Grand Rapids can boast being the home of some of the world’s most famous people. One would be hard pressed to find a city of the size of the Grand Rapids (124th in the US) which has as many famous alumni from such divergent fields. Hometown heroes like Gerald and Betty Ford, the Mayweather boxing family, and rock luminaries like the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis and Tool’s Maynard James Keenan and Del Shannon get the bulk of the attention. However, Grand Rapids is also home to other celebrities whose contributions have had incredible impacts.
The Modern Multiplex – Movie theatres with dozens of screens are commonplace. This is thanks to the vision of John “Jack” Loeks. Loeks is a true pioneer in the movie theatre world. His Studio 28 in Grand Rapids was the first multi-screen theaters in the world, with 12 and then 20 screens. He was also instrumental in the growth of independent movie theatres as one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Hollywood movies companies. His lawsuit paved the way by allowing privately owned theatres access to first-run movies.
Multi-Level Marketing - Multi-level marketing (MLM) has been called everything from “brilliant” to a “total scam.” Nonetheless, the MLM business model is a long running fixture in American business. The first major MLM success was Amway which was co-founded by Jay Van Andel, who hailed from Grand Rapids, along with Richard DeVos. Van Andel’s brainchild ranks among the top 120 global companies. The company which made its impact by selling personal and home care products has sales of more than $11 billon and affiliates in more than a hundred companies.
Killer Snakes, Cool Pilot Nicknames and Big Slobbering Mastiff - Grand Rapid’s Jim Cash is a screen writer that has a string of hit and cult movies. He, with writing partner Jack Epps Jr., was responsible for Top Gun, whose characters are better known by their nicknames than by their real names. He was also the writer of Turner and Hooch which found Tom Hanks partnered with a huge slobbering mastiff. While not of the same blockbuster category, Cash, once again with Epps, made giant anacondas even more scary in Anaconda, and Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid. His live action adaptations Dick Tracy and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas are perhaps best called “cult classics.”
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A Shelf full of Poker Books and smoke free poker rooms – Chris Moneymaker is not the first accountant to win the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Back in 1983, Grand Rapid’s native and former accountant Tom McEvoy won the WSOP championship. While his poker career has been successful, he is perhaps best known for being the author of more than a dozen of well-respected poker books. Many poker players feel that McEvoy’s biggest contribution to poker was his efforts to make poker rooms and poker tournaments smoke free. Thanks in large part to his efforts, which included organizing the first smoke free poker tournament, nearly every public poker room and poker tournament in the world is now non-smoking.
Proving You Don’t Have to Play Football to Make $8 Million Wearing a Lion’s Jersey – Ryan Reiss started his poker career as a dealer and player in Michigan’s poker games. Failing to heed McEvoy’s advice, Reiss built up his bankroll and then used nearly all of it to buy in to a WSOP Circuit Event. He came in second in the No Limit Hold’em event and won more than $290,000; it was his first major tournament cash. Six months later he entered the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. The 23 year old defeated a large field which included some of the world’s most experienced poker players to claim the first place prize of $8.3 million.
Proving that truck drivers can be sexy – The world of professional truck drivers has never been considered a glamourous profession and professional truckers were seldom seen as sex symbols. The old stereotypes were thrown out thanks in large part to Lisa Kelly. Kelly was one the drivers featured in the Ice Road Truckers reality show. Not only did Kelly prove that women were just as capable as men at handling big rigs in a decidedly unfriendly environment, her good looks and skill quickly caught the attention of a large number of male television viewers; Esquire magazine called her “The Sexiest Trucker Alive.”
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