[1] He graduated from San Jacinto High School with highest honors as a champion debater and started work in 1928 at age 16 after his father died.

[8] After the death of his first wife, Hofheinz married his divorced executive assistant, Mary Frances (née Gougenheim) on April 10, 1969.

[10] Judge Hofheinz was known for his cigar habit; in a 1969 profile for Sports Illustrated he gently chided the author, Tex Maule: "Don't say 'smoke.'

[1] Hofheinz had two separate residences in the Astrodomain: the Judge's Quarters, a 24-room suite on the sixth floor of the Astrodome decorated in an eclectic fashion that Bob Hope quipped was "early King Farouk",[14] where he moved after the death of his first wife;[15][16][17] and the Celestial Suites on the ninth floor of the Astroworld Hotel, with interiors designed by Harper Goff, which Elvis Presley reportedly found too gaudy.

[18] Hofheinz purchased an historic River Oaks mansion (also known as the T.J. and Ruth Bettes House, originally completed in 1928) in 1980 and lived there until his death in 1982.

He opened a private law practice shortly after his graduation in 1931, then served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1935 to 1937 as the youngest person ever elected to the state legislature.

[20] After World War II, Hofheinz pioneered FM radio and built a network of radio and television stations (including 790 KTHT Houston, now KBME; 1530 KSOX Harlingen TX, now KGBT; 680 KBAT San Antonio, now KKYX) in the Texas Gulf Coast area,[1] and made a business of salvaging the slag from steelmaking, crushing it, and selling it as roadbuilding aggregate.

I pull every thing all together, and I won't stop until I make this a place where you can check in and spend a whole vacation without getting into your car until it's time to go home.

[25] Initially, Hofheinz and Smith each retained a one-third interest in HSA, with the remainder divided between Cullinan (15%), Kirksey (2%), and other investors, including Bud Adams.

Standing there, thinking back on those days, I figured that a round facility with a cover was what we needed in the United States and that Houston would be the perfect spot for it.

"[9] Together, Hofheinz and Smith acquired 497 acres (201 ha) in the South Loop region of Houston, which was then a swamp, from the owners of the Shamrock Hilton Hotel and resold 254 acres (103 ha) to Harris County for the site of the Astrodome; to finance its construction, the county issued $31 million in two separate bond votes.

[9] HSA leased the Astrodome from the county (at $750,000 per year) and the Colt .45s were renamed the Houston Astros in 1965 when they moved into their new domed stadium.

And he didn't respect Smith.”[9][32] The Astrodome initially used clear plexiglass panes to cover the roof and admit light for the special "Tifway 419" Bermuda grass, but several games were lost when fielders would lose sight of the ball from the glare, and the panels were painted white.

Other landmarks built in the giant southwest Houston development project surrounding the Astrodome, which Hofheinz dubbed the Astrodomain,[23] included the Astrohall exposition center (billed as the largest one-story convention facility in the world) and the first major theme park in coastal Texas, AstroWorld, which opened in 1968.

In addition, the Astrodomain included a four-hotel complex totaling 970 rooms on Kirby Drive to serve tourists, Astrodome patrons, and theme park guests.

[44][47] The slow movement on the Lancaster dome proposal also led Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson to explore team relocation with Seattle city officials.

[48] After the county refused to build the facility, Cottrell and Hofheinz began what became a 20-year breach of contract litigation seeking hundreds of millions of dollars of lost profits and damages.

[50] Cottrell would eventually receive a $10.2 million settlement in September 1989, but faced a separate lawsuit filed by Hofheinz's widow, Mary Frances, who had paid for the lawyers and expert witnesses in their suit against the county.

Hofheinz personally controlled 50% of the Astrodomain Corporation, and the other half was held in trust for his three children as an inheritance from their mother, Dene.

[30] In the early 1970s, the debt Hofheinz accumulated in purchasing the circus and opening AstroWorld was consolidated in a single $38 million loan held by Ford Motor Credit, General Electric Credit Corporation, and HNC Realty, to be repaid in quarterly installments at an interest rate of 4% above prime.

[30] However, Schlenker denied that Hofheinz had lost control of Astrodomain, stating "the judge will retain the title of chairman of the board and will continue to be active as he has been in the past two years".

[30] Hofheinz admitted that he had lost control of the Astrodomain in January 1976, in announcing his opposition to a potential move by the Astros to New Orleans.

[58] Hofheinz sold his remaining shares of the Astrodomain to GE and Ford in September 1976,[59] retaining an option to buy it back within a year.

The university has asked the Harris County Probate Court to end the 47-year agreement on Hofheinz Pavilion so that the institution can negotiate a naming-rights deal in a $60 million renovation project set to begin in the spring of 2017.