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Big John McCarthy... One of a Kind!
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John McCarthy
Publisher's Note: This Cover Story Classic dates back to November 2014 and features a fantastic conversation/interview with "big" John McCarthy. His life story, as well as what he has done for our industry, is truly a beautiful one. Following the passing of "Uncle" Rick Caro, we felt it pertinent to bring this story back to our readers. Today, Mr. McCarthy, as I still call him, is enjoying retirement, but he continues to have his pulse on the industry, as I am fortunate enough to hear from him often, always with kind words. Thank you, Mr. McCarthy! Folks, please read on. As you do, please remember the age of this article. Some things said then are still pertinent today. Other things are not. And, sadly, we have lost many mentioned in this article, another reason we are bringing it to you again. As the shepherd of our industry's history, we never want it to be forgotten. Thank you for reading.
• • •
The health and fitness club world is vastly different now than it was in 1981 when the man I affectionately call, "Big John," and describe in the title of this very special Club Insider Cover Story as, "One of a Kind," stepped into the role of IHRSA's Founding Executive Director.
Big John McCarthy truly had a destiny 34 years ago... At the time, it was an undisclosed destiny that he would someday become known and acknowledged worldwide as the man who would take IHRSA Founder and club business icon, Rick Caro's vision for the brand new trade Association to a level of excellence that all of us were only dreaming of at the time when we founded what was then called IRSA, The International Racquet Sports Association, (then IHRSA and now HFA).
As one of the industry icons who has forever changed our industry, Rick Caro will forever be known as "The Founder" of IHRSA, and it was this Author's distinct honor and pleasure to be a Co-Founder of the Association along with him and five others in 1981. The other five Co-Founders were: Dale Dibble, Jennifer Wayt Saslaw, "Brother" Curt Beusman, Todd Pulis and Peter Donahue. As a Team, we sought to change the world of clubs, and I'm pleased to be able to say that, with Big John's hard work alongside his world class staff, and with many excellent IHRSA Board Members who worked with John over 25 years, I think we did change the world of health and fitness clubs significantly.
"Don't worry about making it perfect... Let's just get it done!" are words John says he repeatedly heard from me week after week on our regular Friday afternoon phone calls when I served as IRSA's 1st President in 1981/82.
I'd asked John to call me every Friday with updates on the fledgling Association, and he did that without fail. With John in Boston, me in Atlanta and with no Internet, phone calls, faxes and the U.S. Mail had to be our methods of communication. During IRSA's first year, I had great confidence in John and his leadership of IRSA, and I continued to have that complete faith for all of the 25 years John served as our IHRSA Executive Director.
John McCarthy
Last month (October 2014), Club Industry's Stuart Goldman produced a terrific article about John, and if you have not read it yet, I think you will find it interesting and well done. Stuart interviewed Rick Caro and me, and he also shared comments from a number of John's IHRSA friends who were involved since day one. And, of course, he spoke with John McCarthy himself.
Here are my comments about Big John, quoted exactly from Stuarts article:
NORM CATES, IHRSA Co-Founder: "John was an amazing ambassador for the idea, and that idea was to make our industry better through an Association that would not hold back in its sharing of expertise. Getting John McCarthy and Chuck Leve together as a team at the beginning of IHRSA was the luckiest thing we could have ever done. And, since then, our luck has continued with Joe Moore at the helm, and Tom Hunt as his teammate, both continuing John's work with IHRSA's world class staff.
John McCarthy Accepting Club Industry's Lifetime Achievement Award
John led the leaders. We were the leaders, and John led us and gave us the ability to have complete faith in him and just kicked [butt]. John took the opportunity and ran with it and never put the ball down until he had gone across the goal line many times. I'm proud to have worked with him and proud to have had those many phone calls over the year that I was President. You could depend on him like the day was long.
