Great reading on another of the Texas legends-father and sons. No, he shakes his head. In the late 1950's, Clint Sr. was one of the richest Americans, right there with Edsel Ford and all of the Rockefeller boys. So, Carter and the Finch boys were at each other all year long, especially when the Redskins and the Cowboys met. Youre in, then youre out. I guess thats good. In 1971,1 began to write my first novel-North Dallas Forty, which would be published in 1973 to critical acclaim and to dismay in the Cowboys front office. : Texas Stadium redefined the sports stadium. [10], Incorporating a host of first-ever innovations, Murchison became known as the godfather of modern stadium construction. And, I must admit I got some enjoyment out of it. It may come as news to anyone who played for the Cowboys after the mid-70s and to all the fans, but the Redskins/Cowboys rivalry didnt start on the field or even between the players. Clint Jr. did, too. And in the Murchison empire, Clint Sr. begat Clint Jr. Hes as remarkably like his father as he was remarkably unlike his brother, radio icon Gordon McLendon once said of his friend Clint Jr. His father we all referred to Clint Sr. as The Boss loved to go into businesses of every description. The players are rich, young, immortal. Murchison and McLendon remained in the shadows and allowed Murchison's long-time friend Robert F. Thompson to take credit for actual ownership while day-to-day management was vested in Swedish-Finnish businessman Jack S. Kotschack. Clint Murchison Sr. was among the richest of Texas oilmen, appearing on the cover of Time magazine in 1954 with an estimated net worth of more than $300 million. He was also the father of Dallas Cowboys owner Clint Murchison Jr.. [2] Contents 1 Personal 2 Family 3 Death 4 JFK conspiracy allegations 5 References Personal The younger Mr. Murchison attended preparatory school in Lawrenceville, N.J., and was graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University with a degree in electrical engineering while serving in the Marine Corps. Enjoy unlimited access to all of our incredible journalism, in print and digital. WITH DANNY REEVES NOW in the New York job, I want the Giants to win. , Dimensions Please try your request again later. His elder son, John, won Wall Street's biggest proxy fight, developed the Vail, Colorada ski resort, and was a noted jet-setter. The company they acquired was Tecon, which over the years would remove the overhanging shale that threatened to close the Panama Canal and would build the tunnel under Havana Harbor, the St. Lawrence Seaway and other multibillion-dollar projects around the world.. She died in 1926, leaving him to raise three small sons John, Clint Jr. and Burk, who died from pneumonia when he was 11. . I stood holding Carter in my arms, and it was an awkward moment. And: 2. His sons Clint Jr. and John shared their father's wizardry, adding to their investment firmament the Vail, Colo., ski resort and the Dallas Cowboys. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! One of Michaels most esteemed colleagues in a newspaper career spanning more than 50 years was the late Bryan Woolley, whose thousands of bylines include a moving profile of Clint Jr. Something went wrong. Dont give up. He returned to Athens and worked in the bank until the outbreak of World War I, when he joined the Army. Soon after Clint Jr. left MIT to return to Dallas to stake his place in the family business, Clint Sr. received a letter from the MIT professor with whom Clint Jr. lived as an undergraduate. The station was not a financial success, and joined forces with the Caroline organization to become the southern station of Radio Caroline. [4], Murchison enjoyed a reputation as a practical joker. These included the establishment of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys franchise, real estate development, construction, home building, restaurants and financing the offshore pirate radio station called Radio Nord. The home has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and two half-bathrooms and has been renovated,. The living room has the original hardwood flooring and crown molding, and the dining room is accented by the original Gracie Studio wallpaper. He believed his team would be good, even special, for years to come. Son of legendary Texas oil man Clint Murchison Sr., he enlisted in the Marine Corps after the attack on Pearl Harbor, earned an electrical engineering degree from Duke University and a master's in mathematics from MIT. Carter has already heard this. The club came apart from the top. We document that story as well, showing you how, in the end, it comes back around to Clint. Clint Sr. became an obsessive wildcatter, riding a stunning string of luck that by 1927, when he was 32, had netted him $6 million, a fortune hed made entirely through oil. His father was its president. He was named a finalist for the 2020 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a contributor, however he was not elected. