Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Lamar Hunt: Son of a bigamist
Posted
by David Martin on
Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 6:30 AM
click to enlarge
Released Wednesday, the period gangster drama Public Enemies sold an estimated $41 million worth of tickets. The movie is based on a book by Bryan Burrough, a special correspondent at Vanity Fair.
Burrough' most recent book, The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes, offers an interesting glimpse into the history of one of Kansas City's most influential families: the Hunts.
Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt is the son of H.L. Hunt, an oilman who relied on his poker skills before making his mark in crude. Baby Lamar arrived in 1932. By that time, his father had a second family with a woman he had married in the Cuban quarter of Tampa, Florida. As a boy, Lamar and his siblings learned at the foot of a governess in Tyler, Texas, while his father's second family resided in Dallas. H.L. Hunt eventually procreated with a third woman, whom he married after his first wife's death.
Other noteworthy items from The Big Rich:
- H.L. Hunt and other Texas oilmen supported ultraconservative causes with enthusiasm. Hunt bankrolled LIFE LINE, a media apparatus that spouted John Birch-style rhetoric. Burroughs writes that LIFE LINE's attacks on President Kennedy outraged Jack Ruby, who had LIFE LINE radio scripts -- and Lamar Hunt's telephone number -- in his coat pocket upon his arrest for killing Lee Harvey Oswald.
- Lamar Hunt's brothers Bunker and Nelson Hunt tried for several years to corner the silver market. According to one tale that may or may not be true, Lamar Hunt was on board a transcontinental flight full of silver ingots -- and a circus elephant.
- H.L. Hunt named Ray Hunt, a son born of his third marriage, his sole executor. Younger than his half-siblings and perceived as more modern, Ray was described as "the Nice Hunt" by Time magazine.
- Falling oil prices in the 1980s damaged the fortunes of H.L. Hunt children. In 1987, Lamar and two of his brothers filed for bankruptcy.
Tags: Bryan Burrough, H.L. Hunt, Lamar Hunt