John's legacy is going to be that he changed the world that we lived in this industry, and I mean he changed it big time. He gave this industry a future of excellence through his dedication and his travels and his hard work, and his always presence at that front door right at the entrance of every convention when it would start, he was there shaking hands. John was the best thing that ever happened to the Association and probably that ever will. He was a treasure --and he still is, of course-- for this industry."
Club Insider is very proud to present the following in-depth interview with Big John McCarthy, as we shared some fond memories of times long-passed and his thoughts about the industry, now and in the future.
An In-Depth Interview With IHRSA Founding Executive Director John McCarthy
Norm Cates and John McCarthy
Club Insider (C.I.) - As a young man, you excelled at sports. Please tell us about that and what it has meant to your life.
John McCarthy (JMC) - I've always loved all sports. My two best sports were basketball and tennis. I just played them all the time. Of course, growing up in Chicago, it was a seasonal deal. So, you played basketball all during the school year, and I played tennis all during the Summer when I was a boy. I got to be very good at basketball, and I would just say good in tennis. But, I enjoyed both games and had a lot of fun with both. As a high school and college athlete, those were probably the most enjoyable experiences of my youth playing on all of those teams with friends of mine. So, I loved sports from day one.
C.I. - Did you play tennis for Notre Dame as well as basketball?
JMC - No, I didn't. I just played basketball. We had basketball practice all year round, and it began with cross-country in the Fall and went year round. I played both sports before college for the fun of it.
C.I. - What led you to Seminary? Please tell us about that experience.
JMC - Back in the 1950s, when I was a young boy, a lot of the Army Chaplains had come back from World War II. I admired those guys so much! I thought that could be a really interesting life. They were tremendous fellows... tremendous men. Then, I went to a Catholic High School, and I liked a lot of the priests who were there. So, I thought, 'Maybe that's a good thing for me to do.' So, I thought that, after I graduated from college, I would give it a try, which I did. I went to the Seminary, and I was ordained in 1965. My assignment there was to be a teacher at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. I taught there for five years, and I loved that.
At about the same time, I knew that I wasn't cut out for not being married. So, knowing that being a priest was not going to work out, I left the priesthood knowing that I wouldn't be able to live the life of a single man. Then, I came to graduate school to try to get a Ph.D., which I never got. But, I had a nice experience at graduate school. To make money during graduate school, I was a tennis pro in all sorts of different clubs around Boston. That was a fun experience. Then, in 1975, I became part owner and the manager of a tennis club with a fitness center in the basement in one of the suburbs around Boston. That, too, was a lot of fun, and that was my introduction to the sports and fitness club industry. The fitness center was absolutely primitive. We had a Universal Machine in the basement and a couple of bikes and a couple of medicine balls. That was our fitness center. We didn't have a fitness director. It was primitive, very, very primitive.
C.I. - That description reminds me of the fitness center at Dick Trant's tennis club!
JMC - Well, it was a little bigger than Trant's fitness center but not much bigger. I'd say it was a 300 or 400 square-foot room. Dick Trant was a key guy for me. He had started a regional club association called The New England Racquet Sports Association (NEHRSA). I became part of that, and our friends, the late Dale Dibble and the late Tim Richards, were involved. God bless them. Nick Cotsidas, and a lot of other guys you know were also involved. These were great guys, and they were all more experienced than I was, a lot more experienced. Trant was head of the whole thing. He sort of took me under his wing, and then, he asked me if I would be the Executive Director of that group, which I was happy to do because I enjoyed working with Dick as he always had brilliant ideas. So, that's how I got into the combination of the sports club business and the association business.
So, when Rick and you decided to put together the two associations (NTA and NCCA), Trant put my hat in the ring and told everyone, 'I've got a guy who's building this New England Association.' We'd already changed it from a tennis association to a racquet sports association, so we had both racquetball and tennis club owners involved. Both of those sports were doing well at the time, so we were growing like a weed. I was sort of in the right place at the right time. You and Rick were looking for a guy who had worked with the racquetball clubs and the tennis clubs and saw fitness coming. You guys saw fitness coming, and at the time, you thought more clearly on that than I did. We just thought there was a wonderful opportunity there. Then, you and Rick gave me the opportunity, and that was one of the luckiest breaks of my life. You know, it was really through you, Rick and Dick Trant that it all happened.
