Jack Favor

Jack Graves Favor, also known as Cadillac Jack Favor, was an American rodeo performer.

Biography

Favor was born on a ranch in Eula, Texas, the son of Robert and Georgia Favor. He attended and graduated from Abilene [High School (Texas)|Abilene High School]. While at high school he won his first rodeo competition as a bronc rider in Cameron, Texas.

Favor served in the United States Navy from 1929 to 1932, returning to Texas after his discharge. He worked as a truck driver for a plumbing company in Abilene, Texas. He later settled in Fort Worth, Texas, before returning to the Navy in 1941.
File:1947 cowboy photo including Jack Favor.webp|thumb|upright=1.1|Favor with Bill McGuire, Foster Tussy and George Mills, 1947
Favor continued to compete in rodeos, retiring in 1961 to live in Texarkana, Texas, working as a salesman.

In 1967, Favor was convicted of a double murder after being accused by a hitchhiker he had picked up. He was represented by Louisiana state senator Joe T. Cawthorn in his court trial, but was found guilty and served eight years of a life sentence at Angola State Penitentiary before being acquitted in a retrial.
After his release, Favor sued for wrongful conviction and imprisonment, settling for $55,000. He was the subject of a book written by William B. Moody, titled In Jack’s Favor, and appeared in the NBC late-night television talk show The Tomorrow Show, and a radio show hosted by sports journalist Howard Cosell.

Favor died on December 27, 1988, from complications of cancer in a hospital in Arlington, Texas, at the age of 77. He was buried at Parkdale Cemetery.
In 1998, Favor was played by actor and musician Clint Black in the television film Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack. Black also co-wrote the song "Cadillac Jack" with country songwriter Hayden Nicholas.
In 2009, Favor was posthumously inducted into the Texas Trail of Fame.