Longtime Mentor Inspires Four Sevens Partner to Endow Scholarship

Larry Brogdon drove his ’55 Chevy from California to Fort Worth to claim a Horned Frog football scholarship. Quarterback of the freshman team, he was at practice one day when he looked up to see an imposing man crouching at the sidelines, holding a pipe and intently observing the play.

“I want to introduce you to my dad,” said Steve Howell, one of the team’s receivers, leading Mr. Brogdon to the sidelines. It was the beginning of a relationship that would last more than three decades.

When they met, the elder Howell had been prospecting in Arizona. Living with the Navajos, he had let his hair grow long, as the Native Americans did. “A lot of men had long hair in 1968,” Larry said, “though not men of his age.” But Foster Howell was far from typical.

Foster Howell

Mr. Brogdon was soon to learn that Foster Howell had been a lineman on the celebrated 1932 Horned Frog football team and then had played pro ball. He was active in the oil business. A miner. A cattle rancher. “A real John Wayne-type personality,” Mr. Brogdon comments.

“I became like a second son to Foster Howell,” he remembers. “Mr. Howell would talk to Steve and me about our futures. He was always encouraging me to take a geology class. At that time, I couldn’t care less.”

In Mr. Brogdon’s sophomore year, he transferred to the University of Mississippi, where he took that first geology class. In his senior year, he took a second. “And then I went on a field trip, and I knew: ‘This is what I want to do with my life.’” So after earning his degree in sociology, Mr. Brogdon enrolled at the University of Texas in geology studies.

In Foster Howell, Larry Brogdon had found a mentor with impeccable connections. Mr. Howell introduced the young geologist to many influential figures in the energy industry. One of those was the famed J.B. Lovejoy, who had been oilman Sid Richardson’s geologist. Mr. Brogdon, who was living and working in Dallas, soon was sharing an office with Mr. Lovejoy.

Mr. Brogdon was to become a partner and chief geologist for Four Sevens Oil Company. He remained close to Foster Howell until his mentor passed away about a decade ago.

“Now that I’ve gone through my career, I want to do for young people what Foster Howell did for me,” Mr. Brogdon comments.

Through their Skyland Foundation, the geologist and his wife, Patti, and their daughters, Skylar and Landry, have established the Foster Howell Scholarship for deserving and talented students who are minoring in energy technology and management. In addition, Mr. Brogdon is now an adjunct professor at the TCU Energy Institute.

“I enjoy mentoring young people,” he says. Just like Foster Howell.