Artist: Martha McKelvie (1886–1976)
Roland Jacob Kinzer
KINZER, ROLAND JACOB (1876–1952), inducted 1939
Raised on an Iowa stock and grain farm, R. J. Kinzer graduated from Iowa State Agricultural College in 1902 and briefly worked there as farm superintendent. He was the high individual in the second national Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Contest in Chicago, 1902. Kinzer accepted a faculty position at Kansas State Agricultural College, serving for eight years, much of that time as department head. Under his direction, a Kansas State steer won the grand championship at the 1910 International. In 1911, Kinzer was named secretary of the American Hereford Association, a post he held until 1944. The breed expanded greatly, particularly in the Southern United States, under his leadership. Martha Groves McKelvie—an accomplished journalist, novelist, screenwriter, pianist, and visual artist who served as First Lady of Nebraska (1919–1923)—painted his portrait.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 121