William H. Hinton of Estelline was a four-year letterman at Howard Payne in football and basketball. He was a member of Texas Conference championship teams in both sports and participated in NAIA playoffs in each. After graduating from Howard Payne in 1943, he joined the Army Corps of Engineers and served as a lieutenant in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Hinton came home to Texas and coached and taught at San Marcos Baptist Academy and Olney and San Angelo high schools. Hinton wrote his doctoral dissertation on the history of Howard Payne, where he served as basketball coach in 1953-54 and administrative vice president from 1954-56. He later became president of Northeast Mississippi Junior College and Texarkana College. Hinton was the founding president and chancellor of Houston Baptist University, growing the school from 193 students to more than 3,000 at his retirement in 1991. He died in 2004.