During those years, I watched from the outside as professional football became a billion-dollar business, with the Super Bowl its showcase event. He also happened to be far more socially adept, comfortable in high society in ways his brother never was nor hoped to be. As a loyal Dallas Cowboys fan, he can recite the stats on everybody from Troy Aikman towell, youll have to ask him. I want my kid to handicap for me. 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. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. Hes wondering the same thing I am: What the hell am I doing defending Tom Landry? The proxy fight was the largest in corporate history.[5]. Mr. Clint Murchison Jr. - Wikipedia In biblical terms, the story of the Cowboys financial empire is one of Clint begat Jerry. When he got to Wichita Falls, he yanked his buddy out of a poker game. His elder son, John, won Wall Street's biggest proxy fight, developed the Vail, Colorada ski resort, and was a noted jet-setter. This next part is important, because it underscores the model Clint Jr. followed with the Cowboys: Once Clint Sr. established or acquired a company, he left its operations to others, in the same way that Clint Jr. appointed Tex Schramm to be his president and general manager and Tom Landry his head coach. Smith will get over 100 yards rushing, he says. 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. Clint Jr. became enamored of education and its extracurricular dividend football, which gave him his own identity beyond his dad. He liked to use what bankers called leverage use a small amount of capital and a large loan to gain control of a company with large assets. Instead, Murchison believed in his young coach and gave him an unprecedented 10-year contract that turned out to be a very successful move. OK, Thomas was known for being militant and surly and Smith is a choirboy. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Over the next 20 years I wrote three more novels, several screenplays, dozens of newspaper and magazine articles and saw my screenplay of North Dallas Forty made into a major motion picture starring Nick Nolte. Dallas will jam up the running lanes and shut down Thurman Thomas, Carter tells me early in the week before the Super Bowl. Clint Jr., probably best known as the builder and first owner of the Dallas Cowboys, was also a philanderer and deal-maker. The plan was fowled up by a puzzled security guard who heard the chickens clucking under the stadium. While everyone else wore suits and talked football, I wore blue jeans and did outrageous morality plays with defensive tackle Willie Townes and Craig Mortons sheepdog. Clint Murchison | Assassination of John F. Kennedy | Fandom Clint Murchison, Jr. | American Football Wiki | Fandom [4] Over the years the suites increased in value including one trading hands for a million dollars. Catch up on the day's news you need to know. How different are the very rich from you and me? He was talking about the very place I made my living in the 60s. , ISBN-13 Son of Financier. A 'Wheeler-Dealer' Nature. Finally, I could make out the word cowboy. This page was last edited on 27 January 2023, at 13:23. He was also the father of Dallas Cowboys owner Clint Murchison Jr. [2] Personal [ edit] The Cowboys and the Super Bowl have come a long way from that close encounter we had in 1966-67. 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. , Item Weight Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2017, Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2009. His failure is just one of the ways Hole in the Roof embraces a double meaning. 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. Johnson didnt just try and patch up for the next year, Carter continues. When 1 played for Tom. [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). Companies they owned included iconic names such as Centex Corporation, Alleghany Corporation, Henry Holt Publishing, Daisy BB Guns and Tony Romas, A Place For Ribs. In other words, as Cowboys fixtures, they lasted even longer than Clint. [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. Clint Sr. was born in 1895 in Athens, a small hamlet in East Texas. 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. But the most compelling contain elements of all three. Clinton Williams Murchison Jr. (September 12, 1923 - March 30, 1987) was a businessman and founder of the Dallas Cowboys football team. The hole in the roof appeared for years as one of the opening shots in the hit CBS television show Dallas, which gave to the world the iconic villain J.R. Ewing, a Texas oilman. And so it is with the story that our book, Hole in the Roof, will expose between its front and back covers. He has turned on MTV and is watching the Naughty By Nature video Hip-Hop Hooray. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2002, This book proved to be a very good read.You are shown how the, Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2007. They were the first expansion team to challenge for the championship, and when they lost two years in a row they last dramatically and heroicallyBut haw glorious to lose, and how poignant to keep the conviction in the hearts of Cowboys fans that their team was the best, as inly time would tell. Next Years Champions, the Story of the Dallas Cowboys, by Steve Perkins, 1969 MY 16-YEAR-OLD SON, CARTER, HAS been a Cowboys fan for years. Not one old lady on Social Security is going to have her taxes raised because of this stadium, Murchison said. Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2015. The living room has the original hardwood flooring and crown molding, and the dining room is accented by the original Gracie Studio wallpaper. The next generations playing out this lunatic antagonism between the Cowboys and the Redskins more than 30 years after it began without the faintest idea how it started. 