[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 116 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO CY WAGNER AND JACK BROWN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. LARRY COMBEST

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 1, 1996

  Mr. COMBEST. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the Permian Basin 
Petroleum Association's Top Hand Award recipients for 1996. I cannot 
think of two more deserving individuals of this prestigious award than 
Cy Wagner and Jack Brown. These two Midland oilmen are the founders of 
Wagner & Brown Ltd. They are well-known for their hard work and 
intelligence in the oil industry which made Wagner & Brown Ltd., a 
great American success story.
  Cy Wagner graduated high school in Tulsa from Central High School and 
then went on to receive a degree in geology from Oklahoma University. 
He began his career with Amerada Petroleum in Midland in early 1957. In 
1961, he began working for J.E. Jones Drilling in Midland.
  Jack Brown was born in Brownsville but grew up in San Antonio. After 
graduating from Breckenridge High School, he went to Texas A&M for a 
year and then into the Army, stationed in Japan for 3 years. When his 
duties to his country were over with, Brown returned to Texas A&M and 
in 1950 graduated with degrees in petroleum engineering and mechanical 
engineering. After working as a roughneck in Alice, TX and then in 
Venezuela for 2 years with Texaco, Jack Brown returned to Texas to join 
J.E. Jones Drilling in Midland in 1957.
  Wagner and Brown formed their own partnership in 1961 and later was 
joined by landman Deane Stoltz. Most of their activity was centered 
around the Permian Basin area. By 1967 the group drilled more than 60 
wells in the Bagley Field in New Mexico which supplied needed cash flow 
for larger projects elsewhere.
  In 1969 Stoltz, Wagner, and Brown exchanged most of their interest in 
the Bagley Field for a 25 percent equity position in Tipperary 
Corporation, to be run by Stoltz, and control of the partnership was 
turned to Wagner and Brown.
  Wagner & Brown, Ltd. began their largest drilling program in 1975 on 
30,000 acres of the Conger Field in Sterling and Glasscock counties, 
and today they run more than 600 wells in this area. The partnership 
now employs about 200 people and operated over half of the 2,000 wells 
in which the two participated in.
  Both Cy Wagner and Jack Brown are dedicated oilmen who have 
strengthened West Texas and this whole country. However, their 
contributions go much further than the oil industry. Both men have 
given generously in support of countless local organizations involved 
in education, culture and community development. They richly deserve 
the title of Top Hands.

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