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Each month, Texas State University President Dr. Kelly Damphousse sits down with faculty members, staff, students, alumni, and community members for a conversation about all things TXST — the past, the present, and the bright future of the university.
Part of the TXST Podcast Network: https://www.txst.edu/podcast-network.html
- My parents taught me about values, and they taught me about principles, and they taught me about character. But my experiences at Texas State strengthened that character. To do what I had to do in order to get my degree was a tremendous experience. It was hard, but it's OK. I wouldn't trade it because it helped make me stronger. It helped make me more determined.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- And as a late teenager, I decided that my goal was going to be to be financially successful.
- If you've been to the basketball arena, you've seen the Richard Castro Event Center up in the top area there where, the club area, where people hang out there. The Admissions Center has his name on it. And very soon, Castro Hall will open. It's our new newest residence hall with 1,000 beds. 1,000 beds, 1,000 students a year will be living in a building named after you, Richard. Thank you for being here for the podcast.
- I'll tell you what, I am so glad to be here and be part of the podcast. And I can't tell you how proud I am, and humbled at the same time, for the opportunities that I've had and the terrific experiences. It is just... I'll tell you what, I'm living the American dream. You think about the American dream, it's right here.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- And when you think about where I come from, how I grew up, and to have what you just described at Texas State University, it's just outstanding.
- Now, you graduated in 1970, right?
- I did.
- So you grew up in the '60s, late '50s and the '60s. And I wanna talk about the American dream because I always tell people... They say, "What do you do for a living?" I say, "I'm involved in changing people's lives. "I'm not doing all of it, "I just get to be part of it." But I mean, I think that Texas State is changing the lives of the people who come here. I think you're a living proof of that. So let's talk... Let's go to the very beginning. Where'd you grow up?
- I grew up in Del Rio, Texas.
- Oh, right on the border.
- Yes, right on the border. And then I still live right on the border.
- It's a different... Just up the road a little bit.
- Just up the road because my professional life took me to El Paso in the early '80s, and that's where I've been living. And I grew up in Del Rio, Texas. I'll tell you our background. It's interesting. My abuelita, my grandmother, relocated from Puebla, Mexico.
- [Dr. Damphousse] OK.
- In 1915 with a six-year-old daughter as a single mom. And went to Monterrey first, and then ended up in Del Rio, Texas. And found a way to provide for herself and her daughter. At first, by being... By doing houses, and cleaning houses, and being a housekeeper. And she was very well educated and came from a business background in her growing up years. So her passion was education. And she ended up starting what we call a escuelita, or a schoolhouse, in the neighborhood. And with a vision of providing an education for every kid in the neighborhood. And so... And this is way before Head Start or anything like that. And even though the classes were in Spanish, they experienced the structure of a classroom, the responsibilities of doing schoolwork and doing homework, et cetera. So by the time they went to the public schools, they had that much ahead. And they learned how to read, and speak English, and write in English much faster than the students that didn't. So as a toddler, I started going to her school and I was exposed to the education atmosphere. And as I grew up, my parents had only a fifth and sixth grade education, but they educated themselves in both English and Spanish and always promoted education to my brother and myself.
- So how'd you end up at San Marcos?
- I'll tell you what, I first went to Southwest Texas Junior College and got my associate's degree there.
- Where's that?
- In Uvalde, Texas.
- In Uvalde, OK.
- And ended up playing baseball and basketball there. So in my sophomore year, there was a trip offered to visit Southwest Texas State University, now Texas State University, and I signed up for it. And because I signed up for it, a couple of my friends signed up for it as well. So we got on the bus and they brought us to San Marcos. And as the bus was driving up on LBJ, and it was a lot easier back then, right? To get on the campus.
- Yes, the parking was a lot easier back then.
- And we drove up almost up to The Lair, or student center, at that time. The building's still here. And I looked around, and I looked around at the campus and I looked around at the buildings. I looked at the hills and the slopes, the trees. And it just grabbed me.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- I mean, just as soon as I saw it, I told Sal, one of my buddies, "This is where I'm coming."
