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Gary Cartwright

Gary Cartwright's Profile Photo

Gary Cartwright earned his BA in journalism at Texas Christian University. He had a distinguished career as a newspaper reporter and as a freelance writer, contributing stories to such national publications as Harper’s, Life, and Esquire. He was a senior editor at Texas Monthly for 25 years, until his retirement in 2010 at age 76. He died in 2017.

Cartwright was a finalist for a National Magazine Award in 1986 in the reporting excellence category. He was the recipient of a Dobie-Paisano fellowship and won the Texas Institute of Letters Stanley Walker award for journalism and the Carr P. Collins Award for nonfiction. He won the 1989 Press Club of Dallas Katie Award for best magazine news story. He also received the 2005 Headliner Club of Austin award for best magazine story. Cartwright wrote several books, including Blood Will Tell, Confessions of a Washed-up Sportswriter, Dirty Dealing, Galveston: A History of the Island, and Heart Wiseguy, a memoir published in 1998. He cowrote three movie scripts, for J. W. Coop (Columbia, 1972); Pair of Aces (CBS TV, 1990), which he also coproduced; and Pancho, Billy and Esmerelda, which he coproduced for his own production company in 1994. He also coproduced Another Pair of Aces for CBS. Blood Will Tell was adapted by CBS TV as a four-hour miniseries in 1994.

200 Articles

Business|
April 30, 1995

Are Texans Gun Crazy?

During the first week of April, as the Legislature considered the case for concealed weapons, Texas mourned the consequences of two gun-related tragedies in Corpus Christi: the murder of Tejano superstar Selena Quintanilla Perez and the shooting of five workers at a refinery inspection company by a disgruntled

By Gary Cartwright, Robert Draper and David McCormick

Energy|
November 1, 1994

Disarmed and Dangerous

With the end of the cold war, the Pantex nuclear facility is dismantling its bombs. Will nearby Amarillo’s environment and economy get blown to pieces?

By

Bo Pilgrim
Business|
September 1, 1994

Bo Pilgrim

He invented the boneless breast and made his chicken a household name. But now his critics are out to roast him.

By

Sports|
May 31, 1994

Vain Glory

Jerry Jones may have the biggest ego in football, but don’t bet against him. Even without Jimmy Johnson, he still has the best team.

By

Reporter|
February 1, 1994

Iron Man

The quietest member of the governor’s fitness panel throws his weight around—at last.

By

Travel & Outdoors|
November 1, 1993

Gila Hell

This will be our routine, I’m sorry to report. Very early every morning, at an hour when the Mogollon Mountains are still velvety silhouettes against the star-smeared sky and the predawn tranquility of the Gila Wilderness has swallowed us into the deepest valley of our dreams, we will be

By

True Crime|
June 1, 1993

One Last Shot

Decades after his family controlled Galveston’s liquor and gambling, 89-year-old Vic Maceo is clinging to his gangster past—and to his pistol.

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Politics & Policy|
April 1, 1993

Beer Brawl

There’s trouble brewing at the Capitol this spring, and it has lobbyists and legislators foaming at the mouth. The issue? Your right to drink a glass of fresh, tasty beer.

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Sports|
March 1, 1993

Tom Who?

Jimmy Johnson said he’d see us in the Super Bowl, and he was right. Now he is a hero, and his critics are eating crow.

By

Sports|
August 31, 1992

The Hungriest Coach

Three years after he replaced Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson is giving Dallas Cowboys fans something to cheer about—and his critics are eating their words.

By

Kenneth McDuff black and white headshot.
True Crime|
August 1, 1992

Free to Kill

Once, the State of Texas was going to put Kenneth McDuff to death as payment for his crimes. Instead, it set him free to murder again.

By

Being Texan|
March 1, 1990

The Land, the Roots, the Myth

Whether it wells from the high pine walls of East Texas, the haunted valleys of the Hill Country, the violent uplifts of the Trans-Pecos, or the salty, low-relief vistas of the coastal plains, the Texas myth shapes and claims us all.

By

Being Texan|
March 1, 1990

Work and Reward

For some, work is its own reward. For others it is a compromise, a trade-off to some ulterior purpose. And yet it is the work that defines us. There is something in the doing that gives us stature and makes us whole.

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Being Texan|
March 1, 1990

Passion and Adventure

Texas was founded by risk-takers, place-makers, and folks on the run, and their spiritual descendants are our common stock. Our heritage is not a concert for the fainthearted, but if you hear the music, you’ll want to dance.

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Being Texan|
March 1, 1990

Family and Friendship

Our search for identity is really a search for familial bonds. By our children and our parents, by our forebears and our closest friends, by the reflections of those with whom we surround ourselves, so shall you know us.

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Business|
March 1, 1990

Boom and Bust

When oil and real estate boomed, a lot of Texans rode the tiger. But the beast turned, and those who weren’t devoured faced the prospect of limping back. It has been a long but not uninteresting trip.

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Feature|
March 1, 1990

Hope and Despair

Face it, life isn’t fair. The cards fall in random patterns, and for every winner there is an uncomfortable number of losers. But what goes around comes around, and in the seeds of calamity we often find new beginnings. Mary Margaret Adams. To Russia With Love. Letty Banda. Be It

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Family|
February 1, 1988

An Old Five-and-Dimer

My Mad Dog days behind me, I’ve found contentment with young jackanapes at my feet and the girl of my dreams beside me.

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Every One a Victim
True Crime|
November 1, 1987

Every One a Victim

The parents of a confessed killer went to jail rather than testify against their son. Now the murder conviction has been reversed, and the family of the deceased must endure renewed anguish.

By

Business|
August 1, 1987

The Sleaziest Man in Texas

The rich and eccentric heir to a rich and eccentric Galveston family, Shearn Moody, Jr., craved an empire all his own. But his lack of self-restraint cost him his bank, his insurance company, his fortune, and now, perhaps, his freedom.

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