John Tatum is one of the most plugged-in businessmen I know, and yet when the bombs started flying over his hotel room in downtown Doha — just a few minutes from the embattled US military facility in Qatar — he was stranded and helpless.
“It was truly frightening,” Tatum, who runs the Dallas-based marketing firm Genesco Sports, told me late last week as he was scrambling to leave the oil-rich Gulf state and return to safety in the US.
Tatum might not be a household name for many readers of The Post, but he is a legend on the sports business scene, a consummate salesman who matches some of the most recognizable brands (think PepsiCo, Verizon, Lowe’s, Anheuser-Busch, Frito-Lay, Visa, Campbells Soup) with some of the biggest stars in pro sports (Cowboy QB Dak Prescott, football greats, Tom Brady, Eli and Peyton Manning, soccer stars like Lionel Messi, David Beckham and many more).
He counts Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as one of his mentors. He considers Raws owner Stan Kroenke and Jets owner Woody Johnson close friends. He raises serious dough for national politicians; he has contacts inside the Trump White House because of his deep ties to the burgeoning Texas business community.
And yet he tells me he just spent the scariest and most frustrating couple of days of his life being one of nearly 3,000 Americans stranded as air traffic ceased in the region. “I couldn’t get through to anyone and when I did, they said they couldn’t help,” he tells me.
It all started last Saturday morning, Qatar time, just hours after meetings with his clients at Qatar Airways, the official global airline partner of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Something that sounded like an amber alert began blowing up on Tatum’s iPhone.
The alert was from the Qatari government in Arabic and English to shelter in place. Tatum turned on his TV and much to his surprise he watched President Trump announce we were at war.
That’s when the bombs really started flying — literally over his head. Plumes of smoke and load crashes of the Iranian missiles aimed at the US base being intercepted before they could do their damage. Some made it through. Tatum and his team saw it all.
He knew he needed to get out and fast. But calls to the State Department went into voicemail. He desperately blasted texts to anyone and everyone he knew in DC. None of his contacts in the US government could help.
“Sorry been very busy,” responded rote one very senior Trump Administration official (I am withholding his name at Tatum’s request). “Once we can get flights in, we can line up charters but right now airspace has been closed.”
True, Tatum traveled to Qatar, a part of the world that can be dangerous, though he went there without an inkling that he would be going to a true war zone. This was of course a sneak attack by the US and Israeli military.
After hours of being in limbo, worried he might have to wait the war out for several weeks, before getting back to Dallas, good news arrived. His friends at Qatar Airways found him a way out with a charter bus to Saudi Arabia, where most of the airspace wasn’t closed, and a charter flight to Frankfurt. He’s on his way back to Dallas as this piece goes to press.
Quite a couple of days for a guy who is at his best schmoozing with clients as opposed to ducking from missile attacks. So, I asked Tatum if he plans to go back anytime soon.
His response. “Of course, I love Qatar.”
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