I was an account executive for Tracy-Locke advertising and we were handling a new Frito-Lay product called Doritos. 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. Few really adjust, some commit suicide. For public libraries interested in the history of the oil business or Texas, or in the exploits of the wealthy. It was a pleasure to read. I am on shaky ground. In telling you the story, we will show you how it serves as history, comedy and tragedy, but most of all, as a rollicking read, every bit as fascinating as a Texas character named Clint Murchison Jr., the creator of your Dallas Cowboys, who fostered their own rare world beneath the hole in the roof that seized the attention of terrorists and sports fans alike. You left it all on the field and youre 29 years old with your life stretching out in front of you like a thousand miles of bad road. No, he shakes his head. Murchison was Dallas Cowboys founder and delivered championship NFL football to his hometown (DALLAS, May 22, 2018) - A legendary alliance of former Dallas Cowboys players, executives, coaches and family members, today placed Clint Murchison Jr.'s name in nomination for the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame. By leaving most football matters in the hands of operations staff, Murchison did not create an atmosphere of second guessing and arguments over player selection or credit for the team's success. Viewers the world over had to wait until Nov. 21, 1980, to learn the answer to the question that sparked international curiosity: Who Shot J.R.? Clint Murchison | Assassination of John F. Kennedy | Fandom In 1960, the National Football League approved a franchise for Dallas, and Murchison, along with Bedford Wynne, was the franchisee or license holder. John Murchison and his brother Clint Murchison Jr. were the first owners of the Dallas Cowboys. I could just picture all their agents arguing about fees and residuals with the guys from PepsiCo. Failing health and changing financial markets forced Murchison to sell the Cowboys in 1984. When I see Bobby Knight throw a fit on television and realize my son is going to have to deal with a high-school coach who thinks mats the way to behave, I mourn for high-school sports and the quick, bloody death of so many young dreams. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. 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. 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. John excelled, in Woolleys words, in such three-piece-suit enterprises as banking and insurance. 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. This an excellent expose on the legendary rise and then fall of a true TEXAS Dynasty. Plenty of Texas History you would never learn about in a history class (in Texas). Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web. The rest of the financing was provided by Murchison and no taxpayer money was used. They dress like 1 did on my TV show in 1967. It represented a new vanguard in American stadia, just as its predecessor had when it opened for football on a sunlit afternoon on Oct. 24, 1971, with halfback Duane Thomas notching its first score on a 56-yard touchdown run that served as a lyrical foreshadowing of what would happen months later: The Cowboys captured their first championship, beating the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI in New Orleans by the lopsided score of 243. Hunts son, Lamar, also founded a professional team, the Dallas Texans, who began playing in the Cotton Bowl in 1960, at the same time the Cowboys did, but who, after winning the American Football League Championship in 1962, became the Kansas City Chiefs a year later, only months before the Kennedy assassination in November 1963. : Forbes magazine assessed its value in 2021 at $5.7 billion the sixth consecutive year the Cowboys were ranked as the worlds most valuable sports company. It sits on property that was part of the Dallas Polo Club in the 1920s, she said. His father loved to stay borrowed up to the hilt. Carter frowns at me. 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. 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. I thought you didnt like Landry and Schramm. Carter doesnt take his eyes off the screen, which is filled with oversized behinds, shaking like wet dogs. Clint W. Murchison Jr., the scion of a Texas wildcat oil family who created the Dallas Cowboys football team, died Monday night. The home has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and two half-bathrooms and has been renovated,. 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 . Clint Murchi-son Jr. was there-he was already desperately ill. While the arts would eventually move downtown, the Cowboys never did. Theyll never get old. Jones may not have been aware of it when he bought the Cowboys, but to his credit, he was a quick study. As Jones said on the night in 1989 that he proclaimed himself the Cowboys new impresario, he would be involved in everything down to the jocks and socks. The Murchison way was the polar opposite. Marshall would get his number changed and unlisted. They depended on inflation to take care of things. He was 63 years old. So young, so vital, so seemingly unstoppable. Clint taught the sports world how stadiums could be so much more than where games are played. [12], Murchison's luxury suite often played host to famous guests including Willie Nelson, Clint Eastwood, Jerry Jeff Walker, Norman Lear, Burt Reynolds, Henry Kissinger and Lyndon Johnson. Hot Property: 23 Ash Bluff Lane, $8.95 Million - D Magazine It was gonna be beautiful. 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. Even so, the Arkansas oilman deserves 100% of the business chops he gets. 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. I read the other day that Tom Landry has little time for or interest in professional football these days. 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. The article, by Edwin Pope, a sports editor of The Miami Herald, referred to Mr. Murchison as ''a 130-pound halfback from M.I.T.'' As Robert Murchison, Clint Jr.s youngest of four children, notes, Their brother Burk, Dads best friend, died when John was 13 and Dad, 12. Clint Jr. and John, Robert adds, could not have been more different. We went 4 and 10, and it was the Cowboys last losing season for the next 20 years. Co-author Burk Murchison is named for the uncle who died. 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. It began between the owners, So, Carter and the Finch boys were at each other all year long, especially when the Redskins and the Cowboys met. This was, for the most part, exactly what Clint Jr. had envisioned. Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall hated Clint Murchison Jr. because, to get the Dallas franchise, Murchison lobbed money on Congress to force the Redskins to give up their virtual broadcast monopoly of professional football in the South in 1960. Suite 2100 The biography tells the riveting story of Burl's unlikely rise from the coal mines of Appalachia to the pinnacle of journalism - a remarkable feat made more so by his ongoing battle with kidney disease. These young kids seem to be having so much fun. Mr. Murchison, whose fortune reached an estimated $250 million in 1984, according to Forbes magazine, was recently beset with financial difficulties brought on by the collapse of the real estate market and global oil prices. The Murchisons: The Rise and Fall of a Texas Dynasty - Goodreads Try again. I cant see how theyre only a 7-point favorite. 