H.L.HUNT A MERICAN DYNASTY

How The Hunt family built a multibillion-dollar empire from boomtown oilfields to the NFL

- KEITH GORDON

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, "There are no second acts in American lives." While some argue over his meaning and intent, the fact remains that the history of America is full of people, families and even companies that have been able to revive, rebuild, reinvent or reimagine themselves, leading to even further successes after overcoming whatever difficulties they faced.

Perhaps no person, or family, has ever embodied this sentiment as much as H.L. Hunt and the dynasty he founded, one that continues to impact our nation in enormous ways. After all, how could a story that involves poker winnings, Texas oil booms, an unquenchable entrepreneurial spirit, and a seemingly rotating series of successes and setbacks be any more apropos of the American identity and history?

In 1889 Haroldson Lafayette Hunt Jr. certainly didn't begin life with a silver spoon in his mouth. Lacking any formal education, despite his apparent precociousness in math, Hunt moved around before settling in Arkansas. It's rumored that when one of his early entrepreneurial ventures collapsed, the Hunt patriarch simply took his remaining money and used it to refill his coffers at the poker table. According to the man himself, "I was a fine card player," Mr. Hunt said. "I can beat about anybody. But I quit playing poker in 1921. I went into the oil business then, and anything else is like penny ante. The reason I quit playing poker was that it wasn't any contest."