A Cowboy’s Legacy

Texas lawman and cattle rancher T. Michael O’Connor ’77 reflects on a passion for service and sustainability.

By Chrystal Houston

February 14, 2022

Growing up on a ranch in South Texas, T. Michael O’Connor’s youth was spent in a saddle. Under a wide-brimmed Stetson, his eyes were continuously scanning the horizon for threats to his family’s herd. Hard work was learned young, and leisure was a foreign concept. Between school and the ranch, there was always something that needed doing. Even as a boy, he understood that the privilege of living on this blessed land came with a deep responsibility for it—for the water, the soil, the grass, the animals and its whole web of interdependent life. His job was to steward the land, to care for it and to pass it on to the next generation.

O’Connor ’77 learned to equate work with joy and self with service. He developed keen observational and decision-making skills, as well as a cowboy mentality of determination, discipline and grit.

U.S. Marshal T. Michael O’Connor ’77 has enjoyed a 40-year career in law enforcement, 16 of which were spent as the sheriff of Victoria County.

“Out there, you’re on your own,” O’Connor said. “You have to improvise and take care of ranch matters as you see fit, the best way you can. You make mistakes, then live and learn by those mistakes. All of that accumulates into who you are—your character.”

Years have passed, but the essentials of this cowboy have not changed.

Today, O’Connor is a U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Texas. He’s still scanning the horizon for threats and checking fence lines, but the herd he is protecting has grown to include the several million people who live in his district from Houston to the Rio Grande Valley. The threats are bigger now: human trafficking, drugs and cybercrimes being just a few.

In addition to his public service, T. Michael O’Connor ’77 manages the nearly 200-year-old family ranch.

When he’s not bringing fugitives to justice, he is continuing the family legacy as part of the fifth generation to manage the O’Connor ranch, which has been in the family for nearly 200 years.

It will still be in the family in another 200 years if O’Connor gets his way. He’s working to create a more sustainable future not just for his family’s ranch, but also for the whole ranching industry in the great state of Texas.

“That’s the most important thing,” O’Connor said in his slow Texas drawl. “To pass on this legacy and honor the sacrifices of generations prior.”

Call of Duty

O’Connor pursued a degree in range science at Texas A&M University, with no plans beyond continuing the stewardship of the land. However, a surprise was waiting for him back home: a new calling. “My grandfather and the local sheriff were the best of friends, so I was around that environment and took a liking to it,” he recalled. When O’Connor returned to the ranch degree in hand, the sheriff asked him to put aside ranching for a time and answer the call of duty. “It was like the Old West. Raise your right hand, here’s your badge…basically that’s how it all began.”

What followed was a 40-year career in law enforcement, 16 years of which were spent as the sheriff of Victoria County. “I saw that there was something I could contribute to the community and the region with regard to organized crime, and I developed an expertise in policies, patrol and tactical skills. I saw a need in our community to have real leadership, and I chose to serve,” he said.

“It takes a lifetime to build integrity. It takes a split second to lose it forever.”
- T. Michael O'Connor '77

From FBI SWAT training to Civil Air Patrol Emergency Services and Counter-Drug certifications, O’Connor has invested in his community by completing more than 4,000 hours of law enforcement training in areas such as patrol, supervision, criminal law, jail operations, investigation, professionalism, ethics and leadership.

Leadership came naturally to him, as he learned it first on horseback. Leading people or leading horses—both are about listening and clear communication. “You have to be observant and determined that the outcome will be positive no matter what it is or how big the challenges are,” he said. He also became a student of leadership, enthusiastically poring over books on the topic. However, his most memorable leadership lesson came from an “old timer” on the family ranch. “He told me, ‘Just remember to always ride with your cowboys.’ I think that was the best advice I ever received.”

Justice is Coming

That teamwork mentality has been a bedrock of his career. O’Connor has served his community, his county, his state and country with much distinction in the last four decades. He currently oversees about 200 deputy marshals in offices across the southern district of Texas as well as operations in Mexico and Colombia. “I send marshals all over the world to pursue violent fugitives who have absconded, and we bring them back to justice,” he said.

The day to day in this line of work is “predictably unpredictable,” he added. As the marshal administrator, he deals with personnel issues and policy and procedural matters, as well as assisting marshals in the field. Policing has changed some through the years, but O’Connor said his core values of leadership, integrity and selfless service—learned on the ranch and reinforced at Texas A&M—“will never, ever become obsolete.”

There have been times when O’Connor has been forced to discipline officers under him who did not maintain the highest level of integrity. “I was relentless on this, because I did not want to compromise myself as a leader in the community. My role is to be a champion for those who cannot be a champion for themselves,” he said. As he mentors the next generation of leaders in the force, he’s trying to pass on one lesson above all others: “It takes a lifetime to build integrity. It takes a split second to lose it forever.”

Legacy of Conservation

O’Connor’s great-great-grandfather, Thomas O’Connor, immigrated from Ireland in 1834 and was the first of the family to call South Texas home. “He was the youngest person to fight in the Battle of San Jacinto,” he said, with evident pride at his direct connection to the final decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Thus began a family legacy of protecting the land—a legacy O’Connor continues today.

T. Michael O'Connor ’77 grew up in a ranching family that prioritized conservation, sustainability and protecting the land around them.

“My family has always been conservationists, even in the days when people didn’t really know what conservation was,” he said. “My dad always said, “If you don’t take care of what God has given you, if you don’t take care of the land and the water, the livestock you raise will be a non-issue. This land is not as much yours as it is for the next generation. Take it and receive it as it is but pass it on better.’”

It’s getting harder and harder to make a living in agriculture, as climate change and market influences converge to squeeze ranchers. The cost of doing business continues to gallop ahead, while the profits dry up like a creek bed in July.

Sustainability, both for the land and those who depend on it for their livelihood, is O’Connor’s ambition. He is excited about the formation of a new Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management in Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with the hope that it will become a hub for ranch families across Texas and beyond.

This center will be a one-stop shop for ranchers with questions on improving grazing management practices and animal nutrition, as well as ecosystem goods and services. It will also be a voice in support of ranching when it comes to policy creation. “We lose a square mile of ranch and farmland in Texas every day,” said Dr. Roel Lopez, head of the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management. “There is an urgency in ensuring that ranching and grazinglands are stewarded, both now and into the future. Our state depends on it.”

The Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management will increase integration of efforts within The Texas A&M System and beyond to meet the needs of the ranching community. “The vision and example set by Mr. O’Connor and other like-minded ranchers and alumni gives us the passion and energy to move forward in this effort,” said Lopez.

Sustainability is a passion for T. Michael O’Connor '77. He is excited about the new center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management in Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, which will serve families in the ranching community.

“As the ranching industry diminishes, it is imperative that institutions like Texas A&M continue to be leaders in research and development and act as a credible resource for those who have questions,” O’Connor added. He wants to see greater collaboration between industry and academia and an open dialogue about how to improve and protect this way of life. Because when it comes down to it, “We need each other to survive,” he said.

Survival will require change. That doesn’t bother O’Connor. In fact, he’s ready to lead the charge for new ideas in the cattle industry and in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “I used to hear from old timers, ‘That’s the way we’ve always done it.’ Well, that sounds good, but can we do it better?”

In policing and in ranching, O’Connor isn’t afraid to speak his mind or to challenge the status quo. “I tell it like it is,” he said. “That’s the cowboy way.”

The Cowboy Way

"I tell it like it is. That's the cowboy way."
- T. Michael O'Connor '77

O’Connor chuckles when asked what he does for fun. “I’m a plow horse,” he said. “I’ll plow my field for which I am responsible, and if you don’t stop me, I’ll plow your field and keep on going.”

Fun? He loves what he does. For him, work and fun are as entwined as leadership and integrity. In the hours when he isn’t building safer communities in his day job, he’s building his family and caring for his land. While his children, Thomas O’Connor ’11 and Jane Crawford ’05, both have careers outside of agriculture, he is intentional about involving them in the ranch. “I told my children it matters not where you go and what you do in your life, but your heart and soul need to remain on the ranch and be a part of that legacy and carry it on,” he said. Annually, O’Connor and his wife, LuAnn, host their children and friends for a week of cowboy camp they call O’Frontier Days, a celebration of the land and their family.

While the challenges ahead for the next generation on the ranch are immense, O’Connor has hope when he sees his children learning to love the land as he does. “It couldn’t be a better world,” he said with a smile.

If you’d like to learn more about supporting the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences or supporting the Thomas M. O’Connor Professorship in Range Science, contact Scott Jarvis ’00 at the bottom of this page.

You can also explore our complimentary Giving Guide to discover the many unique ways you can give back to support your passions at Texas A&M.

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