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. A son of Clint Murchison Sr., who made his first fortune in oil exploration and became notorious for exploiting the sale of "hot oil", Clint and his surviving brother inherited their father's wealth and business interests to which Clint Jr. added ventures of . 1898, d. 1926). They had a good system. In her first book, Wolfe, former society editor of the Dallas Morning News , gives a superb glimpse of the personal lives and family dynamics of these millionaires whose bankruptcy in 1985 stunned both the state of Texas and the nation's financial community. He also longed for a symbol of redemption a state-of-the-art stadium that could go a long way toward restoring a depressed downtown in the wake of President John F. Kennedys assassination on Elm Street in Dallas in 1963. They had gotten as far as seeding the field with hundreds of pounds of chicken feed and smuggling a couple hundred chickens into the stadium. He said it interfered with concentration. After its patriarch passed away, the family empire prevailed under a partnership called Murchison Brothers. $10 in advance, $15 at the door, $36 for admission and a copy of the book. In 1952, Murchison joined a syndicate that included Everette Lee DeGolyer and Jack Crichton, both of Dallas, to use connections in the government of General Francisco Franco to obtain drilling rights in Spain. Publisher They passed up Tony Mandarich for Troy Aikman. Carter turns back to Ice Cube and The Nappy Dug Out. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Unable to strike a deal with city leaders to build a new stadium in downtown Dallas, Murchison selected a site in nearby Irving. He nodded to Billy Kilmer, smiled again at Carter and moved toward the elevator. [14] In February 1985, he had to file for personal bankruptcy protection after three creditors, the Toronto-Dominion Bank, the Kona-Post Corporation and Citicorp, filed a petition to force him into bankruptcy. Brandt had a free hand in drafting and scouting players, and Landry enjoyed absolute authority over the day-to-day running of the actual team. He believed his team would be good, even special, for years to come. (Perhaps its no coincidence that H.L. Then Perkins from Waterloo, Iowa, spoke in his deep, mellifluent voice. My total salary for five years with the Cowboys is less than single game checks today. Photo Courtesy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Arlington, Texas. (for me)in this is the one, Clint Murchison, Sr. who founded the fortunes in the oilfield . In that article, which unfolded with the eloquence and elegance of a talented writer, Woolley described Clint Sr. as having a nose for oil. If true, Clint Sr.s nose became nothing less than a beacon for wealth, teleporting him from backwater West Texas boom towns into the horror of the Great Depression, from which he emerged a multimillionaire. She writes about luxury properties, food and lifestyle in Dallas. Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web. Before that moment, however, Bryant said he asked specifically about two iconic buildings: the World Trade Center in New York and Texas Stadium in Irving. Didnt Landry and [Tex] Schramm draft Aikman? I ask halfheartedly. Yep. Following the death of his father Clint Murchison Sr., John and Clint Jr. inherited the wealth that their father had created. But if you pile it up in one place, it stinks like hell., According to Fortune, Clint Sr. declares one of his best assets is a full knowledge of the use of credit. Clint Jr. became enamored of education and its extracurricular dividend football, which gave him his own identity beyond his dad. Now, the Cowboys are made up of kids not much older than my son, and Carter has predicted the 90s will be the Cowboys decade. However, the family's style of loose management and easy credit based on a handshake was ill-suited to the late 1970s, when oil prices toppled and interest rates soared. He made Phi Beta Kappa in electrical engineering at Duke University in Durham, N.C., and earned a masters degree in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was at the time the countrys toughest school for science and engineering. The suites were an immediate status sensation. The battle widened when Murchison bought the copyrights to Hail to the Redskins out from under Marshall and used the song as a bargaining chip to force Marshall to drop his opposition to Clints bid. