Bill Clements William Perry " Bill " Clements , Jr . ( April 13 , 1917 – May 29 , 2011 ) , was the 42nd and 44th governor of Texas , serving from 1979 to 1983 and again from 1987 to 1991 . Clements was the first Republican to have served as governor of the U . S . state of Texas since Reconstruction . Clements ' eight years in office were the most served by any Texan governor prior to current Governor Rick Perry . Early career . Clements was born in Dallas and worked as an oil driller for many years . He founded SEDCO in 1947 , the world ' s largest offshore drilling company and technical leader of the offshore drilling industry , developing dynamically positioned drilling rigs , top drives , and many other offshore drilling innovations . In 1984 , SEDCO was sold to Schlumberger Ltd . , and its assets combined with their drilling contractor subsidiary , Forex , under Schlumberger management , to form Sedco Forex Schlumberger . Sedco Forex Schlumberger was acquired by Transocean Ltd . in 1999 and combined with their existing fleet . He entered politics as the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford , in the latter administration under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ( 1975 – 1977 ) . Texas ' first GOP governor since Reconstruction . On January 16 , 1979 , Clements succeeded Democrat Dolph Briscoe as governor of Texas . To win the position , he first defeated State Representative Ray Hutchison in the Republican primary by a lopsided vote of 115 , 345 to 38 , 268 . Hutchison , a prominent Dallas attorney , is the second husband of Texas State Treasurer ( 1991 – 1993 ) and U . S . Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison , who served from 1993 to 2013 . Clements enjoyed the support of former state party chairman Peter O ' Donnell , organizer of the Draft Goldwater Committee in 1963 - 1964 . O ' Donnell became a key advisor to Clements , who won the general election held on November 8 , 1978 , by having narrowly defeated Democratic former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice John Luke Hill , who had also served six years as state attorney general . Clements polled 1 , 183 , 828 votes ( 49 . 96 percent ) to Hill ' s 1 , 166 , 919 ballots ( 49 . 24 percent ) . The La Raza nominee , Mario C . Compean , and two other minor candidates shared 18 , 942 ballots . The more liberal Hill , who had also once been the appointed Secretary of State of Texas , had defeated Briscoe in the primary . In winning , Clements achieved victory with 350 , 158 fewer votes than the 1972 GOP nominee , Henry Grover , who went down to defeat because turnout was much lower in the 1978 off - year election than it had been during the aforementioned presidential election year . The 1972 Texas governor ' s race was the last to coincide with a presidential election because when the terms went to four years , the gubernatorial elections were also set to coincide with the off years between presidential elections . Clements ran for reelection in 1982 , but he was defeated by Democratic Attorney General Mark Wells White by more than 327 , 000 votes because of sagging economic indicators and weak support from minority voters , who historically support Democratic candidates . White received 1 , 697 , 870 ( 53 . 2 percent ) to Clements ' 1 , 465 , 537 ( 45 . 9 percent ) . In addition , the Republican down - ballot candidates were all defeated in 1982 , including George Strake , Jr . , a Houston businessman who had been Clements ' former secretary of state . Strake ran for lieutenant governor against the incumbent Democrat , Bill Hobby . After the 1982 campaign , Strake was named to replace Chet Upham of Mineral Wells as the Republican state chairman , a position that he filled from 1983 to 1988 . Staging the 1986 comeback . In between his two terms as governor , Clements was chairman of the board of governors of Southern Methodist University in Dallas . He ran again in 1986 and won a contested GOP primary against U . S . Representative Thomas Loeffler of New Braunfels , the seat of Comal County , and former Democratic turned Republican Congressman Kent Hance of Lubbock . In the fall , Clements unseated Governor White , who was hurt by the unpopularity of the " no pass / no play " policy involving high school athletics and proposed teacher competency testing . In gaining his second term , Clements polled 1 , 813 , 779 ballots ( 52 . 7 percent ) to White ' s 1 , 584 , 512 ( 46 . 1 percent ) . Clements had turned the tables on White in a near mathematical reversal of the 1982 results and was inaugurated for a second nonconsecutive term on January 20 , 1987 , just after White came " Striding up to Clements in the Capitol rotunda " and extended a hand for a handshake with congratulations and Clements simply shook it without comment and turned away . Clements as governor . His first term was marked by SEDCO ' s involvement in the largest oil blowout in history , the Ixtoc I oil spill , which caused extensive environmental damage . During this time , Charlie Brooks , Jr . , became the first inmate ever to be executed by lethal injection ( December 1982 ) . Clements faced heavily Democratic state legislatures during his tenure . In 1979 , the legislature overrode one of his vetoes , the last time that Texas lawmakers have completed an override . In 1980 , Clements commuted the death sentence of Randall Dale Adams to life in prison . Adams , the subject of " The Thin Blue Line " , an Errol Morris documentary film , was exonerated in 1989 after serving twelve years in prison . Clements was also governor at the time of the execution of Carlos DeLuna , who was put to death in 1989 ; evidence questioning the findings of facts that underlay DeLuna ' s conviction was published in 2012 . During his second term , Clements worked to reduce crime , improve education , boost the Texas economy , and to foster better relations with Mexico , especially on issues important to the mutual borders , such as immigration and the War on Drugs . However , he did not push as pledged for the initiative and referendum reforms advocated by State Senator Walter Mengden of Houston , based on the principle of California ' s Proposition 13 . Clements ' s second term was marred