Jim McIngvale and his wife Linda arrived in Houston, Texas in 1981 with $5,000 and “a dream”. The plan: to open a furniture store at the site Jim’s real estate agent brother had found them- an abandoned un-heated un-air conditioned model home park formerly occupied by a build-on-your-lot homebuilder.

1981 was the year of the great “oil boom” and the great bust in the auto and steel industries. Families from Michigan, Ohio and the rest of the “rust belt” loaded as many of their belongings in the backs of their cars and headed to Houston- the “land of opportunity”. They needed beds and furniture- any kind of beds and furniture. Jim and Linda McIngvale’s new enterprise—Gallery Furniture was there to sell low-end furniture to them as fast as he could get it in. They never borrowed money because no one would lend them any, so they kept plowing the profits back into buying more furniture.

Then, just as fast as the “oil boom” had started, the “oil bust” came. Gallery Furniture’s customer base stopped moving to Houston. Sales came to a grinding halt.

Until that time, Gallery Furniture’s advertising consisted of little more than signs tacked to telephone poles. Jim McIngvale was down to his last $10,000. He decided to roll the dice and advertise on television. He bought low cost ad time on barely watched UHF stations--moving into a commercial rotation with ads for trade schools and workmen’s compensation lawyers aired during tired old sitcoms and the Saturday Night wrestling matches. He split the money in half. Half went to one station and the other half to another.

One evening near midnight after closing the store, he went down to the television station to watch his commercial being produced.

“Mack” didn’t like how the commercial was going and his studio time was running out fast. At the last minute, he took over as the pitchman and improvised for thirty seconds talking as fast as he could, extolling the virtues of Gallery Furniture. As the clock ticked down to the last seconds, he reached into his back pocket and retrieved that day’s store receipts, then held up the fistful of dollars, leapt into the air and shrieked that Gallery Furniture will “save you money!”

A star was born.

A 1987 article in the Houston Post described seeing a Gallery Furniture commercial for the first time this way:

There are some events in our life we never forget.

Our first kiss.

The day Elvis died.

The landing on the moon,

The first time we saw Jim “Mattress Mac” McIngvale jumping up and down in a Gallery Furniture television commercial, shaking a fist full of dollars and hollering something about “saving you moneeey”.

“Who is this guy in Sansabelt slacks?”

Sales jumped. In a short time sales had jumped 1000%. Every kid in town began jumping up and down and yelling “saves you money”. Some toddler’s first complete phrase was “save you money”. By 1987, sales were $25,000,000 for the year. Last year’s sales climbed to $200,000,000. All from one store at the same location that Gallery Furniture began. ,P. For a time, “Mattress Mack” advertised so much it was nearly impossible to turn on any television or radio station for more than 15 minutes without seeing a Gallery Furniture commercial. McIngvale is always trying new angles to put into his ubiquitous commercials. He appeared in a series of ads wearing a mattress and calling himself “Mattress Mack”. His young son appeared with him in a few ads, too, dressed in a mattress and calling himself “Mattress James”. Even though he hasn’t worn a mattress in some time, the name has stuck. Everyone in town still calls him “Mattress Mack”.

In the beginning, Gallery Furniture sold mostly low-end furniture to blue collar workers, but as the store became more successful, he started selling higher quality merchandise. Some people (aka yuppies) would rather not admit they bought their furniture at Gallery Furniture. One customer bought $3,000 worth of furniture and asked if it could be delivered in an un-marked truck. Rather than being insulted, Mattress Mack complied with their request, then, began advertising that he would deliver your furniture in an unmarked truck so that your neighbors wouldn’t know where it came from.

He sold sleeper sofas with extra padding in the mattress and reminded viewers in his commercials about the experience everyone has had of sleeping at “Aunt Minerva’s” house with “that bar in your back all night.”

Knowing that the bane of all furniture buyers is waiting for weeks or months for your furniture to arrive while you hold onto a back order slip. He promised that anything you found his store could be delivered to you that night, even if you showed up at closing time (10 pm) on Christmas Eve and it would take until 3 am to get it to you.

He doesn't take special orders. If you see it on the floor of the store, you can have it in your home NOW!. A deal that is almost impossible to pass up.

As much attention as you can garner buying advertising time, nothing beats the attention generated from the free publicity of getting mentioned on the 10 o’clock news or in the newspaper. Mattress Mack plunged head first into giving back to the community, which generates plenty of free publicity. It is a win-win situation. The community benefits and everyone stays aware of him and his business.

Every Christmas, he gives away households of furniture to needy families. For several years, he was high bidder for the grand champion animals raised by high school students at the Houston Livestock Show (spending close to a million dollars each year). The money went for awarding college scholarships. Jim gives several hundred speeches a year to almost any group that asks—telling his inspiring story of going from rags to riches. He built a practice facility for the Houston Rockets basketball team (which also receives visits from many NBA players who play in pick-up games during the off-season.) and is known as the Rockets number one fan.

When Chuck Norris moved to Texas to start his KICK DRUGS OUT OF AMERICA program for high school students, Mattress Mack helped him. He even financed the Norris brother’s movie Sidekicks, which was filmed in Houston.

“Mack” went to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and spent his own money to campaign for the 2008 Olympics to come to Houston.

In June of 2001, when half of Houston was flooded, he bought all of the production overrun of the Simmons Mattress company, then sold the mattresses at half-price. He donated the money from Red Cross vouchers back to the Red Cross.

He is an unabashed booster for the City of Houston. He says, “This town took Linda and me from crayons to perfume. I love this city. We owe it a lot for giving us the chance.”

He gives several hundred speeches a year to community and school groups.

Originally from Dallas, Jim McIngvale went to college at the University of Texas where he played football, though he mostly rode the bench. He was a member of the 1969 Longhorn’s national championship team.

