DALLAS (AP) — Tom Hicks, the Texas businessman and philanthropist who owned two Dallas-area professional sports franchises and an English Premier League soccer team, has died. He was 79.
Spokesperson Lisa LeMaster said in statement that Hicks died peacefully Saturday in Dallas surrounded by family.
Hicks owned the NHL's Dallas Stars from 1995–2011, winning the Stanley Cup in 1999. He also owned baseball's Texas Rangers from 1998–2010, a period when they won three American West Division titles and made their first World Series appearance just months after the team was sold. In 2007, he acquired a 50% stake in Liverpool.
“Being shoulder to shoulder with him was always about more than ballparks and stadiums, though,” Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a statement. “It was about personal respect, trust and friendship. We shared a lot of miles together, and I’ll miss him greatly. My heart goes out to his family.”
Hicks co-founded Hicks & Haas in 1984 and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst in 1989, helping reshape private equity and investing strategy.
“Tom Hicks was an innovative businessman and a pioneer in private equity,” fellow Texas businessman Ross Perot Jr. said in a statement. “He combined his commitment to business and sports through his ownership of the Stars and the Rangers.”
One of Hicks' most notable moments with the Rangers came 25 years ago at baseball's winter meetings in Dallas, when the team signed Alex Rodriguez, then a 25-year-old All-Star shortstop, to a $252 million, 10-year contract in free agency.
A-Rod's deal at the time was $2 million more than Hicks had paid to buy the entire team only 2 1/2 years earlier. It also then doubled the previous record for a sports contract, the $126 million, six-year agreement in October 1997 between forward Kevin Garnett and the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.
Rodriguez led the American League in homers in all three of his seasons with the Rangers. He hit 156 homers in that span while the team's overall record was 216-270. He was traded to the New York Yankees at the start of spring training in 2004.
The Rangers' first World Series appearance in October 2010 came after the team was bought that August by an ownership group that then included Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. After an initial agreement to buy the team from Hicks at that start of that year, a messy bankruptcy case ensued before the group finally acquired it at auction with a bid valued at $590 million.
The Stars, the NHL franchise that moved from Minnesota before the 1993-94 season, became the league's first champion from the Sun Belt when they raised the Stanley Cup in 1999 after beating Buffalo in Game 6. They made the Stanley Cup Final again the following season, losing a six-game series to New Jersey.
Brett Hull scored the Cup-winning goal for the Stars in 1999. Hicks had signed him to a $17 million, three-year contract in free agency the previous summer after Hull had been an All-Star in seven of his previous 11 seasons with the St. Louis Blues.
Before the 2001-02 season, the Stars moved a few blocks in downtown Dallas, from Reunion Arena to the American Airlines Center where the team still plays and shares with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. The Stars, too, went into bankruptcy before being acquired by Canadian businessman Tom Gaglardi in 2011.
The Stars in a statement Sunday lauded the team's unprecedented on-ice success under Hicks' ownership.
“He also played an instrumental role in the development and planning of the American Airlines Center, along with the grassroots growth of hockey through the creation of numerous StarCenter facilities,” the team said. “Our franchise would not be in the position we are today without the ownership of Mr. Hicks. His legacy will be honored by our franchise for decades to come.”
Hicks served as paratrooper in the Army Reserves and was Commissioner of the American Battle Monuments Commission. He served on the University of Texas’s Board of Regents from 1994 to 1999.
Hicks is survived by his wife of 35 years, Cinda Cree Hicks, and his six children — Thomas Ollis Hicks Jr., Mack Hardin Hicks, John Alexander Hicks, Robert Bradley Hicks, William Cree Hicks and Catherine Forgrave Hicks.
His children released a joint statement, saying:
“Of everything he accomplished in his remarkable life, Tom Hicks’s most cherished title was, ‘Dad.’ No matter the trials and tribulations he faced in life, he was constant in his generosity and love for his family. He remains a guiding force for our family, and we are deeply honored to continue expanding his legacy. Although we are devastated by this loss, we are profoundly grateful to have been his children.”
The Rangers in a statement Sunday described Hicks as “a passionate and competitive owner and Texas Rangers fan. The club extends its thoughts and prayers to Mr. Hicks’ wife Cinda, his six children and his entire family as they mourn a legendary Texas businessman, philanthropist, and sportsman.”
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FILE - Then Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks during an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tim Sharp, File)
FILE - Tom Hicks, the former owner of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars during an NHL hockey game in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli troops have captured a strategic mountain topped with a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon in the deepest incursion into the country in more than a quarter-century, the military said Sunday.
The taking of Beaufort castle, near the city of Nabatiyeh, followed days of airstrikes and intense fighting in nearby villages between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants.
The capture marked a major Israeli advance in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked its main backer, Iran.