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- And he goes, "You're gonna come here?" I go, "I'm definitely coming here." And--
- Just by looking at the campus?
- Just by... As we were driving up. Just seeing the whole area of Texas State. And so, we got down, we went to the student center, we walked around the campus and got to experience it a little bit more. But my mind was made up as soon as we drove up to it and I saw it. And I proceeded to apply and I got... I was accepted. I had my associate's degree from Southwest Junior College. And so, that summer in between my sophomore and junior year, I knew that I was gonna have to work.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- So--
- And back then, you could work in the summer to pay for school, right? You could make enough in the summer to help pay for school. Compared to now, it's so difficult now.
- You're not kidding.
- Yeah.
- I got through school... I got through through Texas State. Remember, at Southwest, I was playing a couple sports, so that helped with--
- Sure.
- Some. But yeah, I mean, I got through school with student loans and working part-time. And so, that summer I wrote a letter to the cafeteria director, just explaining my situation and asking for a job. And so, when it was time in late August to come, I went there to the cafeteria and asked for the director. And he called somebody, "Take him to the student center." So they took me to the student center and I was hired to work at the student center, which worked out perfect 'cause I would go to work from 5:00 to 10:00, we would close to 10:00 and then we would clean up, so I would end up leaving there about 10:30, Monday through Thursday.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- Monday through Thursday, so that worked out so well. And eventually, I got that second job delivering the San Antonio Light, at that time. There was second newspaper in San Antonio, Texas, the San Antonio Light, and I delivered the newspaper to the entire city of San Marcos. So I scheduled all my classes in the morning, Monday through Friday. Started at 8:00, was done by 11:00, 11:30, depending whether it was Tuesday or Thursday. And I would hustle down for... I would hustle down the hill to my car that was on Guadalupe, parked in Guadalupe Street, hustle to I-35, get the bundles of newspapers, throw 'em in the car, roll a few, and start driving. And as I was driving, I was rolling newspapers and delivering them--
- You were in the car and you'd throw 'em out the window.
- I'd be through by around 4:00, 4:30. Hustle to the student center and start working at 5:00 until about 10:30. Go home, catch up on some studying. But on weekends, it was fantastic because on weekends, I only did one job and that was delivering the newspaper, and that was early in the morning. And I'll tell you, Sunday was a bear. Those great big, thick newspapers.
- All the inserts and so on.
- So I'd go home, rest up some, and catch up on a little bit of sleep. Come to this building, which was the library at the time, and spend basically the entire weekend catching up on my studies and doing everything I had to do in order to be ready for the week.
- That's fascinating. This building used to look a lot different on the outside. They called it "the cheese grater" because the windows were in a weird triangular shape, and it kinda looked like a cheese grater. There's actually a great picture of when they turned this into the administration building after they built Alkek, where people are taking... They had like a chain of students and they're passing the books along to move all the books outta JCK and move them into Alkek. It's good... It's fascinating history. I love your story because it's story about work ethic. You didn't just go to class and do things a student would do. You actually work... You had to work your way through college and hustle, right?
- There's no excuse. Why? There's no excuse to not get a college education.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yes.
- You just gotta have the desire, the ganas, and you gotta be willing to work for it. I'll tell you what, my parents taught me about values and they taught me about principles and they taught me about character, but my experiences at Texas State strengthened that character because to do what I had to do in order to get my degree was a tremendous experience. It was hard, but it's OK. I wouldn't trade it because it helped make me stronger. It helped me make... It helped make me more determined.
- Yeah.
- And as a late teenager, I decided that my goal was going to be to be financially successful. And the professions that I wanted to acquire was in order to help me achieve that goal. And so... And that career that I was looking to get was to become an attorney.
- Yeah, you were gonna be a lawyer.
- I was gonna be a lawyer. Not necessarily--
- Mostly because I think people only know 10 jobs, like doctor, lawyer, and you don't realize all the other jobs are out there. But lawyer is very popular.
