Synopses & Reviews
The native son of a distinguished West Texas family and a 1954 graduate of Texas AandM whose career and personal pursuits have ranged from farmer to insurance salesman to wildcatter, pipeline entrepreneur, rancher, banker, real estate mogul, big game hunter, conservationist, philanthropist, front-running gubernatorial candidate, and oil tycoon, Clayton W. Williams Jr. is by all measures one of a kind.
He has repeatedly been on the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, yet more than once Claytie has also been on the verge of bankruptcy. This authorized biography captures the dimensions of his fascinating life: his determined work ethic and honesty; his passionate interests and rough-hewn style; his devotion to wife and constant companion Modesta and family; his all-in wildcatter bets and integrity-above-all payoff of debts; his patented gaffes in the and#147;wildest, woolliest Texas governorand#8217;s race everand#8221; and their spotlighted consequences for the state and nation; and running through it all, both unrestrained celebrations and knees-on-the-ground repentance.
His many notable successes, his most admirable traits, as well as his most outrageous flaws are all portrayed in this book, often in Claytieand#8217;s own words or in the extensive comments, revealing anecdotes, and first-person accounts of others, supplemented by family and business documents, as well as contemporary journalistic records.
This book tells it all, revealing one distinctive maverick who has left his boot prints all across Texas for 75 years.
Synopsis
A veteran journalist offers this in-depth profile of one of Texass most colorful native sons--rancher, real-estate mogul, philanthropist, oil tycoon, and front-running gubernatorial candidate, Clay W. Williams, Jr. Photos.
About the Author
MIKE COCHRAN has covered many memorable news stories in Texas, often with the Associated Press, during the past four decades, such as the JFK assassination, the U.S. space program, and most statewide political campaigns, and he has earned several journalistic awards in the process. He is the author of three previous books.