And, of course, Dale Dibble was one of our biggest early supporters. He was really cool. He spent his whole career with General Electric, so he learned business. And, he was one of the first guys to put the whole thing together. You know... the tennis... the racquetball... the fitness... the aerobics... He had everything... indoor and outdoor swimming pools and so on. Dale and Red Lerille were so far ahead of the rest of us. Everybody in the industry went to visit Red's club in Lafayette, Louisiana and Dale's (and Zoe and Ed Veasey's) Cedardale in Haverhill, Massachusetts to learn what they could learn from them.
C.I. - Let's talk about that great luck... In my opinion, our finding you at that time and place was by far the luckiest thing that ever happened to the health, racquet and sports club industry, and we owe Dick Trant a huge word of THANKS for the introduction! And, as you mentioned earlier about Dale Dibble, the man I've called, 'Mr. Enthusiasm,' for a long time, that reminds me to mention that I was very honored in 2001 when IHRSA named its Distinguished Service Award after our good friend Dale and honored me with the first ever Dale Dibble Distinguished Service Award. John, I also want to mention that you were honored by IHRSA with the Dale Dibble Award in 1988. Plus, IHRSA established The John McCarthy Merit Scholarship and Industry Visionary Award, and winners of the Industry Visionary honor include: Gary Heavin, 2004; Joe Cirulli, 2005; Peter Kight, 2006; Chuck Runyon and Jeff Klinger, 2009; Phil Wendel and Lloyd and Roberta Gainsboro, 2010; and Alberto Perlman, 2013.
JMC - Thinking back on those early days, Norm, I will never forget. You and I had a deal that I was supposed to call you every Friday afternoon, and I was faithful to that. And, your big thing was whatever we were doing, you always said the same thing, 'Get it done! Get it out! Don't wait until it's perfect, get it out!' You had two things that you wanted to do: (1) Get it out... whatever it was that we were working on at the time, and (2) You wanted us to grow the Association to get it to critical mass so we could attract the trade association members... attract the guys like Augie. You sort of set the standard... keep moving as fast as you can and build the membership as fast as we can. That would be the secret. Norm, we stuck with that. That was your plan, and I swear that we stuck with that the whole time. To grow it, to build it and to just keep moving.
C.I. - To make it happen! Looking back on those days, almost 34 years now (now 44), that truly was an amazing experience that we had together. Now that we're talking about great luck, here's another experience that ended up with us Irishmen being mighty lucky. As the leader and last President of NCCA and first President of IRSA, I had the chore of jumping on an airplane to Chicago to perform a tough task: to inform our good friend, Chuck Leve, that he was laid off. I had not laid off a lot of people at that stage of my business life, and I was not at all sure of what I was going to say to Chuck the next morning when we were scheduled to meet. But, while I was on the plane on the way to Chicago, I dreamed up the idea of putting Chuck into the role he ended up holding for 27 years at IRSA/IHRSA, the role of Associate Member Director, in which it was his job to recruit manufacturers and vendors to become Associate Members, Trade Show Exhibitors, etc. Chuck did a magnificent job all of those years. So, when I got to my hotel in Chicago that evening, I called all of the new IRSA Board Members. I asked them what they thought about this new job for Chuck, who I had to fire the next morning. Everybody loved the idea! I didn't even have a clue that I was going to think of this when I got on that airplane (John laughs). I really didn't!
JMC - Your idea of bringing Chuck on board was the luckiest thing we ever did because he loved that assignment of bringing in those Associate Members. Most of the people don't know it, but Chuck did everything. He sold the advertising for CBI Magazine, he sold the sponsorships and he sold the booths for the Trade Show. Those dollars, Norm, were the profitable dollars. The membership dollars were not profitable dollars. He brought in the money that let us grow.
