"Sonny" Rea Stolz, the sixth man to provide the booming voice of Big Tex, icon of the State Fair of Texas, has voluntarily resigned his post.
In a letter he sent to fair officials, Stolz said he would not be back in 2002. Although he says he enjoyed fulfilling a lifelong ambition of voicing the World's Tallest Cowboy, he did not agree with his employers' insistence that he should stay behind the scenes.
Stolz enjoyed interacting with fairgoers, and visitors to his booth were always welcomed with a friendly chat. But officials felt that the man behind Big Tex should remain more of a mystery and not seek publicity. In Stolz's words, they wanted a "non-personality personality."
As reported in September by Texas Twisted, 2001 was Stolz's first year to step up to the microphone and reactions to the new voice were mostly positive. Even the daughter of the late Jim Lowe, the man who voiced the big Texan for 39 years, had stopped by Stolz's booth to say that her father would have been happy with his successor. Unfortunately, however, everyone will have to get used to a new voice again next season.
Officials do not plan to hold another audition next year, but will most likely select a new voice from this year's finalists. |
