Most Deserving but Apparently Most Unwilling

I have it on pretty good authority that Bruce Halle, the multi-billionaire founder of Discount Tire Co., isn’t interested in being inducted into the Tire Industry Hall of Fame.

I know this because I am on the Hall of Fame Committee, and its members agreed earlier this year that few people are so obviously worthy as Bruce Halle. So he was formally approached to be inducted…and he never responded. Just as he doesn’t respond to interview requests, unless, apparently, you’re with Forbes magazine.

Now, everyone has the right to conduct their lives as they please, and avoiding the spotlight is certainly Halle’s right. At the same time, if you were ranking the accomplishments of all Tire Industry HOF members, Halle would easily be in the top 10. Easily. Starting from scratch, he built Discount Tire into THE most formidable tire retailer in the world, both in bricks-and-mortar and online.

And despite the fact that the name “Discount Tire” has become a curse word on the lips of many independent tire dealers, Bruce Halle was and is an independent tire dealer. And he is, at least in terms of pure dollars-and-cents, the most successful independent tire dealer EVER.

But the 81-year-old Springfield, Mass., native just doesn’t like the spotlight. Except when Forbes comes knocking to do a profile on Halle for its annual most richestest people issue. According to Forbes, Halle is worth a cool $3.1 billion (yes, with a “B”). That puts him 96th on the Forbes 400, the 376th on Forbes’ list of billionaires, and the 123th richestest person in the U.S. He also loves to collect antique tire-related artwork. He has, according to the brief article in the September issue of Forbes, 360 pieces that hang at his homes and his office.

So while those eye-poppers are certainly HOF-worthy credentials, Halle apparently isn’t all that interested. Too bad, because the industry that has made him richer-than-rich would be interested in honoring him and perhaps even partaking of his knowledge.

Nestled in between a thick wooded forest and a beautiful 13-acre lake in Ohio’s Mahoning County is a small farm and homestead. It’s unassuming, really. The kind of place you might pass right by without noticing on your way from here to there.

A little over a century-and-a-half ago, it was the birthplace of the man who would fundamentally change American agriculture forever, but today, that small farm is home to test tracks and testing facilities designed to put tomorrow’s farm tires to the test. To push the limits of what’s possible, pioneering the latest technology that allows farm tires to go where they never have before. To stand strong in the fields and ride soft on the roads. To tread lightly over soil and roots, while translating ever-increasing horsepower to traction in the fields.