C.I. - You and Chuck were a great team for 25 years until you retired. Most people in our industry know Chuck went on for a total of 27 years at IHRSA, and he's now working with his son, Josh, developing the Association of Fitness Studios (AFS). The fledging AFS is celebrating its 1st Anniversary this month, and I wish Josh, Chuck and Josh's partner, Brad Elson, well in their endeavors.
Publisher's Note: Chuck Leve passed away in 2021. May Chuck Leve rest in peace.
C.I. - John, please think back to when you became IHRSA's Executive Director and share a few of those memories about some of the wonderful people who helped us make I(H)RSA happen and become an International force.
JMC - You know, Norm, we were really blessed. We had some great people on our Board, and of course, you were involved throughout all of that period. And, they were all positive people. Everybody had their oar in the water, and they were feeding us leads. They would tell us to call this guy... call that guy. So, we had a great team there. It was just fabulous, just fabulous!
C.I. - During your incredibly successful 25-year career with IHRSA, which changed our industry for the better forever, please tell us about three of your (or IHRSA's) greatest challenges and three of your (or IHRSA's) greatest triumphs.
JMC - When I look back over 25 years, the greatest challenge for the fitness industry has been the high turnover rate of club members.
The second greatest challenge is we've always been incredibly successful at attracting the athletic and fit people. BUT, we've never really been successful at attracting the unfit and the non-athletic, and that's the majority of the population. So, that's a problem that we still haven't solved. The only company that has had some success with that... that I know of... is Curves. They targeted the middle-age overweight woman... of course, they would never admit to that. By middle-age, I mean women who are 40 to 60 and were overweight. They hit a home run with that group! Of course, the company I'm involved with now, North Castle Partners, bought them and is going to try to recreate the magic that Gary Heavin started with that wonderful company.
The third challenge in the industry, and this is my own point of view, Norm, is I see the fitness business somewhat similar to the way I look at the restaurant business and the hotel business; I see it as a hospitality business. And, I don't think we have even begun to master that dimension of the business. That is... welcoming people, making them feel comfortable, making them feel appreciated, making them feel that they're important to us... it's really mastering hospitality skills that some people like we talked about have it naturally, people like Dale Dibble and Red Lerille and Joe Cirulli. I have so many memories of being in Dale's club where he talked to every member who passed us. It's the same way with Red Lerille and Joe Cirulli. They are just the masters of hospitality. They should be icons for our whole industry to emulate. That's the missing link in our industry as I see it... making it a hospitality business. We haven't really mastered that piece of the business yet.
C.I. - Indeed, John. BUT... you left out one comment about yourself, which I will make for you here by describing you as the, 'IHRSA Hand Shaker In Chief,' which is my way of remembering all those years where you were stationed at the entrance to the IHRSA Conventions Opening Receptions. By the end of the night, you'd have shaken everyone's hands in the room! Talk about mastering hospitality... you did that in spades and continue to do so!
Also, John, it's ironic that you mention the same two industries that I write about, the restaurant and the hotel industries, when I explain to our readers that our industry is truly just an infant when compared to those two industries and that we do have a great deal to learn from them in our industry. In the past, when explaining how young our industry actually is, I mention that the hotel industry is at least 2014 years old, if you're one who believes that the baby Jesus was born in a manger because, 'The Inn was full.' So, your comments here reinforce my writings where I argue to my readers that our maybe 70- or 75-year old industry truly is very young, and we still have a lot to learn from other industries!
JMC - And, we haven't really focused on it the way we should. I mean... we're good... but we're not anywhere near to where we should be.
