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Meet Jeff Millar and Bill Hinds

Jeff Millar was born in Pasadena, Texas, and grew up in League City, Texas, a then-small town between Houston and Galveston. He graduated from the University of Texas and went to work for the Houston Chronicle in 1964 as film critic. He added a humor column in 1972. Millar retired from the Chronicle in 2000.

Bill Hinds was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He received a degree in fine arts from Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, and returned to Houston to seek his fortune as a cartoonist.

Millar and Hinds met in 1973 when Millar - who can't draw stick figures - went out looking for a collaborator for a comic strip about sports. "Tank McNamara" began syndication through Universal Press Syndicate in August 1974. The strip is beloved by sports fans and attracts thousands of nominations from readers each year for its annual "Sports Jerk of the Year" competition.

Both Hinds and Millar have interests outside "Tank McNamara." Dial Press published Millar's novel, "Private Sector." His play, "Icehouse," which he assembled from his columns about characters who hang out at a Houston bar, was presented by Houston's Stages Theater. In 1989, Hinds created a pint-sized attack TV journalist named Buzz Beamer for Sports Illustrated for Kids. Buzz continues to be one of the magazine's most popular features.

Childless except for his creations, Millar has been married since 1994 to Peg Millar, who teaches middle school. Bill and Lisa Hinds are the parents of Hannah, Gracie and Sam.