In the 1960s Texas businessman Rollin King became the legal client of Herbert Kelleher, a newly re-located lawyer from New York. The story is told that Rollin came up with the idea for an innovative airline on a “cocktail napkin” in a restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. This exact story may not be true, but the fact remains that in 1968 Kelleher did, unsuccessfully try to talk King out of starting a new airline company. Despite his lawyer’s advice King spent most of 1968 until 1970 recruiting a board of directors, writing a business plan, and finding the money needed to finance the new company’s activities with the goal of becoming certified by the State of Texas to provide airline service between Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
King launched Southwest Airlines in 1971, becoming the founder and first president, and the only director to sit on the board from 1968 until his retirement at the age of 75, just under 40 years later.
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