C.I. - Well, John, you're really touching on one of my favorite subjects. As a Club Insider reader, I'm sure you've noticed the little ads we publish every month urging our readers to Make It Fun! in their clubs. By producing those little ads for years now, we've been trying to help persuade everybody who owns and operates a club anywhere that they will be much more successful if they will Make It Fun! for BOTH their employees and their members. We've been doing these little ads every month for 21 years now (now 32) since Club Insider first started. And, guess what, John? You may recall writing an article for Club Insider way back when we were just getting started. In your article, when you became one of our earliest Club Insider Contributing Authors, you quoted the late Dr. George Sheehan from his writing in Runner World Magazine, who'd written and I quote: "Human beings will not continue for long to do anything no matter how good it is for them, unless it is pleasurable, unless it is sociable, unless it is entertaining, unless it is FUN!" Did Dr. Sheehan "Tell-it-like-it-is!" or what? The man was a prophet!
JMC - Yes! That's as true today as it was when he wrote it! We haven't mastered this yet, and we have a long way to go!
C.I. - Okay, Big John, you've covered the three biggest challenges for the industry, thus for IHRSA. Now, how about three of your greatest successes during your 25 years at IHRSA?
JMC - I'd say the first was that we decided very early --you were there Norm-- that we were going to go International. That was just a stroke of luck. I mean, when you and Rick and a couple of other guys said, 'It's not going be just the U.S. We're going to go global,' it so happened that the United States was ahead of the rest of the world, and so the leaders in Japan and Europe and Asia and South America... if they wanted to grow, they wanted to be part of the U.S. deal. So, we were incredibly lucky with our timing and going at exactly the right time. Rick would travel to China... he'd go anywhere!
That tied into the next thing, and this is where Chuck Leve came into the picture. That was because we were the only group in the world that was bringing people together from around the globe. So, we were the first one to have an International Trade Show. That became a huge success, and it's still a success! We were very, very fortunate there. Those were two big things.
John McCarthy and the late Julie Main
The final thing was that, in the beginning, IHRSA was all about giving people information. How to do this... how to do that, etc. Then, public policy became very big. Now, it's even bigger, I think. The information about how to build and operate a great club... that's out there... But, the public policy challenges are so big and so huge right now, as you know, Norm. We've got a government that wants to rule everything. I won't get you started, Norm, and I won't get myself started, either (both laugh). There are more laws about everything. They want to regulate the heat of the water in the whirlpools! Everything! So, that's become just a huge thing for IHRSA right now. We've got a great leader in that effort in Helen Durkin, and she does a hell of a job.
C.I. - IHRSA's doing really great work in that area... they had something like 88 victories and only two losses over five years, or some outrageous number like that!
JMC - It's just amazing! Every year, Helen Durkin sends me a scorecard on how they're doing. Every year, it's something like 30 wins and two losses! I mean they are world class when it comes to public policy. I don't think there is another Association in the world that would have their win/loss record. They've got two stars... Helen does the big ones, and they have another young woman, Amy Bantham, who has a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard, and she's a bright one, too! They are an incredible team.
C.I. - John, I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the biggest challenge Joe Moore and Helen and her Team have with IHRSA public policy is getting people (Member Clubs and Associate Members) to listen and participate. We need to get them to pay attention and participate. All that has to happen is have one ill-advised legislator propose something that's going to be horribly detrimental to clubs, and then, use one of their seedy 'after hours' tactics to get it voted in without our industry's representatives having a fair opportunity to register their opposition before the vote. With this world the way it is, by the time they could get in their car and go home, it could screw up the health and fitness club industry in that State so much that the club owners there could end up in big trouble, and I'm talking about clubs going out of business kind of big trouble with some of this stuff!
JMC - You're absolutely right. At some time, Norm, you ought to do a Q&A with Helen Durkin because she's been doing this for years, and she really knows her stuff. First of all, she would agree 100% with you that a lot of people in the industry have to wake up and realize that their business is at stake with some of these government rules that could be passed. You've been preaching that since day one. So, I don't have to say a thing to you about that.