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. Jane Wolfe is the author of two previous biographies and one that will be published in September, 2022. Clint Murchi-son Jr. was there-he was already desperately ill. His general attitude was to hire experts and let them execute the aspect of the business that fell in their expertise. His father loved to stay borrowed up to the hilt. And prospered. I have tried to convince myself that if the Cowboys make him happy, then I am happy, but really I still struggle with my own memories of the team and try to reconcile them with the Cowboys of today. Clint Murchison Sr. began building the family fortune selling animal skins for pennies; later with interests in oil, real estate, and publishing, he was one of the first conglomerate makers. Clint Sr. appreciated the kindness, but in his mind, academia was no place for a Murchison. 1 dont know how Johnson treats people. Carter glances at me as two fat VJs start prancing around and talking at us. Then, with his sons by his side, Murchison broadened his business holdings. The new stadium has yet to lay claim to a Super Bowl-winning Cowboys team. Fascinating. Because the risk-taking pair won far more than they lost, they stayed afloat. By noon the next day, theyd returned to Wichita Falls, having tripled their profit in 24 hours by flipping the leases for $200,000 (more than $3 million in todays dollars). Dare we say it, but that was precisely the model that became the antithesis of how Jones runs the Cowboys. The plan was to turn the chickens loose when the dogsled hit the field. I finished out my career with the Giants playing for the Mara family-I cant stand the Maras-so Ill pull for them to win games and lose money. He only had a few childhood friends. He and his Cowboys cronies tried for a decade to foul up the Redskins big Christmas halftime show that was highlighted by Santa arriving at mid-field pulled by a dogsled. Most of what Clint said was unintelligible, but he kept pointing with his cane and trying to talk. [8], According to some conspiracy theorists, Murchison's home in Dallas hosted a meeting on the evening of November 21, 1963 (one day before the assassination of John F Kennedy). Clinton Williams Murchison Jr. was a businessman and founder of the Dallas Cowboys football team. This went on for five minutes a night, five nights a week on Channel 4. Murchison also valued loyalty. As a child, Dad was small and sickly and shy to a fault. Hunt, in helping create the AFL, established a professional football presence in Dallas, and the NFL realized the urgency with which they needed to address a potential market gain by the upstart league and a loss for the established organization. Murchison fought a rare nerve disease called olivopontocerebellar atrophy[4] and was in a wheelchair in his final years. They were arguably professional footballs most popular team, despite falling short of a championship until they won Super Bowl VI on Jan. 16, 1972. Theyll win at least three. He made trades for draft choices and built a team thatll last for years, Carter says. Jerry is a fellow risk-taker who made his money by becoming what feels to us like an oxymoron an Arkansas oilman. , ISBN-13 Mr. Murchison, who had been debilitated by a neurological disorder, was admitted to Gaston Episcopal Hospital here about two weeks ago, said Sandy McCoy, an associate administrator of the hospital. He retained the management rights to the stadium. He changed where and how games are played, not only in professional football but also in baseball, basketball, and colleges and high schools. St.Martin's Press, New York, 1989. 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The university offered to reinstate him if he would rat out his fellow gamblers he refused. Even so, the Arkansas oilman deserves 100% of the business chops he gets. Theres also guest quarters, complete with a bedroom, living room and kitchen, and an attached five-car garage. They cant even figure out how guys like me ever got to be 50. The character, made famous, or infamous, by actor Larry Hagman (whose mother, Mary Martin, played the title role in the original Broadway production of Peter Pan), hot-wired a ratings bonanza that introduced the world to the hole in the roof. She died in 1926, leaving him to raise three small sons John, Clint Jr. and Burk, who died from pneumonia when he was 11. But the most compelling contain elements of all three. Bright said Mr. Murchison replied with a letter that read: ''Dear Ed, you are full of prunes. The Los Angeles coliseum was half empty, and the crowd was asked to sit opposite the press box so that TV audiences would have the impression that there were lots of people in attendance. In 1960, the National Football League approved a franchise for Dallas, and Murchison, along with Bedford Wynne, was