Hollon Selected As 1998 Baylor Lawyer of the Year

by Alan Hunt

Boerne attorney and community leader Gordon L. Hollon will be honored as the 1998 Baylor Lawyer of the Year at the annual Law Day program of Baylor University School of Law on Saturday, April 4.
Hollon, a 1949 graduate of Baylor Law School, was chosen for the award "as an outstanding alumnus who has brought honor and distinction to Baylor Law School and to the legal profession," said Brad Toben, dean of Baylor Law School.
"He was selected as our Lawyer of the Year in recognition of his many professional accomplishments, his hard work, integrity and faith," Toben said. "Mr. Hollon not only has made significant contributions to the legal profession, but he also has been very active and supportive of Baylor Law School and Baylor University."
Hollon, 75, and a native of Dublin, Texas, began his association with Baylor in 1941 and played basketball and football for the university. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy after Pearl Harbor and saw service as an officer aboard a minesweeper in the Pacific. Later, he returned to Baylor and after graduation served as the Kendall County attorney for 13 years. Hollon's private law practice eventually became one of the largest law firms in the state located outside of a metropolitan area. He also owns the Kendall County Abstract Company, the oldest title company in the area.
A prominent community leader in the Hill Country area, Hollon has served as president of the Hill Country Bar Association. He is a member of the Boerne Lions Club, the Boerne Grange, Kendall Lodge 897 AF & AM, Alzafar Temple of San Antonio, the Boerne Shrine Club, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He donated land for Boerne's First Baptist Church several years ago when the church body decided to relocate from its downtown location. He serves as a church trustee and is a past president of the Boerne Chamber of Commerce.
Hollon was named as a Distinguished Alumnus of Baylor in 1992 and served as president of the Baylor Alumni Association in 1986. He received the W.R. White Meritorious Service Award from the Baylor Alumni Association in 1984. Hollon has been a member of the Baylor Lettermen's Association and the Bear Club, as well as the Baylor Parents League.
He says he and his wife, Jamie, consider their home an "extension" of the Baylor campus. Their four children are all Baylor graduates, and their seven grandchildren also "are Baylor bound," according to Hollon.
In February last year, Hollon--as the longtime city attorney for the City of Boerne--was at the center of a historic United States Supreme Court case involving a constitutional challenge to the historical preservation ordinance of the City of Boerne. Hollon drafted the ordinance that was the catalyst for this far-reaching constitutional litigation. Another Baylor lawyer, Lowell F. Denton (J.D. 1978) of San Antonio, who is a specialist in municipal law and regulation, joined Hollon in representing the city.
Hollon will be recognized as "Lawyer of the Year" during Baylor Law School's annual Law Day banquet, scheduled for 7 p.m. April 4 at the Ferrell Center on the Baylor campus. Keynote speaker during the program will be television news journalist Catherine Crier, former Texas state judge and host of Fox News Channel's "The Crier Report."