Clint Murchison, Jr.
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Clint William Murchison, Jr. (born September 12, 1923 - died March 30, 1987) was the founder of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He was born in Dallas, Texas, to Clint Murchison, Sr, a Texas oil magnate who had numerous business concerns that included not only oil but construction, real estate and other ventures.
[edit] Early life
Murchison's educational background was in electrical engineering; earning a degree in electrical engineering from Duke University and adding a Master's in Mathematics from MIT. Prior to establishing the Cowboys, he founded a company that produced methane gas and sold the finished product to an Oklahoma-based pipeline and he engaged in several major construction projects and established holdings in Centex and other companies.
[edit] Dallas Cowboys founding owner
In 1960, the National Football League approved a franchise for Dallas and Murchison, along with Bedford Wynne, was the franchisee or license holder. 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. Hunt, in creating 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 was a hands-off owner, delegating a great deal of operational control of the Cowboys to General Manager Tex Schramm, Coach Tom Landry and Scouting/Personnel Director Gil Brandt. His general attitude was to hire experts and let them execute the aspect of the business that fell in their expertise. Hence, Landry enjoyed absolute authority over the day to day running of the actual team; Brandt was unhindered in the area of drafting and scouting players and Schramm oversaw many of the team's day to day administrative concerns. This laissez faire attitude has been credited by many Cowboys fans as the driving force in the team's 20 consecutive winning seasons from 1966-1985; by not interfering with his coaches and staff, Murchison did not create an atmosphere of second guessing and arguments over player selection or credit for the team's success. This has been a constant criticism of current Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
In 1984, Murchison sold the Dallas Cowboys to an investment syndicate led by H.R. "Bum" Bright, a Dallas area businessman who had a background in banking/financial services and in oil/gas production.
Clint Murchison has been a subject of on-going and intense speculation regarding associations with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and with significant figures of organized crime, dating to the 1940's. He was, at one time, the owner of Del Mar and Santa Anita race tracks in California. He has been widely rumored to have been a central figure in alleged conspiracies regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. None of these allegations have ever been proven. Circumstantial connections in Murchison's complex and varied business, political and social life have led researchers to persist in this regard.
He died of pneumonia on March 30, 1987 in Dallas.
