Paying it Forward
Bringing Success Full Circle
by Erin Loury

Tony Sam

Sometimes the wheel of life brings events full circle. For American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES) Sequoyah Fellow Tony Sam, a lightning strike of opportunity set the wheel turning during his sophomore year at Oklahoma State University (OSU). He awoke one Saturday morning to the sound of knocking on his door from a woman who was the local director of the National Minority Purchasing Council. She inquired if he was Tony Sam, and if he was Native American. "Yes, I am," answered Sam, who is Choctaw on his father's side. "Are you enrolled as a petroleum engineering major?" the woman asked. "Yes," Sam replied, wondering where this was going.
It so happened that Sam was the only Native student majoring in petroleum engineering at that time in all of OSU, and had been singled out to receive a scholarship through the National Minority Purchasing Council. Lewis Ketchum, founder of Red Man Pipe & Supply Company (now the McJunkin Red Man Corporation) created a scholarship to ease the path for a Native student into the oil industry. The gesture helped shape Sam's future and he took its significance to heart.
Now the vice president of Caza Petroleum based in Midland, Texas, Sam perpetuated the cycle of opportunity in December of 2007 by establishing the Chahta Petroleum Scholarship Endowment for AISES students. "I really believe in the circle of life that so many Native American tribes' religion and lives center upon. I think that AISES is the perfect answer for my desire to see students succeed in their professional lives," Sam says.

Native Roots
Sam grew up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the oldest of three children. His father, who came from a family of seven, was raised in southern Oklahoma in the small town of Hickory. "I was around a lot of Native culture growing up—Native American church, powwows, family gatherings," Sam recalls. For several summers as a youngster, Sam stayed with his great grandmother and great aunt, and, according to his mother, would come home speaking Choctaw. "My father didn't graduate from high school, so he was pretty adamant that I was going to college," Sam relates. "I didn't know growing up how big of a deal it was, but it was." Sam and his siblings all fulfilled his father's and mother's wish by graduating from college.
Although he accepted college as part of his future, Sam's original field of dreams didn't involve oil, but baseball. "From the time I could remember, I was into athletics, and my ultimate dream was to play baseball at Oklahoma University (OU)," Sam says. Sam played catcher, but didn't snag a scholarship from a major university. He attended Oklahoma State University, and played his first semester. But by his second semester, Sam was faced with some tough decisions and ultimately decided on an alternative career path. He followed the advice of an uncle, who worked for the pipeline division of Williams Brothers in Tulsa, Oklahoma. "He was doing very well financially and liked his job. I talked to him in detail," Sam said. "He told me to take some introductory classes, and I really did enjoy it."
Sam attended summer school after his first year of college and declared his major in petroleum engineering and technology. Although there were very few Native students in engineering and none in his petroleum engineering major, Sam maintained a connection to his Native culture through the strong Native American Student Association. "It was a really supportive Native community that I experienced in college," Sam notes. "We had all kinds of extracurricular things going on through the weekends, going to a powwow or special dinners where people would cook Native food. It was great." The head of the Native American Student Association, Joshua Mihesua, also provided Sam's original link to AISES by encouraging him to join the still young and budding organization in 1979.

Paying it Forward
Sam's choice of major not only secured his future, but the uniqueness of his Native heritage made him eligible for the Lewis Ketchum scholarship. "They tracked me down and found me," said Sam. "It made me step back and go 'Wow.'" The scholarship from Ketchum provided Sam with a stipend dollar amount on a quarterly basis until he graduated. Although he still worked part time to help pay his way through college, Sam said the emotional encouragement of being singled out was an invaluable addition to the financial support. Sam met a few times with Ketchum, whom he describes as a Delaware Native American man with stunning eyes. After Sam graduated, the two sat down for lunch. "I would offer you a job and you'd probably do just great in the supply business," Ketchum told Sam, but he encouraged him to think broader. "I really think you need to consider a career in oil and gas exploration."
"I don't know how I can pay you back," Sam told Ketchum, to which the older man replied, "Look, it is the Indian way, the circle of life. Things come around. One way you can pay me back is to do the same thing for someone else someday." The words truly made an impression on Sam. Twentyfive years later, he fulfilled his promise to Ketchum by starting the Chahta Petroleum Scholarship Endowment for AISES students, a $10,000 a year commitment for five years. "I think it's very important to see Native students succeed," Sam asserts. "Capital is important in any major arena. Sometimes all they need is one little break. I'm a perfect example of that."

