Billy Moss Sansing

His life melded his enthusiasm for sports with his professions—advertising and marketing.

A graduate of the University of Texas and of the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School, his business career started in sports journalism, embraced domestic and international assignments in advertising, and concluded with the founding of his own sports marketing company in Austin. He retired in 1993.

He married a fellow UT graduate, the former Ruth Ann Chaney, in 1942, after meeting her on Pearl Harbor day. He served in the Army Air Corps, enlisting in 1941 and leaving the service in 1946 as a lieutenant colonel.

Bill and Ruth Ann had three children, sons David and Richard, and daughter Cynthia (Cyn) and four grandchildren. David died in 2018, survived by his wife Caroline and son Dean. David and his family lived in Glenview, Illinois. Richard and his wife Deana live in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Cyn and her husband Steve Chapman live in Lake Forest, Illinois. Cyn has three sons, Christopher (wife Cassie and son Austin), Kevin, and Craig (wife Amy and daughter Taylor). Billy’s sister, Colonel Mary Jo Sansing (retired), lived in San Antonio before her death in 2001.

He was the first Sports Information Director at The University of Texas, then entered the advertising-agency business, serving in the U.S. and Latin American offices of the Interpublic Group of Companies, including McCann-Erickson and The Marschalk Company. He concluded that period as Executive Vice-President and General Manager of The Marschalk Company in New York. He was V.P. Marketing at Hart, Schaffner & Marx of Chicago from 1967-1970.

In 1970, he returned to Texas to establish his own sports marketing firm, Anamark, Inc., with longtime business associate Ms. Helga Anderson.

Anamark served two main clients, golfer Jack Nicklaus and his Golden Bear firm, and the Dallas Cowboys of the Tex Schramm/Tom Landry era. One of the results of the varied marketing, television, and related operations of Anamark was the concept and development of The Hills of Lakeway golf club and community, near Austin, with its Nicklaus-designed course and The Academy of Golf.

He was active in church and charitable works, notably the Salvation Army and the Salesmanship Club of Dallas. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church and a member of Cross Roads Church in San Antonio, and was also an active member of Covenant Presbyterian Church of Austin for many years prior to moving to San Antonio. His retirement years were primarily lived in The Towers on Park Lane, in San Antonio, where he took an active part in the sales and marketing of that facility.

If desired, memorial donations may be made to The Presbyterian Children’s Homes & Services at www.pchas.org or to Cross Roads at www.crossroadsofsa.church.