Sam Hinton

Folksinger, educator, and marine biologist Sam Hinton was born March 21, 1917 in Tulsa, OK; raised largely in Texas, after graduating high school he studied zoology at Texas A&M, helping fund his education via singing appearances. In 1936 he won a Major Bowes' Amateur Hour competition, leaving school to tour the country with the Bowes troupe; finally settling in Los Angeles three years later, Hinton enrolled at UCLA, concurrently landing a role in the musical comedy Meet the People alongside then-unknowns including Virginia O'Brien and Nanette Fabray. After graduating in 1940,...