Randall Dee Hubbard*

Randall Dee "R.D." Hubbard, the last of eight children, was born in 1935 in Smith Center, Kansas. When Hubbard was a child, his father bought an icehouse, and the whole family worked in that small business. After World War II ended, most households began buying refrigerators to replace their iceboxes. "My father had to think of a way to stay in business, and he and my mother decided to open a little restaurant in conjunction with the icehouse," said Hubbard. "I worked there washing dishes and waiting tables."

Hubbard enjoyed stories from his grandmother, who had come to Kansas in a covered wagon and then lived in a dugout home in the side of a hill. "We were poor, but I didn't really feel it when I was growing up," he said. "We raised our own fruits and vegetables. We had chickens and a dairy cow, and once a year we slaughtered a calf and a pig. We were self-sufficient, but we worked hard. All of us kids were expected to work. But looking back on it, I now believe that growing up in the Midwest is one of the best possible places in the country to be raised."

When Hubbard was born, his family rented a house, but eventually his parents were able to buy a home. "We kids were evenly split, four girls and four boys," he said. "The boys all slept in one room, and the girls had two smaller rooms. My parents were proud of the fact that all their children graduated from high school. We lost one of us though. My brother Derrol was a Marine, and he was killed in Guam in 1944, near the end of the war. That was a difficult time for all of us. Later, I named my son for him."

When Hubbard was 14, he landed his first job outside of his father's business, which was working on a farm. He boarded there for the summer and earned $4 a day driving a tractor and doing other strenuous chores. "The work ethic was very strong in my family," said Hubbard. "Much later in life, after my mother gave up the restaurant, she continued to work in a department store until she was 80."

One of Hubbard's youthful passions was sports. From fifth grade through high school, he played with the same basketball team. "I loved basketball and always wanted to be a coach, but we didn't have the money for me to go to school," he said. "After I graduated, I left town to work the wheat harvest from Texas to Canada. When late fall and the snows came, I moved to Kansas City and lived with my brother while working for Fuller Brushes. I got to keep 50 percent of what I sold, and I quickly became a good salesman."

One day, Hubbard received a call from his high school basketball coach, who was then working at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas. He offered Hubbard a basketball scholarship to the school, and the young man jumped at the opportunity. That same year, Hubbard married. "My plan was that my wife would work and help put me through school," he said. "But she got pregnant right away, so I had to go to school and support us financially."

Hubbard got a job as a bottle washer in the chemistry department, where he often worked until three or four in the morning. During the summer, he worked at a refinery from early morning until noon, and then he would do a five-hour shift at J.C. Penney. After that, he drove a taxi from six o'clock in the evening until midnight.

Upon completing his two-year degree, Hubbard got a job in Towanda, Kansas, as a junior high teacher and basketball coach. He was earning $300 a month. By then, he and his wife had two children, and they were living in a 27-foot trailer. "I felt that if I could just make $100 a week, I'd have everything I needed," said Hubbard. "The summer after school got out, I took my family and the trailer and went to Wichita to look for a job."

Hubbard was hired as a loan manager with a small private finance firm that also insured the cars it financed. A local windshield company asked Hubbard's finance company to recommend it whenever one of its clients needed to replace a windshield. In 1959, when Hubbard was 24, that company, then called Service Auto Glass and later known as Safelite, offered Hubbard a job to canvass the area calling on insurance companies to recommend its services. "I was making $90 a week, and I was close to my goal," he said. "I paid off all my debts and bought our family a color TV, and I have to say I haven't worried about money since then."

The owner of Service Auto Glass became Hubbard's mentor, and he made Hubbard the manager of General Automotive, which was the mentor's muffler shop. Hubbard was able to earn 25 percent of the shop's profits in addition to his salary. "That was my first taste of entrepreneurship," he said. "Of course, when I accepted the position, I was unaware that the shop was not making any profits. But I got to work and quickly changed that." A year later, Hubbard became the sales manager of Service Auto Glass, and in three years he became a part owner.

Hubbard set about expanding the glass business by buying other glass shops and warehouses in 26 states. Safelite eventually became the largest windshield replacement company in the nation. In 1967, Safelite began manufacturing its own windshields. One year later, the company was sold to Royal Industries, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. After his business partner retired, Hubbard stayed on as president of Safelite for 10 more years. When he left in 1978, the company was doing more than $100 million in sales and was the largest consumer of raw glass in the United States.

When Hubbard heard about Fourco Glass Co., an indebted West Virginia manufacturer that was using new technology called "float glass," he went in with a management contract and took over control of the operation. He, his wife, and two employees moved into a Holiday Inn in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and they began working on a business plan. "We had rooms to sleep in and a room to meet in at night to go over what we had accomplished during the day," said Hubbard. "I remember it was one of the coldest winters on record, but the energy crisis was on. They actually removed light bulbs from our rooms to keep us from using too much energy. We moved in there in January, and by June the company was in the black. At that point, I bought the company."

A year later, Hubbard acquired another failing glass company, American Saint Gobain (ASG). He merged Fourco and ASG to form AFG Industries. Over the next 10 years, he continued to expand, opening plants in Kansas, California, and Texas. He also bought Ford Motor Company's glass factories in Canada. AFG, once the nation's smallest glass manufacturer, became a Fortune 500 company trading on the New York Stock Exchange and ranked as the second largest company of its kind in North America. In 1998, Hubbard took AFG private for $1.1 billion.

In 1988, Hubbard built The Woodlands in Kansas City and, with a partner, acquired Ruidoso Downs Race Track in New Mexico. A casino was added to the property in 1999. Hubbard continued to serve as chairman of that enterprise.

In 1991, Hubbard was elected chairman and CEO of California's Hollywood Park Racetrack, which was later sold to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Hubbard was also chairman and owner of Multnomah Kennel Club in Portland, Oregon. In 1996, Hubbard and 13 of his neighbors acquired BIGHORN Development in Palm Desert, California. Since then, he doubled the size of the exclusive residential development and private golf club, and he served as chairman and managing director of BIGHORN Golf Club.

"The most important thing I learned about business is to hire the very best people in the industry and let them run it, rather than trying to micromanage it myself," said Hubbard. "I also believe it is important for employees to share in the profits of their company, that way they have a vested interest in its success."

When talking with young people, Hubbard offered this advice: "It's important to get your education. I had only two years of college, but it made a tremendous difference in my whole adult life. My suggestion to young adults is to get their college degree and then go out and get some work experience before pursuing a master's. The work experience will help them understand what they really want to do for a career."

Hubbard believed there are still opportunities in manufacturing. "If you have a good idea, pursue it," he said. "I believe in the American dream. It's still out there. All you have to do is go for it."

The New Mexico-based R. D. and Joan Dale Hubbard Foundation, established in 1986, provides educational opportunities for students of all ages; it has awarded more than $33 million in grants and scholarships. Through the BIGHORN Golf Club, Hubbard helped raise millions to benefit the Eisenhower Medical Center and many other charities. He was also the founder of the Hubbard Museum of the American West in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico.

"I am a firm believer in giving back," said Hubbard. "My wife was a school teacher, and education is especially important to us. We want young people to be successful, and I believe that starts with a good education."

In 1991, Hubbard organized the Shoemaker Foundation, named after Willie Shoemaker, a renowned jockey who had been inducted into the Horatio Alger Association in 1978 and was later paralyzed in a car accident. The foundation has since helped more than 200 horsemen in 21 states who have had catastrophic accidents or illnesses.