The following biography is a compilation of material originally published on the websites of wacriswell.com and swordofthelord.com:

Wally Amos Criswell, Jr. was born along the Texas-Oklahoma border to a Baptist deacon and the daughter of a doctor on December 19, 1909.

He loved to read at an early age. Having read the Bible through at the age of six, he was saved and baptized at ten. Although his mother wanted him to be a physician, and his father, who had seen many pastors mistreated, wanted him to be anything but a preacher, he announced his intention to enter the ministry after surrendering to preach at age twelve in a meeting conducted by Dr. John R. Rice and another preacher.  

After moving to Amarillo in 1925, he had the opportunity to hear men such as L. R. Scarborough and George W. Truett. He went to college at Baylor in Waco and was ordained and preached in small churches while there. He completed a Ph.D. at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.  

Soon after seminary he was married to Bettie Marie Harris, whom he had met while pastor at nearby Mt. Washington, Kentucky.  

He was later pastor of First Baptist Church of Chickasaw, Oklahoma and First Baptist Church of Muskogee, Oklahoma. In 1944, he was called to be pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. The legendary George Truett, after forty-seven years as pastor, had died. The young Criswell was given the daunting task of following this great preacher.  

Under his leadership the church grew dramatically. In his early years as pastor he preached through the entire Bible, taking over eighteen years to complete the task. He served for fifty years as senior pastor of First Baptist Church, one of the largest churches in the Southern Baptist Convention, preaching more than four thousand sermons from its pulpit. He was known for his stand on the inerrancy of Scripture and wrote the important book “Why I Preach the Bible Is Literally True.”

Dr. Criswell published fifty-four books and was awarded eight honorary doctorates. The Criswell College, First Baptist Academy, and KCBI Radio were started under his leadership. He served on the board of trustees of Baylor University, Baylor Health Care System, Dallas Baptist University, and The Baptist Standard. He also served as a member of the Annuity Board and as Chairman of the Trustees of the Baptist Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources). The Baptist Banner characterized his contribution to the Southern Baptist Convention as "historic":

     He is known as the patriarch of the "conservative resurgence," returning the
     SBC to its Bible-believing roots. Twice elected president of the SBC, in 1968
     and 1969, during the 20 years that followed he was perhaps the most popular
     preacher at evangelism and pastors' conferences in America, while also preaching
     extensively to mission fields worldwide.

As founder and chancellor of the Criswell College, Dr. Criswell gave his later years to preparing young preachers to preach the Word of God, emphasizing that a sermon should take God's truth and "make it flame, make it live!" "The word we preach from our pulpits," he declared, "ought to be like the Word of God itself--like a fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces (Jer 23:29)."

W. A. Criswell went home to be with the Lord January 10, 2002. His legacy lives on through the messages he preached and the lives he touched during seventy-five years of pastoral ministry.