After college, he was involved in various unsuccessful endeavors and ended up almost 30 years old, broke, without a car and working in a convenience store.

McIngvale says that he had a pretty bad attitude and spent most of his time in the store thumbing through the magazines and acting surly to the customers. Then, his boss did Jim a favor.

He fired him.

Jim decided it was time for an attitude change. He got a job working for a furniture store on the other side of Dallas from where he lived. Not having a car, he had to spend hours taking several buses to get there and back.

During this period, he learned the furniture business and developed better work habits. Inspired by the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, he decided to go into the furniture business for himself. This was when his brother living in Houston found the “perfect location for him”- the abandoned model home park.

Jim asked Linda, his girlfriend at the time, to move to Houston with him. She said that she would only if he married her. He did and they did.

Jim says the secret of his success is “Late to bed and early to rise, work like hell and advertise.”

He admits he can be a tyrant to work for. “I do have a volatile temper and I tend to be too harsh,” he says.

But, he doesn’t tell anyone to do anything he is not willing to do himself. You might see him holding up one end of a couch with a high school kid on the other end moving the couch to another part of the store. He still spends a great deal of his time at the store, because the customers expect to see him there. He has a desk near the front door where he can greet customers and a bank of television monitors so he can watch what is going on all over the store.

Employees are required to work from opening to closing a certain number of days a week, but they can work as many extra hours as they want. They can come in at 7 am and unload the 18 wheelers bringing in new furniture. Near closing time, he asks for volunteers to do the late night delivery runs to all hours of the night.

He supplies free meals for everyone (breakfast, lunch and dinner) but doesn’t allow sitting down to eat it. Employees must eat on the run while they are working.

When asked why he never expanded to more than one store he says, “Because they can only steal so much while you’re watching.”

Gallery Furniture has been rebuilding over the last few years. They finally moved out of the un-climate controlled model homes after nineteen years and into a new building built on land behind the old store.

The new store is kind of like a shopper’s “Fantasyland” with theme-park like attractions. A four-lane bowling alley, coffee shop, free range parrots, an Elvis exhibit with the “King’s” 1956 Lincoln Continental, Lady Diana’s jewelry, and Houston Rockets memorabilia including Hakeem Olajuwon’s shoe.

At Christmas, he spends over $100,000 on the world’s tallest Christmas tree (taller than the Rockefeller Center tree), which he sets up on the store’s parking lot bordering the freeway.

At one time, Mack worked 16 hours a day, 7 days a week at the store, allowing few hobbies. One time he was asked if he played golf, he replied that he “played furniture”.

He still works about as much, but takes a little more advantage of his immense wealth, now. He has a five-car garage for his Ferrari collection. He is one of the largest owner’s of thoroughbred racehorses in Kentucky. His goal is to win the Kentucky Derby. He got into horseracing because his daughter and sister-in-law both liked horses.

His wife runs a Tennis Club that he rescued, that brings in the top names in Tennis for tournaments.

They recently tore down the old model homes that were the home to Gallery Furniture for its first nineteen years.

Marilyn Murphy, a Gallery Furniture manager for 13 years, was asked if the original homestead had been in decent shape before the demolition. She rolled her eyes.

“We were always putting the building back together.”

Mattress Mack remembers putting the building back together. “I’ll never forget, the second year I was there, that was before they had all those guardrails on the freeway. I’ll never forget it. About 11 o’clock one Sunday morning, we were out there trying to sell, and this guy ran off the side of the road, went into the ditch, came up and hit the side of one of those model homes going about 70 miles an hour. Knocked those bricks everywhere.”

Just before they hauled off the debris, Jim McIngvale walked out into the rubble and picked up a brick from that house. He said he was going to add the brick to his memorabilia collection near the front entrance of the new store.

“Kind of a memorial,” he says, “to those 20 years of my life.”

http://www.freeenterpriseland.com/BOOK/MATTRESSMAC.html

Wanted: truly cool people to sell Houston

By KEN HOFFMAN Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicl

I think, when Houston is vying for a major sporting event or convention, we should just send Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale — by himself. Put him in a room with the Super Bowl Selection Committee for 10 minutes, lock the door and schedule a press conference to announce the Super Bowl is coming here.

When Kerri Strug, hobbling on an injured ankle, won the gymnastics gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the next day was carried to her internationally televised press conference in a Mattress Mack recliner hoisted by four guys wearing Gallery Furniture shirts, I stood up in my living room and applauded.

How on earth did he do that? I mean, I can pretty much guess how he did it, but still, fantastic.

Two great recliners, one low price. Mattress Mack produces. And yet I rarely see Houston officials reach out to him — unless they want something.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/hoffman/4535064.html

Cowboys vs. Texans Deal

The Dallas Cowboys pounded the Houston Texans, so Mattress Mack doesn't have to send refund checks to everybody who bought $4,000 or more worth of big-screen TVs and mattresses at Gallery Furniture. Mack had a deal: If the Texans beat the Cowboys, you'd get your money back.

Mack wasn't fretting the outcome, by the way. This time, he paid for an insurance policy against a Texans upset. A few weeks ago, when he offered a similar deal if the Texans beat the Colts, he was flying without a net — no insurance policy.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/hoffman/4263567.html

Mattress Mack dishing the Texans?

We've always known Gallery Furniture's Mattress Mack was a big Houston sports booster, but we never suspected him of the sport of sarcasm.

But it sure looks like he's giving a big sarcastic raspberry to the Houston Texans in Thursday's Chronicle Gallery furniture advertisement on page A4.

If the Texans win this Sunday's game vs. The Colts, it shouts, and you buy $3,000 worth of furniture and electronics in time to take possession before the kick-off, you'll get all the stuff for FREE.

As our football loving classical music critic Charles Ward pointed out, that's a rousing vote of NO CONFIDENCE in the home team.

Way to go, Mack, we're proud of you. Not only for a clever marketing gimmick, but also for saying you clearly think their chances suck air.

