Lee Roy Young
*Lee Roy Young was born on this date in 1947. He was a Black law enforcement officer, Texas Ranger.
Lee Roy Young was born in Del Rio, TX. After graduating high school, he served four years in the United States Navy from 1966 to 1970. After being discharged from the Navy, he earned an associate degree from Southwest Texas Junior College. He then began to attend Sam Houston State until he was hired by the Texas Department of Public Safety in 1973.
His first service was not as a patrolman but as part of Capitol Security in Austin for two years. He then became a patrolman, serving in Bryan-College Station before transferring to Del Rio, Texas. One of the requirements for becoming a Ranger was that the candidate needed to have eight years of experience in law enforcement, at least four of which needed to be with the Department of Public Safety. Young continued to serve with the Department of Public Safety until he became the first Black Texas Ranger in 1988 at the age of forty.
Young eventually relocated to McKinney, where he served in a one-man office. Before his posting, Rangers would work crimes in the area from larger offices out of Garland or Greenville. Reflecting back on his career, he could still recall the rush of emotion he felt the day he first wore the Texas Ranger badge. He had been acquainted with law officers as a youth, and it was something that he wanted to do. Young says he was treated with the mutual respect that one Ranger holds for another and recalled thinking that whatever their background, all candidates had to undergo the same process to become a Ranger. Young retired from the Texas Rangers in 2003, after which he worked as a private investigator.
