The 1962 Texas Rangers Badge

• Time Period: Post-WW2
• Institution: October 1962
• Country: United States

The 1962 Texas Rangers Badge was designed in 1961-62 and is a five-pointed star symbolizing the “Lone Star” of Texas. The badge was created by Ranger Hardy L. Purvis in honor of his late father, Ranger Captain Hardy B. Purvis, and his mother. When Purvis presented the badge to the Texas Department of Public Safety, he also gave the Dept enough Cinco Peso Mexican silver coins for the sixty-two rangers at the time. 

Colonel Homer Garrison, Jr., Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety and Chief of the Texas Rangers, announced in October 1962, that the Texas Rangers are going back to the tradition steeped in history of a Mexican silver badge worn by their predecessors during frontier days. The new official Ranger badge, issued to each of the 62 members of the Force, is a replica of the historic original badge which old-time Rangers carved out of a Mexican five-peso silver dollar.

Modern Texas Rangers receive two badges when they are promoted to the Ranger Service. The first is the silver badge made from a Mexican Cinco peso coin. The second a bronze, silver-plated badge to carry in their identification case.