Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/793905
92 In the beginning. My dad was in the oilfield-supply business and grew up in Houston on the north side. His father grew up in Houston. I know I'm a third-generation Houstonian, maybe fourth. My parents laid a wonderful foundation for me with people. I was an only child, and my parents were 38 years old when they had me, which was old for their generation. And so I grew up with my parent's friends. They took me everywhere. I wouldn't trade my childhood for anything in the world. My mother was one of the original presidents of the Women's Institute. They were both great people, and I can tell some wonderful stories about the Eddy Scurlocks, the John Mecoms, the Jim Wests. My mother was in a poker group, back in the '50s with Alice West, who was married to "Silver Dollar" Jim West. I grew up on Del Monte. I went to St. John's School for the first nine years of my schooling. I'd walk home, and whenever they were playing poker at the West house, I'd go over there because we didn't have a swimming pool. Well, sometimes Mr. West would be there, and he'd throw silver dollars in the pool for me to dive for. And I still have about 12 silver dollars that I got out of that pool, in my safe; most of them date back to the late 1800s. They played poker once a month, and I can remember sometimes Mrs. West's driver would bring my mother home. Only five houses down the street! But they'd drive her home because it was about 3 o'clock in the morning when the poker game ended. B ack in those days, there were a lot of little old ladies in the real estate business. They were nice people, but they really weren't the professionals that I thought this business could bring to the world. I had been doing a lot of job interviewing, and I met a man named Jimmy Jax, who was an ex-Rice football player. Jimmy had a very small residential real estate operation near the corner of Buffalo Speedway and Richmond. We started talking, and two weeks later, he made me an offer. I said, "Jimmy, I really think this is what I want to do, because I love architecture, I love people … I will accept the position with you, with the understanding that I'll be knocking on your door, probably within a year, wanting to buy into the company." John Daugherty Realtors opened in 1967, so we're 50 years old this year. And it sounds funny, but I haven't sold a house since 1975. I quit selling because I knew if I were competing with my sales associates, I would take the cream and give them the leftovers. I quit selling to start building my organization. And it's worked well. We've been very fortunate. John Daugherty, the man of the double-digit million-dollar listings, who was once tapped to sell the Mastersons' famed Rienzi. Consummate gentleman. Old school. Raconteur and oral historian who can recite, unscripted, the architects and owners of Houston's grandest homes, River Oaks to Shadyside, going back at least 60 years. AS TOLD TO CATHERINE D. ANSPON. PORTRAITS MAX BURKHALTER. CONSIDERING A HALF CENTURY 6 Longfellow Lane, designed by Birdsall Briscoe