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. Joe Bailey They believed the people who borrowed money and invested it in land and other things that appreciate with inflation would win. Pre-order on Amazon. Hole in the Roof takes you on a deep dive into the personality and passions of Clint Jr., while extending a more than passing hello to everyone else who was part of his world. Behind the Signatures | Clint Murchison Jr. The Pete Gent Show was not renewed. [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. The sale of his assets to pay back creditors was to eventually include his 25-acre estate and the home in North Dallas where he was reared. The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes, The Wolfberry Chronicle: And Other Permian Basin Tales From The Henry Oil Company. (Perhaps its no coincidence that H.L. After its patriarch passed away, the family empire prevailed under a partnership called Murchison Brothers. : She said he died of complications caused by pneumonia. That was all a long time ago. Anything short of a world championship followed by designing your own line of sporting goods means failure. 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. Despite Texas Stadium being demolished by the city of Irving in 2010, the hole in the roof lives on. Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2017. Well. John was nothing like his father, whereas Clint was everything like his dad a gambler, a risk-taker extraordinaire. In that respect, Clint Sr. and Jr. resembled a more modern billionaire: current Cowboys owner Jerral Wayne Jerry Jones. In case youre wondering, Katy taxpayers paid for most of it. Co-author Burk Murchison is named for the uncle who died. "[6], As the team floundered through their first few seasons and critics called for Landry's firing, Murchison backed his coach by handing him a 10-year contract. Clint Jr.s success can be attributed largely to Schramm, a marketing genius; Landry, one of the games great coaches; and Gil Brandt, who, as director of scouting, revolutionized the way players are recruited by using newfangled technology computers long before computers were commonplace. I made $ 11.000, arid my rent was $ 180 a month for a furnished one-bedroom. Looking for more Posh Properties stories? To wit: In 2017, Katy, Texas, unveiled a $72 million high school facility, which carries luxury boxes for corporate sponsors. In 1927 he founded a company that was to become the Southern Union Gas Company in Dallas. Plenty of Texas History you would never learn about in a history class (in Texas). Carter accepts and respects my decision, though he does not like it. His hires included Tex Schramm as general manager and Tom Landry as head coach. Try again. These young kids seem to be having so much fun. Clint W. Murchison Jr., the scion of a Texas wildcat oil family who created the Dallas Cowboys football team, died Monday night. Just how long I realized during halftime of Super Bowl XXVII. And those who saved their cash were going to be the losers., The Boss, Clinton Williams Murchison Sr., was fond of saying he liked to do business through a formula expressed through the homespun homily financin by finaglin. Clint Sr. soon thrust himself into a pantheon of Texas wheeler-dealers that enumerated such fellow giants as Sid Richardson, H.L. : Murchison fought a rare nerve disease called olivopontocerebellar atrophy[4] and was in a wheelchair in his final years. This became a model for how other NFL teams would operate stadiums. And what a world it was. 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. [1][2] 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 his own. Wolfe gives a colorful description of a quiet, unpretentious man whose financial acumen and brilliant use of leverage helped him build a multimillion-dollar conglomerate. And prospered. Spared the wrath of terrorists, Texas Stadium enjoyed a happier fate. The primary suite has its own wing, which amounts to more than 2,000 square feet. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. The home has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and two half-bathrooms and has been renovated,. Clint Jr. had begun as an undergraduate at MIT but was soon derailed by World War II, which led to his induction in the Marine Corps, via the U.S. Navys V-12 program. Clint Murchi-son Jr. was there-he was already desperately ill. They dress like 1 did on my TV show in 1967. By Peter H. Frank, Special To the New York Times. You better have a story I havent heard or Im going to my room. Its like that. He believed his team would be good, even special, for years to come. Cheerful and Optimistic. Dont worry, Dan, he said, sternly. His executives had the authority to make important decisions without consulting him, and he never coached from the corner or second-guessed them, Woolley wrote. He changed where and how games are played, not only in professional football but also in baseball, basketball, and colleges and high schools. Jones saw what Clint Jr. envisioned with the creation of Texas Stadium. $10 in advance, $15 at the door, $36 for admission and a copy of the book. Then, with his sons by his side, Murchison broadened his business holdings. With the team becoming more successful in the mid-1960s, Clint Murchison, Jr. wanted a new stadium for the team. Brings new meaning to the phrase Sunday Funday. COMING IN 2022 FROM TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY PRESS. His general attitude was to hire experts and let them execute the aspect of the business that fell in their expertise. 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. Clint Jr. did, too. It is now a signature element in the design of AT&T Stadium, whose own version of the hole in the roof appeared in the opening moments of the TNT remake of Dallas. He was socially aloof to the point many considered downright rude. Its cast of supporting actors included silent brother John. He believed his team would be good, even special, for years to come. MARY LEVY, HEAD COACH of the Buffalo Bills, will tell you that the greatest football player he ever coached was Don Perkins at New Mexico in the late 50s. They may not go five times, but theyll win all they go to. Carter flips back to MTV. . Even in this environment, Clint Jr. was viewed as a scientific genius and an eccentric. Theres a bar room with a hidden basement or wine cellar below, and a third-level game room, according to details provided by the agent. He couldnt believe this guy in a beard and hip huggers and love beads had somehow gotten onto the Cotton Bowl sidelines and into our locker room. Throughout his business career, Mr. Murchison started and participated in a number of industries, including a taxicab