Speaking of clever, maybe Mack is not risking that much. A furniture store in Chicago already did this with the Bears last weekend, and lost. (In that case, the Bears had to shut out the Packers, and they did, 26-0.) But, though the store owner had to give out a lot of free furniture, he was insured for the loss.

We wondered for a moment if this could be illegal gambling. Sure, there's not much of a risk involved since it's the Texans, but we always hold out hope this is the week our beloved guys will get it together and whomp up on someone. And we're sure no fan will take this risk unless they really wanted $3,000 in stuff in the first place. That would make this pretty appealing. Hmm, do I really need that new dining room set? And a flat screen TV? What was that address again?

What we are dying to know is how many brave (or crazy) Texan fans will take up the challenge and gamble their bucks on a Texan victory. If you bite, let us know.

GO TEXANS!

http://blogs.chron.com/tmi/2006/09/mattress_mack_dishing_the_texa_1.html

Astros Summary

Pitch with a ring to it

Jim "Mattress Mack" MacIngvale has done countless promotions. But in his latest Thursday, Gallery Furniture handed out 30,000 replicas of the rings Astros owner Drayton McLane gave his players for winning the 2005 National League pennant.

After receiving positive feedback from his April 4 ring giveaway at Minute Maid Park, Gallery Furniture added a twist Thursday by also giving away an authentic 2005 NL championship ring, which is made of 10-karat yellow gold and 19 diamonds making up the Astros' star.

Steve Hugheley won the ring. Four other finalists re-ceived $500 from MacIngvale.

MacIngvale admitted being nervous about throwing out the ceremonial first pitch to Wandy Rodriguez.

"I didn't bounce it, which is a major deal," he said with a smile.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/4030089.html

KILT DJ expanding his audience

By KEN HOFFMAN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

That new Gallery Furniture commercial, with Mattress Mack rapping and dancing (if you call that dancing), requires some explaining.
It's really not a commercial — it doesn't even mention Gallery Furniture. It's actually a clip from Jamie Kennedy's new comedy reality show on MTV called Blowin' Up.

Kennedy is pretending to pursue a career in hip-hop, and Mattress Mack somehow, for some unearthly reason, wound up singing and dancing on the show. Weird, very weird.

And yet, no weirder than some of Mack's other commercials.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/hoffman/3947827.html

Signing the tax check gets personal

By KEN HOFFMAN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Fun Time Bowling, the new Saturday-morning bowling show on Channel 55, asked if I'd bowl against Mattress Mack in a special one-on-one challenge match.
Usually the show features Houston-area teams and local pros.

I figured Mack can't be much of a bowler. Where would he find the time? All those commercials don't make themselves, you know.

We taped the match last Saturday at 8 a.m. at Copperfield Bowl.

Mack showed up with his own bowling ball, bowling shoes, bowling glove, the whole deal. He's a bowler! He even took a couple of lessons before our match. I got bamboozled.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/hoffman/3880783.html

Big Mac

TV huckster McIngvale moves hearts as well as mattresses

By Craig Malisow 

Published: May 5, 2005

Writing about Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale brings on the urge to use bold-faced type and a thousand exclamation points. Mac is a man of color, of action; relegating him to the written word comes across as a slap in the face. Sure, he has an autobiography (Always Think Big), but one glance at the cover tells everything: Mac is smiling because he thinks big. Always. And in case anybody misses the complexities of his philosophy, the word "Big" is BIG and yellow and takes up almost half the cover.

·         Joe Rocco

Mac's story is passed down like sacred lore: Born in Mississippi, raised in Dallas; college was boring, so he dropped out and opened fitness clubs with his dad. McIngvale was doing great, selling plenty of "discount" memberships, until folks complained and the state found out the only discount present was that of the truth. McIngvale was sued under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, his wife filed for divorce, and he lost his shirt.

But when he got another shirt -- a nightmarish version of the Stars and Stripes -- it would be to Jim McIngvale what the leather jacket was to the Fonz. He opened a Houston furniture store in the early '80s. Soon Houstonians were hit with the sight of a bellowing freak, barking like a crazed cult leader about his furniture prices. Not even Charles Manson was that garish. But it was his jejune tag line that would somehow indoctrinate viewers and become part of the local landscape: "Save you money!"

Only a fool or a savant could have predicted that, ten years later, McIngvale would become one of the most successful furniture retailers in America, and one of Space City's biggest philanthropists.

In the early '90s, McIngvale began the Christmas tradition of giving away a houseful of furniture to a needy family. It's heartwarming and good for the bottom line, too: Every year, the Houston Chronicle writes about the lucky souls who heap praises upon Jolly Ol' St. Mac.

Sure, he may still be thought of as a joke, but get this: In 1992, he paid to feed 20,000 homeless Houstonians with three tons of turkey, 3,000 pounds of dressing, 600 gallons of gravy and 12,000 pounds of sides. He put his money where their mouths were, and he made a big difference.

A proud Catholic, McIngvale took his family to Rome in 1999, where, he told the Chronicle, he had a religious awakening. So he paid more than $500,000 to send to Rome 300 students and teachers from each of the Galveston-Houston diocese's 60 schools.

These good deeds helped many individuals. But it was McIngvale's love of tennis that helped the city.

After buying the foundering Westside Tennis Club, McIngvale laid out clay courts and millions of dollars to attract pros such as Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer. McIngvale even brought the prestigious Masters Cup championships here for two years. Oh, and he didn't forget about the kids, either: He paid for a tennis center at Yates High School.

McIngvale always had a soft spot for Agassi, who told the Chronicle that McIngvale is an inspiration: "Mac is one of the greatest human beings I've ever seen when it comes to his commitment to put his money where his mouth is, to step up to the plate and actually affect the things he claims he cares about."

