Ex-Cowboy Owner Murchison Dies

Clint Murchison Jr., former owner of the Dallas Cowboys and an oil millionaire whose financial empire crumbled, died in a Dallas hospital Monday. He was 63.

Murchison died after developing pneumonia, which complicated a crippling nerve disease that had impaired his speech and confined the entrepreneur to a wheelchair two years ago.

He sold the Cowboys in 1984 for between $40 and $60 million to a limited partnership headed by H.R. (Bum) Bright. Murchison had bought the expansion franchise for $550,000 in 1960.

“It’s just a very, very sad ending for a great guy. He’s what kept the whole thing here together,” Cowboys president Tex Schramm said. “He was the glue. Our 25-year record is a tribute to him.”

Murchison brought to his football franchise many of the skills he had learned in the business world, and he was highly regarded in the NFL for the stability of his franchise. He let his management run the team, keeping his hands off the day to day operation.

The exuberant younger Murchison and his more reserved brother, John, accumulated business interests nationwide in at least 100 companies, involving road construction, residential building, insurance, banking, hotels, country clubs, a publishing house, oil and gas companies and the Cowboys.

John’s death in 1979 removed a cautionary influence in his brother’s life, and the Murchison holdings began to slip away.

Murchison filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 1985 to protect assets while reorganizing his affairs.