Cartoonist Profile: Ace Reid
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Asa Elmer “Ace” Reid Jr. was born in the Texas Panhandle [on March 10] 1925, near Clarendon. When he was 3 months old, his family moved to Electra, where they owned a 10,000-acre cattle ranch.
Young Ace Reid grew up around cattle, horses and cowboys. He was familiar with what it was like to be a cowboy — the hard-scrabble life they led, their outlook on life and sense of humor.
Reid graduated from high school in time to serve in the Navy at the end of World War II. He was a machinist’s mate aboard the USS Lanier, and it was aboard the ship that his cartooning career began. Reid developed a cartoon for the ship’s newspaper titled “The Sorry Salt.” After the war, the “Sorry Salt” in those early drawings evolved and became “Jake,” the main character in the “Cowpokes” cartoons.
[Madge and Ace Reid] bought several acres off Harper Road and established a ranch and studio where Reid could continue to develop his cartoons, starring Luke and Jake, the cowpokes on the Draggin’ S Ranch. In 1953, it was announced that the San Antonio Express would be carrying Reid’s cartoons depicting ranch life, and soon his career began to take off. By 1955, his work was appearing regularly in 30 papers in eight states.
Ace died on Nov. 10, 1991, at the age of 66. At the time of his death, he was the largest self-syndicated cartoonist in the world with 350 newspapers and periodicals running his Cowpokes cartoon.
Lanza Teague for The Kerrville Daily Times looks back on the life and times of local cartoonist Ace Reid.
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