DALLAS (SMU) - The SMU Lettermen's Board of Directors and its Silver Anniversary Mustang (SAM) Award Committee will honor Bob Begert as the recipient of the 2019 SAM Award. Begert played basketball at SMU from 1963-67 and helped the Mustangs to three straight Southwest Conference Championships. He earned a degree in business administration in 1967, and his juris doctor at SMU in 1971.

His civic and community involvement includes the Salesmanship Club of Dallas with two stints on the Board of Directors (1991, 2005); as a city councilman in University Park (2010-16) where he was Mayor Pro Tem in 2015; as a member of the Dallas Country Club with a term as president (2001); SMU Mustang Club and Lettermen's Association; and Chair of the University Park Centennial Master Plan Committee. He has also served as Board Chairman for the Park Cities YMCA, President of the Dallas Rotary Club, and as a Board of Trustees member for Highland Park United Methodist Church.
 
Begert has practiced law with Burford & Ryburn since 1971, where he has represented law firms, corporations, major hospitals, physician provider management companies, and the individuals that practice within those organizations for over 45 years. He has tried all types of litigation cases from casualty, death and product liability cases to high-level professional malpractice medical and legal cases. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Dallas Bar Association, Texas Association of Defense Counsel, a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and a Fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation. His honors include being named Texas Super Lawyer (2004-2019) by Texas Monthly and Best Lawyers in Dallas – Professional Liability Litigation by D Magazine (2016). He was also listed in Best Lawyers' 2017 Dallas Legal Malpractice Law.
 
Begert served in the United States Army Reserve from 1968-1974. He has lived in University Park since 1977. He and his wife Debbie have three sons, Mark, John Michael and Jeff.
Each year, the SMU Lettermen's Association awards the SAM Award to a former letterwinner who has not been an undergraduate student at SMU for a minimum of 25 years. The recipient has brought honor to SMU, made contributions that have lasting and positive effects on his or her fellow citizens, and has been a model citizen in his or her community.
 
The presentation will take place on Saturday, Jan. 18 at halftime of the SMU men's basketball game against Temple. Tip is 7 p.m. at Moody Coliseum. Tickets are available at SMUMustangs.com/Tickets.