Andy Anderson Park

Please note that the current condition of Andy Anderson Park is currently in a non-working condition. If you or someone you know has the resources to help us restore the park's pier and recreation facility, please contact us at (713) 520-8782. Once the property is restored it will be available to the public for social gatherings and activities. Texas PVA is very thankful to Boy Scout Troop 900 for helping us make the park more accessible with an accessible horseshoe pit, swing set, and picnic tables.

Ralph A. (Andy) Anderson, Sr. (1890-1956), sportswriter and humanitarian, son of John and Anna Anderson, was born May 14, 1890, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After two years at Carnegie Institute of Technology, he enlisted in the United States Army in 1917 at Fort Logan, Colorado, and served in the mounted engineers. After the armistice he was city editor and sports editor of the Houston Post from 1919 to 1923. In 1920 he married Ruby Ellison. They had one son, Ralph A. Anderson Jr.

While with the Post, Anderson was honored for his efforts in helping to establish sandlot baseball in Houston and the Houston Amateur baseball Federation. In 1923 he went into the business of constructing and operating golf courses in several small towns around Houston. In 1923 he became sports editor of the Houston Press, with which he was affiliated the rest of his life. He wrote a column on hunting and fishing along the Texas Gulf Coast and conducted a radio program on outdoor sports for several years.

During World War II Anderson promoted the sale of war bonds and subsequently began rehabilitation work with returning disabled was veterans. This work included developing special social and recreational activities, with emphasis on outdoors. He invented attachments for sports equipment to permit persons of various disabilities to participate. Under his direction annual wild-game dinners were instituted in several veteran's hospitals in south Texas; in addition to those hospitals, Anderson visited 172 other Veterans Administration hospitals over the United States as volunteer-at-large to entertain and instruct the veterans in recreational pursuits. Through his efforts a park for handicapped veterans was established on the east shore of Lake Houston. Later the park was named for him. Anderson's office at the Houston Press became a one-man bureau for helping the poor, the troubled, and parolees. Through his column he served as a intermediary between those in need and those in a position to help, and he received national recognition for his work. In 1953 he was also chosen National Fisherman of the Year and was elected to the Fishing Hall of Fame of the Sportsman's Club of America. An elementary school in southwest Houston was named for him in 1961. He died on January 24, 1956, at his home in Houston.