Of course, you don't get to be this big without drawing criticism. Tales abound about McIngvale's alleged abuse of employees, which he has flatly denied. In 2003, two fired employees sued McIngvale for age and gender discrimination. One of them, a 55-year-old sales manager, accused McIngvale of calling him "old man" and making him sweep the warehouse. Yet it took the jury only 40 minutes to return a verdict in favor of Mac.

Mac isn't afraid to point his own finger, either. When Association of Tennis Professionals head Mark Miles moved the Masters Cup from Houston to Shanghai, McIngvale called him "worthless," accusing him of having more interest in flying around the world than in promoting tennis.

And this is a guy who does motivational speaking.

But that's the unpredictable nature of Mac. Take, for example, his much-lauded work in telling kids to stay off drugs. The only reason he did that in the first place was because a court ordered him to. After an eight-year-old-girl was attacked by a lion at a flea market McIngvale owned, he was ordered to make antidrug TV spots. The thing is, Mac continued making them even when he no longer had to. Why? Only he knows, but it's clear that Mac sees that doing good deeds benefits both business and the community.

Not everything goes his way, though. He bought an expensive Thoroughbred, only to find out the horse wasn't healthy enough to run in the Kentucky Derby. And he flushed away a reported $8 million on Chuck Norris's bomb Sidekicks.

But forgive Mac his transgressions. He can afford to run down those rabbit trails, because his efforts pay off where it really matters. Bush 41 turned to him to help raise money for tsunami victims. Mac followed that up with a check for $250,000, then he produced a big-name tennis exhibition at the Toyota Center that raised more money for the cause.

The University of Houston's nationally renowned Bauer College of Business recently established a scholarship in McIngvale's name. Associate Dean Bob Casey says McIngvale regularly delivers educational and inspirational lectures to students, showing that a person's true worth isn't judged by just wealth.

"He's an icon in our community, and he is one of those that leads by example," Casey says. "...How do you transform the lives of young people?" McIngvale "gives us his financial treasures, as well as his time."

So does this mean you can't make fun of Mattress Mac anymore? Of course not. As long as he continues to spend a reported $6 million a year on those freaking commercials, it's open season. And as long as he keeps a necklace once owned by Princess Di in his store and sometimes gives speeches while wearing one of Elvis's capes, you practically have to make fun of him.

Just remember that when you do, you're laughing at a guy who's fed the hungry, aided countries devastated by natural disasters and paid for hundreds of Houston kids to pray in St. Peter's Basilica. He's done a lot more than just save you money. He's gladly given away a lot of his.

http://www.houstonpress.com/2005-05-05/news/big-mac/

Mattress Mack Wants New Facility Named After Coach Who Had Heart Attack And Then Got Canned

November 17th, 2006

[Mattress Mack] A fellow known as “Mattress Mack” has given a gift of $1 million to the University of North Texas football program… on the condition that they rename a new athletics facility after Darrell Dickey, a football coach who was fired by the school three weeks after he had a heart attack. If North Texas refuses… Mattress Mack will have the entire $1 million redirected to the music department.

They’re going to do it. Man, that renaming ceremony is going to be awkward.

Mattress Mack… is all man. If for no other reason than the nickname “Mattress Mack.” His real name is Jim McIngvale, but I guess he sells mattresses and his some goofy commercials that have earned him the nickname. For a short time after high school, I was briefly known as “Mattress MJD,” but for vastly different reasons that I’m not going to get into it other than to tell you, hey, a man’s gotta make a living.

Anyway, I think that’s a pretty awesome thing for Mack to do.

“Right’s right and wrong’s wrong. It’s the right thing to do,” McIngvale said. “I don’t think firing a guy three weeks after he had a heart attack was the right thing to do, either. Even Wall Street is not that callous.”

I also found this little note interesting:

McIngvale’s $1 million gift means a lot at North Texas, where the football program’s budget is about $3.7 million and the music school’s is about $8.7 million.

You don’t see that a lot. I’m guessing circumstances are a little different at, say, I dunno… Miami? I don’t know what their football budget is, but judging from the production values on that “Seventh Floor Crew” song, I know their music department isn’t seeing a lot of money these days.

Oh, and here’s Mattress Mack in action.

http://www.themightymjd.com/2006/11/17/mattress-mack-wants-new-facility-named-after-coach-who-had-heart-attack-and-then-got-canned/

North Texas names new facility after axed coach

DALLAS -- A booster's unusual ultimatum has placed the University of North Texas in an awkward position: Rename its new athletic facility after the just-fired football coach or allow the donor's $1 million gift to be redirected to the music department.

To keep the peace, and perhaps keep open the big-money pipeline, school officials say they will honor the odd request from Houston furniture magnate Jim McIngvale -- known locally as "Mattress Mack" for his goofy TV and radio spots.

Thus, the McIngvale Practice Facility will get renamed for Darrell Dickey, who was fired last week. No timeline for the renaming is set.

A school spokeswoman cited school policy, which states that a facility "may be named in keeping with the wishes of the donor."

It was either rename it, McIngvale said, or redirect his money to the acclaimed One O'Clock Lab Band, the showpiece at one of the country's top music schools. Mattress Mack was serious enough to take out a one-page ad Sunday in the Denton Record-Chronicle explaining his demand.

"Right's right and wrong's wrong. It's the right thing to do," McIngvale said. "I don't think firing a guy three weeks after he had a heart attack was the right thing to do, either. Even Wall Street is not that callous."

Dickey suffered a heart attack Oct. 12.

McIngvale admits his demand is largely symbolic, as his donation was made two years ago and already spent. He made it out of frustration with Dickey's firing and what he said is a lack of adequate athletics funding from the school.

The school's capitulation underscores the influence held by boosters bearing checkbooks, such as T. Boone Pickens at Oklahoma State and the late Ralph Engelstad at the University of North Dakota. McIngvale's $1 million gift means a lot at North Texas, where the football program's budget is about $3.7 million and the music school's is about $8.7 million.