750 North St.Paul St. Mary Grace Granados, Special Contributor. The home has a solarium, with access to the garden, as well as a trophy room with original murals signed by Reveau Bassett. It is a perfect example of the generation gap between my son and me-the old Cowboys and the new Cowboys. Back in 1966, when the NFL had two divisions, 14 teams and 560 players, we were playing Cleveland in the Cotton Bowl for the lead in the old Eastern Division. [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. There was a problem loading your book clubs. From Clint to Jerry: 'Hole in the Roof' is a Dallas Cowboys adventure , ISBN-10 He also happened to be far more socially adept, comfortable in high society in ways his brother never was nor hoped to be. 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. Its 70 acres now eat up multiple blocks, housing museums and a school for the performing arts, in addition to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Opera and the Tony Award-winning Dallas Theater Center. Clint Murchison Sr. - Wikipedia Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2015. Dealing with dilemmas is what a lifetime in sports teaches you. 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. 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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. : He was named a finalist for the 2020 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a contributor, however he was not elected. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. Carter glances sideways at me and frowns. The home has six additional bedrooms, two of which are in what is designated as the guest suite. In other words, as Cowboys fixtures, they lasted even longer than Clint. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! [4], Murchison, with his MIT background, understood the potential of using computers in football. 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. He has switched to Black Entertainment Television and Ice Cube is rapping Givin Up The Nappy Dug Out. The Dallas Historical Society will welcome authors Burk Murchison and Michael Granberry for a book signing on Dec. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at the Hall of State, 3939 Grand Ave. in Fair Park, as they debut their book Hole in the Roof: The Dallas Cowboys, Clint Murchison Jr., and the Stadium That Changed American Sports Forever. In 1919, he made his way to Fort Worth, with nary a penny in his pocket. dallashistory.org. How the Dallas Cowboys Were Born in 1960 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." But Im already getting ahead of myself. He was a wide receiver for the Cowboys, and then he wrote North Dallas Forty. [4] Better seats required the purchase of multiple bonds with the best seats requiring the purchase of four bonds for a total of $1,000. And, I must admit I got some enjoyment out of it. Thats right. Take a look at a seven-bedroom home that dates back to the 1930s with As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. She said he died of complications caused by pneumonia. He s piiinchin me. He was a 21-year-old kid and pinching was a three syllable word where he came from. [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. By Peter H. Frank, Special To the New York Times. Kennedy. ), Richardson, Hunt, Murchison and Cullen accomplished their meteoric rise through an alchemy of luck and risk, whose payoff was best captured in the lyrics of the 1960s television comedy The Beverly Hillbillies, about a poor mountaineer who was shootin at some food, when up through the ground come a bubblin crude. On Sept. 11, 2001, barely a year after asking about the hole in the roof, Atta spearheaded a terrorist attack that flew hijacked airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, killing 2,749 people in the towers and on the ground nearby. Youre in, then youre out. John collected art as an investment. For the most part, Murchison was a hands-off owner, delegating a great deal of operational control of the Cowboys to general manager Tex Schramm, head coach Tom Landry and scouting/personnel director Gil Brandt. 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. After high school, he enrolled at Trinity University, then in Waxahachie, where he was expelled three weeks later for shooting craps. Even in this environment, Clint Jr. was viewed as a scientific genius and an eccentric. I guess. I nod. It was the first to use seat option bonds to help fund construction and first to offer luxury suites on a commercial scale. Kevin Smith covered Jerry Rice last week. He has his eyes on the TV. Photo Courtesy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Arlington, Texas. The players are rich, young, immortal. Thats not what being young is supposed to be about, anyway. He spent 19 years at the Los Angeles Times before returning to Dallas. You cant talk to them about pensions and health insurance and how bad youre gonna feel every morning. We document that story as well, showing you how, in the end, it comes back around to Clint. 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. His grandfather founded the First National Bank in Athens. How Lamar Hunt and Clint Murchison Jr. cooked up the first Super Bowl. What about Clint? 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. Don was a small back- 5-foot-10 and 191 pounds. His father was its president. Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them. $10 in advance, $15 at the door, $36 for admission and a copy of the book. 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. 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. He paid a record $140 million for the Cowboys in 1989 and made the team the most valuable sports franchise in 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. . The Murchisons - the rise and fall of a Texas dynasty, by Jane Wolfe. Now its rap and hip-hop an Garth Brooks passes as a country singer. He believed his team would be good, even special, for years to come. 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. The slow, downward death spiral. Home | Clint Murchison Jr. Reeves came back to the huddle after carrying the ball. Well. Burrough chronicles the rise and fall of Clint Murchison Jr., from his pinnacle as owner of the Dallas Cowboys to the collapse of his empire in bankruptcy. He returned to Athens and worked in the bank until the outbreak of World War I, when he joined the Army. You better have a story I havent heard or Im going to my room. But I should try. Following the death of his father Clint Murchison Sr., John and Clint Jr. inherited the wealth that their father had created. Until John Murchison died and Clint got sick and had to sell to Bum Bright. His elder son, John, won Wall Street's biggest proxy fight, developed the Vail, Colorada ski resort, and was a noted jet-setter. When 1 played for Tom. Despite being a scrawny 5 feet 6, 120 pounds, he played halfback on an intramural team at Lawrenceville, his New Jersey prep school.