Gene Pollard
September 1945 – December 2008
Eugene C. Pollard Jr. died December 7, 2008, after a courageous battle with leukemia. He was born September 10, 1945, in Conroe, Texas, to Eugene and Mamie Pollard.
He grew up in Odessa and graduated from Odessa High School in 1964. In 1968, he graduated from Texas A&M with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He was drilling superintendent for 13 years for Amoco Oil in Wyoming, Louisiana, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Trinidad and other locations. As drilling manager for Leede Oil in Midland, he drilled the 2nd and 4th deepest producing wells in the world. He was drilling manager for TransAmerican oil in Laredo, and then a drilling consultant in Houston in the Congo and Ghana.
He joined the Ocean Drilling Program at Texas A&M in 1988 as a drilling superintendent and drilled the deepest hole in the oceanic volcanic crust. He served as drilling engineer for the Continental Scientific Drilling Program and participated in worldwide scientific drilling.