the franchisee or license holder. Clinton Williams "Clint" Murchison Sr. (April 11, 1895 - June 20, 1969) [1] was a noted Texas -based oil magnate and political operative. I left football in 1969 and worked in the advertising business in Dallas for a couple of years. Son of a Texas Wildcatter. Television has convinced a whole generation that success in sports requires a professional career and a stack of product endorsements. I hadnt even known who Jimmy Johnson was until he got to Dallas. John Murchison and his brother Clint Murchison Jr. were the first owners of the Dallas Cowboys. Reeves came back to the huddle after carrying the ball. Hunt and Hugh Roy Cullen, American folk heroes in the making. Personal Clint W. Murchison Sr was married twicefirst to Anne Morris (b. Clint Sr was a former wildcatter who got into the oil business right after World War 1. Despite Texas Stadium being demolished by the city of Irving in 2010, the hole in the roof lives on. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. The Dallas Cowboys, Clint Murchison Jr., and the Stadium That Changed American Sports Forever. They slapped down $50,000 on the spot to buy the leases. In 1966, when the still-young Dallas Cowboys franchise ended six years of agony with their first winning season, the team's owner and founder, Clint Murchison Jr., son of a billionaire oilman, was feeling ambitious. We went 4 and 10, and it was the Cowboys last losing season for the next 20 years. DAD? had exactly zero attendance, including the new $5 billion SoFi Stadium, which houses the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, who until the 2021 kickoff had played before zero thats right, zero fans in the stands in Inglewood, Calif., where the capacity is 70,000. Rather than being a city-owned rental facility, la the Cotton Bowl and dozens like it across America, where the only real perk was a hot dog and a Coke (or in Texas, a Dr Pepper), Clint cast the stadium in an adventurous new light, and Jones got it. Eventually, skyrocketing interest rates and plummeting oil and real estate prices led him to one of the largest personal bankruptcies in history. , Item Weight [13], Murchison ran into financial difficulties as a result of questionable investments and mismanagement and failing health[2] at a time when the real estate market was collapsing, at the same time as a sharp decrease in the price of oil and a rise in interest rates. Under Murchisons ownership the Dallas Cowboys delivered 20 consecutive winning seasons, 17 years of playoff appearances, five trips to the Super Bowl and two Lombardi trophies. After everybody finished laughing and Danny finished blushing (which he did often), Meredith called the next play and we went on to beat Cleveland. Spared the wrath of terrorists, Texas Stadium enjoyed a happier fate. Texas Stadium became the prototype of the 21st-century stadium, whether it hosts high school games in Katy, Texas, or serves as the $5 billion launchpad that opened in 2020 as the shared home of the Rams and Chargers. He got two technicals and lost the kids a close game the other night. The News described it as Murchisons country home, a 25-room house with an air-conditioned basement. ''One of his greatest satisfactions besides the Cowboys was Texas Stadium, the home of the Cowboys,'' John D. O'Connell, a longtime friend and business associate, said of Clinton Murchison. Murchison's laissez-faire attitude has been credited by many Cowboys fans as the driving force in the team's 20 consecutive winning seasons from 19661985 (including five Super Bowl appearances and including two Super Bowl championships). He was also the father of Dallas Cowboys owner Clint Murchison Jr. [2] Personal [ edit] He spent 19 years at the Los Angeles Times before returning to Dallas. And, right now, in the euphoric afterglow of victory that has to be covering the Metroplex like a constant fog, it would be difficult to find fault with two guys from Arkansas. Suite 2100 The team last won it all in Super Bowl XXX in Tempe, Ariz., on Jan. 28, 1996, when the Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to capture their fifth Lombardi Trophy. When it all came to an end in 1984 the tragic part of the story Clint Jr. had lost everything, and risk-taking was largely to blame. From now on, you're on your own.