While finding a date for the organization of the TSGAT is not an easy one, existing records reflect that it had a President as early as 1943. Since Presidents' terms of office have been categorized by the year in which a term of office ended, it is reasonable to assume that the first President's term began in 1942. Thus, the Texas State Guard would have been not much more than a year old when the Association took form.

A magazine report in December, 1945, refers to that year's convention as being "the most successful convention in the organization's history. We can therefore conclude that it is unlikely this was its first annual conference. The votes tabulated in that year's election suggest that there were at least 189 members present at this convention. World War II had just ended a little more than a month before the October, 1945 conference. The level of interest in the Texas State Guard indicated by that attendance is worth noting.

One of the topics of the 1945 conference was the reorganization of the Texas National Guard, since the National Guard had been federalized for several years. The conferees approved a resolution recognizing that the Texas State Guard had been formed for the purpose of replacing the National Guard which would soon reappear on the scene and recommending a reorganization of TSG to enable it to assume a different role. Speaking to the convention, the Lieutenant Governor, along with the State Guard's Commander, challenged State Guardsmen to assist the National Guard in returning to its State role. There are numerous indications in the early post-war years that this exhortation bore fruit.

One thing which should be observed is that the TSGA began as the Texas State Guard Officers' Association and would not become an association of all TSG personnel until some time after World War II ended. This change has been an elusive one to fix in time. A recorded reference to the general assembly held in November, 1954, refers to the organization as the Texas State Guard Association, so the limitation of membership to officers had ended before 1954. A listing of members who had died since the previous TSGA conference contained the name of an enlisted man, thus demonstrating that the change had been more than a mere change in the Association's name.

A resolution passed at this same 1954 meeting addressed the already scattered records of the Association and recommended that the records be gathered and maintained in one central location. It does not appear that this problem and its effect on maintaining a coherent Association history has ever been solved, although it has long been recognized.

At this same conference, plans were made to organize a national association, the State Guard Association of the United States. Such an organization was formed, in fact, and existed for a number of years before fading from the scene. The organization we now know as the State Guard Association of the United States would not come into existence until the mid 1980s. Even there, Texas had a role. The first annual conference was held at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport hotel. The first President of the Association was Major General William O. Green, the immediate-past Commander of the Texas State Guard.

The Association, as well as the National organization did not confine their activities to the promotion of the interests of the State Guards. The openly advocated the maintenance of a strong National Guard. General Allen D. Rooke, then President of the National Association led a fight in 1958 to head off the reduction of total National Guard strength from an already-low 400,000, to 360,000 troops. But there were matters of specific concern to the State Guards which TSGA and the National Association worked very hard to accomplish. The war-time statutory authority for State Defense forces had expired and these organizations fought for several years before they succeeded in getting Congress to recognize the need for such forces.

Although claiming no credit for a part in the organization, there are those who feel that the successes of the Texas State Guard Association played a part in the formation of yet another military association in Texas. It was 1960 before the National Guard Association of Texas was organized. Among the members of NGAT's first board of directors was a man who would eventually become the Commander of the Texas State Guard, along with others who would become members of TSG.

During the early years of its existence, the Association conducted business as an unincorporated entity. A corporate charter was obtained by the current President in 1972, but the Association's membership declined to incorporate at that time. Finally, at it's meeting in 1976, the Association adopted a corporate form and has operated as a corporation since that time. It obtained exemption from Federal Income Tax in 1977.

Then President Maurice Lambert initiated a new program intended to raise funds for the Association and the Texas State Guard - the Century Club in 1976. An outgrowth of this was the formation of the Texas State Guard Association Trust, the purpose of the Trust being that of controlling the donated funds. This trust was formed in 1978 during the administration of President Marlin Mote. An Internal Revenue Service ruling in that year provided that contributions by donees would be deductible for tax purposes.

After many years of general inactivity the membership of the association authorized in October 2002 the merger of the organization with the National Guard Association of Texas. Due to required NGAT administrative details the vote to finalize the merger did not occur until 19 March 2005 where the motion passed in a greater than 2 to 1 vote.

Presidents of the TSGA

NGAT Board Members for the Texas State Guard