C.I. - Yeah, but John, I'm asking myself, 'Are they listening?' Just like with you, they are my friends and I worry about their businesses' futures and their families. I really do. I don't get any letters from anybody saying to me, 'Hey Norm, I know you're absolutely right... we need to support IHRSA's Public Policy efforts!' I don't get any letters like that. We need to do a cover story on Public Policy!
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C.I. - After 25 years, some would call it a career; however, you're still involved in our industry in several ways. Please tell us about those opportunities and responsibilities.
JMC - I'm very lucky that I'm involved with great people. I know you know these people. I'm working with John Aglialoro of Cybex. He's a terrific guy. I've worked with him almost since the time I left IHRSA nearly eight years ago. I love him and his company; they're doing great. They had that one terrible lawsuit with the young woman who got hurt, and they recovered from that. They also took Cybex out of the public marketplace. That saves $1 million a year with all the rules and regulations involved with being publicly traded. Cybex is growing well with high single, almost double digit growth every year. John's a great and fun guy. You know... he's made three movies. He's a talented, fearless and good man.
I'm also involved in North Castle Partners, a private equity company that's always been involved in the health club business. They owned Equinox, as well as World Health, Octane Fitness and Curves right now. Chip Baird is the CEO, and that's a wonderful company to be associated with.
And, the third thing is Augie's Quest. Every year that you and I were working together at IHRSA, Augie was our #1 exhibitor, our #1 sponsor, our #1 advertiser... Augie was #1 at IHRSA. Augie once told me, 'John, whenever you are doing something new, let me know and I'd like to take a look at it and maybe we will sponsor it.'
C.I. - Augie was our Bell Cow for IHRSA when you think about it! He always led the way no matter what was going on. I know having Chuck Leve was extremely important, but getting Augie and Life Fitness on board and behind I(H)RSA at the time was huge! They had to be among the first five IHRSA Associate Members to come on board.
JMC - You're exactly right. If Augie was going to take the Back Cover and the Inside Front Cover of the magazine, everybody else would follow and say, 'We've got to be there, too.' If Augie was going to take 8 booths, or 12 booths or 20 booths, everybody else would say, 'We've at least got to be close!'
C.I. - What Augie and Lynne have had to go through with this battle with ALS just breaks my heart. But, I believe they are going to Win The War On ALS!
JMC - Augie is an amazing, amazing man. You and I and a whole lot of our friends have been supporting him since day one. Norm, you have been an Ace in the hole for Augie. You've always supported him, and you're always here, so I know he appreciates you very much.
C.I. - John, I just wish we could do more. But, I want to say my most sincere Thanks and Appreciation to you for your leadership of The Bash for Augie's Quest. What you've done for the cause of defeating ALS is huge, and I know Augie and Lynne appreciate greatly what you have and are doing. To me, the very fact that Augie and Lynne will be hitting the 10th Anniversary Milestone of his fight with ALS is clear enough proof that Augie has been divinely chosen to do what he's doing, and I believe deep in my heart and soul that he's going to Win the War on ALS! And, when he does, we can all be dancing in the streets because this amazing man and the incredible team his lovely wife, Lynne, and he have built will be changing the world hugely for many people. With the 10th Anniversary of Augie's Quest and The IHRSA Bash coming in March approaching, please give us a status report. What's planned for the future of this incredible cause?
JMC - Norm, Augie is more alive than ever... more energetic and more committed than ever... and more successful than ever! He's so committed to curing ALS it's just unbelievable. He's one in a million. We're all privileged to know and work with him. This is the 10th Anniversary, and we're going to make it the biggest and best ever. We're all committed to that.
C.I. - John, please let me know what Justin and I can do to help.
JMC - Norm, you've been out front every year, so Thank You so much.
Publisher's Note: Augie Nieto passed away in 2023 after an 18-year battle with ALS. Augie and Lynne Nieto changed the landscape for those battling this horrible disease. May Augie Nieto rest in peace.
C.I. - What would you say are the Top 5 Industry Events that happened during your 25 years of IHRSA Service, and since you retired.
