Tunnell was first elected to the Texas House in 1956. In the two years that he served as Speaker, which coincided with the first two years of the administration of Governor John B. Connally, Jr., the legislature created the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the state's first tourism department, and transferred what would become Padre Island National Seashore to the national government. On November 22, 1963, Tunnell was present at the Fort Worth breakfast at the Hotel Texas held for U.S. President John F. Kennedy shortly before his assassination later in the day. Others at the gathering included Texas Attorney General Waggoner Carr. In 1965, Governor Connally appointed Tunnell to the Texas Railroad Commission upon the retirement of 32-year veteran Ernest O. Thompson. Ben Barnes was then elected Speaker. Tunnell was twice elected to the Railroad Commission—1966 and 1972—before he resigned in 1973 to become a vice president and lobbyist for Houston-based Tenneco, a petroleum and natural gas company. One of his lobbyist colleagues was former state Representative Phil Cates, formerly of Wheeler County. Tunnell's service as Railroad Commissioner overlapped with the energy crisis of the early 1970s. In 1995, Governor George W. Bush appointed Tunnell to the State Conservatorship Board to overhaul and reorganize the troubled Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Tunnell died of cancer in Lake Palestine on March 7, 2000. He and his wife are interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Archery at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's individual  The men's individual archery event at the 2004 Summer Olympics was part of the archery programme. Its final was held on 19 August at the Panathinaiko Stadium. The Korean archers, medal favorites in both men's and women's competition, ranked 1st (Im Dong-hyun), 4th (Park Kyung-mo), and 5th (Jang Yong-ho) in the men's individual ranking round. Im's score of 687 set a new world record for 72 arrows, breaking the previous one set in 1995 by fellow Korean Shim Young-sung. It is not recognized by the International Olympic Committee as an Olympic record, however, as the ranking round took place on 12 August, before the 2004 opening ceremony. The round was held at Dekelia Air Force Base. The bracket setup (with 4th- and 5th-ranked archers facing off in the quarterfinals if undefeated and the winner of that match facing the 1st-ranked archer in the semifinals) meant that the Korean men could do no better than gold and bronze.