Early in the month of September 1934, a letter was received by Mr. Hugh Watson from a Mr. Scott of Omaha, Nebraska. Both men were in the life insurance business and knew of each other through their business activities, but they had never met face to face. Mr. Scott was an officer of a Nebraska life insurance company and Watson was a director of and the agency developer for Southern Standard Life Insurance, located on the fifth floor of the old Mason Building on Main Street across from the Bankers Mortgage Building and next door to the Kress Building at Main and Capitol.

Mr. Scott’s letter asked Mr. Watson to give him the opportunity to visit Mr. Watson’s office and share some enthusiastic thoughts he had for a business club idea that he was anxious to pursue. He also requested the Mr. Watson invite a dozen or so Houston business owners (no two in the same business) to attend his visit so they could hear his story. Mr. Watson agreed to his request and early in the month of October that meeting was held.

Mr. Scott’s message fell on attentive ears and his story was well received. The idea he proposed was the forming of a businessman’s club of about 50 owners or major executives of leading Houston firms who would band together for the sole purpose of trading with each other when at all possible and the exchanging of business leads between members. The club would meet weekly for breakfast at a time that would not detract from regular business hours. Mr. Scott’s plan was to form similar clubs in other metropolitan areas and he was to receive one dollar per month, per member in return for a weekly bulletin he would edit outlining the happenings in each of the other clubs. Mr. Scott returned to Omaha to wait for the answer from the Watson group.

The answer turned out to be “thanks but no thanks”. They liked the club idea, but they didn’t want to be part of a group. In the days that followed, they prepared a list of their choices and found it quite easy to attract members who shared their enthusiasm for an effort that was sure to produce results.

On the 4th day of November, 1934, they proclaimed themselves as “New Born” and at breakfast that week at the Ben Milam Hotel they declared themselves as “In Business”. Some years later they moved their meetings to the Houston Club, the Lamar Hotel and then to River Oaks Country Club where there was “no hassle parking” and no morning downtown traffic.

Back to the Scott-Watson meeting. On the day of that meeting there was a seventeen-year-old young man sitting in the corner who was within earshot of the conversation. He was Hugh Watson’s son who worked after school on weekdays and Saturdays as the mail clerk for the insurance company. The young man was interested in what he heard and when the young lady that was hired as a secretary for the club that was later formed was injured in a car accident he requested of the Board that he be allowed to fill her job while she was in recovery. Even before she got well her parents out of state talked her into returning home and for the next 47 years (except for a couple of years in the Navy during World War Two) Watson, Jr. enjoyed the privilege of being the executive secretary. What a lucky guy he was to have that opportunity to become that close to so many Houston Leaders.