Working to the Top
In addition to Ketchum's scholarship, the jobs Sam took with various oil companies while still in school helped jump-start his career. He spent a summer working for ARCO, sweating through the hard work of pipeline installation, and another summer on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. As a college senior, he accepted a job offer from Chevron, and continued with the company as a production engineer after graduating in 1982. For the next five years, Sam got to try a little of everything in the four major areas of petroleum engineering: drilling, production, completion and reservoir. At one point, he was responsible for over 500 oil wells. "I came to understand budgets, capital costs, economics, and all the things you have to know. It was great training," Sam said.
But after five years with a large corporation, Sam had reached a point where he could either commit to being a company man for the next 20 years, or he could move on. In a bold move, Sam chose the latter and resigned from Chevron. "My wife thought I was crazy," Sam admits. "My oldest daughter was two years old then, and my wife was soon to be pregnant with my oldest son." Jobless but determined for a change, Sam walked the streets with a résumé and started knocking on doors. Fate seemed to intervene when Sam knocked on the door of a man with a small company that needed some oil and gas engineering help.
"He said, 'I can't afford to pay you at all, or much.' I said, 'If I can't make you money in 60 days, you don't have to pay me. But if I do, I want this much a month,'" Sam said. His gamble paid off, and after 60 days Sam had himself a job. For the next two years, Sam learned how to think and operate independently, working outside the traditional thought box of a major company. The training proved to be a good forerunner to Sam starting his own company, Sendero Petroleum, when he teamed up with a geologist in 1989. Sam eventually dissolved Sendero and began an independent oil and gas investment entity called Chahta Petroleum, Inc. in 1992. Ultimately, after several turbulent years of product pricing and family moves, Sam started Falcon Bay Energy with a team of four: a geologist, a landman, an accountant, and himself, the engineer. The company grew and in December 2007 changed its name to Caza Petroleum when it went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company now has 18 employees and is growing fast. "My goal is to make the company four to six times bigger as quickly as possible," Sam says.
With Sam's role as company vice president comes great responsibility. He works long hours and travels back and forth between his Houston office and his home in Midland, Texas, every other week. "My wife, unbelievably, understands," he says. Family is a central part of Sam's life, especially his children—two daughters, ages 22 and 18, and two sons, ages 20 and 16. "I believe in reincarnation through my children. I hope to pass along to them as a father what they're going to use to improve the world, professionally and personally," he comments.
Despite the demands of his job, Sam believes in the importance of his company's work in feeding the nation's thirst for oil. "We're fulfilling a real need for the country by finding more hydrocarbons," he says. "Every light switch, every pair of tennis shoes, every plastic cup is there because someone is discovering hydrocarbons." The extractive nature of drilling also requires exploring for hydrocarbons in a responsible manner.
"Environmentally, the government has some of the highest restrictions on oil and gas exploration than any other industry," Sam states. "We have to do archeological studies, environmental impact studies, surveys of prairie chickens, lizards, and so many other things before we can drill a well in most stateowned lands."

Encouraging Engineers of the Future
Sam believes that his Native heritage has helped shape his perspective, and ultimately, his success. "Part of being a Native American is being unique, and because you are unique you almost have to be impeccable in what you do. You have to carry yourself a different way," he says. Sam's strong work ethic has helped him steer a steady course through the professional world.
For students interested in pursuing science careers, Sam offers this advice: "I think the key to life is math, I really do. Everything is mathematical." Sam believes that mathematics is the most important course that children from age six upward should be taking. "I think we need to push math and science, but all engineering sciences are derived from math. If children are fortunate enough to have a mathematical understanding, then they will succeed in engineering."
Math was the root of every petroleum decision Sam made early in his career. "We did not have PCs with Chevron, so mathematical understanding of a problem was needed to design well casing details, drilling plans, and completion procedures." Although math plays a less dominant role in Sam's current position, which deals more with people and investments, he stresses, "Math was and will always be the key to my career success."
Beyond math, Sam believes public speaking is a very important skill to master for all students graduating from college. "I would encourage college students to take speech, debate or join the local toastmasters," Sam says, adding that engineers use such skills when they are required to prepare, present and justify an annual budget to their supervisor or board of directors. "It was nerve-racking for me initially," he notes, "but I soon found that the power of public speaking within the corporate world was a skill needed for success."
In addition to providing scholarship money, Sam also hopes to offer an internship with his company next summer, giving a student the chance to shadow different employees, from the geoscientists to the engineers. "They need to get some practical experience; I really think that's going to be a help while they're still in school. If you can give students an opportunity, there's no telling what they can do."

Erin Loury is a graduate student at Moss Landing Marine Labs in Moss Landing, California.