John Milano*

John Milano was born in Sorrento, Italy, where life was a struggle for his poor family. At the age of six, he began working as a barber's helper. At 12, he became a waiter. Three years later, his father was called into service during World War II. Young Milano worked to provide for his family and made dangerous 12-mile treks through Nazi-occupied territory to dig potatoes to feed his mother and seven brothers and sisters.

After his father died in 1952, Milano planned to go to Brazil to manage a group of coffee shops. On the way, however, he and his wife stopped in New York to meet her parents; they decided not to go on to Brazil. Milano contacted an American tourist he had met in Sorrento, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and that contact led to a job selling hats with Byer-Rolnick, a hat manufacturer based in Garland, Texas.

In 1957, Milano became Byer-Rolnick's assistant buyer for its New York outlets. He became the head buyer a year later, and by 1960, he was vice president of Byer-Rolnick's entire retail division, increasing sales by 300 percent in one year. In 1973, after a two-year downturn following the acquisition of another hat company, Milano became president. Within two years, he made the company profitable. When he left nine years later, Byer-Rolnick boasted $7 million in profits and more than half of the market.

In 1983, Milano started his own hat company, which specialized in western hats. "I retired from the largest hat company in the world, and one year later, I started the smallest hat company in the world," he said. In recognition of his contribution to the domestic hat manufacturing industry, Milano was inducted into the Dallas Market Center's Western Wear Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2004, Milano Hat Company was acquired by Dorfman Pacific, one of the world's largest headwear distributors.

Looking back over his success, Milano saw opportunities in the United States that were available 40 years ago. "Young people can still make it if they are committed to obtaining excellence," he said. "The key is to recognize opportunities and take advantage of help when it is offered to us."

Of his Horatio Alger Award, Milano said, "It proved to me what I always believed as I grew up in Italy, that the United States is a great country and that if you believe in the principles of Horatio Alger, you can achieve your goals. If we sit and wait for someone to come along and make an effort on our behalf, then we will always complain and attribute other people's success to '˜luck.' For me, the harder I work, the luckier I get."