Collinsville High School Principal David Snider announced graduate Albert Hrubetz III (CHS Class of 1946) is the recipient of the school’s 2020 Alumni Achievement Award. The award will be presented during the school’s virtual graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 16, 2020 at 10:00 am.
Mr. Hrubetz grew up in Maryville, Illinois during the Great Depression. He graduated from Collinsville High School in 1946 and joined the US Marines. He later studied at St. Louis University and became a geophysicist who has earned several advanced degrees and worked both internationally and domestically in the oil business.
Mr. Hrubetz’s biography:
Albert Hrubetz, Chairman and President of Hrubetz Oil Company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has been active in the petroleum industry for 67 years. He spent his youth in Maryville during the Great Depression and attended Maryville grade school. He graduated from Collinsville High School in 1946 and joined the Marines. Upon returning home, he married Rose Ramatowski, a 1948 graduate of Collinsville High School. Al and Rose have four children, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
A 1953 graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geological Engineering from the Institute of Technology, St. Louis University, Hrubetz is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program and the Owner-President Management Program of the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard University.
Hrubetz joined the Exploration Department of Continental Oil Company (CONOCO) as a geophysicist in 1953, and at age 34 was promoted to Chief Geophysicist, International Exploration and Production, overseeing company oil exploration activities on six continents. He was personally responsible for discovering the major oil fields in Dubai, as well as what remains the largest gas field in southeast Asia. He then became Executive Assistant to the President and later had executive responsibility for integrated petroleum operations in the southern United States, CONOCO’S largest and most important profit center.
In 1972 Hrubetz joined Texas Pacific Oil Company as Senior Vice-President. In 1975 he was named Executive Vice-President and served as President and Director of 17 foreign subsidiaries. In 1978 he became President and Chief Executive Officer of Texas Pacific. Hrubetz took the company from an asset value of $376 million to $2.3 billion in less than two years. In 1980 Texas Pacific was sold to Sun Oil Company in what was then the second largest commercial sale in U.S. history. He then founded Hrubetz Oil Company after personally raising $100 million in a joint venture with international and domestic corporations, plus Wall Street investment firms.
Albert Hrubetz is a past Director of the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. Oil and Gas Association and the Independent Petroleum Association of America. He is also past Chairman of the Texas Oil & Gas Association and served on its Executive Committee. A Trustee Associate of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, he is also a member of the Dallas Geological Association and the Dallas Geophysical Society, the All-American Wildcat Committee and the Dallas Wildcat Committee. Hrubetz is past President of the Dallas Petroleum Club, as well as Trustee Emeritus and past Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Dallas. He is an Advisory Board Member of the Maguire Energy Institute at the Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University,
A Knight of Malta and a Knight Commander in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Hrubetz is also a recipient of the Alumni Merit Award from St. Louis University in recognition of distinguished achievement in geophysical exploration. He was listed in Who’s Who in Finance and Industry and Outstanding Young Men of America.
Hrubetz is the author of the books Maryville Illinois – Growing Up During the Great Depression and A Geophysicist’s Memoir – Searching for Oil on Six Continents.
Due to current travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Hrubetz is not able to visit Collinsville to accept his award. He sent recorded remarks to be shared with the CHS Class of 2020 during their virtual graduation ceremony.