 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Ely Callaway | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Ely Reeves Callaway Jr. June 3, 1919 |
| Died | July 5, 2001 (aged 82) |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder of Callaway Golf Company |
Ely Reeves Callaway Jr. (1919-2001) was an American businessman. He founded the Callaway Golf Company in 1982. [1]
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(June 2023) |
Ely Callaway was born in 1919 and raised in LaGrange, Georgia. Aged 10 years old, he earned $150 selling copies of Literary Digest and used his profits to buy a J.H. Hale peach tree that yielded a crop of $750 in its first year. [2]
Callaway played golf as a youth and was a distant cousin of golf legend Bobby Jones. He won four successive championships at LaGrange's Highland Country Club. He was business manager of his high school newspaper and yearbook.
His family wanted him to be an engineer, however, he was determined to obtain a liberal arts degree at Emory University, where he was senior class president while working as the business manager for the university publication called The Campus.
He was a 1937 initiate of the Epsilon Chapter of Kappa Alpha Order and was a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa leadership fraternity. He graduated with a degree in history in 1940.
| |
He joined the Army as a reserve officer in 1940 and earned a reserve officer’s commission through a correspondence course. Despite his intent to stay away from the family business of textiles, he was assigned to the Philadelphia Centralized Procurement Agency; the Army decided fabrics suited him after learning of his family’s history in textiles and Callaway Mills. He fulfilled his one-year obligation in October 1941 and decided to re-enlist. Just a few months later, Pearl Harbor was bombed, and his role and responsibilities expanded exponentially.
He rose to the rank of major and married; at just 24 years old, he became the youngest major in the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot. His three children, Reeves, Lisa, and Nicholas, were born in the 1940s and 1950s.
After Callaway was discharged from the Army, he had several job offers and contacts in the textile industry. He went to work for Deering-Milliken Co. in Atlanta. Charming and charismatic, he was chosen to launch a new company division in New York and became a rising corporate star. One of his greatest professional successes in the textile business came from his development of polyester blends. "I was one of the leaders of the move toward the fundamental new fabrics, Dacron blended first with wool and then with cotton", he told Emory Magazine.
Callaway used unique marketing techniques, like dousing a line of models in suits with water to show the fabrics’ innovative properties, while also garnering attention from the media. He was among the first to hire a woman for an executive position. Letitia Baldrige, etiquette author, columnist, and former social secretary and chief of staff for Jacqueline Kennedy, was Burlington's first director of consumer affairs. [3]
In the late 1950s, Textron hired Ely Callaway away from Deering-Milliken; Textron was then sold to Burlington Industries. He became vice president at Burlington in 1960, then president and director by 1968. But when he was passed over for the top spot as chairman of the company, he retired in 1973 and headed west to launch his next career.[ citation needed ]
Ely Callaway purchased 140 acres of land in Temecula, California and decided to turn it into a vineyard. Some people said the area was unsuitable for growing grapes, but Ely Callaway hired soils and climate experts who determined that the Temecula area had a microclimate that indeed was suitable for grape growing. He planted his grapes in 1973 and established Callaway Winery and Vineyards in 1974. The first wines were sold in 1975, and Callaway Riesling was served at a luncheon for Queen Elizabeth II in New York; the Queen asked for two glasses and a meeting with the vintner, and soon Temecula began to earn a reputation as a legitimate wine-producing region. [4]
In 1981, Callaway Winery and Vineyard was purchased by Hiram Walker and Sons for $14 million, leaving Ely Callaway with a $9 million profit. Retired for a second time, he was playing golf when he discovered Hickory Sticks clubs in a Palm Springs [ which? ]-area golf shop. The old fashioned-looking, wooden clubs looked similar to those he had played with as a youth. However, these clubs were unique; they had a hollowed wooden shaft that was filled with a steel rod for strength and consistency. Hickory Stick, then owned by Richard Parente, Dick De La Cruz and Tony Manzoni, was looking for investors, and Ely Callaway was looking for a third career. In 1982, he purchased half ownership of Hickory Stick USA for $400,000. It soon became Callaway Hickory Stick USA, and by 1984 Ely Callaway purchased the company in full, becoming Callaway Golf – his third and most successful business venture.[ citation needed ]
Ely Callaway was awarded an Emory Medal in 1990 and an honorary Doctor of humane letters degree in 1996.[ citation needed ] According to a 1994 profile in Golf Digest, "In his sixty-plus years in business, Callaway's reputation for honesty, ethics, and generosity is unblemished."
Ely Callaway was chairman of the National UNCF Corporate Campaign. He donated generously to Emory University, as well as the local community near Carlsbad, California and the Callaway Golf Foundation.[ citation needed ]
| |
In April 2001, Callaway was given a diagnosis of inoperable pancreatic cancer at the age of 82. Prior to his diagnosis, Callaway had maintained a consistent routine of arriving early at his Carlsbad office on a daily basis, except when he was traveling for business purposes. He was actively and aggressively involved in the selling of what he referred to as "Demonstrably Superior and Pleasingly Different" golf clubs. Just a few months following his cancer diagnosis, he died. The Callaway family plot in LaGrange, Georgia bears a headstone that reads, "He considered himself very fortunate in all aspects of his life."
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of tanks known as tank farms. Wineries may have existed as long as 8,000 years ago.
Kedem Winery is a kosher food and beverage manufacturing and distribution company, incorporated in the United States since 1958. Royal Wine Corporation was incorporated in June 1948 and run by the Herzog family since 1958. Kedem currently sells over a million cases of kosher wine and grape juice annually, in sixteen countries worldwide. Formerly headquartered in New York City, it is now based in Bayonne, New Jersey. Vineyards for wine and grape juice are based in Marlboro, New York. It is especially known for its grape juice and NY state wines, as well as Kedem Tea Biscuits.
