Clayton Williams

About Clayton Williams

Clayton Wheat "Claytie" Williams, Jr. (born October 8, 1931), a businessman from Midland, Texas, was the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1990 against the Democratic State Treasurer Ann Richards even though Williams initially led in opinion polls by twenty points.

Independent oil and natural gas man Clayton W. Williams, Jr., was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Wheat Williams, Sr. Clayton, Jr., also known as "Claytie", was born in Alpine in the Big Bend country of southwestern Texas. He graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station in 1954 with a degree in animal husbandry. He served in the U.S. Army prior to returning to Texas.

In 1957, Williams followed in the business of his father, beginning in the oil fields of West Texas as a lease broker. Many of his companies were petroleum-related with interests in the exploration and production of natural gas and transportation and extraction of natural gas and natural gas liquids. In 1993, he took Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. public.