JMC - I believe that the Top Industry Events were:
1. Globalization of the industry... that's huge.
2. Then, I'd say that the link between exercise and health, no matter whether it's physical, mental or emotional health, has been established. It has become clear that we're involved in something that is incredibly important and valuable, and none of us, and I mean none of us, realized how important it was when we got started.
3. The third thing was, and you and I go way, way back when the industry was 80 to 90% men, now it's like 45% men and 55% women. That's because of what Peter and Kathie Davis of IDEA and the other leaders in that field did to encourage women to be even more involved in exercise than men, so that's a huge thing.
4. Then, there are actually three phenomena that go together:
- The first is what your buddy, Mike Grondahl, did with Planet Fitness. He revolutionized the industry. There is not a club in the world that hasn't been impacted by what Mike did. So, he was a HUGE factor in the evolution of the industry.
- Then, totally different than Planet Fitness, but just as prolific, was the incredible birth of the thousands and thousands of mini-clubs. The 1,000 to 2,000 square-foot clubs are everywhere up here, and most of them are franchises. But, this means that the little guy CAN get in the business now, and that includes young people in the business that are highly motivated and can be in the industry now because they don't need a whole lot of capital to get in. Plus, they are all doing what they love.
- Next, there are several guys who have really changed the industry, and I put them all in the same breath: Dale Dibble, Red Lerille, Curt Beusman, Alan Schwartz, Jim Gerber and Bahram Akradi. They caused the re-birth of the family club. Mike doesn't do any of that. The mini-clubs don't do any of that. But, it's people like Dale, Red, Curt, Alan, Jim and Bahram, to name just a few from many, who re-birthed the family clubs with everything from Grandmas to six-year old kids. They are people who made everybody realize that there was real gold in creating family clubs. And, the huge family clubs are some of the most successful in the industry now.
5. Norm, the guy who proved that execution in clubs is everything is Joe Cirulli. When you go into his clubs, there's nothing different than in 10,000 other clubs, but it's his execution. He just does it better than anybody else. Of course, it's not just Joe who's great at execution, but if you want to see execution at the five-star level, go down to Gainesville, Florida and take a look. That's how you do it. The point is... no matter what you're doing... it's ALL ABOUT EXECUTION! There is no secret sauce... secret this or secret that... it's EXECUTION! And, that's what this business is about. Joe only owns two or three clubs, but he makes more money in those clubs than some people who own 25, or 30 clubs, or more!
C.I. - John, that's a great list of happenings! And, with respect to the low-cost clubs and small mini-club revolutions that are happening, I'd argue with anyone anywhere that low-cost 'starter' clubs work for many people who are out of shape and are too embarrassed to even go into a big family club, or to a big box fitness center. In essence, I believe that these clubs act as feeder systems for new member prospects for the family clubs and the big box fitness centers of the world.
John, we're at the end of the interview now, but I want to share with our readers about what you have on the horizon... What's in store for Big John McCarthy?
JMC - Well, you know, Norm, I enjoy what I'm doing, and I'm still in reasonably good health. So, I just take it one day at a time, and I enjoy it as much as I can. I try to stay in touch with my buddies. I play a little golf. I go to a health club almost every day. And, I stay close to my wife and my kids. It's very simple. Very simple.
C.I. - Well, Big John, it's simple, and it's great. Because if anybody in the world deserves the opportunity that you've got in life, because you know of course, with everything with exercise that you've been involved in during your life so far, there is no reason why you should not live to be 100!
In closing, Big John, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you've done for all of us in this wonderful industry that we all share and participate in. Words will not adequately express the depth of the appreciation from thousands and thousands of us who've known and worked with you during the past 34 years. So, congratulations to you for your Club Industry Lifetime Achievement Award, and to the Club Industry folks who so wisely decided to present you with the honor in Chicago on October 23, 2014.
Thank You and God Bless you and your Family, Big John!
