Phil Templeton Receives 2008 Alfred Adams Award

Story by Kathleen McFadden

Local businessman Phil Templeton received the 2008 Alfred Adams Award for Economic Development at the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce annual awards luncheon last Friday. Photo courtesy of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce At its annual awards luncheon last Friday, the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce recognized a number of individuals and businesses for their contributions to the area’s economy and architecture, presenting awards for volunteer leadership, community recognition, tourism advancement, economic development and architectural merit.

Diane Cornett, last year’s recipient of the Ben E. Suttle Special Service Award for Volunteer Leadership, presented this year’s award to Nick Friedman.

Jim Deal, the 2007 recipient of the Wade Brown Community Recognition Award, presented the 2008 award to Jerry Moretz.

Wade Wilmoth presented the Sue Wilmoth Award for Tourism Advancement to the Boone Tourism Development Authority and the Boone Convention and Visitors Bureau. Accepting the award were Jim Wooten, chair of the Boone Tourism Development Authority, and Mac Forehand, director of Boone Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Rob Holton, 2007 winner of the Alfred Adams Award for Economic Development, presented the 2008 award to Phil Templeton.

In his introduction of Templeton, Holton outlined his early years. Templeton came to Boone in 1946 with his family so his brothers could attend Appalachian State Teachers College, Holton said. He is the youngest of 10 children. After his father died—Templeton was about 15 years old—his mother operated a boarding house located where the convocation center is now.

“Entrepreneurship can be learned,” Holton continued, “but this individual was born an entrepreneur. At age 12 he started delivering newspapers. As a teenager, he spent his summers working as a short order cook at Kirk’s Restaurant. After serving his country in the Air Force, he bought Boone golf driving range and putt-putt and used it to help put himself through Appalachian.”

Attendees at the luncheon got a chuckle from Holton’s next story.

“After he got married, he decided it was time to share the excitement of being an entrepreneur with his wife. A local restaurant, Gateway Café, was going out of business. They auctioned off all of the equipment it takes to run a restaurant, including pots and pans, dishes, booths, folding chairs and other restaurant equipment. He put in the winning bid of $500 and then realized he didn’t quite have the $500 he needed to cover his bid so he asked them to hold his check for a week. He went home and said, ‘Honey, guess what we just bought and I’ve got a week to make the check good.’

“Now you have to understand his wife had come from a very fiscally conservative family—the type that saved their money until they had enough cash to pay for what they needed. You can imagine what she must have been thinking: ‘We have a week to do what?’

“Well, thank goodness, this story has a happy ending. Our entrepreneur proceeded to go around town peddling the restaurant equipment piece by piece to restaurants and places like the VFW. In one week, he sold $2,200 worth of restaurant equipment and made his check good. His marriage survived and prospered.”

After mentioning that Templeton received his first business loan from Alfred Adams, Holton summarized some of Templeton’s subsequent business ventures: Boone’s first 15 cent burger joint called Tony’s, Boone’s first pizza parlor and a jiffy car wash, Carolina Realty in partnership with Ranny Phillips, Greenway Trailer Park, Arena Skating Rink, Shadrack’s BBQ and Seafood Barn with partners, New River Building Supply, New River Design Center and Winkler’s Creek Crossing.
Holton pointed to two of Templeton’s projects as “outstanding examples of adaptation and reuse”: the Chetola estate that he and his partners purchased in 1981 and turned into a four-star resort and the conversion of the Brendle’s store into the Greenway Business Park. “In both cases, he took deteriorating properties that were becoming eyesores and turned them into community jewels,” Holton said.

“His current business enterprises provide over 130 jobs and this doesn’t include the jobs he created in businesses like Chetola Resort which he helped create and then sold,” Holton continued.

“The term serial entrepreneur was invented to describe him,” Holton said.

Chamber Awards of Merit for Development

The 2008 recipients of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce’s Award of Merit for Development are the following:

• Allen Financial Management, LLC received the award for new construction in the small commercial category. The owner is Judd Allen, architect was Bill Dixon of Appalachian Architecture and the contractor was Terry Lentz Construction.
• Greenway Commons Medical Office Building received the award for new construction in the large commercial category. Owned by First Colony Healthcare, the architect was Thomas, Miller & Partners and the contractor was Colony Builders.
• The Watauga County Courthouse addition received the award for most improved in the large commercial category. Architect was Hemphill Associates and the contractor was Hickory Construction.
• Westglow Spa received the award for most improved in the small commercial category for its Life Enrichment Center. The owner is Westglow Spa Acquisition, LLC – Bonnie & Jamie Schaefer, the architect was Steve Carter Price and the contractor was Boone Construction.
• Receiving the Rick Phillips Award for Multi-Family/Planned Unit Development was Turtle Creek (Phase 1) owned by Shore Farm Inc. – Richard Furman. Project architect was Bradley Dowdy and the contractor was Ray Ventures – Ronnie Ray.
Receiving honorable mentions were the new Watauga County parking lot and the Boone Heights Mall renovation.

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