- Growing up... Growing up, success meant being a doctor or being a lawyer. We didn't know about a lot of the other professions, other than schoolteachers.
- Yeah.
- So I chose that I was going... I wanted to be an attorney but not to... Not to be an attorney but as a means to achieving my goal of financial success. But by the time I got my undergraduate degree, there was no way I could continue education. I had to get to work.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- So then, I went on and started my work career.
- Yeah. So now, I'm gonna fast forward a little bit and then help you tell us how you got there. So now you own 34?
- Yeah, 35.
- 34 or 35 McDonald's restaurants.
- Yes.
- Most of them in El Paso.
- Yes.
- But a couple now in New Mexico as well. So you've got this empire of McDonald's, and you must be one of the largest franchisees in America for McDonald's.
- At one time, I was the largest Hispanic McDonald's owner, and I used to own all the McDonald's in the Permian Basin area, which included Pecos, Fort Stockton, Monahans, all of Odessa, all of Midland, up to Big Spring. And those I started acquiring in the mid '90s. There was a fantastic opportunity with those restaurants because they were very low volume.
- Yeah.
- And evidently, the previous owners just weren't doing what what we normally do. In fact, I ended up picking up the Odessa McDonald's out of bankruptcy. Now, I will tell you, if you know anything about the McDonald's business, you gotta work really hard to push those into that kind of situation. So it was a great opportunity for me. So I picked those up, worked them, made 'em extremely successful. We quadrupled the volume in those restaurants. By the time I decided, they were all paid off. We had 'em at where we wanted them. And I figured, "You know what? "It's a good time to cash out, pull our equities out." And so, I sold that market, started selling off that market. And the last one I sold was Big Spring, Texas. And then, I was focused more in San Marcos. And then recently, not too long ago, we expanded back out into New Mexico and bought a few restaurants in New Mexico. It's been a fantastic career and opportunity to have had the chance to go into McDonald's. Prior to McDonald's, though, I was a realtor and builder. And that's what I was doing before I bought the first McDonald's franchise. And before I was a realtor and builder, I was city manager for the city of Del Rio.
- Let's go back to you graduate from college, Southwest Texas State, and what's the first gig you got?
- Well, my first... I told you earlier that I had a goal of going to law school, but thinking that I may not have financially be able to do that while I was an undergraduate, I decided on a little bit of insurance and got my teaching certificates.
- Oh.
- So my first job out of Texas State was that of a school teacher. And I taught third grade at San Luis Elementary in Eagle Pass, Texas.
- In Eagle Pass?
- In Eagle Pass. A fantastic experience and really enjoyed the city of Eagle Pass and the people of Eagle Pass. And the students were great. Little third graders
- So you love the border area, right?
- It just happened that that's where... That's where the opportunity was, and so that's where I went. And I was very involved with the schools and all the different kind of programs, and the athletic programs while I was there that one year. I only taught school one year. And then, I ended up leaving teaching, had got an opportunity to go to work for the city of Del Rio as an administrative assistant/city secretary. A year later, I was named assistant city manager. And then, eventually, I was named city manager. Was the first native Del Rian--
- [Dr. Damphousse] Oh, really?
- And first Hispanic to have the opportunity to be city manager for the city of Del Rio. Eventually, I left city management because I have that urge of wanting to go be an entrepreneur, have my own business. And my answer to having my own business was to start a real estate agency/contracting business, or building business. And I had my broker's license and I became a realtor, and I had my construction company. The construction company started bam! Like that. It just took off real fast.
- What year about is this?
- Oh, the early '80s.
- OK.
- The early '80s.
- So Texas is booming then, right?
- Actually, that's when... If you're gonna go in the real estate and construction business, that wasn't the time to do it.
- Yeah, because actually the crunch starts to hit like '84 or '85.
- Yeah, prior to that, inflation was out of control.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- And interest rates were around 15% or so.
- You're paying 18% for a mortgage back then.
- It was terrible.
- Yeah.
