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BOX OF LESSONS IN WHAT NOT TO DO
‘Texas Patriarch’ details growth, loss of family business By William Taylor
“ IN T R A-FAMILY L AW SUITS ARE L IK E G AS O L IN E ON THE F IR E . A FT E R T H AT F IRST L AW SUIT WAS F IL ED, W E W ER E N E VE R AB L E TO MAKE AN Y D E CE N T D EC IS IO N S . ”
People Newspapers Life in Frisco on what would become known, thanks to television, as the original Southfork Ranch came with all the glamour of visiting celebrities, Dallas society events, and thoroughbred horses. But for Douglas Box, the youngest son of the late Cloyce Box, an NFL-champion turned self-made millionaire, life on Park Lane in Preston Hollow proved much more satisfying. “That was the happiest time of my life when we were just a normal family,” he recalled. “That was the age of innocence when Mom and Dad took care of everything and my job was to play with the neighborhood kids and walk to Walnut Hill Elementary School.” Today, Douglas Box, 60, lives a short drive from that old Park Lane home in what he calls “Preston Holler,” because it’s a bit too far north to be considered part of Preston Hollow. He offices near there, too. Box works as a certified family business adviser, but sees himself as a preacher of sorts, an evangelist even, on a mission to warn other families about the personal and financial losses that can come if they are ill prepared for the passing of the business founder. “I feel like I’m on a crusade to sound the warning bell to families to heed the call,” he said. That crusade is fueled by his own sad family story.
C O U R T E SY P H O T O
DOUGL AS BOX
WISE TRANSITIONS Douglas Box offers tips for family-owned businesses: • Step down early enough to foster smooth transition. • Get family members who shouldn’t be in the business out of the business. • Rely on quality outside advisors. • Avoid resolving family disputes in court. • The best time to use lawyers is up front for planning.
In his second book, Texas Patriarch: A Legacy Lost, Box tells of his father’s ascent in business and the family and business turmoil that followed when Cloyce Box suddenly died at age 70 in 1993. “This book was written to scare the pants off of other families that have resources,” he said. Box recounts the strained relationships, brothers suing brothers, and the eventual sale of the family business that would grow exponentially in the years afterward. “I don’t think my family particularly likes this book,” he conceded. “Frankly, I don’t like this story. “But I am proud of the book,” he said. “I wrote it to serve other families, not the Box family.” Cloyce Box grew up poor in Jonesboro, Texas, but went on to football stardom at West Texas State Teachers College in Canyon. After serving in World War II, he returned to football, playing alongside Doak Walker and catching passes from Bobby Layne on the way to back-to-back championships for the Detroit Lions. Fame earned in his NFL career led to opportunities in the construction business. Cloyce Box went to work for Fuller Construction, a career that brought him to Dallas as he advanced in the company. He became CEO of Fuller and started his own businesses, making his mark in cement, oil and gas, and real estate. He did
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BENCH A REMINDER OF SMU OFFICER A new bench beneath an oak tree south of Patterson Hall at SMU will serve as a constant reminder of the late Mark McCullers, a campus police officer swept away in floodwaters on July 5, 2016. Employees of the SMU Police Department, which offices in Patterson Hall, will see the bench every day, campus officials said. The university dedicated the bench on Feb. 16 with McCullers’ wife, Tiffany, and other family members present, along with SMU police officers. Two of McCullers’ children attend SMU. McCullers, 46, was sitting in his Dodge Charger sedan in the early hours of July 5 working off-duty private security at a Highland Park construction site when heavy rains caused Turtle Creek to overflow. Video footage from the Fitzhugh Avenue bridge shows his car being swept away. His sedan was found 13 hours later about a half-mile downstream, but McCullers’ remains weren’t found until Aug. 24. SMU Police Sgt. Keith McCain located the remains in a pile of debris near Oak Lawn Avenue and East Levee Street, where a drainage tunnel more than a mile long empties Turtle Creek into the Trinity River.