HOUSTON PROUD
Bob McNair’s loyalty to his adopted home city never wavered and was rewarded when he was awarded an NFL franchise
Bob McNair loved sports, and football was his first love.
McNair’s passion for football eventually led him to become the Texans’ founder when Houston was awarded an expansion franchise in October of 1999 to replace the Oilers.
To understand how McNair went from starting a business with $700 to putting together a $700 million bid to return the NFL to Houston 39 years later, you have to go back to 1960 when he moved his family from North Carolina to the Bayou City.
Growing up in North Carolina, McNair played baseball and basketball with other kids in the neighborhood, but he became fascinated with football at an early age.
McNair, who died Friday after a long battle with skin cancer, came to Houston with his wife, Janice, in 1960, two years after they graduated from the University of South Carolina.
McNair wasn’t born with a silver spoon. He made his money the old-fashioned way — he earned it.
When McNair arrived in Houston, he saw horses and covered wagons on Main Street and called his wife in disbelief. Maybe they were making a mistake moving to Houston. He didn’t know the Fat Stock Show, which would be renamed the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo a year later, was in town. Wasn’t afraid to fail
When the McNairs got to Houston, they had so little money their baby, Ruth, slept in a drawer until they could afford a crib.
McNair wasn’t afraid to fail in a city that was booming because of the oil business. He used his last $700 to start a car-rental business.
Beginning in 1960, the Oilers played in the newly formed American Football League. McNair became a pro football fan who attended their games at Jeppesen Stadium on the University of Houston campus. Tickets were so cheap back then he was able to become a season-ticket holder.
Interestingly, McNair was a conservative Democrat until he met George H.W. Bush in 1964. His friendship with the 41st president convinced him to become a Republican.
Later, McNair started a truckrental business. Through his first 20 years in Houston, McNair started some businesses, lost some and lost a lot of money in the process.
“I got in the telecommunications business way too soon,” he said.
In the 1980s, McNair began to prosper financially.
In 1982, McNair founded Cogen Technologies, a privately held company that supplied most of the electricity to the northeast. As his business grew, McNair became wealthy and started to become one of Houston’s most respected and generous philanthropists.
Once he got the resources to do it, McNair decided he wanted to own an NFL team in Houston. He asked his friend, Bud Adams, about buying the Oilers. Adams told him the Oilers would never be for sale.
The McNairs used to sit with Adams in his suite at the Astrodome. In 1993, Adams introduced McNair to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue when he was visiting Houston. McNair expressed a desire to own an NFL team.
Tagliabue took an instant liking to McNair, and the feeling was mutual. The league’s finance committee, which McNair would chair years later, vetted him and recommended him to join their exclusive fraternity if the opportunity arose.
The league checked to see if McNair was interested in several franchises that came on the market, including Miami and Washington. He looked into the Dolphins, but owner Wayne Huizenga planned to retain ownership in the stadium, and McNair wasn’t interested in having him as a landlord.
McNair sold Cogen Technologies to Enron in 1999 for $1.5 billion, including $1 billion in cash and the rest in stock that he sold.
McNair was in full pursuit of bringing an expansion team to Houston when the Washington franchise became available. At the time, the league had an exclusive negotiating period with Los Angeles, and McNair could have abandoned his Houston bid for the nation’s capital, but he didn’t want to move, and he didn’t want to be an absentee owner. The team was sold to Daniel Snyder.
The NFL asked McNair if he would be interested in owning an expansion franchise in Los Angeles. He politely declined because he was loyal to Houston and confident his bid was better and would be accepted.
McNair and his partners had a $700 million bid in place, financing for a new stadium next to the Astrodome and the backing of business and political leaders from the city and country. The Los Angeles bid was in disarray, and at the league’s fall meeting in Atlanta in 1999, Houston was awarded the 32nd NFL franchise. The celebration began. PIcked Texans, team colors
McNair loved Texas, and he always wanted his team to be named the Texans. He was so patriotic he wanted the team’s colors to be red, white and blue.
Another reason Houston got the expansion franchise was McNair’s popularity with some of the NFL owners, including his friendships with Adams and Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones, both of whom supported him from the beginning.
McNair said later the owner who was the most loyal and supportive throughout the process was Carolina’s Jerry Richardson, a longtime friend from North Carolina.
McNair said he was never more proud of being a Houstonian and realizing his longtime dream of owning an NFL team in his city than the inaugural game against the Cowboys in 2002 at Reliant Stadium.
With about two minutes remaining in the Texans’ 19-10, prime-time victory, McNair stood on the sideline with his son, Cal, and Chuck Watson, one of his limited partners.
Fans in the stands directly behind McNair began to chant, “Thank you, Bob! Thank you, Bob!” The chant began to spread to other sections, reaching a crescendo. McNair had tears in his eyes when he turned to look at the fans and said, “Thank you, Houston.”