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...