[4]. The ship Bon Jour was later renamed Mi Amigo, and after docking for almost a year in Galveston, Texas she sailed for southern England to become Radio Atlanta (McLendon began his radio career in the small town of Atlanta, Texas). For all my negative feelings about pro football, I can think of no better example to describe the best of life in the NFL in the 60s. There was the Lays commercial preceding Michael Jacksons Heal the World spectacular: Mike Ditka and Howie Long and Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor and the rest making fun of Tom Landrys bald head to sell potato chips. And theyll beat Buffalos no-huddle offense by sacking Jim Kelly and causing a lot of fumbles and interceptions. Carter tells me that the week before the game. Clint Murchison Jr. (left) and his brother John Murchison smiled after a 1961 meeting of the new board of directors of the multibillion-dollar Alleghany Corp. in New York. What most of America doesnt know is that he, too, was revolutionary. The home at 23 Ash Bluff Lane is listed for $7.5 million by Lillie Young of Allie Beth Allman and Associates. Few really adjust, some commit suicide. J. Edgar Hoover. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Drew Pearson Hole in the Roof (Hardback) (UK IMPORT) at the best online prices at eBay! Mr. After all, I made more money in the offseason in an advertising printing business with Bobby Hayes than I ever made in football. We were) finally playing to sold-out crowds after seven years of struggle. Thats not what being young is supposed to be about, anyway. NFL films will show the Cowboys seven TDs over and over in every future pregame show, so the network can recoup their billion-dollar investment in the NFL by selling hundreds of minutes of commercial time at $2 mil-Hon-$3 million a minute. And not very bright. In 1966, when the still-young Dallas Cowboys franchise ended six years of agony with their first winning season, the team's owner and founder, Clint Murchison Jr., son of a billionaire oilman, was feeling ambitious. After his father's death in 1969, Mr. Murchison and his brother John ran an array of companies described as ''obscure, fantastic and phantasmagorical'' by Philip I. Palmer Jr., a lawyer who handled the Murchison bankruptcy case in 1985. And, if they werent in our living room yelling back and forth, they would call each other up after every third or fourth play, every touchdown, field goal, interception, fumble, or quarterback sack and heckle over the phone. He rarely exchanged pleasantries and ignored people he knew when he would see them on the street or in the elevator. Both have become huge moneymakers and a part of American sports mythology. If that name sounds familiar, it may be. During those years, I watched from the outside as professional football became a billion-dollar business, with the Super Bowl its showcase event. The answer to the mystery revealed itself in what was then the highest-rated episode in television history, titled Who Done It?, luring an estimated 83 million viewers more than the number of voters in that years presidential election. Wolfe tells a riveting tale of the rising fortunes and ultimate downfall of the Murchison family, quintessential high rollers. Before going to the stadium we stopped to pick up our tickets at the Cowboys towers on Central Expressway. Catch up on the day's news you need to know. THE ONLY TIME I HAVE BEEN in Texas Stadium, for a 1982 game, I took Carter with me. J. R. crumpled to the floor with a gunshot wound in the cliffhanger episode that aired on March 21, 1980. This is the journey we share how Clint Murchison Jr. created the prototype, giving the Cowboys and the rest of professional sports the blueprint of a new model. Cowboy, Clint said again and smiled slightly. Clint William Murchison Jr., (September 12, 1923 in Dallas, Texas-March 30, 1987) was a businessman and founder of the Dallas Cowboys football team. [1] He died of pneumonia in 1987 at age 63 in Dallas,[2] and is buried at Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in North Dallas. dallashistory.org. A son of Clint Murchison, Sr. who made his first fortune in oil exploration and became notorious for exploiting the sale of "hot oil", Junior and his surviving brother inherited their father's wealth and business interests to which Clint Jr. added . This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Dealing with dilemmas is what a lifetime in sports teaches you. Wolfe answers that question in this history of the rise and fall of Texas's Murchison family. Theyll never get old. After high school, he enrolled at Trinity University, then in Waxahachie, where he was expelled three weeks later for shooting craps. They believed the people who borrowed money and invested it in land and other things that appreciate with inflation would win. John was more conservative than daring, more measured than maniacal. A motivating factor in the NFL's decision to award a license for Dallas was the establishment of the American Football League (AFL) by Lamar Hunt, another Dallas area businessman. Ms. Wolfe's book adds a lot of detail and backstory to the Murchison dynasty.
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