monument, Rube Waddell would still be interred in an unmarked pauper’s grave.

Who is Rube Waddell? Perhaps the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time. Waddell played in the major leagues from 1897 to 1910. He was the only pitcher to win ten games in one month (July 1902, Philadelphia Athletics) and the first to strike out three batters with nine consecutive pitches.

Other amazing statistics include

• A lifetime ERA of 2.16
• A career total of 50 shutouts
• Four 20-win seasons
• The record for strikeouts in a season (349)
• A career total of 2,316 strikeouts, 193 wins, and 261 complete games

Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946, Waddell was arguably the first star in the fledgling endeavor known as professional baseball. Biographer Alan Howard Levy noted: “He was among the game’s first real drawing cards, among its first honest-to-goodness celebrities, the first player to have teams of newspaper reporters following him, and the first to have a mass following of idol-worshiping kids yelling out his nickname like he was their buddy.” Many say the upstart American League would not have survived without the draw of Rube Waddell.

It was not his blazing fastball and terrific curve that earned him fans’ endearments and his nickname Rube, but rather his eccentric behavior. Often described as having the emotional and intellectual maturity of a child, Waddell was a constant source of grief for his managers. Between pitching performances, he would often disappear for days and be found playing in pickup games with neighborhood children. Once he disappeared from spring training in Jacksonville and was found leading a parade. Opposing players often distracted him on the mound with shiny objects and puppies, which were said to put him in a trancelike state. He was so bad with his money that one year the Philadelphia Athletics paid him in dollar bills to keep him from spending it too fast. He had a fascination with fires and could often be found assisting local firefighters. Many feel that he probably suffered from a social disorder.

In 1911 Waddell caught pneumonia after helping the town of Hickman, Kentucky, stave off floodwaters from an icy river. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and, in 1913, was sent to San Antonio to live with his sister and later to a sanatorium to recover. (It’s often falsely reported that he was sent to a mental institution.) In 1914 he passed away and was buried in a poorly marked grave. The faded wooden slab with his name was found by a preacher, who alerted Benson. Thanks to the efforts of Benson and numerous baseball fans, an elaborate gravestone now marks Rube Waddell’s grave.