It placed the school in the strange position of defending the record of the coach it just fired. Athletics Director Rick Villarreal talked about "the number of good things" accomplished by Dickey, including four straight Sun Belt championships and bowl appearances.

The Mean Green went 2-9 last season and 3-7 in 2006. Dickey is 42-62 overall.

Dickey, who was under contract through 2009 and will receive a $560,000 buyout, did not respond to telephone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Last year at Oklahoma State, Pickens donated $165 million to the athletics department. At least publicly, Pickens' gift has come without conditions.

That wasn't the case when Engelstad built a $104 million hockey arena at North Dakota -- and then threatened to stop construction if the school gave into NCAA demands to change its mascot from the Fighting Sioux.

Money-hungry programs are rarely in a position to turn down boosters, said Rudy Davalos, the recently retired athletics director at the University of New Mexico. When Davalos ran the University of Houston athletics department 15 years ago, he received a $32 million, no-strings-attached donation from businessman John Moores.

"If he would have told me that he wasn't going to give the money unless we named something after him, rest assured we would have named something after him," Davalos said.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2664905

Jamie Kennedy and Mattress Mac Commercial
June 24th, 2006

Imagine my shock, surprise, and total delight when, late one night, I saw a commercial on TV for Mattress Mac, starring Jamie Kennedy!

Now, for those of you who don’t know (and that includes everyone who doesn’t live in Houston, Texas), Mattress Mac is actually Jim McInvale, a Houston salesman who turned a small furniture business into a major corporation, and is most known for starring in his own (oftentimes intentionally wacky) commercials.

And of course Jamie Kennedy is the comedian who used to have his own show “The Jamie Kennedy Experiment”, who then segue into movies (”Malibu’s Most Wanted”) before doing his own show on MTV called “Blowin’ Up” which purports to chronicle his attempts to get noticed as a rapper. (I’m not sure if the show is a parody or not, as I haven’t really watched it, but Kennedy has always had a fascination/obsession with being a white rapper.

But in any case, the commercial is Jamie Kennedy rapping while Mattress Mac dances like a fool next to him. (This is normal; Mac is always acting like a fool in his commercials, which is doubly shocking as the guy is actually quite a legitimate businessman, entrepreneur, and distinguished Houstonian in other ways.)

See the commercial for yourself. If you happen to know the history of Mattress Mac and Jamie Kennedy, this commercial will knock your socks off. It’s insanely funny and cool at the same time. But if you don’t know these two guys, it might just seem kooky, which it also is.

http://www.beyondhollywood.com/blog/?p=102

Mattress Mack Ep 1

They say everything’s bigger in Texas. That would include championship tennis and furniture stores. And furniture magnate Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, perhaps the biggest tennis fan in Texas, has to go down as one of the game’s most influential personalities of all time. Even if you haven’t heard of his furniture business, chances are you’ve heard of his Westside Tennis Club, also known in recent years as the home of the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup. Want to see how he promotes the game year-round? Have the time to wander his enormous furniture showroom in Houston, complete with playground and tennis court? And just what do stars Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick have to say about the tennis contribution of the man forever known as “Mattress Mack”? There’s only one place to find out.

http://www.thetennischannel.com/programs/SpecialsDetail.aspx?name=Mattress%20Mack:Always%20Think%20Big

Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale speaks to TiE in Houston

Jim's talk, "The Challenges of Entrepreneurship - "I did it my way", was held at The Petroleum Club of Houston on October 26, 2006.

Askok Rao, President of TiE Houston, The IndUS Entrepreneurs, introduced the evening's speaker.

James F. McIngvale and his wife Linda are co-owners of Gallery Furniture in Houston, Texas. “Mattress Mack”, as he is known throughout Texas, started Gallery Furniture in 1981 with five thousand dollars and a dream. That dream has grown into one of the most successful businesses in Houston and the single most successful furniture store in the United States. The success of Gallery Furniture is truly embodied by Mack’s strong commitment to hard work, customer service and grassroots marketing.

Mack was born on February 11th, 1951 in Starkville, Mississippi. He graduated from Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, and attended college at the University of Texas and North Texas State University. He played football at both universities under legendary coaches Darrell Royal and Hayden Fry.

A combination of his extensive philanthropy, daily speaking engagements, and his television commercials for Gallery Furniture have made him one of the most respected and recognizable people in Houston. In addition to his busy schedule at Gallery Furniture, Mack donates a substantial amount of his time to the Houston community that has treated him so well over the years. He has made well over 2,000 speeches to area school children about the importance of staying in school, believing in yourself, and saying no to drugs. He has given in excess of $1 Million to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Scholarship Fund. Annually, he donates furniture to refurnish dozens of neglected teachers’ lounges throughout Southeast Texas.
 
Each Christmas, he furnishes the homes of fifteen Houston-area families that have been the victims of personal tragedy. During the great flood of 2001, Gallery Furniture was one of the leading businesses in assisting Houstonians in need, and spearheaded numerous assistance programs in addition to donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to the American Red Cross and other organizations. On November 10th, 2000, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s prestigious Patriots’ Award in recognition of outstanding community service.

His adoption of the management principles of the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming and his years of study with Dr. Deming have made him a sought-after speaker on quality and management philosophy. Government and private enterprises from around the world regularly send representatives to Gallery Furniture to study Mack’s innovative business philosophies in action.

