TCU booster and Fort Worth business leader Dick Lowe dies
One of the most significant figures in the history of TCU — and the man who helped make Gary Patterson a head football coach — has died.
Dick Lowe, who made and lost fortunes three times through oil and gas, donated millions to his alma mater and helped land TCU on NCAA probation, died on Sunday morning. He was 92.
TCU confirmed Lowe’s passing.
“So sad,” former TCU and current Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “Legend.”
The family has not released the cause of death. Friends said Lowe had slowed down considerably in the last year.
It is the second major loss this week suffered by TCU and Fort Worth. On Thursday, long time TCU booster and influential Fort Worth business woman Susan Nix died at the age of 72.
“We have lost two great people and Frogs this week — Susan and Dick,” Patterson said in a message. “Forever grateful to them both.”
Lowe played guard at TCU under coach Dutch Meyer and finished his football career in 1951, but he figured his career in oil and gas started when he was 11 growing up in Wichita Falls.
“The TCU athletics community is incredibly saddened by the passing of Dick Lowe,” TCU director of athletics Jeremiah Donati said. “As a standout student-athlete during a memorable era in our program’s history and as a generous supporter after his playing days were over, there are few who have had a similar impact at their respective institutions.”
“If there is someone more knowledgeable and passionate about TCU football, I have not met them.”
There isn’t one.
Along with friend and former TCU quarterback Hunter Enis, the duo started the Four Sevens Oil Co., which has been wildly successful.
Before that last venture, which set Lowe for many lives, he made it all and lost it all on multiple occasions.
During that time he also was a fierce supporter of his alma mater, to the point where his passion got everyone involved in trouble.
In the 1980s, when boosters of Southwest Conference teams brazenly paid high school recruits and college players with cash, Lowe participated on behalf of TCU.
“The (paying of players in the ‘80s) was the dumbest thing I ever did. The most unethical thing I ever did,” Lowe told me in an interview in the late summer of 2018. “I hate that I did it. TCU shouldn’t have to do it. How the hell do we think we are going to compete buying players with Texas or Oklahoma? They can drown us. I was just totally frustrated.”
In 1986, TCU wound up on a crippling three-year NCAA probation under coach Jim Wacker. It was called “The Walking Death Penalty.”
Across I-30 in Dallas, rival SMU was put on the real death penalty.
Although pressed for names, Lowe never revealed the identities of the other TCU boosters who participated in paying players.
Lowe resigned from his position on TCU’s Board of Trustees. Not long thereafter, when the energy market went bust, so did he.
He was so broke, the bank called to re-possess his car in 1988. Lowe drove the car to the bank, and had a friend give him ride home to his rent house where he live with his wife, Mary.
To cover some of their debt, Mary sold her engagement ring. He had $3,000 in a shoe box.
He removed himself from all TCU activities until the spring of 1998 when first-year coach Dennis Franchione recruited anyone who wanted to support the program to join.
Lowe’s presence was not exactly immediately welcomed, but he was back in, and would never leave.
“He was a great one,” “Fran” said.
By that point, Lowe and Enis had Four Sevens rolling, due in large part to their investing in the Barnett Shale at low prices.
When Franchione left after the 2000 season, Lowe was a fierce advocate for the quiet, little-known defensive coordinator, Gary Patterson. It is not a coincidence Patterson was hired to replace Fran’.
Lowe and Enis were fixtures at TCU games, home or road. Former TCU grad and legendary sports writer, the late Dan Jenkins, and his wife, June, were often their guests.
In 2010, when TCU announced plans to re-do Amon G. Carter Stadium with a $105 million project, Enis and Lowe were two of the six “founding contributors” and cut $15 million checks.
In his spare time, Lowe would extensively devour college football stats, and put all of the information down on yellow legal pads.
“While Dick Lowe is remembered as a legendary oil man and Mr. TCU football by many I remember him as someone who loved his family unconditionally and one who had a spiritual dimension that always encouraged me,” said Lowe’s long time friend, pastor O.S. Hawkins.
“The 40-foot cross he erected on a high point of his West Texas ranch stands as a testimony of his faith to all who see it for miles around. He was truly one of life’s most unforgettable characters.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2020 at 12:39 PM with the headline "TCU booster and Fort Worth business leader Dick Lowe dies."
