William B. “Billy” Dunavant Jr., the Memphis-based business executive who turned Dunavant Enterprises into the world’s largest cotton broker, has died.
Dunavant was 88.
Dunavant took over his father’s business in 1961 and his innovations turned it into a global company. He made the first sale of American-grown cotton to China in 1972 and the largest individual sale – and largest sale by any company – in history to China in October 1990.
Before his retirement in 2005, Dunavant completed the second-largest cotton sale in history – a $225 million gross sale to China.
Dunavant is also credited with recruiting Ducks Unlimited to move its world headquarters from Chicago to Memphis in 1992.
Known for his love of athletics and philanthropy around Memphis, Dunavant supported numerous local causes and community projects, most notably in the sports world.
He owned the Memphis Showboats of the USFL in 1984 and 1985 and led the charge in the city’s quest to land an NFL franchise during the 1990s.
Dunavant was also the longtime owner of the Memphis Racquet Club and brought the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships to Memphis in 1975. Spearheaded by Dunavant, the tournament eventually featured tennis stars like Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Andre Agassi.
Dunavant, a Memphis State graduate, was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 and was a member of the inaugural class of the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.
“What Billy did in business and sports is well documented, but his philanthropy went well beyond what anyone knew. If it happened in Memphis, Billy was involved,” former Memphis basketball coach John Calipari wrote on Twitter Saturday.
This story will be updated
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto
