PORT ARTHUR — Editor’s note: The following column from the Best of West collection was originally published in the Port Arthur News on Jan. 14, 1998.



          Tall and thin, his buddies tagged him with the nickname "Ice Pick."  He wore No. 80 for Buckshot Underwood's 1963 Thomas Jefferson Yellow Jackets and is remembered by teammate Terry Rozelle as a sure-handed receiver.  Playing for the ground-hugging Underwood meant being the team's leading receiver with six catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.

    Some 34 years later, Tommy Hicks — he now goes by Tom — is one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in America.  Among his vast holdings are the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers, 422 radio stations, a Lear 55 jet and a staggering amount of real estate.  

    His corporate group - Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst - is in the process of closing an $850 million deal to buy the United Artists Theatre Circuit.

     In money circles, he is considered a billionaire.

    Through all the successes in his life, the Dallas tycoon retains a warm spot in his heart for the five years (1959-64) he spent in Port Arthur.  

    He has vivid memories of spinning records for father John Hicks' radio station (KOLE) in the Adams (World Trade) Building downtown, of playing football for the Yellow Jackets, of rounds of golf at Pleasure Island and Port Arthur Country Club and, belatedly, of the crusty Underwood.

    "I spent the most important years of my life there," Hicks said Tuesday from his office in Dallas.  "It was a very different environment from what I had grown up in here.  But I thrived and made great friends at Edison and TJ.  Athletics were such an important part of the culture.  Football was king.  That was fine with me because I loved sports.

    "You know, we get older and good things happen and we get some breaks and make some breaks.  A lot of the basic foundation of my success came from the football years at TJ, where it was so hard.  I was a tall, skinny kid and a late bloomer.  

          "It was tough going, but I didn't give up.  I went through a lot of trials and tribulations and finally reached my goal.  Going through all that, unquestionably, helped me succeed in life."

    Rozelle, a loan officer for the Port Neches branch of Community Bank, was one of Hicks' closest friends during the Port Arthur years.  He recalls an unpretentious kid who was an over-achiever.

    "I don't think any of us had a clue that Tommy could pull off what he has," says Rozelle.  "But looking back I guess the signs were there.  He was always enterprising.  He was the kind of guy who believed he could do anything he wanted.  

          "In football, he had limited talent.  But he was so determined and had such great heart.  He wasn't going to be denied."

    Another teammate, Port Arthur attorney David Bonham, says he always thought Hicks would become a millionaire.  But not a billionaire.

    "Anybody would have to be surprised at how big Tommy has become," said Bonham, who was a Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity brother and roommate with Hicks as a freshman at Texas.  "Tommy was a wheeler dealer with a good sense of people.  He was intuitive.  His primary objective, even as a young fellow, was to succeed in business."

    Hicks, though his family's roots are in radio stations, started amassing his personal fortune in venture capital doing leveraged buyouts.  He took a serious hit during the 1982 oil collapse, but came roaring back with the 1986 acquisition of the national parent company of Dr Pepper.  He's been on a roll ever since.

    Back in 1994, when he was worth "only" $150 million, Texas Monthly published a fascinating profile on him titled "The Player."  Among the nuggets to be gleaned from the piece was that Hicks' inspiration was "The Carpetbaggers," a book and later a movie loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes.  

         The book led him to focus on mergers and acquisitions.

    Hicks entered the sports arena two years ago with the purchase of the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League.  The deal for the Rangers was in the works for six months before being completed last week.  

    As the Stars owner, he's already proven to be the anti Jerry Jones, hiring good people then getting out of the way.

    "If you could draw up the composite of the perfect owner, the finished product would be Tom Hicks," says Dallas Morning News columnist Randy Galloway.  "He stays informed, stays on top of things, listens to his hockey people and is not afraid to spend what it takes to have a winner.  I keep hinting that he buy the Cowboys, but I don't think he's listening."

    "My plate is kind of full right now," chuckled Hicks, when his caller suggested taking Galloway's advice and going one step farther — rehiring Jimmy Johnson.  Surprisingly, although both he and JJ are TJ grads and were Dallas icons at the same time, the two have never met.  About all they share are the Underwood memories.

    "It was kind of a love-hate relationship with Buckshot," says Hicks.  "He was such a tough taskmaster.  I didn't like him at all at the time.  But I kind of like the end result.  Still, I will always wish he had thrown the ball more."

    You aren't alone there, Tom.

    Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net.