company, publishing, life insurance, restaurants, banks and residential construction. Among his companies was the Southern Union Company. An unassuming, softspoken native of Tyler, Tex., Mr. Murchison (pronounced MER-kiss-un) was born Sept. 5, 1921, the son of Clint W. Murchison Sr., who made a fortune in the . It sits on 2.87 acres and is listed for $7.5 million. And just as the beginning of the Cowboys epic saga must start with Clint Jr., so his story begins with his dad, Clint Sr. We, the authors, are Burk Murchison (one of Clint Jr.s four children) and Michael Granberry, who grew up in Dallas and who, like his co-author, began following the Cowboys from the moment they were founded in 1960. The operation was handled by Delta Drilling, owned by Joe Zeppa. In todays dollars, thats north of $87 million. Carter tells me that Dallas will beat the Bills in the second half. Bright in turn sold the Cowboys to Jerry Jones in 1989 following several losing seasons. Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2010. 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. In later years, the joke became, They talk about Clint being low-profile, but he was a carnival-barker show daddy compared to John, who most Cowboys fans didnt know existed. In later years, however, John played an excruciatingly important role in the history of the Cowboys albeit in death, which triggered the fall of Clint Murchison Jr. John was two years older than Clint Jr. and was, by all accounts, the careful, judicious partner. I could just picture all their agents arguing about fees and residuals with the guys from PepsiCo. After World War II, he earned a master's degree in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Clinton Williams Murchison Jr. was a businessman and founder of the Dallas Cowboys football team. Working with his father and his brother John, the Murchison family diversified away from oil into homebuilding, general construction, real estate development, insurance, mutual funds, publishing, the leisure time industry and restaurant industry. How Lamar Hunt and Clint Murchison Jr. cooked up the first Super Bowl. Game Changers - Texas Monthly Robert Murchison notes that Pop was out of town much of their childhood looking after his business interests, thus John and Dad were raised by a loving aunt, grandmother and wonderful servants., Looking for a new chapter after the death of his wife and son, Clint Sr. moved to Dallas, where he rapidly expanded his burgeoning portfolio. [4], Murchison worked with architects to create a revolutionary design for a football-only stadium that would feature a roof that would cover all the seats, but leave an open field to keep the elements as part of the game. So young, so vital, so seemingly unstoppable. Murchison also valued loyalty. He could barely speak and had hired ex-Redskins quarterback Billy Kilmer to assist him with standing and walking. Hence, Schramm oversaw most of the Cowboys day-to-day business matters, and represented the Cowboys at league meetingsa prerogative normally reserved to the owner. What most of America doesnt know is that he, too, was revolutionary. Mr. Murchison is survived by his second wife, Anne, and a daughter and three sons from his first marriage, Coke Anne Saunders, Clint Murchison 3d, Burk Murchison and Robert Murchison. John Murchison and his brother Clint Murchison Jr. were the first owners of the Dallas Cowboys. Clint Murchison Sr. erupted from East Texas during the rough-and-tumble years of oil drilling in the 1930s, and spent his life "doing deals." 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. I read the other day that Tom Landry has little time for or interest in professional football these days. Dont give up. It began between the owners, Author Jane Wolfe lived in Dallas for forty years before recently relocating to her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. He rarely exchanged pleasantries and ignored people he knew when he would see them on the street or in the elevator. By the time I was traded to the New York Giants in 1969, we had been in the playoffs three times, gone twice to the NFL championship game, losing both times to Green Bay on the last play. Business: The Art of the Sale - D Magazine Recalling his wit and sense of humor, Mr. Something went wrong. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. 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. They look at guys like me as really old and not very relevant to the world. 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. From the beginning, Clint saw it as far more than a place to play games. Clinton Williams Murchison, Sr. (April 11, 1895 - 20 June 1969), was a noted Texas-based oil magnate and political operative. But when it came to the Dallas elite, Clint Jr.s ideas were met by scoffs, not support. [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. Yeh? I was an account executive for Tracy-Locke advertising and we were handling a new Frito-Lay product called Doritos. Clint Murchison Jr. was an entrepreneur, businessman and risk-taking founder of the successful Dallas Cowboys football franchise. He made trades for draft choices and built a team thatll last for years, Carter says. During the outrageously troubled 2020 season, 13 National Football League teams 13! He believed his team would be good, even special, for years to come. And in that respect alone, irony abounds, one of many we share in Hole in the Roof. Their inherited interests included the Daisy Manufacturing Company (manufacturing a BB gun); Field and Stream magazine; Heddon Rod & Reel; Henry Holt and Company (later known as Holt, Rinehart, and Winston); Delhi Oil; Kirby Petroleum and a marine construction company known as Tecon Corporation. As we show you later, the city of Dallas twice rejected Americas Team, failing to cut a deal that forced the 21st-century Cowboys to look elsewhere for a new home, which turned out to be Arlington. Her first book, "THE MURCHISONS: The Rise and Fall of a Texas Dynasty," was published in 1989. He attended school at Lawrenceville School and joined the Marine Corps after Pearl Harbor and went on to become a student at Duke University as part of the Marine Corps V-12 training program[2] where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in electrical engineering.