RVBusiness, March-April 2015

BY SHERMAN GOLDENBERG The RV MH Hall of Fame staff includes L R Jeff White vice president of operations Judy Jankowski vice president of development and Susan Weaver event coordinator M A R C H A P R I L 2 0 1 5 RVBusiness 69 as the Northern Indiana Event Center hosting a wide range of revenue generating events For answers to these and other questions RVBusiness touched bases in early March with Searer whose efforts havent gone unnoticed by the industry in general and especially by HOF board members who have watched the whole workin progress transition from the front rows To get where we are today in 2015 the difference is striking almost miraculous said Gary LaBella a former vice president of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association RVIA and a current member of the Halls executive committee The Hall is very healthy financially The event center is blossoming There is unprecedented interest in the nominations process The staff is enthusiastic and performing well and both the RV and manufactured housing industries are showing more robust support in many ways Heres the edited crux of that telephone interview with Searer who was staying at the moment at his parttime Florida residence RVB So lets go back to 2012 Darryl and pose the question directly Why the heck did you bother doing all this in the first place as a volunteer or otherwise Searer I guess Im crazy I did it because I got a call from one of the board members in late January of 2012 who said that the Hall of Fame was going down and their new plan was to turn the keys over to 1st Source Bank and the Ingram family the family of the late Robert Boots Ingram the former Marathon and Teton RV builder who had personally loaned the Hall money and start a new Hall of Fame in the old abandoned Martins Super Market at Cassopolis Street and the Toll Road in Elkhart They wanted to know what I thought about that and I said Well I guess Ill be up to get my picture off the wall from when I was inducted in 2008 And they said You dont like that plan And I replied No it would be absolutely devastating for that to happen to the crown jewel of the RV and MH industry that being the Hall of Fame and the 40 acres its located on That would just be a huge black mark on both industries So I said Let me think about it for a day or two After I slept on it I told my wife Judy that they needed some help to get the Hall of Fame turned around and that I was going to volunteer for at least a year That year has now turned into three years and I couldnt be more pleased with the way that people in both industries have stepped up to support the Hall of Fame For me it was giving something back to the industries that I made my livelihood in and its been probably the fastest and most rewarding three years of my life Now Ive committed to another year and a half I want to see it out of debt before I turn the reins over to whoever follows me RVB So obviously things are going well enough in your view that you recently issued a press release stating that the Hall could be debt free within five years Searer Things are not only looking up theyre looking fantastic for 2015 First of all our budget that we feel very certain well accomplish will be over 1 million in income for the first time which is phenomenal in itself The million dollar debt elimination campaign on the MH side has now reached 525000 and we now own the Fairmont manufactured housing display home thats sitting outside the Hall of Fame After borrowing funds to finish paying off the Ingram family our total debt is down to less than 21 million Our only debtor today is 1st Source Bank which makes my life a lot simpler because Im just dealing with one entity Things just couldnt look much brighter Meanwhile 56 of the total money thats come into the Hall of Fame over the past three years has gone to pay off debt Thats pretty significant What that means is when we get out of debt well have plenty of money to operate and continue to add amenities to the property that we have there And we have some encouraging plans to improve the property to the east that are in the works in conjunction with Thor Industries although I cant go into any details yet But I couldnt be any more pleased As a matter of fact Ill be going to California to speak to the California Manufactured Housing Association as the keynote speaker at their annual meeting in Palm Springs So everything is just looking very positive RVB You mentioned that the Halls board which has pledged to avoid taking on any debt in the future is going to have a million dollars in income this year To what do you attribute that Searer Its a combination of increased revenue on the event center side and the debt elimination plan that was started with manufactured housing builder Kevin Claytons 200000