John Whitfield Mecom Sr. (January 13, 1911 – October 12, 1981), was an American independent oilman. Mecom acquired abandoned oil wells and made them profitable. He developed new fields from

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

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. He was once ranked as one of the top oil independents; however, he filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in 1970. After reorganizing his John W. Mecom Company, he reopened his company, which he subsequently operated with his son, John W. Mecom Jr., former owner of the

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NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

football team. On December 18, 1964, a C82 Packet owned by Mecom was shot down by the

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian air force, killing both pilot and co-pilot after failing to log a flight plan and failing to land at Alexandria after repeated requests. (see FAA report which blames Mecom's pilot). The incident strained U.S.-Egypt relations, Mecom being a friend and donor of

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

. The Egyptian government said that the plane was shot down by its

MiG Mig, MiG, or MIG may refer to: Business * MiG, a Russian aircraft corporation **Any of the MiG aircraft *Marfin Investment Group MIG Holdings S.A. (also known as MIG) is a Greece, Greek investment company. It has acquired several companies an ...

fighter jets after ignoring a repeated warning to land. Mecom was not on the plane which was on a routine trip to purchase drilling detergent for his oil business. In December 1965, Mecom offered to buy the ''

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'', its building, the Rice Hotel and a 35 percent interest in Texas Commerce National Bank from Houston Endowment Inc. The offer included a down payment of one million dollars. However, Mecom was unable to raise the additional cash to complete the sale and canceled the transaction. In the 1960s, Mecom partnered with Patrick F. Taylor, who held a degree in

petroleum engineering Petroleum engineering is a field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas or both. Exploration and production are deemed to fall within the ''upstrea ...

from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. In 1974, the two started the Circle Bar Drilling Company, which they sold in 1979. Taylor then established his own oil company in

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, and subsequently became known as an educational

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. John Mecom owned and raced

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

s which included Narushua that finished 11th in the 1965 Kentucky Derby and the multiple stakes-winning

gelding A gelding (Help:IPA/English, /ˈɡɛldɪŋ/) is a castration, castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. The term is also used with certain other animals and livestock, such as domesticated Camelidae, camels. By compa ...

Rushing Man that finished 14th in the 1975 Kentucky Derby.

References

* 1911 births 1981 deaths Businesspeople from Houston American businesspeople in the oil industry American racehorse owners and breeders 20th-century American businesspeople Texas Democrats {{US-CEO-stub