Since then, Israel has launched a ground invasion, capturing dozens of Lebanese villages and towns close to the border. Hezbollah has launched thousands of missiles and drones at Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
The Israeli push came despite a nominal ceasefire that has been in place since April 17 and just days before Lebanon and Israeli hold their next round of direct talks in Washington starting Tuesday.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, said he can guarantee the militant group's “full, comprehensive and immediate commitment to a ceasefire."
“But who will force Israel to stop its aggression?” he said in a statement on his television station, NBN.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss Israeli military operations in Lebanon, which he described as “unacceptable.”
“Nothing can justify the prolongation of Israeli military operations in Lebanon and its increasingly deep occupation of Lebanese territory,” Barrot said Sunday on French television BFM TV.
The Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted photographs on X showing Israeli troops walking outside the castle, and Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X that they raised an Israeli flag over the castle. Israeli troops previously captured the castle in 1982 and held it until they withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.
“Twenty six years after the withdrawal from the security zone in Lebanon, the Israeli flag has returned to fly on the peaks that overlook the Galilee towns,” Katz said Sunday at a memorial ceremony for Israeli soldiers killed in its previous occupation of southern Lebanon.
Katz said Israel intends to hold the castle as its troops work to destroy thousands more homes that he says were used by Hezbollah and other military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
The Beaufort fortress, perched high atop Lebanon’s rolling green hills and overlooking the Litani River, has been a strategic military asset for centuries.
Built as a Crusader castle around the 12th century on top of previous fortifications, it has also been used by Saladin’s Jerusalem army, Mamluks, Ottomans, the French and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Crusaders named it Beaufort, which is Old French for “beautiful fortress.”
The 1982 capture of the castle from the PLO was a major victory for the Israeli military, which was then led by Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, who later became prime minister. At the time, the Israeli army pushed all the way north and occupied Beirut.
In 2000, the castle was partially restored and opened to visitors.
During the previous Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024, UNESCO gave enhanced protection to 34 cultural sites in Lebanon, including Beaufort Castle, to safeguard them from damage.
The castle is a few kilometers north of the Israel border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon and northern Israel. In Arabic, it is called Al-Shaqif castle, an old Syriac word referring to the formidable rocky area.
Beaufort is symbolic across the region, including in Israel, where it was one of the best-known places Israel controlled during the 18-year occupation. An Israeli war film titled “Beaufort” explores moral questions about war in the last days before the military withdrew.
In recent days, Israel has expanded the scope of its operations in Lebanon, sending troops across the Litani River, which previously served as a de-facto boundary, and demanding that residents leave much of southern Lebanon.
“The occupation of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic shift in the policies we are leading,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, citing the military occupation of security zones in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza along Israel’s borders. He said Israel has killed 3,000 Hezbollah militants since the start of the war. Hezbollah has not disclosed its casualty numbers.
Israel has designated the area from the Litani up to the Zahrani River a combat zone. Some residents have already left the area due to intense strikes in recent days, but people remain.
Israeli troops have been advancing for days in villages close to Beaufort castle. They are now about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Nabatiyeh, a major center in southern Lebanon. They have called on people to leave that area, as well as the coastal city of Tyre, the country’s fourth-largest city, and its surroundings.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah or the Lebanese government on the Israeli push.
The expanded operation would give Israel an upper hand in the upcoming talks with Lebanon in Washington, said Beirut geopolitical analyst Joe Macaron.
“We are at a tipping point,” Macaron said, adding that it is still too early to say how Hezbollah will react to the loss of land. “The more land they (the Israeli military) can grab before the ceasefire, the more they can impose conditions on Hezbollah before their withdrawal.”
Israel has continued striking near Tyre, including near the Hiram Hospital. Lebanon's Health Ministry said 13 health workers were wounded in the strike. Elsewhere, a strike in Deir al-Zahrani, near Nabatiyeh, killed eight people and wounded 16 others, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.
Hezbollah overnight claimed two attacks targeting Israeli troops and a Merkava tank in the southwestern town of Bayada near the border. In recent days, the group has said it has clashed with Israeli troops in several towns just north of the river near Nabatiyeh and the strategic castle. It also claimed attacks deeper into Israel near the northern city of Haifa, Nahariya, as well as border areas.
Hezbollah on Saturday fired salvos of rockets into northern Israel, including Kiryat Shmona, the largest city in the area.
Hezbollah's use of hard-to-detect fiber optic drones has been deadly for the Israeli military, which is struggling to respond. There have been nearly 200 alerts for Israeli civilians across northern Israel warning of drones and missiles in the past 24 hours, according to Israel's military.
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,350 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million people.
According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 25 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, including one on Saturday. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.
Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
An Israeli solider takes a position in a house in the community of Metula, northern Israel, on the border with Lebanon Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo)
Israeli soldiers drive a tank in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A view of he Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A person walks past the site struck by a rocket fired from Lebanon on Saturday in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A local resident walks past the site struck by a rocket fired from Lebanon on Saturday in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
FILE -Villagers inspect the damage to Beaufort Castle, 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of the southern market town of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon, Wednesday, May 24, 2000. (AP Photo/Ahmed Mantash, File)
