Darla Moore went from small town to Wall Street

Darla Moore might not have as much time as she would like to devote to playing golf, but her enthusiasm for the game has not diminished.

Shortly after it was announced that she and former Secretary of State Condo­leezza Rice would become Augusta National Golf Club’s first female members, Moore decided she needed some new clubs. She called on the family of a close friend to help her out.

When the friend’s son and one of his friends arrived at her Lake City, S.C., farmhouse, to deliver the new clubs, Moore didn’t hesitate to try them out.

“She had an event that night, and she came bopping out of the house with these huge curlers in her hair,” friend Karen Fowler said with a laugh. “They hand her the clubs, and she says, ‘Boys, let me show you how it’s done.’ And she wallops it. A perfect shot. She’s just as comfortable as can be.”

That’s hardly the image one would expect from “The Toughest Babe In Business,” the headline that accompanied Moore’s photo when she became the first woman to grace the cover of Fortune.

But friends and colleagues say that is exactly who Moore is. She didn’t rise to become one of Wall Street’s most powerful, and richest, women without being afraid of taking risks.

She demonstrated the same spirit that she showed in trying out her new clubs to make a name for herself in banking. She married financier Richard Rainwater and helped him grow his private investment firm.

Now 58, Moore is giving back, and has been for some time. She has invested or donated about $130 million of her own money into projects that benefit her home state of South Carolina and her hometown of Lake City. It’s a mission she takes as seriously as any business deal she put together in the past.

“She came back home,” said Jim Fields, the executive director of the nonprofit Palmetto Institute. “Thank God for South Carolina.”

‘Moneymaking machine’

The story goes that Moore left South Carolina after graduating from the University of South Carolina in 1975 with $400 and her grandmother’s car.

She spent time working with the National Republican Com­mittee in Washington, thanks to an assist from longtime U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, and she earned her MBA from George Washing­ton University.

Then she headed for Wall Street, where she landed at Chemical Bank (now JP Morgan Chase).

“Everyone was in LBOs (leveraged buyouts) then, but only the Ivy League, white Protestants got put in that,” Fields said. “She and others were put in bankruptcy (division). She turned into an incredible moneymaking machine for them.”

Before she broke the gender barrier at Augusta National, Moore crashed through it on Wall Street. She rose to become the highest-paid woman in banking, and she became a pioneer of debtor-in-possession financing used in bankruptcy proceedings, according to The Wall Street Journal.

She met Rainwater, a billionaire, and married him in 1991. The founder of Rainwater Inc. was already one of the wealthiest people in the U.S., but Moore nearly tripled his fortune in a short time thanks to her business savvy.

In the mid-1990s, Moore used her position at Rain­water to remove T. Boone Pickens from his oil and gas company, and she also led the ouster of Columbia/HCA’s chief executive officer, Rick Scott. Those moves landed her on the cover of Fortune in 1997.

“I’ve harassed guys all my life,” she said in the magazine interview.

While Moore and Rain­wa­ter enjoyed success in the business world, the couple has had to endure a far more difficult fight.

In 2009, doctors diagnosed Rainwater with progressive supranuclear palsy. The disease is a fast-moving, degenerative brain disease that has no treatment or cure, according to Fortune.

Rainwater lives in Texas and receives private nursing care, while Moore makes her base out of Lake City.

Augusta National connection

In the late 1990s, Moore became better acquainted with another University of South Carolina graduate, Hootie Johnson. The two were kindred spirits in more ways than one.

A former football player for the Gamecocks, Johnson had followed his father into the banking business and by the mid-1960s was president of the bank that would come to be known as Bankers Trust.

Johnson helped lead the way in a series of bank mergers, and he eventually became chairman of the executive committee of Bank of America.

Working on the University of South Carolina’s $300 million capital campaign, Johnson convinced Moore to make a sizeable contribution. Her $25 million gift resulted in the business school being renamed the Darla Moore School of Business.

“Hootie will fool you. He is not only a pillar of the establishment, but he also has an ability to see the global picture,” Moore told The Charlotte Observer in 1998. “He can think outside of the box. He actually is quite progressive … Don’t tell anybody I said he was progressive.”

Johnson, an Augusta native, also was a member of Augusta National Golf Club. In 1998, he succeeded Jack Stephens as chairman of the private, all-male club.

Four years later, Johnson became embroiled in a controversy over the club’s membership practices when Martha Burk, the head of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, called for a woman to be admitted.

Johnson’s reply was curt, and it touched off a debate that lasted months.

“There may well come a day when women will be invited to join our membership, but that timetable will be ours and not at the point of a bayonet,” he wrote in 2002.

Because of her friendship with Johnson, Moore was considered a strong candidate to be the first female member at Augusta National. Other women often mentioned included LPGA golfer Nancy Lopez and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

But Johnson and Augusta National held firm, and the issue moved to the back burner until last year. Billy Payne, who took over as chairman from Johnson in 2006, was questioned about why the chief executive officer of IBM, Ginni Rometty, was not a member when past leaders of the company had been invited to join.

