Hard Times Bucking Texas Mystique : Even the Troubles Are Big in Lone Star State

In a year when the governor admitted lying, taxes went up more than ever before, killer tornadoes struck from west to east and the only records set were ignoble ones like most bank failures and most football teams on probation, the hopes of Texas might be found in a muddy, weedy field here.

This northern Dallas suburb is where J. C. Penney, the giant retailer, says it is going to move its headquarters--from New York, no less.

The relocation should mean a boom for the slumping real estate business. Jobs. Tax revenue. Other companies would follow. Texas was attractive again. Happy days.

Not these days.

Like many other events in the Texas of 1987, this bubble could burst. Stories circulate that large percentages of Penney’s employees will just say no to Plano. The Wall Street Journal even compared it to “an outpost on the moon.”

1987 a Bad Year

You see, it has been a bad year in Texas--so bad that you may question whether the historians will look back on 1987 and say it was the year they buried the “Texas mystique.”

The basic question today: Will the proud, bold, triumphant Texas bounce back, or, in the words of Texas historian A. C. Greene, “become just another state”?

“One thing is for sure: The people that are here are the people that want to be here,” said country singer Jerry Jeff Walker, ever the optimist.

“We’re like the guy digging a hole in the ground and the sides start to cave in,” said H. R. (Bum) Bright, a Dallas oilman who has the distinction of owning large chunks of a major savings and loan, a major bank and the Dallas Cowboys football team, all of which are losing these days.

“You don’t turn tail and run,” Bright said. “You look for ways to shore up the sides and dig your way out.”

Outspoken Houston oilman Michel T. Halbouty said: “Texans aren’t as much depressed as they are apprehensive. They don’t see anything to hang their hats on. You throw your hat up and it just falls down.

“The mystique of Texas has been cramped up by so many things this year.”

Price of Oil Plummets

The troubles began last year, when the price of oil plummeted and the boom died, taking with it the prosperity the state had enjoyed for several years.

But this year has been bad beyond oil, which actually stabilized and even picked up a bit. This year Texas seemed to lose some of its invincibility, some of it’s “can-do” attitude.

The first major embarrassment came in March, when Gov. Bill Clements admitted that he had authorized continuing improper payments to Southern Methodist University football players while he was chairman of the school’s Board of Governors and after he had told the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. that payments had stopped.

SMU was the first school in the nation to received the NCAA’s “death penalty,” which meant abolishing football at the former national powerhouse for all of 1987. And SMU was not the only one to draw interest from the NCAA. Seven of the nine Southwest Conference schools are on NCAA probation or under investigation.

Poor Showing on Gridiron

King Football? Texas has not had a college team in the top 10 since play began this year. The Cowboys’ scab team during the pro football strike outdrew the regulars at Texas Stadium. The Houston Oilers even talked about moving to Florida.

Things have not gotten any easier for Clements, either. The prisons have been full and have had to close to new prisoners and give early release to some inside.

And it took three legislative sessions to come up with the biggest tax hike in state history.

Where is the clout the state has always carried? Some of the big shots like the Hunt brothers, Cullen Davis and former Gov. John B. Connally are struggling to hang on in bankruptcy courts.

Jim Wright of Fort Worth became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives but has been under fire for everything from his investments to his meetings with the Nicaraguan president. The late President Lyndon B. Johnson and the late U.S. House Speaker Sam Rayburn are long gone, along with their influence. It seems like the only big-ticket project Washington wants to give Texas is the one the state does not want--the nuclear waste dump.

Counting Small Blessings

The city of Houston spent $1.1 million to lure the Democratic or Republican 1988 national convention. It lost both, but did manage to keep the Oilers. Texans have to count their blessings this year, however small.

“There’s no question but what the frontier Texas, with the bold men and that sort of thing, is either going down on the elevator or just gone,” Greene said.

Mother Nature has not been kind, either. Thirty people were killed by a tornado that demolished the town of Saragosa in west Texas. A dozen were killed by east Texas twisters. Eighteen aliens trying to get to Dallas suffocated in a locked boxcar. Ten teen-agers were swept away by floodwaters in a bus accident.

Texans banded together to rebuild Saragosa, and donations poured in. But there was little mystique here either. Residents complained of shoddy construction on replacement homes and some demanded a full accounting of contributions, charging that the money was not getting to those in need.

Record Bank Failures

By May, Texas had already broken its own national record for bank failures. Several savings and loans required federal bailouts, and one of Dallas’ biggest condominium developers was indicted on fraud charges.

Some of the big banks have been bought by outsiders or rescued with federal bailouts. The economy has gone so sour that U-Haul reports more moving trucks leaving the state than entering--a complete reversal from the early 1980s when outsiders were crashing the border seeking jobs.

“We have to haul trucks in to Texas now because so many people are leaving,” said U-Haul manager Jerry Lundgren in Arlington.

Where is Roger Staubach to throw that “Hail Mary” pass and pull victory from defeat?

Where is Col. William Barret Travis to lead the stand at the Alamo?

Where are the wildcatters to hit the next Spindletop, the entrepreneurs to invent the next microchip?

“We don’t have that free feeling that we had before all this happened,” Halbouty said. “We don’t have control.”

State Drops in Poll

One year ago, Texas A&M; University pollster Jim Dyer asked Texans if the state was a good place to live. Half said it was an excellent place--but that was down from two-thirds in December, 1983.

Dyer said the question has not been asked this year. The governor has hit all-time lows in popularity polls, he said, but “the economy is the thing on most people’s minds right now--that’s the No. 1 concern.”

If A&M; psychologist Karl Hursey were to put the state on his couch for diagnosis, he would look at reaction to all the stressful life events to see if the state was coping.

“The state seems to be dealing with these things, despite the relatively high frequency, without falling apart. In a patient, you would expect a lot of depression and anxiety, waiting for the next disaster, feeling overwhelmed and left with no place to go,” Hursey said.

The good news psychologically for the state is that, if the crises are successfully dealt with, “it becomes a strengthening experience.

“I hope that’s where Texas is headed,” Hursey said.

Rally for Well Rescue

There was one sure strengthening experience of 1987, a big one in the form of tiny Jessica McClure, the toddler trapped more than 25 feet underground in an abandoned well.

For 58 hours, the tot hung on while unemployed roughnecks banded together and dug a rescue shaft. When she was lifted out, a depressed oil town became jubilant. The spirit of the girl, and the rescuers, not only rallied Midland, but also the state and much of the nation.

If nothing else, Texans can still rally together in a time of crisis. And if nothing else, Texans can still muster optimism.

“I think we still carry the attitude of taking chances. The hard-core Texans are still here,” said Walker, whose songs sometimes tell of longing to return home to Texas. “Who knows? The next microchip or the cure for AIDS could be invented here.”

Business-wise, Bright said, “next year certainly should be no worse, and 1989 should be a much better year for the state, barring any other developments.”

Strong Foundation Cited

Staubach, a successful Dallas real estate developer who has had to “work harder than ever before” through the crash, says the state has a strong foundation that goes back to its beginning: It’s big, diverse and has energy and agricultural riches.

“Anything with a strong foundation can withstand the ups and downs of life,” he said. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into building the state, and that has created an aura that will always be there.

“Texas will get back on top again.”

History is on the state’s side, Greene said.

“It still has a spirit that most states don’t have,” he said. “Texas has lived through a lot of cycles. It started with cotton, then cattle, then back to cotton, then lumber. Then the oil boom hit and ever since then that’s all we’ve thought about.

“We’ll find something new.”