It's been a few years, but didn't the Lone Ranger start out as one of the Texas Rangers? I seem to remember an episode explaining how he came to be out on his own......

Totally off-topic, but re the white hats I have a tape full of old car commercials from the 50s/60s here. One of them is a cartoon-type ad for Dodge pickup trucks:

"Get on down to the Dodge Boys today. You can tell they're good guys -- They all wear white hats!" [Linked Image]