Four months later, Augusta National announced Moore and Rice as its first female members.

To no one’s surprise, Johnson personally sponsored Moore.

“This is wonderful news for Augusta National Golf Club, and I could not be more pleased,” Johnson said in a statement released to his hometown paper, The State. “Darla Moore is my good friend, and I know she and Condo­leezza Rice will enjoy the club as much as I have.”

Moore is no stranger to the club and knows several members.

“I am fortunate to have many friends who are members at Augusta National, so to be asked to join them as a member represents a very happy and important occasion in my life,” Moore said in a statement. “Above all, Augusta National and the Mas­ters Tournament have always stood for excellence, and that is what is so important to me. I am extremely grateful for this privilege.”

Return to roots

In the early 2000s, Moore decided it was time to return home. She moved back to Lake City and took over the farmhouse that had been in her family for generations.

Lake City has a population of close to 7,000 and is about halfway between Columbia, the capital, and tourist destination Myrtle Beach.

Through the years Lake City had relied on an agriculture-based economy, including tobacco, beans and strawberries.

Moore saw an opportunity to invest in the small town and reverse the population drain that occurred when young people left for college or work and didn’t return.

Greg Moore – no relation – has seen first-hand Moore’s impact during his time as the president of the Lake City Chamber of Commerce.

“I’ll tell you the best thing about her, and it’s not her intelligence or her money, and those are two fantastic traits,” he said. “The most wonderful thing about her is her ability to inspire others, to galvanize a group of individuals to work toward a common goal.”

He points to the dozens of major construction projects going on in the area, the boutique hotel being constructed in the heart of the city, and the upcoming art festival that is hoped to be a major tourist draw.

“It’s all based on her inspiration,” he said. “Every town needs a Darla.”

Fields, the executive director of the Palmetto Institute, says Moore is trying to improve South Carolina’s economy and education system through a handful of nonprofit groups.

“Every day is important to her. And that’s what she wakes up every day wanting to do,” Fields said. “Everyone around her understands that. It’s daunting, but it is truly exciting. She believes philanthrophy gifts are truly investments. Like in the private sector, she expects a return. She wants things to be transformed. Most folks want your money and then they see you go. Not Darla.”

Moore’s touch can be seen all over Lake City, from a renovated bean market to the botanical gardens that bear her family name.

Up next is ArtFields, a 10-day art festival that is being described as an “epic Southern artfest competition and celebration.” The competition features a top prize of $50,000 and two other prizes of $25,000 each.

The event has already exceeded expectations with hundreds of entries, and thousands of tourists are expected to descend on Lake City later this month.

“Through the last 10 years I have seen that her thought process is uncanny,” said Fowler, her friend who is spearheading ArtFields. “Her ideas are incredible. When she wants to do something, she does it. There is no thinking about it or contemplating. She puts her ideas on paper and they happen.”

Locals won’t be surprised if Moore is in the middle of the art festival, rubbing elbows with everyone. She isn’t shy about mixing and mingling anywhere in the small town.

Fields recalls the first time he met her.

“We were working and she said, ‘Are you hungry?’ I said I was starving,” Fields said. “We went to Allison’s Truck Stop and had chicken gizzards. … Right then I knew she appreciated her roots.”

Moore the golfer

While fellow Augusta National newcomer Rice has been active on the golf scene the past few years, showing up at tournaments and even competing in this year’s Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, very little is known about Moore’s game.

A natural athlete – her father, Eugene, played baseball and football at Clemson and went on to become a respected coach – Moore didn’t take up golf seriously until she married Rainwater.

Friends and colleagues agree that she has the ability to become a better player. Fowler’s husband, Marion, who was an All-American at Francis Marion University, has offered some pointers.

“She was truly honored to be asked to join Augusta,” Fields said. “She used to be a good golfer and still has all the attributes. She doesn’t have the time to put into it. I’ve seen her hit some doggone good shots.”

Moore, the chamber of commerce president, agreed.

“I would not say she is an avid golfer, but I’ve been told her game is above average,” he said. “She is absolutely competitive.”

Moore is expected to be at the Masters this week – she and Rice are both listed on the tournament’s special assignments committee – but it is unclear how much time she will spend in Augusta.

“She’ll be there and playing her role and doing things they desire,” Fields said. “She takes her membership seriously.

“She’s played with a couple of foursomes over there already. Probably doesn’t come as often as she’d like, but she has a number of friends from all over the country.”

Before the news broke last summer, Moore told her inner circle. Then she left for a trip to Nairobi.

The news was met in Lake City with a mixture of civic pride and wonderment.

“It’s another feather in her cap and another reason for us to be extremely proud of her. Her being one of the first two speaks of her character and accomplishments,” Greg Moore said. “But I am not good enough friends of her to get a tee time.”