Eric O'Keefe

O'Keefe's The Cup (2009) is the story of Damien Oliver's dramatic victory on Media Puzzle in the world's richest and most prestigious two-mile handicap, the Melbourne Cup. The week before the race, Damien's only brother, Jason, died following a track accident in Perth while riding an unraced horse at Ascot Racecourse. The tragedy bore a haunting similarity to the death of their father, Ray Oliver, who died in 1975 after a racing fall in the Boulder Cup in Kalgoorlie. Damien's decision to honor his brother by returning and competing in Australia's greatest race culminated in Media Puzzle's emotion-charged victory, which has been rated one of the memorable moments in Australian sports history.{{cite web |url=https://sahof.org.au/award-winner/damian-olivers-tribute-to-his-brother-on-winning-the-2002-melbourne-cup-on-media-puzzle/|title=Damien Oliver's tribute to his brother on winning the 2002 Melbourne Cup on Media Puzzle|access-date=27 September 2020}} O'Keefe traveled to Australia, Dubai, and Ireland to research The Cup, which was published in Australia by Slattery Media and launched in the Committee Room at Flemington Racecourse on August 4, 2009.Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211210/jPXulMeKfGI Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120411174816/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPXulMeKfGI Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite AV media| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPXulMeKfGI| title = The Cup - Book Launch at Flemington | website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}

The Cup was made into the feature film The Cup based on a script by O'Keefe and Australian director Simon Wincer.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650056/fullcredits/|title = The Cup (2011) - IMDb|website = IMDb}} Filmed in Melbourne in 2010 and released in Australia in 2011, the movie was directed by Wincer with Stephen Curry cast as Damien Oliver, Daniel MacPherson as Jason Oliver, Brendan Gleeson as Dermot Weld, and Tom Burlinson as Dave Phillips.

The Perfect 10 (2020) is O'Keefe's first work of fiction.{{Cite book|isbn = 978-1632993588|title = The Perfect 10: A Palm Beach Murder Mystery|last1 = O'Keefe|first1 = Eric|date = 8 December 2020| publisher=River Grove Books }} The Palm Beach murder mystery marks the debut of Rick Hunt, a West Point graduate tasked with assisting the Secret Service investigate the murder of Juancito Harrington, the world’s greatest polo player. Hunt’s skills as a polo player not only aid in the investigation, they also land him a place on Senator King Kenedy’s polo team after the senator is injured while playing. Hunt ultimately determines that Juancito’s murderer was in fact his brother and confronts Cesare Harrington during the final of the US Open Polo Championship at the National Polo Center in Wellington, Florida.File:Eric OKeefe BBNP.jpg

O’Keefe collaborated with T. Boone Pickens to write the Texas oilman’s memoir, The First Billion is the Hardest (2008).{{cite web| url = https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/130920/the-first-billion-is-the-hardest-by-t-boone-pickens/| title = The First Billion Is the Hardest by T. Boone Pickens: 9780307396013 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books}} O'Keefe has written numerous guidebooks, including the Texas Monthly Guidebook to West Texas and the Big Bend (1995), the Texas Monthly Guidebook to El Paso (1996), and the Lone Star Guide to Big Bend and West Texas (1999). He was a contributing author to the Texas Monthly Guidebook to Texas (1998) and the Lone Star Guide to Texas (1999). He authored The Art of Chuck DeHaan (2005) with photography by Gustav Schmiege.

File:ClintEastwood EricOkeefe.jpgIn 2006, O'Keefe co-founded The Land Report with Eddie Lee Rider Jr. Known as the Magazine of the American Landowner, the quarterly magazine[http://www.minonline.com/awards/hottestlaunches/ Hottest Launches] minonline.com {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212105136/http://www.minonline.com/awards/hottestlaunches/ |archive-date=12 December 2007}} and website focus on topics of interest to landowners and those who invest in land. The magazine is best known for its annual survey of America's largest landowners, the Land Report 100.{{Cite web |url=http://digitalmagazinetechnology.com/a/?KEY=thelandreport-10-10fall#page=0 |title=The Land Report - Fall 2010 |access-date=2011-04-18 |archive-date=2011-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814154448/http://digitalmagazinetechnology.com/a/?KEY=thelandreport-10-10fall#page=0 |url-status=dead }} In his capacity as editor, O'Keefe is regularly called upon to comment on topics pertaining to land and landowners and has been featured in The Washington Post,{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/21/american-land-barons-100-wealthy-families-now-own-nearly-as-much-land-as-that-of-new-england/ |title=American land barons: 100 wealthy families now own nearly as much land as that of New England |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2017-12-21 |accessdate=2022-06-14}} The Wall Street Journal,{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/billionaire-businessmen-buying-up-mega-ranches-1414076608|title=Billionaire Businessmen Buying up Mega-Ranches|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=23 October 2014|last1=Keates|first1=Nancy}} and The New York Times.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/us/29land.html|title = For Land Barons, Acres by the Millions|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 29 January 2011|last1 = Seelye|first1 = Katharine Q.}}

O'Keefe, who is a registered broker with the Texas Real Estate Commission, serves as the magazine's editor and Rider its publisher.

