The Lone Ranger Rides
Francis Hamilton Striker was born on August 19, 1903, in Buffalo, New York.  While in Buffalo, he attended Lafayette High School and the University of Buffalo, before dropping out to join a theater company in New York City. After that, he jumped back to Buffalo as a radio announcer, then to Cleveland, back to Buffalo and out to Detroit.  It was during this period that he began writing radio mysteries and westerns. In 1932, Striker began work on “The Lone Ranger,” writing as many as 156 scripts per year.  When that became hugely popular, he followed up with “The Green Hornet,” which featured a descendent of the Lone Ranger and “Sergeant Preston of the Ukon.” Due to the popularity of the subject, Striker began writing Lone Ranger novels, comic strips and movie serials.  As television began to grow into a more popular medium and radio serials began to fade, Striker began writing the scripts for “The Lone Ranger” TV show. While moving with his wife and children on September 4, 1962, he was killed in an automobile accident, at the age of 59, in Elma, New York.  He is buried in Arcade Rural Cemetery in Arcade, New York.