- And so, it wasn't the best time to go into it but I made it work. And again, you get back to character building, being strong minded, having that positive attitude--
- [Dr. Damphousse] Putting the hours in.
- Always.
- Windshield time, driving.
- And so, we worked it and like I said, the construction company took off real fast, and that's what provided the cash flow--
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- At the beginning. And then about a year into it, the agency started producing. And then I had the opportunity to buy the first franchise in El Paso. And that happened because the local McDonald's owner in Del Rio, a good friend of mine, and he suggested that I should look into McDonald's. And when I was approved to start the program, I was... He gave me the opportunity to train and learn how to do a McDonald's in his McDonald's there in Del Rio.
- One of my friends was an engineer for an oil company and her job was... One of her jobs was to build the very first gas station that also had a McDonald's attached to it.
- [Castro] Oh yeah.
- Or a fast food store of some kind. Are yours... Do you have some like that or are they all standalone?
- Those are called co-brands.
- Yeah, co-brands, yeah.
- Because you've got the brand for the oil company and then the convenience store, and then you have McDonald's. I have three of those.
- Three of those, yeah.
- I have Love's, and then I have Chevron. Third one is in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Oh yeah.
- And that's one of the new ones that we've added.
- It's a neat concept though 'cause I know when I travel, and my wife and my kids are so gracious about this, 'cause I plug the GPS in. If it says it's gonna take... If I'm supposed to get there at 7:30, I'm gonna get there by seven o'clock, no matter what. And that means when we stop, we get gas, and we do other stuff, and we get food, and we keep on going. Co-branding like that actually was great for... We love to stop at a place where you can get gas and food at the same place. Undergraduate major was?
- It was actually... Undergraduate major was that of history--
- Yeah, see--
- And government. Because I figured government and--
- Would be a great pre-law degree?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- I tell students this all the time. It almost doesn't matter what your major is because almost no one does a job named after their major. And what you're learning is skills, like being able to read and to write and think critically, and communicate with people. Hopefully, you're learning leadership skills through your extracurricular activities as well so that when you leave here, you're gonna get a job in any kind of field, regardless of what your major is.
- I think that one of the most important attributes that you can acquire is a strong character or a strong personality. And again, I always talk... I talk a lot to youth programs and classes and so forth, and I always talk about three attributes that I adopted and that I've followed throughout my adult career. And that's... Well, the first one is a positive attitude. And the way I describe a positive attitude is that there's nothing that I cannot overcome or solve. And the second one is being mentally strong.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- Because if you're mentally strong, you're able to maintain your composure. And if you can maintain your composure, then you think and act more clearly.
- Because it's not always gonna be easier, right? It's not linear, you know.
- Anybody can do it when it's easy. It's when you're challenged that your true colors come out. And then, the third one is great work ethics. And I describe that as doing whatever you have to to get it done.
- Yeah. Now, I don't know if you ever got a scholarship when you were a student. I never... I think you had an athletic scholarship. I never got a scholarship for any number of reasons, but one of the things I love about your story is your passion for giving back. Not just to Texas State. You established a scholarship program for McDonald's... Through the McDonald's Corporation. Talk a little bit about why you feel it's important to provide for others because you could be selfish and just keep it all for yourself, and go to Hawaii every weekend, right?
- I actually see it almost as a responsibility of achieving a level of success. But even before I got to where we're at financially, I was always involved in the community. So in one form or another, whether it was giving up my time and counsel. And then, eventually, I was able to add finances to that. But I've always enjoyed working with people and being involved in this community, especially with youth programs. That's my passion. Education and youth programs. And I think it probably goes back to my family.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- In fact, people around my age, or a little younger or a little older, when I go back to Del Rio, still talk about my mom.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- They still talk about my dad. And a lot of times, they'll talk about how they would... My friends would go to the house and my mom would always be ready to always provide snacks, meals, one thing or another. We used to live not too far from the railroad tracks. Back then, we used to have the hobos.
- [Dr. Damphousse] Yeah.
