McCall Inducted into Distinguished Graduates Society

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Robert R. McCall was born in Norman, Oklahoma in 1926. The Great Depression of the 30’s caused great hardship for the family. As a teenager, Bob made the decision to move to Oklahoma City to go to High School, so that he could work the night shift at Tinker Air Force Base. These were the War Years.

Following graduation from Central High, Bob enlisted in the Navy. He spent several months training to be an electronic technician and going to submarine school. He then volunteered for submarine duty. Bob was sent to the Navy base at Midway Island in the Pacific. While there, he was assigned to the USS Hawkbill. The war was nearing the end and Bob was subsequently discharged from the Navy. The year was 1946.

After his discharge, Bob moved to Denver, worked for a large dry cleaning plant for a few months and then opened a small dry cleaning business of his own. Two years later, Bob returned to Norman where his fathr strongly urged him to take advantage of the GI Bill and enroll at OU.

Bob majored in petroleum engineering and earned a BS degree in 1951 and an MS degree in 1952. He then accepted a job with Texaco and from 1952-1960 was given a series of field assignments in Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois and Texas. He moved to Midland, TX as District Petroleum Engineer for the Midland, TX division. In 1968, Bob was promoted to Chief Petroleum Engineer for Texaco in Houston, TX.

In 1969, Bob was transferred to Texaco’s New York headquarters as a member of the company’s Strategic Planning Group. At this time, Libya was demanding excessive payments for their crude oil. Bob was part of a negotiating team sent to Libya to try to bring about an agreeable settlement. After weeks of work, their efforts were unsuccessful and the oil companies were nationalized.

Following the Libyan event, Bob remained in the New York office and became Assistant General Manager, then General Manager of Texaco’s Eastern Hemisphere Producing Department. In 1977, he was named a Texaco Vice President. During his ten years in New York, he traveled extensively to such countries as Indonesia, China, Norway, the U.K., Libya and Ethiopia to coordinate Texaco’s exploration and producing activities and to meet with government officials.

In 1980, Bob became Senior V.P. in charge of Exploration and Production throughout the U.S. and in 1983, he was named Executive Vice President of Texaco USA. He retired from Texaco in 1987.

Bob and his wife, Byrdine, now live in The Woodlands, TX.

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