MY INVESTING IN LOW PRICE STOCKS CONTINUES IN 1968 UNDER THE GUIDEANCE OF CLINTON OIL &
GAS COMPANY CEO RICK (REALTO) P. CLINTON.
Spirit of the Gift
Biography Project
Histories of the men and women behind WSU's scholarships and fellowships
Rick P. Clinton Professorship
Rick P. Clinton, an alumnus of Oklahoma University, was a successful geologist and oilman,
founder of Clinton Oil Company in Wichita. While living in Wichita, he and his wife,
Eleanor, were supportive of Wichita State University, contributing to the athletic and
business programs. Hoping to attract and retain outstanding faculty members to the school of
business, Mr. Clinton established the Rick P. Clinton Professorship in 1970, which supports
a faculty chair in the W. Frank Barton School of Business. This generous contribution
facilitated the naming of Clinton Hall.
Mr. Clinton passed away in 1996, but his legacy will ensure the future of WSU business
faculty and students. His wife, Eleanor Clinton, is a lifetime member of the Fairmount
Society.
Again, it was a magical world. I actually spoke to his wife Eleanor a few years ago and
found she is still alive in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While I was brought to work at the Rickelson
oil and gas ranch at Fort Gibson lake I actually only lasted a day and he let me vacation.
It was surreal to be on his 80 foot yacht, to go pick up minnows at the bait shop in the
Rolls Royce. We race golf carts until his son Rick Jr. drove his over a cliff and crashed
it into the top of the yacht. We would take a small airplane off the golf course there and
dive bomb fishermen on the lake. It was great fun to see who could take their motorcycle
and race for the tennis fence and jump the bike to see how hi we could crash against the
fence. I was quite chastised about cleaning crappie in the kitchen. Very used to that at
home but that is something the maids did there. I spent many hours with Rick and at one
point he had offered to pay for my college. I did go to WSU to major in Petroleum Geology
with a minor in Spanish but much of the Geology was elementary to me since I was already
giving lectures on the formation of Borax Crystals at the university at age 16 and winning
Paleontology awards (I still have my displays) at the Wichita Kansas Gem and Mineral Society
at the age of 14. My weekends entertainment were searching for geothic psuedomorphs after
pyrite. However, I studied every thing I could about stock investing and Rick Sr. became my
personal mentor.
While I left working as Rick Clinton personal assistant and left the WSU college he was
willing to pay for I did end up working at his oil plant in Ponca City, Oklahoma for a time.
He truly became like a second father to me.