Born in
Los Angeles, Sarpalius experienced
homelessness as a young boy in
Houston, along with his mother and two younger brothers. In 1961, when he was thirteen, he and his brothers were placed at
Cal Farley's Boys Ranch near
Amarillo. By the time he was nineteen, Sarpalius was the state president of the
Future Farmers of America. He first attended
Clarendon College in
Clarendon, Texas. He subsequently received a
Bachelor of Science degree in
agribusiness from
Texas Tech University in
Lubbock, from which he was later named a distinguished alumnus. In 1972, Sarpalius was hired by Cal Farley's Ranch as a vocational agriculture teacher at the school. In 1978, he left the ranch to return to school and received an
M.B.A. from
West Texas State University in
Canyon, Texas. He then launched a career in agribusiness.
Congress In 1980, Sarpalius successfully ran for a seat in the
Texas State Senate, a body in which he served until 1989. He was elected in 1988 to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was a member of the
Agricultural Committee. Sarpalius was one of a number of congressmen involved in drafting the guidelines of the
North American Free Trade Agreement. As a
Lithuanian American, Sarpalius called for American aid to
Lithuania, which was occupied by the
Soviet Union and then reclaimed its independence at the end of the
Cold War. In 1998, he was awarded the
Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, "the highest award and recognition that Lithuania could give to a noncitizen by the President of Lithuania." "The president said some very nice things about my efforts in helping the Lithuanian people in their fight for freedom. He told the crowd about President Landsbergis's visit to my office that night in 1989 and the vision that he had shared with me. He acknowledged the members of Congress who had worked tirelessly to help the tiny Baltic states gain their freedom from the Soviet Union." Sarpalius won a second term in the House in 1990, when he defeated
Republican State Representative Richard A. Waterfield of
Canadian in
Hemphill County, who resigned from the legislature to make the congressional race. In 1992, Sarpalius faced a spirited challenge from his Republican predecessor,
Beau Boulter of Amarillo, who vacated the House seat in 1988 to challenge Democratic
U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. In 1994, however, Sarpalius was one of a large number of House Democrats unseated in the "
Republican Revolution". He lost to former
Reagan administration official
Mac Thornberry, taking only 45 percent of the vote to Thornberry's 55 percent. Thornberry would go on to hold the seat for almost a quarter-century. To date, Sarpalius is the last Democrat to garner even 40 percent of the district's vote.
Later career After leaving Congress, Sarpalius was appointed by U.S. President
Bill Clinton as a top official in the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. He is currently the chief executive officer of Advantage Associates, a powerful Washington consulting firm made up of former elected officials. After the success of his book
The Grand Duke from Boys Ranch, he became a sought after motivational public speaker.
Personal Sarpalius is
Roman Catholic and affiliated with
Lions International. He has a son, David William Sarpalius, from a former marriage. ==References==