RIDING THE BULL
Private jets, beautiful women, fast horses and kidnapping.
Mickey’s Bull Ride was not on the back of a beast of muscle and blood. His ride was on the back of the crazy insatiable desire for the American Dream spawned by the financial excesses of the ‘80s and ultimately crushed by the inevitable melt-down of the savings and loan industry. He candidly tells his story with humility and pride. In a life laced with great personal success, he saw greed, failure, triumph and personal tragedy. In the end, you have to decide whether he dodged the horns and hooves or whether the ride was worth it.
Mickey rode the Bull of high finance, romance and ruin. He started his ride at 22 and never got off for 50 years. The Murry story is an inspiration and a must-read for every entrepreneur, athlete, business executive and person who searches for the American Dream.
This is the story of Mickey Murry, a man who rose from humble beginnings with no formal education, to achieve great success. The Murry story is an inspiration to every entrepreneur, athlete, business executive and person who searches for the American Dream.
As this story illustrates, the search often trumps the find. This story is also a poignant love story about two ordinary Texans who lived an extraordinary American dream together, who lost each other and then found each other again 27 years later.
Married with two children at age 18, selling insurance, sewing machines and encyclopedias door-to-door, his prospects were dismal. However, these experiences fueled Mickey’s passion for financial success and taught him an important skill, which would later prove invaluable in all his ventures. At age 20, Mickey took a job with a construction company at $1.25 per hour. After hard work and persistence, almost serendipitously, a friend agreed to back him in a home building company. At the age of 22, the ride began. Mickey discovered he had a natural talent for designing homes that people stood in line to buy.
From there, the roller-coaster ride accelerated. Mickey Murry became one of the most successful custom home builders in America. He designed and built thousands of spectacular homes in the fastest growing cities in Texas. The home he built for his family was called The Castle became a very popular land mark in Plano, Texas.
Mickey lived the life of the rich and famous. From private jets to thoroughbred horses, his bull ride, Texas style, continued through the boom and bust of the housing industry. It included the crazy whitewater ride of excess during the savings and loan deregulation and financial debacle of the Reagan ‘80s. He was tossed many times. But like a bull rider going for the world championship, won by the rider who hangs on for that magical eight seconds, Mickey got back up on the beast, time and time again.
In a life laced with many stories of great success, he saw greed and failure. He survived a kidnapping and multiple marriages, owned a string of winning horses, and hobnobbed with presidential candidates and a state Governor. He helped many people reach success, and through winning and losing it all, Mickey found peace where no one ever dreamed he would.
He rode the bull, and grabbed life by the horns. Hang on as we mount up!