Sylvan E. Cloninger of Electra was a four-year letterman in football, basketball and track and named Howard Payne’s best all-around athlete in 1931. Cloninger led the football team to four Texas Conference Championships, was named to the all-conference team and to the Little All-American team. He was all-conference in basketball and the team’s leading scorer. In track and field, he set the Howard Payne record in the pole vault and won seven meets. After graduation in 1932, Cloninger worked for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service as administrative officer in Mason, Ballinger, Menard and Hamilton. He later served as manager of the Southwestern Peanut Growers Association in Gorman. He died in 1997.