Robert H. Dedman*

The son of a car salesman, Robert Dedman was born in Rison, Arkansas, in 1926. His father drifted from job to job looking for opportunities that always seemed to elude him, which meant the family lived in poverty.

When Dedman was 14, tough times forced his parents to send him and a younger brother to live with a widowed aunt in Dallas. Dedman once said that his parents and the hard times they went through shaped his life. "Poverty encouraged me to want to do something with my life, and a positive mental attitude made me feel like I could achieve it."

In high school, Dedman was an able scholar. He was also an outstanding athlete and won a baseball scholarship to college. He won a second scholarship after the National Student Congress named him Most Outstanding Speaker in the Nation. But Dedman did not accept either scholarship. Instead, in 1944, he enrolled in a U.S. Navy program at the University of Texas at Austin, which allowed him to earn three degrees (in engineering, economics, and law) while being a sailor. In 1953, he earned a law degree with specialization in oil, gas, and taxation, from Southern Methodist University (SMU) while working full time selling insurance and real estate.

As a founding partner in the Dallas law firm of Shank, Dedman & Payne, he soon became personal counsel to legendary oil billionaire H. L. Hunt. While still practicing law, he visited Palm Springs and became intrigued by the way in which a country club boosted real estate values in the immediate area.

When he returned to Dallas, he bought 400 acres on which he built Brookhaven Country Club in 1957. He founded Country Clubs, Inc. and launched a business that would eventually crown him King of the Country Clubs by the New York Times. Under his leadership, ClubCorp International owned and operated 250 private city, country, and athletic clubs, as well as resorts and real estate developments including the Pinehurst Hotel and Club in North Carolina; the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio; the City Club of Washington, D.C.; and the Atrium Club in New York City.

Dedman's philanthropic work created the Dedman Center for Lifetime Sports at his alma mater, SMU, where the liberal arts college was named Dedman College with an endowment he established in 1981. He also contributed to scholarships at UT-Austin and made large donations to the Dedman Memorial Hospital and the Dedman Medical Center in Dallas.