Textron Inc. is an American industrial conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Textron Aviation, and Lycoming Engines. It was founded by Royal Little in 1923 as the Special Yarns Company. In 2020, Textron employed over 33,000 people in 25 different countries. The company ranked 265th on the 2021 Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue.
E & J Gallo Winery is a winery and distributor headquartered in Modesto, California. It was founded in 1933 by Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo of the Gallo family, and is the largest exporter of California wines. It is the largest wine producer in the world, producing over 3% of the world's entire annual supply of 35 billion bottles with an annual revenue of $5.3 billion it is also the largest family-owned winery in the United States.
The Bronco Wine Company is a vintner that produces wine under many brands, such as Amusant Bubbly and Ballett Vineyards, and is based in Ceres, California. It is the fourth largest producer of wine in the United States. Bronco Wine Co has an estimated 10,000 employees globally. There are two companies in the Bronco Wine Co. corporate family.
Callaway, legally Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp., is an American global sports equipment manufacturing company that designs, manufactures, markets and sells golf equipment, more specifically clubs and balls, also including accessories such as bags, gloves, and caps. The company also produces clothing through its subsidiary "Callaway Apparel,” and golf shoes, through its "Cuater" subsidiary. In 2021, the company purchased Topgolf, and thus also operates a chain of golf-related amusement and events centers.
California wine has a long and continuing history, and in the late twentieth century became recognized as producing some of the world's finest wine. While wine is made in all fifty U.S. states, up to 90% of American wine is produced in the state. California would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world if it were an independent nation.
Stags' Leap Winery is a winery located near Yountville, California, United States, in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley. The winery's 240-acre (97 ha) estate vineyard was first planted in 1893. In 1997, Stags' Leap was purchased by Beringer Wine Estates, which in 2000 was in turn purchased by the Australian company Foster's Group, whose two wine groups combined to become Beringer-Blass Wine Estates. Beringer-Blass was demerged from Fosters in 2011 to become Treasury Wine Estates. Robert Brittan continued the revitalization of the vineyards and winery until 2005.
Penfolds is an Australian wine producer that was founded in Adelaide in 1844 by Christopher Rawson Penfold, an English physician who emigrated to Australia, and his wife Mary Penfold. It is one of Australia's oldest wineries, and is currently part of Treasury Wine Estates.
The Temecula Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in the Temecula Valley, located in southwestern Riverside County, California.
Bonny Doon Vineyard is a winery in Santa Cruz, California, that focuses on terroir wines. Founded by Randall Grahm in 1983, it is perhaps best known for its quirky labels, eccentric mix of grapes, and humorously-named wines—like its flagship wine, "Le Cigare Volant". It was amongst the first Californian wineries to embrace Rhone varietals, and entered the national spotlight in 1989, after Grahm appeared on the cover of Wine Spectator as "The Rhone Ranger."
Utah wine is made from grapes grown in the U.S. state of Utah. Wine production in Utah from grapes grown there has increased steadily since 2018, despite stringent government restrictions and regulations regarding alcohol consumption and production in the state. There are no designated American Viticultural Areas in Utah.
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted Vitis vinifera vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. In the 1770s, Spanish missionaries continued the practice under the direction of the Father Junípero Serra who planted California's first vineyard at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
Guasti, formerly known as South Cucamonga and Zucker, is a formerly unincorporated community in the Cucamonga Valley region of the Pomona Valley, in southwestern San Bernardino County, California.
Cecil O. De Loach Jr. is a California grape-grower and winemaker in the Russian River Valley AVA who has contributed to the reputation and notoriety of Sonoma County viticulture.
Sokol Blosser Winery is a vineyard, tasting room and winery facility located northeast of Dayton, Oregon in the Red Hills of Dundee in Yamhill County. It was founded by Bill Blosser and Susan Sokol Blosser in 1971 in what is now known as the Dundee Hills AVA. Sokol Blosser Winery is family owned and operated by second-generation co-presidents, siblings Alex and Alison Sokol Blosser, and is the 6th largest wine producer in Oregon. Sokol Blosser is considered to be “synonymous with sustainability,” and produces Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, proprietary blends Evolution White and Evolution Red, a range of other Evolution wines, and small quantities of single block Pinot Noirs, Rosé of Pinot Noir, White Riesling dessert wine, and sparkling wine.
Raymond Twomey Duncan known as Ray Duncan was an American entrepreneur and vintner. Originally involved in oil entrepreneurship in Colorado and founder of Duncan Oil, he was the founder along with Justin Meyer of Silver Oak Cellars in 1972, a successful winery based in the Napa Valley and Alexander Valley. Today his sons David Duncan and Tim Duncan run Silver Oak Cellars, as well as Twomey Cellars. Duncan established the Durango Mountain "Purgatory" Ski Resort in 1965 and was chairman of the board for the ski industry organization Colorado Ski Country USA. He was inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2006.
Pisoni Estate is a family-owned and operated vineyard and winery located in the Santa Lucia Highlands of California’s Monterey Coast. It was founded in 1982 by Gary Pisoni, who was more interested in growing wine grapes than row crops for the family vegetable farm. He decided to plant a vineyard in the mountains above the Salinas Valley--an area previously considered undesirable for growing because of its dry, granitic soil. The vineyard began with small crops of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir, then eventually focused on the Pinot Noir for which it has become renowned.
Louis M. Martini Winery is a winery and distributor headquartered in Napa Valley, California.
Don Watts is an American farmer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the former CEO of Watts Brothers Farms and Frozen Foods in Kennewick, Washington which was later acquired by Conagra Foods, the owner of Zephyr Ridge Vineyard, and the founder of Swiftwater Cellars, a winery in Suncadia, Washington.