Jerry Bellune July 8, 2013

You may have heard of Al Neuharth.
Al was the flamboyant founder of USA Today.
He spent millions making USA Today profitable.
But he never gave up. It was his dream.

Our history is filled with rags-to-riches stories.
It is the legacy of America, the land of opportunity.
Al grew up as a poor kid in South Dakota.
His father was killed in an accident when he was 3.
He, his mother and brother struggled to survive.
Al won a college scholarship but along came a war.
He joined the Army at 19 and saw action in Europe.
After the war, he and a friend started a newspaper.
They borrowed $50,000 but lasted only two years.
It was a bitter failure. It smashed his dream.

But it also cemented Al’s resolve to succeed.
Al won a job as a junior reporter in Miami.
He was bright, ambitious, a hard worker.
The president of a rival chain saw promise.
He hired Al and groomed him to succeed him.
Al set out to buy newspapers as fast as he could.
Owners wanted to retire and were willing to sell.
Al turned the chain into one of the biggest in the U.S.

He took a gamble and started a new newspaper.
Florida real estate boomed near Cape Canaveral.
Al saw the Space Coast as a ready opportunity.
Florida Today became the model for USA Today.

Many people thought Al had most his mind.
Start a national newspaper? It won’t work.
Others had tried, spent millions and failed.
Only the Wall Street Journal had succeeded.
It worked the narrow business news niche.
Al was starting a general interest newspaper.
They didn’t count on Al’s savvy and persistence.
He poured himself and his resources into it.
Now USA Today prints 2 million copies daily.
It has international and digital editions.
Neuharth died earlier this year at 89.
He proved this is the land of opportunity.
It just takes guts, smarts and a will to succeed.