Interviewer: Tyler Priest

Affiliation: University of Houston

Jim Rike was born and raised in Malakoff, a small Texas town. His career began at Kilgore Junior College, from which he transferred into Texas A&M University. Rike only got through a few years at A&M before he was called up to serve in the U.S. Navy during the Second World War. There he served as an aviation electronics technician’s mate. After the war, Rike completed his degree in electrical engineering and joined Humble Oil. By 1956, Rike had returned from a stint in West Texas back to the Houston area, where he continued his work at Humble on pipe engineering, helping to develop coiled tubing. Rike helped Humble secure multiple patents on downhole or well engineering practices. In 1970, Rike went on to found his own company as a consultant, Risk Services, primarily training the oil and gas workforce.