Distinguished Alumni
Russell D. Gordy
Awarded 2018
The son of a Houston policeman and an office cleaner and the first in his family to attend college, Gordy worked his way through college with stints as a garbage collector, a truck-loader and offshore roughneck before earning his business administration degree in 1972.
After graduating, he began his career with a small, independent oil company, until it sold in 1981. He then decided to go into business for himself and co-founded a small oil and gas exploration company. Expanding into coal-bed methane drilling and minerals exploration, he formed SG Interests and later formed RGGS Land & Minerals, after acquiring mineral rights to 1.5 million acres from U.S. Steel.
He is currently managing partner and majority owner in RGGS and SG Interests. He is also President of Gordy Oil Company, an exploration company in the Gulf Coast and Gordy Gas Corporation, in Colorado and New Mexico. Prior to forming SG Interests, Gordy was a founding partner of Northwind Exploration Company.
The distinguished alumnus has also moved into real-estate development with Buffalo Heights in Houston and last year, he made his first venture into retail, opening Gordy & Sons Outfitters, a high-price hunting and fly-fishing store.
Gordy’s love of land is evidenced through his family-owned Rock Creek Ranch limited partnership. Today, he is recognized as one of the largest landowners in the country with over 155,000 acres of land spread across Texas, Wyoming, Montana and Wisconsin.
Yet, through his substantial gains, Gordy has never lost perspective of his modest beginnings and the value of giving back. He and his wife, alumna Glenda (’73, ’77) support a multitude of nonprofits and charities including Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston Crime Stoppers and the Broach Foundation for brain cancer research. As arts patrons, the couple also proudly supports the Houston Ballet and Stages Repertory Theatre.
The Gordys are Joint Life Endowed Life Members to SHSU’s Alumni Association; their ongoing commitment to higher education is apparent in their numerous gifts spread across multiple colleges and departments.
Sponsoring many alumni events, Bearkat Champions, the Bearkat Invitational Golf Tournament and annual Let’s Talk are other areas where SHSU has benefited through their philanthropic spirit. They also give to support student scholarships in a variety of academic areas, as well as enrichment funds for the NCAA Academic Advising program. Most recently, they provided significant support to the proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine (applicant status-pending accreditation).
A major contributor to the Share the Vision campaign and Honoring Traditions Creating Futures capital campaign, Gordy is the embodiment of a self-made Bearkat success story.