An inventive spirit

Kerrville Daily Times

An inventive spirit

By Liz Kellar
The Daily Times

Published September 10, 2005

Hunt residents who are in the know head out to Sunshine River Ranch on FM1340 in the spring and summer to stock up on ripe tomatoes, zucchini, basil and beautiful sunflowers, cosmos and zinnias.

Byron Donzis and his wife, Martha, operate the small organic farm, where people can drive up to a little stand that is open on summer weekends for produce — and for Martha’s apple pies, salsas, chutneys and jellies.

She also sells a lot of produce to local restaurants such as Francisco’s and Elaine’s Table, and to the summer camps that line the two forks of the Guadalupe River.

The couple originally lived in Houston and came up only on the weekends to the property, which they purchased in 1987. They moved here full-time nine years ago.

“We’ve been organic since day one,” said Martha proudly.

But what many of the ranch’s customers might not know is that Byron Donzis makes his living as an inventor.

The framed magazine articles dotting the walls of Byron’s office are testament to that life. He may be best known for designing the original football flak jacket, a revolutionary invention that established the standard for personal protection in football, baseball, hockey and other sports.

The story, as reported in magazines ranging from Playboy to People to Newsweek, goes like this:

In 1978, Byron weaseled his way into the hospital room where Houston Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini was laid up with broken ribs.

Byron was wearing a shock-absorbing vest he’d invented. He had a friend pummel his midsection with an aluminum baseball bat as the injured quarterback looked on in amazement.

Pastorini was so impressed (and so desperate to make a playoff game against the Miami Dolphins) that a week later, he donned the vest and asked Bum Phillips to hit his torso.

Phillips thought both inventor and player were out of their minds and refused. So Byron did the honors.

“He didn’t swing like Babe Ruth,” the former coach remembered in 1994, “but it was enough to show me that it distributed the impact.”

Pastorini wore the flak jacket the following Sunday, won the game and launched Byron’s career in safety equipment.

It is evident that 27-some years later, Byron still possesses a boundless curiosity that takes him in a million different directions.

In the space of a few hours, he discussed trying to track down a source of tamales for a friend who is struggling to start a business locally; offered up a sample of a variety of miniature peach he is hoping to popularize; showed off a sample of an organic vegetarian dog treat he might develop; and discussed some of the “maybe 300” patents he currently holds, many of which are in the biotechnology field.

“I don’t have a formal education and I was never disciplined. You do all kinds of things and there’s a joy in that,” he said, adding that developing skill in one particular field would have held him back.

“There are no borders for me. No one has told me what I can’t do,” he continued, adding, “Practically everything I do is an adventure to me and I think of it in those terms.”

Some of the things he invented 20 years ago, he said, he is just finding a use for today.

“Failure is just a building block,” he said. “I have no fear of it. People always need new ways to do things. Some of (my ideas) aren’t worth patenting — most of them aren’t.”

Byron currently is working with Quality Biologics in Seguin to develop a yeast extract process for beta glucan for dietary supplements and skin revitalization.

As he explains it, beta glucan, which is derived from yeast, has been found to be effective in both stimulation of growth and activation of the cells that make the body immune.

Decades ago, Byron was experimenting with a shock-absorbing material when he first became interested in the properties of beta glucan.

As he tells the story, he was testing out a heel pad that “would always creep up the sole of my shoe .. I got mad and threw it and it landed in a saucer” of standing water on his patio.

The saucer, he said, was green with algae — and yet several days later, the moss was gone.

“It seemed the material leached something that killed the algae,” he thought.

Byron started doing some serious research; he estimated that he spent a quarter-million dollars just trying to isolate the substance.

He said he found a potent anti-viral substance, but at the time it seemed useless because it killed all cells, not just the bad ones.

“I started playing around with it, learning about the immune system,” he said.

When he became interested in biotechnology, Byron said, he found that the researchers in the field were not that interested in commercial applications.

“I either want to make money or get the hell out of it,” he said. “That’s what inventors do. We’re always looking for the grail.”

The death of a researcher with whom he was working and his own health problems sidelined his work at various points through the years, but he has continued to pursue a variety of applications for his miracle product, including wrinkle removal, wound healing and prevention of infection.

“It really does wonders for your skin,” he said, adding that he is looking into whether it promotes hair growth as well.

“The data’s not all there,” he mused. “It needs to be tested.”

Byron called beta glucan “wonderful stuff,” adding, “I can’t take credit for it but I found a way to make it pure and make it inexpensive.

“I’ve done well on the protective equipment business but this is the really meaningful stuff,” he continued. “It gives me a lot of pride. It’s much more worthwhile.”

The organic farm, it seems, is just one more way for Byron to challenge his fertile mind.

“I went out there in that field and it was one step below concrete, the worst soil you have ever seen in your life,” he said.

“I wanted to find a way to make it productive. We made the soil so wonderful out there that you can hardly walk across it.”

“The camps are gracious enough to give us horse manure,” he said, which after it dries for a year is worked into the soil.

Martha said growing things organically had not proved that difficult.

The primary task, she said, is controlling the weeds, which they spray with a soap solution.

The couple started the apple orchards with 36 different varieties, including Fuji, Granny Smith and Arkansas Black.

Byron estimated that the farm lost approximately 1,000 apple trees to cotton root rot; they have 800 or so left. He has replanted some trees, but has turned to more vegetables and herbs.

When they bought the property, Martha said, “it was just barren ... At some point, I think, they had a racetrack here.”

Martha is experimenting with different varieties of tomatoes and, this year, is drying heaps of sunflower heads so that she can replant the seeds she harvests next year.

“Right now, we’re winding down,” she said, surveying the remaining flowers and the gourds drying on the trellises.

The productivity of the farm is a testament to one facet of Byron’s endlessly inventive spirit.

“I’m not going to waste my time telling people what to do with their property,” he said. “But if they want to know, they can come by and take a look.”