b'L ynn Frazier is a risk-takerto be clear, he is a takerfield business in Alice. After several years in his first job, Frazier of calculated risks. From the time he took a risk ontook the initiative to invent a tool that he designed to solve a com-his commitment and skills on the football field asmon problem in the oil field, but when he took it to his bosses, they his only hope of affording college, to this very mo- scoffed at his farm boy ingenuity, and he was told to leave work like ment when he has risked tens of millions of dollarsthat to the professional engineers.(so far) on the hope that one day, North Beach willFrustrated but determined to get his invention into the oil field return to its glory of a century ago. tooling industry, Frazier was living in Oklahoma when he formed When I was a senior in high school, I sat down with my parentsMagnum Oil Tool Company, which became a powerhouse in the en-and told them I wanted to go to college, said Frazier, so, I madeergy industry. After two decades of success, he moved his family a plan to get good enough to try out for the [Texas] A&I footballand his company back home to Corpus Christi and made further team. Sure enough, Frazier was awarded a scholarship to play onstrides professionally and personally. Securing over 120 patents, the Javelina varsity football squad at Texas A&I University in Kings- and selling to the biggest drilling companies across the world, Fra-ville (now Texas A&M Kingsville)and not only did he make theziers business became sought-after by giants in the oil and gas in-team, but it was one of the most successful teams in NAIA (nowdustry, and last year sold for an amount reported to be just under NCAA) Division II history, having not lost from the final game of thehalf-a-billion dollars in cash and stock in the buyers company.1974 season, through the third game of the 1976 season, includingFourteen years ago, Frazier built a home in The Harbors canal-front three national championships in a row. neighborhood on the back side of North Beach and found himself While Fraziers success on the football field did not result in an NFLinspired to do what he could to improve the atmosphere on North career, his degree from Texas A&I helped him land a job in the oilBeach. He purchased an acre of beach front property at the end of64 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINESpring 2020 TheCoastalBend.com'