William Dunavant

Dunavant was born on December 19, 1932 to William and Dorothy Dunavant. He was educated first at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, then at Vanderbilt University, and received his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Memphis State University. His maternal grandfather, T.J. White, was a cotton farmer from Tunica, Mississippi. His paternal grandfather, Colonel William P. Dunavant was in the railroad business and created one of the main cotton transporting railroads of the time. His father began working for T.J. White and Company at the age of 21. After White retired, the company was passed to Dunavant's father and renamed Dunavant Enterprises. When the senior Dunavant died in 1961, Dunavant inherited the company at the age of 29.

When Dunavant took over the company in 1961, it handled around 100,000 bales of cotton a year, and ninety percent of their sales were in the United States. Today, the company sells over 4 million bales of cotton to more than 80 countries around the world. Dunavant Enterprises is on the Forbes 400 list of largest private companies (Forbes Ranking) and according to the Memphis Business Journal, it is the largest private company in Memphis.

According to a 1976 article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, "Dunavant's company was one of the first to go into 'future contracting,' whereby a farmer agrees to a price before he plants. It's a risky venture speculating on future cotton prices but Dunavant prospered while others floundered." On March 13, 2007 Dunavant was inducted into the Futures Industry Association's Hall of Fame for his work in the cotton futures business.

After a successful career in the cotton industry, Dunavant stepped down as chief executive officer in 2005. Before his retirement Dunavant completed gross sale of $225 million to China, the second-largest cotton sale in history. Although Dunavant is no longer the CEO, he intends to remain chairman of the board.

Dunavant is active in Memphis-area philanthropy, working with institutions such as Rhodes College, Memphis University School, and Boy Scouts of America. Dunavant's love of tennis inspired him to build the Memphis Racquet Club in 1972. His aspirations for a professional football team resulted in him selling the Racquet Club in 1992. Dunavant was the owner of the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League and a principal investor in the Memphis Hound Dogs, a proposed National Football League expansion team that was rejected in 1993.