Alligator hunts, even staged ones, might not be on everyone’s to-do list. But for Doug Lawler and younger brother Dave, a charity auction presented just the right opportunity for an adventure the two could sink their teeth into. If it didn’t bite first. So, the story goes that back in 2014 the brothers Lawler, CEOs at the time for rival shale giants, kicked things up a notch from their everyday hunts for oil and gas with a trek to the swampy waters of N.C.

Reese Energy Consulting today spotlights the dynamic duo once dubbed the Peyton and Eli Manning of energy. At the time, Doug was the newly anointed CEO of Okla. City-based Chesapeake Energy. Dave, chairman and president of BP America soon to become CEO of BPX Energy in Houston. Both overachievers and pranksters, they were raised in Denver by parents who surrounded them with books, a no-nonsense work ethic, and a push toward math and science pursuits, and went on to earn petroleum engineering degrees.

In the gator-infested marshes of N.C., where the brothers’ staged hunt offered gun or archery options, it’s hardly surprising the Lawlers chose a more up close and personal experience. Jumping atop a banked, jaws-snapping, nine-footer, the two worked in tandem to force close the alligator’s mouth and seal it shut with duct tape—an exercise that didn’t come without a fight.

But that’s where the real joy lies in the memory. Not in competition to outdo the other, but because success—whether shared or apart—is simply in their nature. Doug Lawler currently serves as CEO of Okla. City-based Continental Resources, a position he’s held since 2022. Dave Lawler has now been named CEO of Kimmeridge Texas Gas, an Eagle Ford operator with 148,000 net acres in South Texas.