Master Field Organizer
E.A. Hicks truly is one unsung hero of Texas Lionism, and his dedication to duty made him a favorite of Dr. William Perry Woods in organizing “dens” for the ‘Royal Order of Lions.’ It is not easy to calculate the total numbers to his credit, for he was credited with helping make the Midwest, particularly the state of Ohio, a successful organized territory where dens were proliferating in abundance.
Early on Mr. Hicks was noted as a resident of Evansville, Indiana because of his work with Dr. Woods. But “E.A.” was a Texan, and he wanted to go home, and with Dr. Woods’ blessings, he did so but also agreed to form dens in the Southwest which was fertile grounds–no organizing having taken place.
One has to appreciate the vast amount of traveling Hicks logged in order to accomplish his organizing. By early 1917, Hicks was trying to resign, but because forming so many clubs all over the country had been so pressing, he found it impossible to “retire” and enter business. A Fort Worth Telegram’s article on Hicks on March 3, 1917 reported that by then “He had achieved, “60,000 miles in nine years of incessant travel, visited every town in the country above 25,000 inhabitants and many smaller, made 4,000 speeches in the past two years, an slept in a Pullman berth weeks at a time.” Amazingly, Hicks was only 27 years old at the time. He additionally mentioned that he had traveled as far as Fairbanks, Alaska to the north and also to the larger cities of South America.
The newspaper article concluded with reporting that Hicks, a native of Gainesville, Texas wanted to live in Texas if he ever got the time. But his desire to live in a home instead of a hotel continued to be postponed many times due to the demands of his work.