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Harvey R. "Bum" Bright
DALLAS — Harvey R. "Bum" Bright, a staunch Texas A&M booster best known for buying the Dallas Cowboys from founder Clint Murchison and selling them to Jerry Jones, has died. He was 84.
Bright died Saturday at his Highland Park home after a long illness.
"He was a close friend and a businessman that I respected and admired tremendously," Jones said in a statement Sunday. "Our agreement on the purchase of the Dallas Cowboys was finalized with a few notes on a napkin and a handshake. With Bum, his word meant everything. He was one of the most honorable men that I have ever had the privilege of knowing and working with."
Bright was chairman of the Texas A&M Board of Regents in 1982 when he was responsible for hiring Jackie Sherrill as the football coach and making him the highest-paid coach in college football at the time. Two years later, he bought the Cowboys, then sold them in 1989.
"When the Cowboys thing came up, he was so worried they were going elsewhere," said former Texas A&M football coach R.C. Slocum, a good friend of Bright's. "Buying the Cowboys was a business deal, but a big part of it was also keeping the Cowboys in Texas."
Bright toyed with the idea of firing coach Tom Landry, a move Jones made soon after buying the team.
Bright began working as a roughneck in the Texas oilfields after graduating high school, but decided he wanted to be in charge.
Bright went to Texas A&M and received a degree in petroleum engineering in 1943.
After serving in the Army Corps of Engineers, Bright worked for Sun Oil Company. But wanting to strike out on his own, he used the $6,500 he has saved from his Army pay and began trading oil leases with his college roommate.
They eventually started Bright & Co., an exploration and production company. Bright became a millionaire before his 31st birthday and he diversified his wealth, venturing into real estate, trucking and financial services, eventually owning more than 120 companies.
He had a unique way of conducting business. He once followed a man into a bathroom at the Los Angeles Country Club in order to make a deal and talked a wife of a West Texas farmer into locking her husband out of the bedroom until he sold him a 5,000-acre oil lease.
But Bright also was philanthropic.
He donated $5 million to Children's Medical Center of Dallas, the single largest individual gift to the hospital.
In 1996, Bright made an unrestricted endowment of $25 million to Texas A&M. At the time, it was the largest gift of its type the university had ever received.
"He bled and died maroon," former Cowboys director of player personnel Gil Brandt said. "The Cowboys were something he did for the community, but his first love was Texas A&M."
Of all his accomplishments, Bright said he was most proud of his family.
"I would hope that I have set an example for my children," he said. "I hope that my example would inspire them to accomplish things that will make them better citizens and contribute to the welfare of our community, our state and our country."
(Dated December 12, 2004)
H.K. Allen Sr.
TEMPLE, Texas — H.K. Allen Sr., who was first vice president and vice chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States under President Jimmy Carter, has died at an Austin health care center. He was 78.
Funeral services for Allen, who died Tuesday, are pending with Scanio-Harper Funeral Home in Temple.
An international trade and investments consultant, Allen was also a board member of the Foreign Credit Insurance Association. He had been a member of the Finance Committee and Business Council of the Democratic National Committee and the U.S. Senate Democratic Leadership Circle.
Allen served as a board member at First International Bancshares, Temple National Bank, Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Ballinger, First State Bank of Rogers, Ennis State Bank and First National Bank of Mexia.
A veteran of World War II and the Korean conflict, Allen was a member of the Commanding Generals Advisory Council at Fort Hood and president of the Texas Law Enforcement and Youth Development Foundation.
He earned bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a varsity football player on a Southwest Conference championship team.
Allen was also district councilman and treasurer of the Texas Bankers Association and a member of the Texas Arts Alliance Board, and T Association at UT Austin. He was board member of Texas Interscholastic League Foundation and president of Texas Breakfast Club in Washington, D.C.
He also served as trustee for the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin.
Allen was a board member and officer of Kings Daughters Hospital and president and board member of the Temple Chamber of Commerce.
Survivors include his wife, Raye Virginia Allen of Temple.
(Dated January 5, 2005)
Dr. Donald Arthur Brooks
FORT WORTH, Texas — Dr. Donald Arthur Brooks, the first black board-certified surgeon in Texas, has died. He was 83.
Donald Brooks died Saturday of natural causes at his Fort Worth home, said his son, Dr. Michael Brooks.
"He was really just such a pioneer in our community," said Erma Johnson Hadley, a longtime friend who is vice chairwoman of the JPS Health Network board of trustees. "We all stand solidly on his shoulders."
Donald Brooks, who held a bachelor's degree from Prairie View A&M University and a medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine, was former chief of surgery at St. Joseph Hospital.
Donald Brooks served two years in the Army during World War II, stationed mostly in Italy. Upon his return, he and his brother, Marion, relied largely on the GI Bill to get their medical degrees. Dr. Marion Brooks, who died in 2003, was a leader in Fort Worth's civil rights movement.
After he completed his residency in general surgery at Howard, Donald Brooks return to Fort Worth in 1957 and became the first black to practice general surgery in the city.
He retired from surgery in 1993 and served as staff physician at the Tarrant County Jail for several years, Michael Brooks said.
In addition to his son Michael, Donald Brooks is survived by his wife, another son, a daughter and two grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements were pending.
(Dated March 7, 2005)
Dorothy Blodgett
AUSTIN — Dorothy Blodgett, a Texas historian and former journalism instructor, has died of bone cancer. She was 80.
Blodgett, who died Sunday, began her journalism career at Waco High School, editing the school newspaper as a senior. She later took a job at the Waco News-Tribune while attending Baylor.
In the 1960s, she taught journalism at her alma mater and the University of Texas in Austin.
She was a historical consultant for a 1979 renovation project at the Gov.'s Mansion. She co-wrote a book about the mansion with former Gov. Price Daniel and his wife, Jean. She also worked for Govs. Mark White, Bill Clements and John Connally.
While in Austin, she wrote for the Austin American-Statesman and taught yoga classes for 10 years.
Blodgett is survived by her husband, Terrell Blodgett, a former Austin assistant city manager and a professor emeritus at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT.
A memorial service is scheduled for March 19 in Austin.
(Dated February 28, 2005)
Leslie P. Daughtry Sr.
GALVESTON, Texas — Leslie P. Daughtry Sr., publisher emeritus of The Galveston County Daily News, died Sunday at the age of 75. He had been battling cancer.
"Les Daughtry was a great newspaperman and a great man. His legacy is his family and the newspaper he did so much to nurture," said Dolph Tillotson, president and publisher of the Galveston County Daily News. "For those lucky enough to know him, Les had a generous spirit, a great sense of humor and a wonderful laugh. He could be a tough businessman, but he was also lots of fun, and there never was a softer-hearted grandfather."
Daughtry's 35-year career in newspapers began in the classified advertising department of The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. He later served as classified ad manager and retail advertising manager.
He moved to Galveston in 1967 when newspaper entrepreneur B. Carmage Walls purchased The Galveston Daily News. Daughtry was publisher and part owner of the Galveston paper. He ran it for 20 years until retiring in 1987 because of a previous cancer battle.
While at the paper, Daughtry assisted the Walls family in buying and managing newspapers. He also had a group of community newspapers in Michigan and Minnesota but sold those in the 1980s when he became ill. He remained president of Galveston Newspapers Inc. until 1997 and wrote a column for the paper until 1995.
"He was a man who had a very strong moral center," said Lissa Walls Vahldiek, president of the paper's parent company, Southern Newspapers Inc., and a member of The Associated Press board of directors.
"He was courageous when it was necessary, but also a very compassionate person," she said.
"He was the consummate publisher. He had a love for the newspaper industry, especially Galveston and the Galveston County Daily News," she said.
"Les was a hard worker, full of enthusiasm, a great salesman with an absolute belief in his newspaper product," said Jim Boone, president of the Alabama-based Boone Newspapers.
Daughtry, who was born in Waverly, Ala., was preceded in death by his wife, Faye. He is survived by sons Les Daughtry Jr., of Tiki Island, and Charles A. Daughtry, of Friendswood; and six grandchildren.
Les Daughtry Jr. is senior vice president of Galveston Newspapers, Inc., director of the company's mainland operations and former publisher of the Texas City Sun. Charles Daughtry is an attorney whose clients include Galveston Newspapers Inc. and Southern Newspapers.
Visitation is set for 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Carnes Brothers Funeral Home in Galveston. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Moody Memorial Methodist Church in Galveston.
Instead of flowers, memorials may be made to the ADA House of Galveston, AMED Hospice or the hospice of your choice, the American Cancer Society and the Ronald McDonald House of Galveston.
(Dated March 13, 2005)