- They're called something else now. But they would walk the neighborhood, looking for some meals and things like that. And so, whenever they knocked at our house, my mom would always provide something to eat for them. And some would offer to do a little bit of work, and she would always tell 'em, "Well, clean the front yard," and provide the meals for us. So I always... As a kid, I saw that in the family. And that, I'm sure, contributed to adopting that type of a mentality and attitude. But I... It's something that you feel, that you just want to do. And so, I see it as a responsibility to get involved and give back. And again, especially in the area of education and youth. So the opportunity came up to... To talk about, and to suggest, and start the HACER Scholarship Program. That's what it's called. It's the McDonald's HACER Scholarship Program. And initially, the HACER Scholarship Program targeted Hispanic students. And from the time that I started it in 1985 to the present, there's been over $35 million that have been contributed for scholarships. The program is now open to everyone. And it's great because students and young people from all walks of life a lot of times need that extra push, that extra help. But the program is still going, it's still strong and it's still helping students, not only in El Paso and in Texas, but across the country.
- Yeah. Well, just like people were talking about your mom and dad in Del Rio, people will be talking about Richard Castro forever now because of all the great things you've done, the legacy that will outlive all of us, is based mostly on your generosity, and your giving, and your passion for other people. So thank you, Richard, for representing Texas State so well. We're glad to have you as one of our alumni. And actually, you're gonna get another degree from us pretty soon. A new honorary doctorate. So we're excited about honoring their graduation as well. Congratulations. Thank you for everything you do for us.
- Thank you very much. And thank you for allowing me to join you and be part of this program.
- So Richard, we have this cool thing. When we send the email out about the podcast, there's a little box that people can click on and it says, "Submit a question for Kelly." And so, we let our guests actually ask me the question. I've not seen the question, so I'm not sure what's in there. But you get to be the podcast host here and--
- Oh.
- Yeah, you gotta get your readers on.
- I got to.
- Yeah, that's the problem I always have.
- I wanna make sure I read it right.
- Yeah.
- OK, here we go.
- [Dr. Damphousse] All right.
- "What is your favorite Seinfeld episode or moment?"
- I have to say there's so many of them, but one of my favorite characters was Kramer. And there was this one episode where he is golfing, and he's learning how to golf. And he is out in the beach and he's golfing. And he's shooting these golf balls out in the ocean. And then, the other character, George Costanza, who's also hilarious, he's pretending to be a marine biologist for his girlfriend, trying to... And they're walking on the beach and there's a whale out there that's struggling, and someone says, "Is anyone a marine biologist?" And his girlfriend says, "My boyfriend's a marine biologist." So he has to go out there and wade into the water. And then, he's retelling the story later that day, and he says, "The sea was angry that day, my friend." And then he says he climbed up on the big fish. "No, you mean whale." "Whatever." And he pulls out this Titleist golf ball. And so, that whole scene is... There's like two different stories going on, like great Seinfeld episodes, they all kind of came together at the end. So probably the Titleist in the whale's blow hole is probably my favorite scene. Do you have a favorite Seinfeld episode?
- Oh, wow. I tell you what, not a single moment that pops to my mind, but I really enjoyed the program. It was so funny. And I still watch from time to time--
- It's timeless.
- Yeah, the reruns.
- Yeah, that's timeless. And even though, like today, a lot of things wouldn't happen because we have cellphones, and GPS, and so on, that people don't get lost, they can't find each other and so on. But it is still fun to watch today. My kids watch it, so it's great.
- No, right, yeah, I've enjoyed it then, enjoy it now.
- Well, thanks so much and thank you all for joining us as well. It's always great to spend time with our alumni to hear more of what they're doing. Thank you, Richard, for supporting our students so well. And actually, Richard is an embodiment of so many of our alumni who are standing up for students who can't stand up for themselves by providing scholarships and helping students get from here to there. Being a college student is more challenging than it's ever been before, and we're so grateful for the support you provide for us. Thank you all for joining us on the podcast. Until next time, States Up everyone.