Clayton Williams, Jr.

In 1957, Clayton W. "Claytie" Williams, Jr. quit his job as an insurance salesman to go into the oil business with only $2,000 in savings. From this humble beginning, he grew to be the largest individual oil producer in the State of Texas. He struggled through the 1960s before making a series of major oil discoveries. By the early 1980s his privately held corporation was bringing in over $1 billion in revenue from ventures embracing all facets of the oil and gas industry, six ranches, 300,000 acres of land, and the crown jewel of his empire: the Clay-Desta Plaza, a spectacular office/banking/shopping complex on 175 acres of prime real estate. He has been a major benefactor to his alma mater, Texas A&M University, where he was a founder of the Presidents Endowed Scholarship for Gifted Students. He was also founder and director of the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute. In 1990, he was the Republican candidate for Governor of Texas, losing narrowly to State Treasurer Anne Richards. Many observers pinned his