Robert Austin Crowder (January 29, 1901 – November 26, 1972) was a Ranger in Minden, Rusk County, Texas who was posthumously installed in the Ranger Hall of Fame in May 1982.[1] [2]
Crowder served in the Marine Corps from 1921 to 1925. After leaving the Marines he joined the Dallas Police Department as a motorcycle officer in 1925. In 1930 he transferred to the Texas Highway Department and in 1937 received his Ranger commission and served in Company B. Crowder became captain of Company C in Lubbock in 1948 but transferred back to Company B in 1951 to live in Dallas. In 1956, he was made Acting Chief of the Texas Rangers. In 1960 he took a cut in pay to return to his favorite post as Captain of Company B from which he retired in 1969.
In 1955, when the inmates at the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane rioted and took a staff member hostage, Captain Crowder entered the hospital (remaining armed) and secured the hostage's release, ending the riot. Crowder died of a heart attack on November 26, 1972.
In In the Line of Duty[3] by Lewis C. Rigler, the author describes Bob as looking like a Ranger: