Robert A. Hefner
Robert Alexander Hefner ("The Judge") was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1949. He was born on February 7, 1874 in the community of Hefner Chapel four miles (6.4 km) north of Lone Oak, Hunt County, Texas to William Lafayette Hefner and Sarah Jane Masters Hefner. Hefner was father to Robert A. Hefner, Jr., William Johnson Hefner, and Margaret Evelyn Hefner.
Early life
Growing up poor, self-teaching was the only education Hefner could afford. By age 21, he had only received a total of nine months of formal education. His education was primarily by books received from a cousin at College Station and "at night while I was working on the farm and also when I was out herding sheep". In 1895, however, the family had to sell the farm to pay off debts and the proceeds were actually insufficient to pay its entirety. Then, just after he turned 21, his father died. Following these two very trying times, young Hefner resolved to work the farm for the following year to clear the family debts; receiving $15 per month credited against the debt and studying at night under a kerosene lamp given to him by his father in hopes to pass the entrance exams for college. In 1896, Hefner passed the examination and gained entrance to North Texas Baptist College at Jacksboro and paid off the remaining family debts.
Robert A. Hefner, Jr.
Robert A. Hefner, Jr. ("Bob Hefner") was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1973. He was born on June 2, 1907 to Eva & Robert A. Hefner in Beaumont, Texas. Only a few short months later (November 1907), the Hefner family decided to move to Ardmore, Oklahoma where Junior would spend the majority of his childhood. Junior, a driven man himself, grew up in Carter County, which produced many legendary oil men: Wirt Franklin, Lloyd Noble, Jake L. Hamon, Edwin L. Cox, Frank W. Merrick and his son Ward S. Merrick, Charles B. Goddard, Leon Daube, Max Westheimer, and Walter Neustadt, Sr. and Jr.
Early childhood
Hefner was a competitor in all of his endeavors. Since age five, he studied the violin with noted Ardmore teacher Sol Lowenstein and would end up winning the gold medal for the State of Oklahoma. It was because of his passion for the violin that he decided to take up a more manly endeavor, boxing. Hefner joked "Any boy who plays the violin has to learn to protect himself". He wasn't just an athlete either, he consistently kept in the top 5% of his class scholastically.