In his editorial capacities at The Land Report, O'Keefe has interviewed landowners such as Clint Eastwood, Tom Brokaw, Nolan Ryan, Joe Montana, Drew Bledsoe, T. Boone Pickens, and Ted Turner. His in-depth profile of Red Emmerson detailed Emmerson's rise from independent sawmill operator in 1949 to America's largest private landowner{{cite web|url=https://landreport.com/2022/02/red-emmerson-becomes-americas-largest-landowner/|title = Red Emmerson Becomes America's Largest Landowner | the Land Report|date = 15 February 2022}} in 2022 with 2.33 million acres of timberland in California, Oregon, and Washington.

Since 1996, O'Keefe has freelanced for The New York Times on a wide variety of subjects, including Carl Icahn,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/business/12blockbuster.html|title = Icahn Slate Wins Seats on Blockbuster Board|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 12 May 2005|last1 = O'Keefe|first1 = Eric}} the NFL,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/27/sports/football/27cowboys.html|title = Roy Williams Will Play by Rules, Including His Own|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 27 May 2005|last1 = O'Keefe|first1 = Eric}} and Willie Nelson.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/business/05biowillie.html |title=On the Road Again, Where Biodiesel Is a Rising Star |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2006-07-05 |accessdate=2022-06-14}} In 1997, O'Keefe was one of the first journalists to report on the shooting death of 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez Jr. by Cpl. Clemente Banuelos, a U.S. Marine on a drug interdiction training mission near Redford, Texas. The high school student was the first U.S. civilian killed by active duty military personnel since the Kent State shootings in 1970. O'Keefe also reported for The Times on the 1998 settlement by the Department of the Navy and the Justice Department with the Hernandez family. The shooting subsequently inspired The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), a movie directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones.

File:JimmyJohnLiautaud EricOKeefe.jpgHuffington Post,{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-okeefe/american-thoroughbred-rac_b_351293.html|title = American Thoroughbred Racing Needs a Lifeline, and the Answer Can be Found in Australia|website = HuffPost|date = 18 March 2010}} Western Horseman,{{Cite web |url=http://www.westernhorseman.com/index.php/articles/cowboy-culture-mainmenu-79/article/192.html |title=Western Horseman Magazine - Marketing the King Ranch Brand |access-date=2009-11-18 |archive-date=2011-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718031714/http://www.westernhorseman.com/index.php/articles/cowboy-culture-mainmenu-79/article/192.html |url-status=dead }} Cigar Aficionado,[http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Archives/CA_Show_Article/0,2322,1708,00.html Cigar Aficionado Archives] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009000601/http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Archives/CA_Show_Article/0,2322,1708,00.html |archive-date=9 October 2009}} and D Magazine{{cite news|url=http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/2005/09/01/Tommy_Lee_Gets_Serious.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722001155/http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/2005/09/01/Tommy_Lee_Gets_Serious.aspx|title=Tommy Lee Gets Serious - D Magazine|url-status=dead|date=January 9, 2005|archive-date=2011-07-22|work=D Magazine}} are some of the other media to feature O'Keefe's writings, including profiles and interviews of actors, entertainers, authors, business leaders, and political figures such as Hank Aaron, Norman Brinker, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Julia Child, Russell Crowe, Billy Crystal, Brian Dennehy, Robert Duvall, Dean Fearing, Kinky Friedman, Memo Gracida, Tommy Lee Jones, Jay Leno, Reba McEntire, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Bernadette Peters, Ann Richards, Tom Selleck, Sam Shepard, and Sam Zell.

Since 2021, O’Keefe has served as master of ceremonies at the Land Investment Expo in Des Moines and has interviewed a wide range of nationally known figures at the annual conference, including hedge fund manager Kyle Bass, Ambassador Terry Branstad, Steve Eisman of Big Short fame, former Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank presidents Esther George and Thomas Hoenig, Jimmy John’s founder Jimmy John Liautaud, and Equity Group Investments chairman Sam Zell.

• [http://ericokeefe.com Eric O'Keefe Website]
• [http://thecup.com The Cup Website]
• [http://www.landreport.com The Land Report]

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Category:Living people

Category:1961 births

Category:Rice University alumni

Category:American magazine editors

Category:American male journalists

Category:Writers from Texas

Category:People from Brewster County, Texas

Category:Journalists from Dallas