Ed Pet Brown, who was head of the crew that laid the brick for the brick streets in Cisco beginning in 1919, held the Middleweight Wrestling World Championship Belt. More recently, Billy and Suzzone Franks, who own ranch land where Eastland and Callahan counties meet, have won 13 Halter Quarter Horse World Championships and 9 Paint Horse Halter World Championships. Their trophy room is fantastic. They are selling their Three Nails Ranch on the Scranton Exit Road off of I20 and have bought Terry Bradshaw's Ranch near Thackerville, Oklahoma. Bradshaw, another World Champion, led his team to 4 Superbowl Championships.
The Franks have lived on the Three Nails Ranch for 15 years and began it first as a deer ranch. Their house was built earlier as a hunters' lodge and they have added numerous barns and corrals to house their horses who have become their major focus in the last few years. One barn has an entrance in the north end which houses their trophies. They have had one million dollar horse and at least two others that have won numerous World Championships that have sired numerous other horses. Sometimes they have had at least 70 other horse raisers to pay for breeding. One horse, Horse Run Kid , was sold to people in Brazil. Also Intensions was one of their most famous World Champion Paint Horses and Kid Solisiified their famous Quarterhorse (I am sorry if I didn't spell this last named horse correctly).
The Franks have a large interest in the ranch in Oklahoma and think it will be a good place to relocate their horses. They intend to move back to Louisiana near their place of origin and close to their family. Billy Franks was a preacher at one time and named the Three Nails Ranch for the three nails driven into Christ on the cross. They have attended the First Baptist Church in Cisco. Suzzone Franks, who ran Spotted Zebra Clothing in Cisco for a time, is the one who talked Billy into getting into the horse business. I asked, “Where did you learn about the horse business?” She replied, “I have a trainer who needs to be given a lot of credit.” Although the horses have been Suzzone's project, Billy has had the business background to organize the business end of the project. They have both used their talents and their money to make this into a World Champion type operation.
