Page 92 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2026 - Online Magazine

LOCAL LEGENDS

Chuck Colbert

Comeback from

the Tornado

by Marita Tedder

ubbock’s 1970 tornado hit floors of Metro Tower to get the All was good until his personal
the then-Great Plains Life project finished. In addition to tornado hit in 2012. The company
LBuilding, leaving it with having served as property manager shut down, he left the military,
major damage that rendered it for the initial rentals, Chuck is also and his wife of 25 years left him.
uninhabitable. It sat empty for years. a construction consultant, a political He found work in the construction
The engineering data gathered from consultant, and a veterans’ advocate. industry and, though he’d never
the building’s survival, the second He works with Echo of West Texas been much of a drinker, he sought to
tallest building known to survive a and the Specialty Courts, and he numb his pain with alcohol. During
direct hit by an F-5 Tornado, played leads the Central AA (Alcoholics that 10-year period, Chuck received
a critical role in the development Anonymous) group. Some call him a 3-or-more DWI felony charge and
of the Fujita Scale. Windows were the “Mayor of Downtown.” spent 42 days in jail. While in jail,
knocked out, the steel frame was he couldn’t pay his rent and lost his
left permanently twisted, and bricks Like Metro Tower, Chuck Colbert apartment. When he got out of jail,
were yanked off. Today, the building has a new life after a personal he had nothing but his truck—which
is known as the Metro Tower. After “tornado” knocked him out, leaving he had to sell.
a $25 million investment, completed his life twisted and his foundation
in 2022, it now houses 99 apartments yanked away. But that experience led to his
that boast some of the best views in Texas native Chuck Colbert current focus. The VA, AA, and
Lubbock. The tornado’s scars on the graduated from Angelo State with other programs in Lubbock County
building are still visible through the a degree in Statistics in 1991. He helped him recover. He reports:
slightly mis-matched exterior brick. “The system does work”—which is
married and joined the Air Force, why he commits so much time and
Metro Tower’s story mirrors that serving in the Fire Department and energy helping others facing their
of its biggest proponent: Chuck then as a Combat Rescue Officer own personal tornados.
Colbert. (CRO). He served for six years.
After that, he returned to Dallas and The Specialty Courts work with
Once serving as the property worked for his father-in-law as a qualifying repeat offenders of drugs
manager during development, sales rep for Braswell Associates in and/or alcohol abuse who are put
Chuck Colbert resides on one end the mechanical industry. He moved on an 18-month extreme probation.
of the top floor with never-ending to Lubbock in 2000 to open the Chuck serves as an advocate and is
views that include incoming storms, Lubbock office for Braswell. often a speaker for the program’s
Texas Tech, First United Methodist graduation.
Church, and the stalled Pickering During that time, Chuck’s three
Park project. He’s occupied the daughters were born, and he Besides his work with AA, Chuck
penthouse suite for four years. continued to serve as a Reserve supports Echo of West Texas
Chuck and the mostly non-English Officer in the Air Force. which focuses on the homeless and
speaking crew often slept on the addicted—working to get them off

92 Lubbock Senior Link