Томми Джо Вандергрифф: Техас саяхатшысының өмірі мен қызметі

American politician

Tommy Joe Vandergriff (January 29, 1926December 30, 2010) was a politician from Texas. He served as Mayor of Arlington from 1951 to 1977, as a U. S. Representative from from 1983 to 1985, and as County Judge of Tarrant County from 1991 to 2007. For the greater part of his life, Vandergriff was a Democrat, but he became a Republican around 1990. As Mayor, he was instrumental in several projects, including a new General Motors assembly plant, moving a Major League Baseball franchise to Arlington, and the opening of Six Flags over Texas.

In 1989, a group of investors led by future president George W. Bush and Dallas financier Edward "Rusty" Rose purchased the team from oil man Eddie Chiles. The group named investor Tom Schieffer as Partner In Charge of Ballpark development and charged him to select a site to build a new stadium. After Schieffer decided Arlington was the best location in Dallas–Fort Worth to build a new stadium, Arlington Mayor Richard Greene led the efforts, with the help of Vandergriff, to convince Arlington voters to raise $135 million in bonds for its construction.

In 2004, Tom Vandergriff was inducted into the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall of Fame along with Gold Glove third baseman Buddy Bell and Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins.

In 1997, a full size bronze statue of Vandergriff was dedicated in the centerfield plaza, which bears the name Vandergriff Plaza.

Tom Vandergriff worked in his family's businesses including a chain of car dealerships. His father, Hooker, owned Vandergriff Chevrolet and Vandergriff Buick, until he split the dealerships between Vandergriff and Vandergriff's sister, Ginger. After losing his Congressional re election bid, Vandergriff returned home to operate the family car dealerships. With a mountain of campaign debt, the Vandergriff family fortune had weakened. Then in 1989, Vandergriff's son, Victor Vandergriff, purchased the family's interest and steered it through the recession of the early 1990s. In 1997, Victor and a group of investors sold the car chain to V. T. Inc., where he would serve as the company's Vice President. Victor later served as Chairman of the Department of Motor Vehicles Board from 2009–2013 and in March 2013, was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to serve as a member of the Texas Transportation Commission. In 2014, Berkshire Hathaway Automotive INC. purchased V. T. Inc. Today, the dealership chain include Chevrolet, Toyota, Acura, Honda, and Hyundai.

During the 1960 Presidential election, then Senator John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson traveled in a parade through Dallas–Fort Worth making a campaign stop in Arlington. The motorcade was greeted by Mayor Vandergriff and a crowd of thousands near the downtown Arlington State Bank. Three years later, on November 22, 1963, Vandergriff attended a breakfast in Fort Worth hosted by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce in honor of President Kennedy. Vandergriff was part of a welcome "honor guard" that escorted President Kennedy at the Hotel Texas. When news broke of the assassination, Vandergriff was still in the car traveling home from the Fort Worth breakfast. Coincidentally, Lee Harvey Oswald's mother, Marguerite, was the family's personal nurse. She was also employed by Amon G. Carter, a prominent businessman in Fort Worth. Just months before the assassination, Lee Oswald and his wife, Marina, visited the Vandergriff home to pick up a high chair for their newborn daughter.

At the age of 84, Vandergriff was in attendance at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on October 22, 2010 for the final game of the American League Championship Series in which the Rangers beat the New York Yankees 6 1. It would be his last public appearance. Later that night, Vandergriff fell and broke his hip, forcing him to miss the team's first World Series. Vandergriff died two months later. In memory of Vandergriff, the Texas Rangers gave the family the very first 2010 American League Championship ring. In a statement from the organization, president and CEO Nolan Ryan said, "the passion and determined efforts of Tom Vandergriff made the Texas Rangers a reality nearly 40 years ago. Because of his work, we are able to celebrate an AL Championship." On Opening Day of 2011, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington held a moment of silence to remember Vandergriff after the family unveiled a large banner of Vandergriff in left field that served as a season long tribute.