"L.T." stands for "leadership" & "teamwork": 2004 Club Management Manager of the Year Larry L. Thompson Missouri Athletic Club: St. Louis, MO.

Larry Thompson is taking the venerable Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) into its second century proud, strong, and bucking all the trends for city clubs. He has a motivated staff, an enthused membership, and the strong backing of his family in his success. That's pretty powerful stuff, considering that the prominent club management recruiter John Sibbald told Thompson that "L.T.," as staff and members know him, had committed career suicide by coming to the MAC in 1992.

Besides representing a century-old club as this year's Club Management Manager of the Year, Thompson's selection as MOY marks a landmark for another proud tradition: He is the 20th recipient of the award. Previous recipients are Jonathan F. McCabe CCM, (2003), Union League Club of Chicago; Rick Bayliss, CCM (2001), Oakland Hills Country Club, Bloomfield Hills, MI; John R. Sullivan, Jr., CCM (2000), Grosse Pointe Yacht Club, Grosse Point, MI; William A. Schulz, MCM (1999), Houston Country Club, Houston, TX; Jay DiPietro (1998), Boca West Country Club, Boca Raton, FL; Stanley Orr (1997), Union League of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA; Robert C. James, CCM (1996), Westchester Country Club, Rye, NY; Richard Kolasa, CCM (1995), The Skyline Country Club, Tucson, AZ; Melvin D. Rex, CCM (1994), The Duquesne Club, Pittsburgh, PA; John D. Hudson, CCM (1993), Big Canyon Country Club, Newport Beach, CA; Christopher A. Borders, CCM (1992), Atlanta Athletic Club, Atlanta, GA; Sally Burns Rambo, CCM (1991), Lakewood Country Club, Dallas, TX; James H. Brewer, MCM (1990), Los Angeles Country Club, Los Angeles, CA; Joseph Brem, CCM (1989), Paradise Valley Country Club, Paradise Valley, AZ; E.M. "Mike" Fraser, CCM (1988), St. Petersburg Yacht Club, St. Petersburg, FL; Edward J. Drew, CCM (1987), Quinnipiack Club, New Haven, CT; Donald T. Hayes, CCM (1986), Scioto Country Club, Columbus, OH; and Laurice T. (Bud) Hall, MCM (1985), Pinehurst Country Club, Denver, CO.

Their peers in the private club industry nominate individuals for the Manager of the Year award. From dozens of submissions five finalists are selected and submitted in blind biographical format (gender neutral, exact locations, and dates omitted) to a distinguished panel of judges that includes club managers, consultants, and educators in the industry. The judges, who are anonymous even to one another, rank their selections in point order based on service to the club, to the community, and to the private club industry.

Club industry vendors sponsor the Manager of the Year program. This year's sponsors are: Architectural Design Group, Bollinger, Inc., Buz Software, Club Car, clubessential, inc., clubsystems group, inc., EZ-GO Textron, Gasser Chair Co., Inc., Harbor Linen, Homer Laughlin China Co., Judd Brown Designs, Lee Tennis Products, MembersFirst, Preferred Club Program, PHN Architects, RSM McGladrey, Search America, Smith & Hawken, Steelite International, Stratagistics, Inc., Triar Seafood Co., VGM Club, Victor Cornelius Menus, Villeroy & Boch, and Zurich North America.

Cold Comfort

"L.T." grew up accustomed to adverse climates. He is the son of Jack and Wanda Thompson. His father was a fuel oil and gasoline distributor in Michigan. In addition to his parents, Thompson has two brothers and a sister, all still living in Michigan. "I'm a native Michigander. I never left the state until I went to the Milwaukee Athletic Club," Thompson said.

Thompson attended Western Michigan University where he studied business administration. On graduation he moved to the resort town of Traverse City, MI, where he went to work for legendary hotelier Ted Okerstrom at the Park Place Hotel. "Ted was a Michigan State University grad," Thompson recalled. He hired me as a convention sales executive. I thought he'd tour me through the hotel for a few hours, pack my briefcase full of literature and send me down the road. What he really did is make sure that I had a rounded operations background."

Working for Okerstrom kindled a love in Thompson for the hospitality business. He developed and opened two concept restaurants--The Saw Mill and The Cattle Company--in Traverse City before moving on to a job as GM of the Leland Lodge in Leland, MI. The Leland Lodge was a AAA Four-Diamond property with deluxe accommodations, ala carte dining, banquet and party facilities, and golf.

While he owned the restaurants, Thompson--ever the promoter--hosted a live radio show from one of them. He also met his future wife, Jo Ann Cannon, who worked for him in the restaurants. "I hired her as food and beverage manager for the resort property. "She's a Michigan State grad," Thompson said. "We worked together for three years and her sensitivity to the issues of this industry is very helpful.