Jim McIngvale and his wife Linda own Westside Tennis Club, which is the only tennis club to offer all four authentic grand slam surfaces. The McIngvales and Westside Tennis Club have been hosts to the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships since 2001, the U.S. Davis Cup Tie vs. Spain and the prestigious Tennis Masters Cup. Recently, the McIngvales used their influence and resources for a very noteworthy cause. Following the wake of the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia, the President of the United States asked Presidents Bush and Clinton to head up a nationwide charitable effort forming the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Relief Fund. President Bush asked Jim and Linda McIngvale to step forward and help lead the Houston area response for the relief effort. As a result, over $12 million was raised for the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Relief Fund. The McIngvales have continued their fundraising efforts to assist those affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

But if you ask Mack and Linda about their greatest accomplishments, you would see a sparkle in their eyes and a smile on their faces as they tell you about their three children, James, Laura, and Elizabeth.

http://www.starlightcapital.com/blog/tie102606 

Mattress Mack Radio Clip

May 22, 2002: Mattress Mack -- Every few minutes throughout the day in Houston, the voice of "Mattress Mack" can be heard in a commercial somewhere on the dial.  Jim McIngvale sells $200 million worth of furniture annually, and as Ed Mayberry reports, he's trying to spread the word about some basic principles he sees at work.  Click here to listen. 

http://www.kuhf.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6948&news_iv_ctrl=1521

 

 

'Mattress Mac' Tells Them to Sleep on It

North Texas' decision to fire coach Darrell Dickey, right, is not going over well with booster Jim McIngvale, known around Houston as "Mattress Mac" because of his animated television spots for his Gallery Furniture. McIngvale, left, who donated $1 million toward the construction of the Mean Green Athletic Center in 2004, has requested that the university name its practice field after the outgoing coach. If his request is not honored, MacIngvale asks that his $1 million donation be redirected to North Texas' One O'clock Lab Band. McIngvale made his request in a full-page advertisement in the Denton Record-Chronicle, which cost him nearly $5,000. Dickey has had a tough 2006. In February, he had his gall bladder removed. In June, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. In October, he suffered a heart attack. Last Wednesday, he was fired.

http://thewizardofodds.blogspot.com/2006/11/mattress-mac-tells-them-to-sleep-on-it.html

UNT must name practice center after fired coach

Talk about getting led around by the horns.

The University of North Texas has agreed to name the school's new practice facility after fired Head Coach Darrell Dickey.

Why? Because on of their biggest boosters, "Mattress Mac", was so upset over the firing of the UNT's coach that threatened to reallocate a one million dollar donation from the athletic department to the music department.

UNT also agreed to pay out Dickey's contract, which was to run through 2009, to the tune of $560,000.

http://www.fanblogs.com/ncaa/006762.php

The Business Makers

Episode 4: Jim McIngvale, Gallery Furniture

To say that Jim “Mattress Mac” McIngvale is a Houston icon is an understatement. Jim is the founder and owner of Gallery Furniture, one of the largest retail stores in America. How large is it? With only 1 store McInvale averages $150 million dollars a year! Mac is well known for his animated television commerical spots, which end with his yelling “Save You Money”. Mac join Russ and John to talk about his career playing “bench” at the University of Texas, selling furniture in Dallas and how he started Gallery furniture with $5000 and 2 employees.

Listen Now:

 Part 1 [12:22m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download (132)
 Part 2 [12:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (87)

http://www.thebusinessmakers.com/2005/06/25/interview-with-jim-mcingvale/

Wikipedia Article

Jim McIngvale (also known as Mattress Mac) is a Houston businessman and owner of Gallery Furniture, one of the largest retail stores in the United States.

Mac is well known for his animated television advertising spots, which end with his yelling, in resounding cheer, "SAVE YOU MONEY!". His daughter is Elizabeth McIngvale, founder of Peace of Mind, a non-profit organization devoted to the research of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

In 2002, McIngvale co-authored the book Always Think Big with Thomas Duening and John Ivancevich. The book chronicles the ups and downs of McIngvale's entrepreneurial career and offers readers advice on how to effectively market and manage a business. [1]

McIngvale is very active in the Houston community. He has worked with former president George Herbert Walker Bush to raise funds for the Houston Tsunami Relief Fund and the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. He has made sizable donations to local schools, colleges, and charitable efforts. He also has strong ties to the Houston sports teams -- the Houston Astros, Houston Rockets, Houston Texans and to professional tennis.

Contrary to popular belief, McIngvale was not a member of the 1969 University of Texas Longhorns national championship football team. That was George McIngvale.

Rather, Jim McIngvale played at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. McIngvale was a two-year letterman on the North Texas football team in 1972 and 1973, playing linebacker for coaches Rod Rust and Hayden Fry. He started 10 games in 1973, helping the Mean Green tie for a Missouri Valley Conference championship with a 5-1 league record.

In 2006 he appeared on MTV's "Blowin' Up"

McIngvale is such an icon in Houston that he has begun to spawn imitators. In recent years, Hilton Koch of Hilton Furniture & Mattress has produced commercials in the Mattress Mac vein. Hilton's somewhat overblown sales pitch involves him cutting a mattress in half with a chainsaw to demonstrate how he "cuts prices in half". His young children, son Jack and daughter Paris, often appear in commercials with him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_McIngvale

Minute Maid Park juicier than other ballpark naming options Houston Business Journal - June 14, 2002 by Jim Greer

Many Houstonians are looking at Minute Maid Park as a fresher alternative to what might have been.

A day after the Houston Astros announced the ballpark's new name, some locals were sighing with relief. GET FREE BUSINESS SERVICES QUOTES Credit Card Processing Help Desk Support 401K Plans Equipment Leasing Appointment Setting Medical Billing Services Telemarketing Website Design E-Commerce Answering Services Collection Services CD/DVD Replication View More Business Services

"It could have been Gallery Furniture Field or Mattress Mack's Field," said one local fan in a doctor's-office waiting room.

Don't think of Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale as small potatoes in competition with Houston-based Minute Maid, which is part of beverage behemoth Coca-Cola Co. After all, his personal net worth has been put in the ballpark of $100 million.

Sure, that's mere fizz compared to the deep corporate pockets of Coca-Cola and Minute Maid. But McIngvale might have been especially motivated to slap his moniker, or his company's name, atop the ballyard.