by a startling revelation he made two months after taking office . On March 3 , 1987 , Clements admitted that he and the other members of the SMU board of governors had approved a secret plan to continue payments to 13 football players from a slush fund provided by a booster . Clements said that the board agreed to " phase out " the slush fund at the end of the 1986 season , but that it felt duty - bound to honor prior commitments to the players . The decision to continue the payments ultimately led to the NCAA shutting down the football program for the 1987 season — the so - called " death penalty . " SMU then opted not to field a team in 1988 as well , claiming it could not put together a competitive squad . The shutdown and other sanctions left the once - proud Mustang football program in ruin ; SMU has had only two winning seasons since returning to the field , and would not procure another bowl bid until 2009 . A few months later , the College of Bishops of the United Methodist Church released a report detailing an investigation of its own into the scandal . It revealed that Clements had met with athletic director Bob Hitch , and the two agreed that the payments had to continue because the football program had " a payroll to meet . " According to the report , in late 1985 then SMU President L . Donald Shields and board of trustees chairman Edwin L . Cox wanted to stop the payments completely in opposition to Clements and Hitch . The four held a " most important meeting " in August 1985 in Shields ' office in the SMU administration building , Perkins Hall . Shields and Cox noted that although earlier in the year a phase - out of the payments had been agreed upon by SMU leadership , the NCAA had just enacted the " death penalty " for repeat violators ( of which SMU was one , having been cited six times to that point by the organization and twice in the last five years ) for violations occurring on or after September 1 of that year , and thus the situation had changed . But Clements , admitting his way would be " taking a chance " , argued that if the payments were stopped immediately , star players receiving them would be sure to leave SMU and publicly announce why . Nothing was formally decided at the meeting , but afterwards , Clements and Hitch talked for about fifteen minutes in the Perkins Hall parking lot . Hitch remembered Clements asking him if the payments could be continued and when hearing that they could , telling him in no uncertain terms " Then do it . " And the payments continued ( on at least two occasions starting in 1983 , after President Shields expressed outrage over the payments and said they had to stop , Clements , an SMU dropout , told the PhD holder Shields to " stay out of it " and to " go run the university " ) . A week later , Clements apologized for his role in continuing the payments . He said that he had learned about the slush fund in 1984 , and an investigation by the board of governors revealed that players had been paid to play since the mid - 1970s . Clements said that rather than shut the payments down immediately , the board " reluctantly and uncomfortably " decided to continue paying players who had already been guaranteed payments . However , he said , in hindsight the board " should have stopped ( the payments ) immediately , " rather than merely phase them out . Clements faced calls for his impeachment as a result of these statements ; two state legislators argued that he would have never been elected had he honestly addressed his role in the scandal . Under the circumstances , he opted not to run for a third term as governor and was succeeded on January 15 , 1991 by Democratic state Treasurer Ann Richards . Post - political life . After leaving the governorship , Clements resided in Dallas with his second wife , the former Rita Crocker Bass ( born October 30 , 1931 ) , who was first lady of Texas during both of his terms . She was subsequently appointed to the University of Texas Regents by Governor George W . Bush . Clements was known for his acerbic , energetic personality . Clements lent considerable personal effort to support several other Republican candidates seeking office in Texas . In 1993 , he supported the conservative U . S . Representative Joe Barton in the special election for the U . S . Senate to succeed newly resigned Democrat Lloyd Bentsen . Barton lost out to Kay Bailey Hutchison . Clements also supported the embattled Texas Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith , who was purged by Governor Rick Perry in the 2004 Republican primary . Whereas Governor Perry first endorsed former Mayor Rudolph W . Giuliani of New York City for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination , Bill Clements was as early as 2006 already raising funds for the eventual nominee , U . S . Senator John S . McCain of Arizona . After Giuliani withdrew from the race , Perry joined Clements in endorsing McCain . In June 2009 , Clements donated $ 100 million to UT Southwestern Medical Center , the largest civic donation in Dallas history . On April 13 , 2012 , Daniel K . Podolsky , M . D . , President of UT Southwestern Medical Center announced the UT System Board of Regents approved the naming of the new UT Southwestern University Hospital in honor of Clements . On February 16 , 2010 , Clements and his wife both endorsed Governor Rick Perry ' s re - election campaign in the 2010 Texas Republican gubernatorial primary against Kay Bailey Hutchison . Clements , incidentally , won the Republican nomination that ultimately led to his first term as governor by defeating Hutchison ' s husband , Ray , in the 1978 GOP primary . In October 2010 , Clements ' son , B . Gill Clements ( born 1941 ) , was murdered at the age of sixty - nine near his ranch in Athens in Henderson County in east Texas . An investor , Clements was also a graduate of Southern Methodist University , married , and the father of three children . He was predeceased by his mother , Pauline Allen Gill Clements , Bill Clements ' first wife . Death . On Memorial Day weekend in 2011 , Clements died at age 94 in a Dallas hospital from natural causes . In addition to his wife Rita , Clements was survived by a daughter , Nancy Clements Seay .