View full sizeJimmy Haslem (left, with his father, Jim) is described as a voracious sports fan and the force behind the growth of the Pilot Flying J travel centers. "If he runs the Cleveland Browns with half the passion and intensity that he runs this company, Cleveland is a very lucky town," said Jason Kurlychek, 35, of Cleveland, a Pilot staffing manager who has worked for the firm 11 years.The Jimmy Haslam file
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Accurate or not, fan perception is that Browns owner Randy Lerner hasn't been as involved in running the organization as he should be.
Lerner, for example, hasn't regularly attended NFL owners meetings, instead having President Mike Holmgren serve as the face of the franchise.
If Jimmy Haslam's management style extends to the football team, that might change.
"He's focused," said Mike Edwards, president of the Knoxville, Tenn., Chamber of Commerce.
For the moment, Haslam, described in a news story as "an executive with a piercing stare and stern demeanor," is focused on negotiating to buy controlling interest in the Browns. If successful, Edwards, who has known Haslam since they were Sigma Chi fraternity brothers at the University of Tennessee, predicted a more hands-on approach -- just as he runs the family business.
"He has an 'A Team' throughout the organization," Edwards said. "He has the best of the best, but he doesn't turn it over to them. He is very engaged and very focused and goal-oriented and he drives himself hard. He's very competitive. He doesn't micro-manage them, but he certainly manages them."
James Haslam III, 57, who is known as "Jimmy," directs a hugely successful family business, and is from a family that is politically involved in the Republican party, charitably generous -- especially to its beloved University of Tennessee -- and are huge sports fans.
"He and the whole family -- it sounds like a cliche -- but they love sports," Edwards said. "I believe they read the sports page closer than they read the financial page."
Haslam is president and CEO of Pilot Flying J, one of the largest operators of travel centers and truck-stops, with more than 550 retail sites in North America.
There are 24 Pilot Travel Centers in Ohio, including locations in Avon, Austinburg, Austintown, Lodi, Richfield and Seville. Pilot is also among the nation's largest providers of wholesale fuel.
The privately-held company, which is based in Knoxville, Tenn., employs about 19,000 people and has continued to grow through a series of acquisitions. The current makeup is the result of a 2010 merger of Pilot and Flying J.
Forbes reported the company's 2011 revenue at $17.8 billion.
Family patriarch Jim Haslam founded the enterprise in 1958, paying $6,000 for a corner gas station in Gate City, Va., to open his first Pilot. Within 15 years, the company had more than 50 gas stations and $30 million in annual sales.
His father built the business, but Jimmy Haslam is credited with turning the company into the monolith that it is. He is described as an intense, even ruthless businessman -- and detailed. Pilot, for instance, is investing $49 million to upgrade the 4,400 showers at its truck stops, with iPod listening stations, "spa-style" shower heads, softer, thicker towels and other perks.
The company, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment.
Should Haslam's play for the Browns prove successful, it wouldn't be his first venture into the NFL -- or the AFC North Division. In 2008, Haslam became one of three new minority partners as part of an ownership restructuring of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A former high school wide receiver and safety in Knoxville, Haslam, now about 6-3, 210, has looked into professional sports ownership in the past, but once described his deal with the Steelers as more a case of happenstance.
"It was all luck," Haslam told the Knoxville News-Sentinel in 2011. "About 10 years ago, we were meeting with some investment bankers in Knoxville concerning some Pilot business and there was a guy there who didn't say much at the end of the table, and I asked him what he did, and he said his specialty was pro sports. I said, "We love sports, and if anything comes up, call me."
The call came in 2008. There was an opportunity to buy a piece of the Steelers. Haslam was sold after lunch with members of the Rooney family. Haslam family members have attended Super Bowls to watch the Steelers, but it is unclear whether they were also regulars at all or most of their games.
Other than the Northeast Ohio Pilot Travel Centers, the family has no apparent connection to Cleveland or the Browns. In fact, Haslam told Steelers.com in 2010 that he was originally a Dallas Cowboys fan and then an Indianapolis Colts fan before buying a piece of the Steelers.
The family also owns minor league baseball's Tennessee Smokies, the Class AA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.
The family is also politically aligned in its home state: Haslam's younger brother, Bill, is the Republican governor of Tennessee, after twice being elected Knoxville's mayor. And U.S. Sen. Bob Corker is Jimmy Haslam's former college roommate and one of his best friends.
The Haslam family is known as major supporters of the University of Tennessee, where the family has contributed tens of millions of dollars and where its name adorns the business building, a practice football field and a new music building under construction.
The patriarch of the family, Jim Haslam, played tackle on the UT football team in the 1950s and was a major piece of the 1951 national championship team.
"If he runs the Cleveland Browns with half the passion and intensity that he runs this company, Cleveland is a very lucky town," said Jason Kurlychek, 35, of Cleveland, a Pilot staffing manager who has worked for the firm 11 years. "He will do wonders for this town. Nobody works harder at this company than him."