He loves to inject his furniture empire's name on sporting events. And, even before Enron Field was temporarily changed to Astros Field, Mack was eyeing naming rights to the downtown ballpark.

Plus, think of the possibilities missed by Gallery Furniture and galleryfurniture.com. During Astros exhibition games in Houston just before the regular season, McIngvale could have passed out mattress coupons to fans, giving new meaning to spring training.

0r, he could have dubbed the baseball park Mattress Mack Arena in a tip of the cap to hockey venues. The nearly perpetual music during Astros games could have included a once wildly popular dance tune, and fans could have done the "Mack-Arena."

Of course, you have to think the north-of-$100 million price tag on naming rights would have blown Gallery Furniture's marketing budget into the outfield Crawford Boxes. That's a lot of cash shoved under countless mattresses.

Another contender for naming rights was thought to be Landry's Restaurants Inc., the Houston-based chain of mainly seafood restaurants. Imagine: "During the weekend home stand, come see the Astros feast on the Florida Marlins at Houston's newly named ballpark, the Crab Shack."

Instead, fans now will squeeze into Minute Maid Park. It's more cozy than the Astrodome, so perhaps it will be nicknamed The Juice Box.

The ballpark's new, breakfast-drink name is a throwback to the Astros from decades past. For a stretch, the team was unofficially known as the "Orange Crush" -- reflecting the grab-your-sunglasses loudness of the ballclub's then Technicolor yawnesque jerseys, or at least its sometimes orange caps.

Perhaps Astros owner Drayton McLane is applying some baseball psychology. After all, if you play in a stadium named for Minute Maid, you'd better be able to concentrate.

Give Atlanta-based Coca-Cola credit for stepping up to the plate on behalf of its juice-peddling subsidiary. Minute Maid totes a major Houston presence.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2002/06/17/newscolumn2.html

Gallery Furniture Stadium

The construction of the Gallery Furniture Stadium came with a price tag of roughly $10 million. Published reports said Jim and Linda McIngvale spent $27 million to bring the Masters Cup to Houston. The 2004 Masters Cup will return to the Westside Tennis Club in November.

http://cohesion.rice.edu/Humanities/sportmanagement/emplibrary/newsletter0104.pdf

Recliner a fit for 'Mattress Mac'

Furniture baron isn't meddling with trainers the way he used to do

By Hank Wesch UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

April 29, 2004

KEVIN FUJII / Houston Chronicle James McIngvale, tennis buff and furniture baron, hopes for a Derby ace with Wimbledon.

* Kentucky Derby field

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When James McIngvale plunged into horse racing, he became both a trainer's dream and nightmare.

A dream because, as the founder of Gallery Furniture, he had plenty of money to spend on promising stock. A nightmare because of his tendency to meddle and be impatient.

But since McIngvale hooked up with three-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert, he is, he says, "a changed man." And if a gray colt named Wimbledon can get to the wire first Saturday in the 130th Kentucky Derby, McIngvale will join the list of rich and, in some cases, colorful clients – Mike Pegram, Prince Ahmed bin Salman, Bob and Beverly Lewis – Baffert has escorted to racing's promised land.

"He got into the business because he wants to win the Kentucky Derby," Baffert said yesterday. "And he's going to win the Derby. I don't know if it's going to be this year or when, but he's going to win one."

McIngvale, 53, was a successful furniture salesman in Dallas before starting his own enterprise, Gallery Furniture, in Houston in 1981.

The story goes that McIngvale began Gallery Furniture with a $5,000 investment and it has grown to annual sales of more than $100 million.

McIngvale's personal involvement in the promotion of the business cannot be overstated. The company spends $8 million to $10 million annually on advertising, and the vintage TV ads in Houston, which mercifully are not shown nationwide, have topped the "worst" list in voting by marketing students at the University of Houston for at least a decade.

Think Cal Worthington, only more bizarre.

"You know, I'm a shameless promoter," said McIngvale, who these days wears patriotic red, white and blue almost everywhere he goes. "And I sell mattresses. I figure if I wear a mattress, people can associate me with what I sell. So I started wearing a mattress, with holes for arms, legs and the head cut out. And I became known as 'Mattress Mac.' "

Born in Starkville, Miss., McIngvale plunged into the racing business in 1996, investing $1 million in five yearlings at various sales with an eye toward the 1998 Triple Crown.

A series of injuries during the winter 1998 racing season at Gulfstream Park in Florida ended that dream and started McIngvale on a jag of interfering with and then firing trainers the way George Steinbrenner used to do with Yankees managers.

He took 15 horses from Nick Zito's barn and moved them to former Zito assistant Steve Moyer. He replaced Moyer with a former night watchman, considered going with Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg – whose last big horse was Alysheba in 1987 – but instead chose his sister-in-law Laura Wohlers as his trainer of record.

"If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't buy so many horses so fast," McIngvale said. "I overbought horses and I bought a lot of bad ones. The lesson I learned was that I should stay the hell out of it and let the people who devote their lives to horse racing run the horse racing business."

That is what he has done since hooking up with Baffert. McIngvale started sending horses to Baffert a couple of years ago, but the two didn't meet face-to-face until last summer at Del Mar. McIngvale has 12 horses with Baffert, and 10 more 2-year-olds are soon to populate the Baffert barns.

"It's hard for people who come into the horse business after being successful in something else to give up the kind of control they're used to having in (the other successful venture)," Baffert said.

"But you can't control a horse and you can't control a horse race like you can other things.

"As a trainer, you almost don't want to be the first (for a hands-on owner). Chances are you're going to get fired and so will a couple of others before (the owner) learns the business."

Wimbledon was a $425,000 purchase at a Florida 2-year-old sale in February of last year. Baffert brought the colt to Del Mar for his racing debut last summer with high praises and expectations.

