Barron Hilton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Barron Hilton
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Hilton in 2007
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William Barron Hilton
October 23, 1927 Dallas, Texas, U.S.
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| Died | September 19, 2019 (aged 91) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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| Alma mater | University of Southern California Aeronautical School |
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Marilyn June Hawley
(m. 1947; died 2004) |
| Children | 8, including Richard |
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| Relatives | Hilton family |
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William Barron Hilton (October 23, 1927 – September 19, 2019) was an American businessman, a generous giver to charity, and a sportsman. He was the second son of Conrad Hilton, who started the famous Hilton Hotels. Barron took over from his father, becoming the head of Hilton Hotels Corporation. He also led the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which helps people around the world.
Barron Hilton loved flying and the outdoors. He even helped start the American Football League (AFL) and owned the Los Angeles Chargers. He played a big part in joining the AFL with the National Football League (NFL), which led to the creation of the Super Bowl. Just like his father, Barron promised to give most of his money (97 percent) to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to help others. This huge gift was expected to make the foundation much bigger, allowing it to do even more good work.
Contents
Early Life and Aviation Dreams
Barron Hilton was born in Dallas, Texas. His father, Conrad Hilton, was the founder of Hilton Hotels. Barron grew up with three brothers and sisters.
He served in the Navy during World War II as a photographer. From a young age, Barron was fascinated by airplanes. He learned to fly when he was just 17 years old. After the war, he went to the University of Southern California Aeronautical School. There, he earned a special license to fly planes with two engines when he was 19.
Starting His Business Journey
Before joining his father's hotel business, Barron Hilton started several of his own companies. He ran a business that distributed citrus products and co-founded an oil company. He also created Air Finance Corporation, which was one of the first companies to lease airplanes.
In 1954, Barron became a vice president at Hilton Hotels. He managed the company's franchise operations and even created the Carte Blanche credit card for hotel guests.
Owning a Football Team
In 1959, a man named Lamar Hunt offered Barron Hilton a football team in the new American Football League (AFL). Barron named his team the Los Angeles Chargers. He chose the name because of the "Charge!" cheer often heard at USC football games.
The Chargers started playing in Los Angeles in 1960. Even though they won their division, it was hard to get fans because the Rams (from the NFL) were also in the city. So, Hilton moved the team to San Diego for the 1961 season. They played in a smaller stadium that the city made bigger.
Barron worked with local newspapers to get support for a new, modern stadium. Thanks to his efforts, a new stadium was built in 1967. This new stadium also helped San Diego get a baseball team, the San Diego Padres, in 1969.
Barron Hilton also served as the AFL president in 1965. He helped bring the AFL and NFL together, which led to the creation of the Super Bowl in 1966. During his six years as owner, the Chargers won five division titles and one AFL Championship.
In 1966, the leaders of Hilton Hotels asked Barron to take over from his father as president and CEO. He had to sell his football team to do this. He sold his share for $10 million, which was a record amount for a sports team at the time. He had only invested $25,000 initially!
Barron Hilton was the last living member of the "Foolish Club." This was a nickname the original AFL owners gave themselves because they took a big risk starting a new league.
Leading Hilton Hotels
Once Barron Hilton was in charge of Hilton Hotels, he showed great skill in managing costs and making smart real estate deals.
Expanding into Las Vegas
In 1970, he convinced the company's board to expand into Las Vegas. They bought two big hotels, the International and the Flamingo. This made Hilton Hotels the first company listed on the New York Stock Exchange to get into the gambling business. The hotels were renamed the Las Vegas Hilton and the Flamingo Hilton. This brought in new money from gambling, which had been legal in Nevada since 1931. Barron also saw that Las Vegas would become a top spot for big meetings and events, which was a strength for Hilton.
Barron Hilton introduced two new ideas that are now common in casinos. He used his photography background to install video cameras throughout the casinos. This replaced the old system where observers watched through mirrors in the ceiling.
Las Vegas became known as the "Entertainment Capital of the World." Many famous performers played at the Hilton hotels. Two of the most successful were Liberace and Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley started performing live again in 1969 at the opening of the International hotel (later the Las Vegas Hilton). He performed there two months a year, doing two shows a night, seven nights a week, until shortly before he passed away in 1977. Elvis set a world record at the Las Vegas Hilton by selling out 837 concerts in a row.
Liberace, another famous entertainer, also performed at the Las Vegas Hilton starting in 1972. Barron Hilton encouraged Liberace to make his shows bigger and more spectacular. Liberace's last show at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1980 was very grand, with him arriving on stage in a classic car and flying off stage in a huge, sparkling cape.
The company's move into Nevada greatly increased its profits. By 1972, the two Las Vegas resorts brought in 45 percent of the company's income.
Smart Business Moves
In 1975, Hilton sold half ownership of six of the company's largest hotels to an insurance company for $83 million. He then leased them back to manage them, earning good fees. This deal showed that these hotels were worth much more than their listed value, proving the strength of the company's real estate. The money from the sale was used to pay off debts and buy back company stock, which helped all shareholders.
Hilton continued to grow the hotel chain by offering franchises and buying hotels in new areas. In 1977, he completed a hotel purchase that his father had started 28 years earlier. When Conrad Hilton bought the Waldorf-Astoria in 1949, he only bought the right to run the hotel for 30 years. The building and land were still owned by a railroad company. Knowing the lease would end soon, Barron skillfully bought the hotel and land for just $35 million. Today, that property is worth around $1 billion.
