Cloyce Box was an American original. He was handsome, athletic, intelligent, and ambitious, and his life was the stuff of which dreams and miniseries are made. Starting out as a dirt-poor farm boy from the Texas backcountry, he used his great talents to become a star in the National Football League, a corporate CEO, and a very wealthy man. He was fearless, flamboyant, and controversial. His story is an epic Texas tale of football, cattle, horses, oil, money, power, incredible success, and spectacular failure. The ranch he owned near Frisco, Texas, became famous as the fictional Southfork Ranch on the hit television show Dallas. Financial over-reaching eventually cost him his fortune, just before his death in 1993.

With access to Cloyce Box’s personal files and photographs as well as the assistance of his subject’s family and friends, Michael Barr has crafted a biography that is at once clear-eyed and sensitive, allowing the complex character of Cloyce Box to engage and challenge the reader.