Augie In Action! Augie In Action! - Ihrsa

| Editor’s Welcome |
Take a look at the photograph on the cover of this
issue of CBI. No, take a good look at it. Study it for a
minute or two. What does it say about these people?
What does it say about the fitness industry? Virtually
everything that you need to know.
Kerry Brett
Each month, in CBI, we designate a “fitness” role model of the
month—generally a celebrity who, by virtue of their healthy
lifestyle, inspires others to act similarly. That’s fine for club
prospects and members. But if owners, managers, and staff were
to desire an “industry” role model—an individual who could serve
as an exemplar, a personal benchmark, for their business—they
could hardly do better than Augie Nieto.
Take another look at the photo. What qualities, what attributes,
do you see there?
To my way of thinking, the striking portrait of Augie and his wife,
Lynne, reflects, among other things: warmth, strength, vitality, focus,
clarity, commitment, optimism, and, it goes without saying, a great
deal of affection for one another. With the exception of the latter,
those aspects informed Augie’s achievements as the cofounder,
essentially the creator, of Life Fitness. And all of
them, including the latter, play a significant role in
the work that Augie and Lynne are now doing,
together, on Augie’s Quest.
Augie, once the personification of health and
fitness, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS), a debilitating neuromuscular
condition also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in
March 2005. It was a startling, mind-numbing
development, one that’s described, in unflinching
detail, in Augie’s Quest, One Man’s Journey from
Success to Significance, a memoir penned by
Augie and T.R. Pearson, which we’ve excerpted in
this issue. The news prompted a period of painful adjustment—
involving shock, confusion, depression, and a suicide attempt.
But, after a short while, the qualities that, in the past, had
constituted Augie, made him the person that he was, reemerged,
untouched, unscathed by ALS. The ambition, intelligence, courage,
vision, and passion that had facilitated his success as an entrepreneur
and businessman soon found a new mode of expression: the Quest,
an ambitious initiative designed to raise $18 million to fund ALS
research. His patient, methodical, and insistently businesslike pursuit
of that goal is described in these pages by CBI Contributing Editor
Stephen Wallenfels.
A principal component of the Quest is Augie’s annual “Bash,” a
gala fund-raiser held during IHRSA’s International Convention and
Trade Show. This year’s production, the “Beach Bash,” will take
place this month, on March 7, and, if you’re going to be in San
Diego, I’d like to encourage you, as strongly as I possibly can, to
participate in this worthy, and rewarding, event. Just log on to
www.augiesquest.com.
You owe it to yourself to do so. —|
6 Club Business International | MARCH 2008 | www.ihrsa.org
The mission of IHRSA is to grow, protect,
and promote the industry, and to provide its
members with benefits that will help them
be more successful.
PUBLISHING
Editor-In-Chief: Craig R. Waters
Publisher: Jay M. Ablondi
Managing Editor: Rebecca K. Waters
Editor: Jennifer H. McInerney
Associate Editor: Patricia Glynn
Contributing Editors:
Dawn Allcot, Patricia Amend, Phoebe Anderson,
Jon Feld, Julie M. King, Catherine Larner,
Lesley Mahoney, Jean Suffin, Stephen Wallenfels,
Kristen A. Walsh
Associate Vice President of Advertising:
Michele Eynon
Senior Account Manager:
Jessica Gutstein
Advertising Account Executives:
Donna Garrity, Christine Paterson
Advertising Business Development:
William Finn
Marketing Coordinator:
Katie Noonan
Advertising/Circulation Coordinator:
Megan Horr
Art Direction, Design, Production:
HM Studios, Boston, MA
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VOLUME 28, ISSUE 3