Bill Hudson Jr.
Born and raised in South Mississippi, Bill Hudson Jr. has spent his life building and growing Hudson’s Salvage LLC, a 35-outlet chain of extreme value retail stores based out of Hattiesburg, MS. Bill was awarded the Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002 for the MS/LA retail category. In 2002 he also was recognized by the University of Southern Mississippi as Entrepreneur of the Year.

Bill bought his first registered Texas Longhorn cow in February 2003, and within a few months a passion was kindled in his heart for Texas Longhorns. He then set his mind to procuring the best set of foundation cows that money could buy. Bill wanted to own the greatest herd possible so he visited many ranches and attended almost every auction for the next three years, trying to put together a special herd of cows.

As his herd increased, Bill’s passion for Longhorns continued to burn. This is one of the reasons that he is a host for the Texas Longhorn Legacy Sale. Bill loves marketing and promoting his Longhorns as much as he likes breeding and photographing them. He doesn’t like to sell his best foundation cows, but the Legacy Sale is so important to him that he brings some of his best to promote the breed.

He was named as the TLBAA Newcomer of the Year in 2003 and was co-recipient, with his friend Joe Valentine, of the 2006 Bob Moore Award of Excellence given for service and dedication to the breed. Bill was the Trails supporter of the year in 2004 and 2005.

A real highlight of his short Longhorn career is when fellow Longhorn breeders rushed to help him during the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed a large part of his business and ranch in Mississippi. Gasoline, water and supplies were brought in cattle trailers by Longhorn friends from all over for Hudson’s employees. Then the trailers were used to relocate Bill’s cattle to the Lott, Texas ranch. Bill will tell you that it blessed him tremendously to see how generous Texas Longhorn breeders could be. It should be noted here that Hudson Salvage employees recognized Hudson with a $100,000 scholarship endowment at the University of Southern Mississippi in appreciation of his efforts for them during the Hurricane.

Since Katrina, Bill now has 50 foundation cows living with him on his ranch in Mississippi and the rest of the herd reside at the ranch in Texas.

To sum it up, Longhorns are an important part of Bill Hudson’s life, Bill says, “Once you are addicted to Longhorns, there is no rehab in the world that can get you off of them.” Some people need a dog, others a few cats will do, but for Bill, he needs this herd of Longhorns for his peace of mind. “They are simply the most beautiful, awesome and magnificent of all of God’s creatures.”

Joe & Lorinda Valentine
Joe became involved with Texas Longhorn cattle in 1979. At that time the TLBAA office was located down the service road from his office on Airport Freeway. That same year he purchased a few heifers from the golfing legend, Byron Nelson. Joe was good friends with Bryon’s nephews and he met Mr. Nelson through them. In fact, when Joe moved the ranch to Pontotoc, Texas…..he was thrilled to hire Byron’s former manager, who today lives back on the ranch in Roanoke, Texas. Those original heifers from Mr. Nelson effectively changed everything. The Braford cattle originally raised on the ranch were sold and the Texas Longhorn herd was increased.

Joe & Lorinda used to show a number of cattle. Showing cattle and marketing cattle to perspective buyers drew them closer to our wonderful breed. They will also tell you that the one single thing that kept their attention all these years, and kept them involved are the numerous friends they have. They also credit the assistance they received from many friends who guided them in the right direction. Panther Creek has shown many national champions. Joe has served in numerous capacities with both associations, ie, Board of Directors and President of the NTLBA and as a Director for the ITLA as well as President for 3 terms. He also served on the Foundation Board.

Over the years Panther Creek has created a tradition of pursuing and preserving quality genetics in their herd. It is also this tradition that led them along with Mr. Bill Hudson, Jr. in restoring the Texas Longhorn Legacy Sale ……a program pioneered by McCombs Ranches several years ago. This year the program fulfills a dream with having Red and Charline back with the Legacy.

Awesome bull power is the name of the game today, and the Valentines aren’t short in this regard. Aside from Admiral, and genetics built into the herd from ownership of the legendary Watson 83 bull….you can find several bulls of 70” T2T quality in the program…..GR GRAND UNLIMITED & J.R. REBEL owned in partnership with Hudson Longhorns are a couple…then there’s the great SHADOWIZM owned in partnership with Stewart & Hudson, who’s also doing an outstanding job. There’s UNLIMITED TOMMIE, REVENUE 108 and PC DIXIE LEGEND that continue to rank among some of the best.

Until 2003, the Valentines maintained their cattle at their Hill Country ranch in Pontotoc, Texas and Aledo, Texas. They have now moved operations to Lott, Texas on a beautiful ranch with rolling hills and wonderful grass. They enjoy the area because there are so many other Longhorn producers nearby and especially their close friends Bill Hudson, Jr. as well as Terry & Jean Brown, who moved here from Ohio.

This love of the Longhorn breed, strong friendships, and the desire to share this love by encouraging new people to enter the Longhorn business makes Joe & Lorinda committed hosts for the Legacy Sale IV.