Larry and JoAnn have a son, Tyler, 22 (Thompson also has three sons--Scott, Todd, and Trevor from a previous marriage. "Today, JoAnn is an accomplished quilter and homemaker and a very, very important support system for me," he said.

Joining the Club

Thompson didn't get into the club business until he was hired by Mic Bossler, CCM in 1983 to be assistant manager at the Detroit Athletic Club in charge of all operations except F&B. "Mic was reorganizing the club," Thompson said. "There were two of us who were assistant managers--the other fellow was all F&B and I was everything else, to include club-sponsored activities."

Thompson and his new boss hit it off immediately, later becoming personal friends. They had similar interests--both showing championship quarterhorses. "Larry's a good guy, he really is," Bossler said. "He's got a sassy edge to him--which is one of his best attributes, though he's tempered it over the years. You really listen when he talks.

"I saw Larry from very early in his career. From the perspective that I've known him for all these years, my observation is that he will go to whatever end is needed to get a job accomplished with the least possible chance of failure. He has strong convictions about professionalism. His knowledge is always backed up with facts.

"He's like a sponge with information--he absorbs everything and doesn't miss a nuance. When he came to work for me, I tied my ties in a Windsor knot with a sharp crease. He came to me find out how I did it. Larry will pull the very best of everything and retain that nugget of information that's key to success."

The admiration is mutual. "Mic Bossler was my mentor, at least early in my career," Thompson said. "Mic set a good example for his managers--affable, available, and obviously able."

With some club experience under his belt, Thompson moved on to the Recess Club, a luncheon club in downtown Detroit. "I felt that if I was going to be a GM in a large city athletic club, I needed GM experience," he recalled. After nine months on the job he was called by the Milwaukee Athletic Club. Patrick Murphy, a recruiter who was a member of the Milwaukee club was handling the search.

"I told him that I'd only been (at the Recess) nine months and possibly didn't have enough experience." Murphy replied, "Why don't you let us decide that?"

The Milwaukee club obviously liked what it saw, since Thompson was the GM there from 1987 to 1992.

Rearranging the Deck Chairs

The MAC was facing what Thompson refers to now as, "some obvious challenges. John Sibbald (who did not place Thompson in the job) told me I'd made the biggest career mistake of my life--that it was a sinking ship."

The MAC was the victim of its own glorious history--a phenomenon not infrequently encountered in cities as old as St. Louis. "St. Louis sometimes lives on its laurels while things are falling down around its ears," said Thompson, speaking as an involved member of the local community. "Membership had been deteriorating for five years. The tax law change for 1993 took away dues deductibility and we lost about 600 members because of that. At that point we were around 2,800 members.

"We started very quickly by paying some much-needed attention to the physical plant. We enhanced the athletic facilities by engineering space for very-much-needed workout area. We went through detailed long-range planning--a whole-year's process."

That planning process resulted in the club's first mission statement ever: "The mission of the Missouri Athletic Club is to be the premier athletic, dining, and social club for business, professional, and civic leaders in the Greater St. Louis Area."

Not Your Grandfather's Club

A lot of those civic leaders mentioned in the mission statement were female, and Thompson saw a problem there with the MAC as it was structured that time. The MAC was still known as the club where--through the 1980s--wrinkly old men swam nude in the pool and women were banned from the athletic facilities. "L.T." set about changing that situation right out of the box.

"Getting women involved in the club was the key," Thompson stated, "to bringing back the banquet and food and beverage business, since women frequently made both corporate and social arrangements. We had to start driving revenue--the club was hemorrhaging money

"We spent some money on the overnight guest rooms that hadn't been addressed in 16-18 years. We remodeled 85 overnight guest rooms. A lot of the work was done by in-house staff. We started generating overnight guest revenues and took our position from a loss to $400,000 net. That gave us cash to enhance other areas. We spent $3 million out of operations--$1.5 million each--to renovate the two restaurants."

Thompson's osmotic ability to learn and to recognize opportunities began to come into its own at the MAC. He has long been a participant in the by-invitation-only conclave of city/athletic club managers. He attended his first meeting in 1987 and has been going ever since. After the hit that city/athletic clubs took with the loss of dues deductibility, a number of them began offering golf at top fee courses. Thompson developed a golf program at the MAC that's still going strong.

A number of city/athletic clubs also began developing satellite clubs closer to their members' suburban homes. The MAC desperately needed such a facility. "Trying to turn a downtown athletic club into family club was like dripping water on a rock," Thompson said.

