How Cowboy Cal got his name
By Mike Wilkening
May 1, 2008
When Cal McNair, son of Texans owner Bob McNair, was a teenager, he rode horses and wore cowboy garb. An observant little boy took notice and gave his older friend a fitting nickname: Cowboy Cal.
The young McNair received his moniker from the late John Long, the three-year-old son of the Reverend David and Mellie Long — friends of the McNairs who had come to Houston so their little boy could receive treatment at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The McNairs frequently visited young John, who took a liking to Cal McNair.
“It’s the sort of thing that etches memories for you,” Bob McNair said Wednesday. “You don’t forget little people like that.”
John Long died two months shy of his fourth birthday in 1974.
The horse named thanks to his creativity runs this Saturday in the Kentucky Derby, and should Cowboy Cal finish in the money, the McNairs will donate the winnings to the Anderson Cancer Center in a fund established in John Long’s memory.
The Rev. and Mrs. Long will be the McNairs’ guests at the Kentucky Derby.
“Cal and our John were buddies,” Rev. Long said. “Cal would check in on John in the hospital, and always got him to laugh. When Bob called me and told me about the horse, and what they are doing, we were so touched.”
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