John Lang Sinclair

Sinclair wrote the lyrics the night before the show, on a scrap of laundry paper, at the request of his roommate Lewis Johnson. The song spread from there. University president Harry Y. Benedict had it translated into ten languages in 1930, and the Students' Association copyrighted it in 1936 and in 1951 founded a scholarship fund in Sinclair's name. A Fort Worth musician, Wylbert Brown, had copyrighted the words in 1928; Arthur B. Gurwitz secured them for the university in 1986. Alumnus Alan L. Bean carried a silk-screen copy to the moon in 1969.

What the plaque says

John Lang Sinclair (November 26, 1879 - January 4, 1947) In 1899, John Lang Sinclair became a student at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin. The first UT band was formed in 1900 and Sinclair, possessing an aptitude for music, joined it as well as the Glee Club. The student head of the Glee Club, Lewis Johnson, urged Sinclair to write a school song in 1903. His first attempt was "The Jolly Students of Varsity." His second, to the tune of "I've Been Working on The Railroad," was "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You." UT President William L. Prather, formerly a student at Washington College (later Washington and Lee University), had often heard Robert E. Lee admonish his students, "The Eyes of The South Are Upon You." Prather altered the saying for use at UT, and Sinclair borrowed it for his song. "The Eyes of Texas," first performed at a minstrel show at Austin's Hancock Opera House to benefit the UT track team, was an instant success. Sinclair graduated in 1904 and returned to his family's dairy farm in eastern Bexar County. When Prather died in 1905, his family requested a performance of "The Eyes of Texas" at his funeral. Sinclair moved to New York City, where he and his wife, Stella Anderson of San Antonio (also a UT graduate) were active in the New York Texas Exes' Association. The song was so popular throughout the nation that many confused it with the official state song of Texas. After years of copyright battles, the UT acquired the rights to it in the 1980s. According to the university magazine "The Alcalde," the chimes atop the UT tower played "The Eyes of Texas" during Sinclair's San Antonio funeral. Though he revised the words from the original version, the spirit of the song remained the same. Its popularity continues at the dawn of the 21st century. (2000)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Alamo — 1.1 mi
  Mission San Antonio de Valero before it was a fort: a church its builders never finished, a thirteen-day siege in 1836, and the Army gable of 1850-52 that became its emblem.
• La Villita Historic Arts Village — 1.1 mi
  The little village across the river from the presidio, where Cos surrendered San Antonio in 1835, rebuilt by Depression-era youth crews as a working crafts village.
• San Antonio River Walk — 1.2 mi
  A Depression-era park one level below downtown, built because San Antonio refused to pave its river after the 1921 flood, and designed by an architect the project later fired.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 1.5 mi
  The Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.

More markers nearby

• James Nathaniel Fisk — steps away
• Simona Smith Fisk — steps away
• Clara Driscoll (April 2, 1881-July 17, 1945) — steps away
• Samuel S. Smith — steps away