In 1995, Thompson had an opportunity to develop such a facility for his members drop into his lap. A prominent St. Louis developer died, leaving his heirs with a diverse real estate portfolio, including a foundering racquet club, right in the heart of the MAC's membership base (83 percent of MAC members live within five miles of what's now known as MAC West). "We were contacted about managing it, but we asked 'Would you consider selling it?,'" Thompson said. The heirs agreed, and members approved the acquisition by an 85 percent margin.

Thompson spent $2 million over the next five years to improve the old racquet club. But that was only the beginning. Last year, the MAC completed an $8 million renovation and expansion of MAC West that that was programmed by McMahon Group. The revitalized facility gives members another first-class clubhouse befitting the Missouri Athletic Club name. Construction began in April of 2003 and took one year to complete.

Thompson and his staff are now focusing on developing family-oriented programming--teams, activities, and events to maximize utilization of the facility.

"The West looks great--our members love the space, the decor, the 'club' feel--which is all new for that facility, plus the quality athletics, food, beverage and service which has been the hallmark of the MAC for a century," said Nick Lamb, MAC president during the renovation. "We have much to be proud of; in fact, I believe the MAC. West will now be the meeting place in (suburban St. Louis) for families, business, athletics and fine food and drink for decades to come."

The Second Century

In 2003, the MAC celebrated its 100th anniversary, with the "sinking ship" now recognized as a Sibbald Associates Platinum Club. Because of Thompson's leadership, the club is well positioned for its second century.

The MAC employs over 400 people, serves 3,200 members, and operates with a $15 million annual budget. Facilities and programs include access to three golf courses, fitness equipment, a running track, fitness classes, aerobics studio, pool (indoor and outdoor), whirlpool, steam or sauna, massage, leagues in basketball, floor hockey, volleyball, tennis (indoor), squash, racquetball, and handball. Other available facilities and services include: catering, ballrooms, business meeting rooms, and overnight guestroom suites, double and single rooms, and dining.

"T" is for "Teamwork"

Thompson is a strong believer in the importance of recruiting, training, mentoring, and developing staff. "I've had the best kind of good fortune to work with wonderful staff people over the years and would have to say that I could not even be considered for this kind of recognition if that weren't the case. The memberships, the boards, the committee, and the leadership and support I have experienced from presidents have also been key."

Thompson, a member of CMAA since 1984 and the president-elect of the St. Louis Chapter, has spent a lot of time promoting the club management program to local university students, and welcomes interns into the MAC fold frequently.

The MAC was recognized in 2000 by the St. Louis Business Journal as one of its "best places to work". The club encourages employees to recruit family members. There are numerous parents, children, sibling, and spouses punching in together at the MAC timeclock.

Nine years ago, Thompson and his management staff developed a quality assurance program with the acronym A.C.T. (Attitude, Cooperation, and Teamwork) for all staff members. This program has received widespread national acclaim for its success and has been copied by other clubs. The effort resulted in increasing membership satisfaction to 90 percent and reduced annual employee turnover to 32 percent.

Among the club's employee benefits is a tuition reimbursement program. One beneficiary of that program is MAC Assistant Manager Sharon Gardner, a 19-year employee who started in the payroll department and graduated in 2000 Magna Cum Laude from Lindenwood University with tuition assistance from the MAC.

"L.T's contributions to his club and his community are unsurpassed," said Russ Kingsland, CCM, a former MAC assistant who is now general manager of Kent Country Club in Grand Rapids, MI.

Community Involvement

While the MAC would be enough to fill anyone's schedule, Thompson is also very active in the St. Louis community. He serves on the board of the St. Louis Sports Authority and the former football player (he made the Baltimore Colts team "not even long enough for a cup of coffee") is excited about the contributions that the group has made both to St. Louis and to the MAC. "You can throw a stone from the top of our parking garage--I've done it--and hit the dome in which the Rams (who came to St. Louis during Thompson's tenure) play. Every time there's a game it brings 1,200 people into the club. We've got the NCAA Final Four coming to the dome in 2005: That's huge."

He also serves on the boards of the hotel/restaurant program at the University of Missouri, Columbia and of First Night--St. Louis. Thompson is active with Downtown St. Louis, Inc. and is a promoter of the effort to revitalize downtown St. Louis. A dramatic redevelopment of St. Louis' historic loft district is attracting hundreds of new city dwellers just a couple of blocks from the MAC entrance.

Asked if the 20- and 30-somethings who are purchasing the loft condos really fit into the MAC's concept of prospective members, Thompson replied. "They might. I'm working with every developer who has a hand in developing commercial loft spaces and businesses in downtown St. Louis. All prospective condo purchasers get an MAC membership packet included with the condo marketing materials."