John T. Oxley (polo)
John T. Oxley | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 26, 1909 |
| Died | September 19, 1996 (aged 87) |
| Resting place | Memorial Park Cemetery Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Occupation(s) | Oxley Resources, LLC, Royal Palm Polo Club, Greenhill Farm |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Katheryn Yetter (1912-1987) |
| Children | Thomas Edward (1944-2009), John C., Mary Jane |
| Parent(s) | Moses Edward Oxley (1874-1950) Sallie Eva Cochran (1880-1962) |
| Honors | United States Polo Hall of Fame (1994) Tulsa Historical Society Hall of Fame (2003) |
John Thurman Oxley (July 26, 1909 - September 19, 1996) was an American businessman and polo player.[1][2][3][4]
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
John Thurman Oxley was born on a cattle farm near Bromide, Oklahoma in 1909.[1] He moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma at the age of seventeen.[1]
Career[edit]
In 1935, he started his career at Warren Petroleum, and by 1948 he was secretary to the corporation.[3] He started his own company, Texas Natural Gasoline Corporation and sold it in 1961 to start an exploration company, Oxley Petroleum, with his older son, John C. Oxley.[1] They specialized in natural gas.[3] He sold it to the Allied Corporation (itself later acquired by Honeywell).[3]
Polo[edit]
He took up polo at the age of 46.[3] He won two U.S. Open Polo Championships, the USPA Rolex Gold Cup and Silver Cup, the Monty Waterbury Cup, the Sunshine League many times, and twenty-seven medium-goal championships.[1][2] He won the International Gold Cup at 83, the oldest player to do so.[3]
He owned the Royal Palm Polo Club in Boca Raton, Florida.[2][3] He also owned Greenhill Farm, one of the largest commercial producers of polo ponies in the United States, near Owasso, Oklahoma.[1]
Legacy[edit]
He is a 2003 honoree of the Hall of Fame of the Tulsa Historical Society.[1] He was inducted into the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame on March 17, 1994.[2] The Mary K. Oxley Nature Center, a wildlife preserve in Mohawk Park, Tulsa, is named for his late wife.[1]
Personal life[edit]
He was married to his wife, Mary, from 1935 until her death in 1987.[3] They went horseriding and played polo together.[3] They spent the winter season living in Delray Beach, Florida and the rest of the year their home in Tulsa.[3] One of their sons, Thomas, also played polo, and nearly died from a brain stem injury in 1968, when he lay unconscious for 31 days.[3] They had another son, John C. Oxley, also a polo player, and a daughter, Mary Jane Tritsch.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h Tulsa Historical Society biography
- ^ a b c d Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame, John T. Oxley's biography
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Steve Liewer, Boca Polo Club's John Oxley Dies, Sun Sentinel, September 21, 1996
- ^ Tulsa World September 21, 1996 obituary "Philanthropist John Oxley Dies" Retrieved October 7, 2018