Dolph Briscoe Jr. (April 23, 1923 – June 27, 2010) was an American rancher and businessman from Uvalde, Texas, who was the 41st governor of Texas between 1973 and 1979. He was a conservative Democrat.
Because of his re-election following an amendment to the Texas Constitution doubling the Governor's term to four years, Briscoe became both the last governor to serve a two-year term and the first to serve a four-year term.
A lifelong resident of Uvalde, Briscoe was first elected to the Texas Legislature in 1948 and served as a state representative from 1949 to 1957. As part of the reform movement in state politics stemming from the Sharpstown scandal, Briscoe won election as governor in 1972. During his six years as governor, Briscoe presided during a period of reform in state government as Texas's population and commerce boomed.
Following his two terms as governor, Briscoe returned to the ranching and banking business in Uvalde. He is recognized as having been one of the leading citizens of the state and a benevolent supporter of many civic, cultural, and educational institutions in Texas and the nation. Most recently before his death the former Texas governor established the Dolph and Janey Briscoe Fund for Texas History at the University of Texas at Austin.
He was the last Democratic Texan to be re-elected to the Governor's Mansion with his reelection landslide victory in 1974; fellow Democratic governors Mark White and Ann Richards lost their re-election bids respectively, in 1986 and 1994.
Early years
Dolph Briscoe Jr., was born on April 23, 1923, the only child of Dolph Sr. and Georgie Briscoe in Uvalde, Texas. His father was a descendant of Texas Declaration of Independence signer Andrew Briscoe. Briscoe was first attracted to politics at an early age. Thanks to his father's friendship with Governor Ross Sterling, the young Briscoe traveled to Austin and the Texas Governor's Mansion in 1932. At the age of nine, Governor Sterling invited Briscoe to stay at the mansion and sleep in Sam Houston's bed.
1968 campaign for Governor
In 1968, Briscoe attempted to reenter the political arena, when he joined a list of candidates seeking to replace retiring Texas Gov. John Connally, who chose not to seek a fourth term. Briscoe finished fourth in the Democratic gubernatorial primary that year. Also, that year, he donated $15 million to the Center for American History, which was subsequently renamed the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and for which he served on the Advisory Council. The Briscoe Center holds the Briscoe Papers, which include his gubernatorial records as well as Briscoe family business records.
In June 2008, Briscoe donated $1.2 million in memory of his late granddaughter, Kate Marmion, to found the Kate Marmion Regional Cancer Medical Center. The CMC will serve patients of southwest Texas counties (Uvalde, Real, Zavala, Edwards, Medina, Maverick, Val Verde, Dimmit and Kinney) who otherwise would have to drive to San Antonio for radiation therapy.
Death
Briscoe died on the evening of June 27, 2010 at his home in Uvalde, Texas following complications of heart and kidney failure at the age of 87. A public viewing for the former Texas Governor was held at the Rushing-Estes-Knowles Funeral Home chapel on Wednesday, June 30, 2010 and funeral services were held at the Saint Phillip's Episcopal Church in Uvalde on July 1, 2010 where thousands of mourners including former Governor Mark White, then-Governor Rick Perry, then-Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, former Houston Mayor Bill White and others attended the service. He was buried at the Briscoe Rio Frio Ranch Cemetery at the family ranch next to his wife.
In 2011, the Garner Museum in Uvalde, part of the Briscoe Center of American History at the University of Texas at Austin, was renamed the Briscoe-Garner Museum, and the second floor converted for commemoration of Briscoe's life and career.