In the 1980s, Barron improved his hotels and increased earnings in Las Vegas. He added many rooms to the Flamingo Hilton and Las Vegas Hilton, nearly tripling their size by 1990. He also launched new hotel brands like Conrad International and Hilton Garden Inn.
Barron Hilton was known for being careful with money. He made sure the company had a strong financial standing, with low debt and a good credit rating. This allowed him to buy properties like Bally's Reno (a large resort) for a much lower price than it was built for. With strong cash flow, he was able to handle tough economic times.
Barron continued as chairman of the board for another ten years. His chosen successor, Steve Bollenbach, greatly expanded the company by buying other brands like Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Hampton Inn, and Homewood Suites. In 2005, Hilton reacquired Hilton International, which had been sold 38 years earlier. After this, the company separated its gambling business, which became Caesars Entertainment.
In 2007, a private company called The Blackstone Group bought Hilton Hotels Corporation for $26 billion. The company was renamed Hilton Worldwide, Inc., and is now simply known as Hilton. Today, Hilton has grown to include 17 brands, with thousands of hotels and rooms in many countries around the world.
The Hilton Family Fortune
In 1979, Barron Hilton's father, Conrad Hilton, passed away. He left most of his wealth (97 percent) to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, a charity he started in 1944.
Conrad's will gave Barron the chance to buy those shares to keep the company under family control. However, the foundation challenged this in court. It took ten years to sort out. In 1988, a court ruled that Barron had the right to buy the shares. Conrad's shares were worth $160 million when he died, but thanks to Barron's good management, they were worth $654 million by 1988. Barron said this agreement would help both his father's goals: keeping the company in the family and supporting the charity.
The final agreement was made in 1989. Barron and the foundation split the shares. Barron received 4 million shares, the foundation received 3.5 million shares, and the rest were put into a special trust. Barron received income from this trust during his lifetime, and then the money would go to the foundation.
On December 25, 2007, Barron Hilton announced that he would follow his father's example. He pledged to leave about 97 percent of his own fortune, estimated at $2.3 billion at the time, to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. This included an immediate pledge of $1.2 billion from the sale of Hilton Hotels Corporation. This money was put into a trust that would go to the foundation after Barron's death. The rest of his pledge would come from his personal assets.
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Throughout his life, Conrad Hilton supported many causes, especially those helping nuns who had educated him. He started the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation in 1944.
In his will, Conrad left instructions for how his money should be used. He wrote about the importance of helping those who are suffering, distressed, and poor. He believed that charity unites people and inspires their best efforts. He also said that the money should help people everywhere, without limits based on location, religion, or race. He especially wanted the foundation to help children, their schools, hospitals, and places of worship, as well as the Sisters (nuns) who dedicate their lives to helping others.
Barron Hilton's Aviation Career
Barron Hilton was born the same year Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic Ocean. When he was a young boy, he would ride his bike to Love Field in Dallas to watch planes take off and land. He promised himself he would learn to fly one day. He took flying lessons in the Navy and got his pilot's license at 17.
Barron earned licenses to fly many types of aircraft, including gliders, balloons, and helicopters. He kept a collection of planes at his Flying M Ranch in Nevada. He flew them all until he retired from flying in 2012 at age 84.
In the 1990s, he supported attempts to fly non-stop around the world in a balloon. While his teams didn't quite reach the goal, Hilton inspired others who later achieved this amazing feat. Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones were the first to fly around the world in a balloon in 1999, and Steve Fossett was the first to do it alone in 2002.
From 1980 to 2009, Barron Hilton hosted the Barron Hilton Cup, a unique worldwide glider competition. Pilots who flew the longest triangular flights in different parts of the world were invited to a special soaring camp at his Flying M Ranch. Many famous pilots and celebrities joined Hilton for weekends at the ranch, including astronauts Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan, and test pilots like Chuck Yeager.
Sadly, in 2007, Steve Fossett took off from the Flying M Ranch and never returned. He died in a plane crash in the mountains.
In 2010, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum honored Hilton by naming a gallery after him: the Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery. This exhibit celebrates famous aviators like Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. The gallery also has a special section for young children, funded by the Hilton Foundation, to inspire them to love aviation just as Barron did.
For his lifelong support of aviation, Hilton received the prestigious FAI Gold Air Medal in 2009. This award has also been given to many of his friends and heroes, like Yeager and Armstrong. In 2012, Barron was also inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in San Diego, where he was called the "patron saint of sport aviation."
Personal Life
In 1947, Barron Hilton married Marilyn June Hawley. They were married until she passed away in 2004. They had eight children, including Richard Howard Hilton. Barron Hilton had 15 grandchildren, including Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton Rothschild, and four great-grandchildren.
His main home in Holmby Hills was a beautiful house designed in the 1930s. It was even used as a mansion in the TV show The Colbys. He also had a permanent suite at the Waldorf hotel in New York and a very large ranch called Flying M in Nevada and California. The ranch had its own airport and a small golf putting green.
Barron Hilton passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles on September 19, 2019.
Other Interests
Barron Hilton was a member of a duck hunting club on Venice Island in Northern California. Every year, he hosted a large Fourth of July fireworks show there, which attracted thousands of boaters to watch. He bought the Flying-M Ranch in Nevada in 1972 after purchasing his friends' shares.
See also
In Spanish: Barron Hilton para niños
- List of American Football League players
- Los Angeles Chargers Hall of Fame