But Wimbledon ran only once there, finishing fifth of 10 in a 5½-furlong maiden sprint in which the first three finishers – Siphonizer, Cooperation and Minister Eric – have gone on to achieve success. Minister Eric is a Derby entrant.

Wimbledon didn't get his first win until his fifth start, second this year, in February at Santa Anita. A win in the Louisiana Derby in March legitimized his Kentucky Derby candidacy. A ninth-place showing in the Santa Anita Derby dropped his stock somewhat.

Javier Santiago, a top Puerto Rican rider who had been in the United States just over a month, was aboard for the two victories and the Santa Anita Derby disappointment. Jerry Bailey, the top rider in North America and a two-time Derby winner, has taken over for the Run for the Roses.

McIngvale is a tennis buff. He owns the West Side Tennis Club in Houston, which has grass courts modeled on the more famous ones at Wimbledon, the place for which the colt is named.

"I've got a friend with the United States Tennis Association who keeps asking when I'm going to name a horse U.S. Open," McIngvale said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20040429-9999-1s29derby.html

Clients, led by 'Mattress Mack,' help Love Advertising win kudos

Houston Business Journal - September 26, 2003

Started by Brenda Love in 1979 with a start-up capital of $500, Love Advertising Inc. today ranks among the Top 10 advertising agencies in Houston and was voted as the 2002 Agency of the Year by the local chapter of American Women in Radio and Television.

Throughout its 24-year history, the agency has increased in revenue every year.

The agency's most famous client is Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale of Gallery Furniture. Love Advertising has been the Houston icon's only agency in the 22-year history of Gallery Furniture.

Current and former clients include the Houston Automobile Dealers Association, Chevy First Team, Luby's Restaurants, Westside Tennis Club, Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits, Subway Sandwiches, DSI Toys, McGuyer Homebuilders, Houston Boat Shows, Parkway Chevrolet, McGinnis Cadillac, Houston Auto Show, John Moore Services and Pat Buchanan 2000 for President.

Love serves on the boards of numerous organizations, including Cancer Counseling and the Texas Advisory Board of Chuck Norris' Kick Start. She is chairman of the board of the Better Business Bureau of Greater Houston.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2003/09/29/focus11.html?t=printable

Mattress Mac to Help Lead Against Childhood Obesity

Jim McIngvale, Houston’s beloved “Mattress Mac,” contributed $400,000 to the Center for Childhood Obesity and Adolescent & Sports Medicine Clinics at Texas Children’s Hospital to help fight childhood obesity and launch obesity awareness efforts in the community. “I am thrilled to work with Dr. Feigin and the other fine doc- tors at Texas Children’s Hospital on this obesity campaign because I believe obesity is the root cause of many health care problems in this country,” said McIngvale, founder and chief executive officer of Gallery Furniture. In Houston alone, 36.2 percent of children aged 6 to 17 are overweight, and of those about 19.2 percent are obese. According to the National Institutes of Health, one in five American chil- dren are overweight or obese–a number that has increased by 50 percent over the last two decades. The gift from McIngvale will help spearhead a broad range of collaborative research and clinical initiatives to address adolescent nutrition, exercise and mental health conditions and choices that can lead to poor health and injuries, according to Albert C. Hergenroeder, M.D., chief of the Adolescent Medicine and Sports Medicine clinics at Texas Children’s Hospital. “In particular, a disease like obesity is best approached in this holistic way.

If a youth is obese, yet depressed, the depression has to be treated first in order to address the weight issue. This must be addressed at the community level, in a way that families and communities feel like partners in the process,” said Hergenroeder. The Center for Childhood Obesity is led by William J. Klish, M.D., former chief of the Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Service at Texas Children’s, and is one of only seven centers of its kind in the country taking this unique broad-spec- trum approach to preventing childhood obesity. Physicians and researchers at the Center for Childhood Obesity are currently exploring genetic, hormonal and metabolic factors, as well as relationships between these factors and the environment, that can affect and cause weight problems in children. Obesity appears to rise as families continue making poor lifestyle changes, which include consuming large amounts of fast food, eating bigger portions and exercising infrequently, if at all. Black and Hispanic children appear to be most at risk of becoming overweight and obese, added Hergenroeder.

McIngvale’s gift also will support the Center for Childhood Obesity’s awareness efforts with state and local organizations–including the City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Houston METRO, the Harris County Health Department and area school districts to call attention to the obesity epidemic. McIngvale and his wife, Linda, also are active in raising public awareness for mental health disorders such as obsessive- compulsive disorder. Recently, McIngvale was asked by Presidents Bush and Clinton to be the Houston chair of the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Relief Fund and successfully raised $12 million for tsunami victims. “Texas Children’s is excited to partner with Mr. McIngvale because he recognizes that we are a world-class children’s hospital and are committed to improving the health of children and their families in the Houston com- munity and beyond. His influence on this Center will rally the community around this important health issue,” said Hergenroeder.

Mattress Mac to help lead fight against childhood BY ANGELA DOLDER 22 | TEXAS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL www.texaschildrenshospital.org LEADERS IN GIVING obesity Dr. Albert Hergenroeder and Jim McIngvale

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:H9HBKMl3ReUJ:www.texaschildrenshospital.org/WaysToGive/FinancialSupport
/Shine/PDF/Sp06Fight_Against_Childhood_Obesity.pdf+mattress+mack&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=55&gl=us

http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/WaysToGive/FinancialSupport/Shine/PDF/Sp06Fight_Against_Childhood_Obesity.pdf

Fri, Aug 26, 2005

Can Houston Handle Renaming Enron Field for a Furniture Store?

By THADDEUS HERRICK

HOUSTON (AP) — Not long ago, Enron Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp. were the economic engines here, promising to transform the city from oil town to 21st-century metropolis.

Now, with Enron in disgrace and Compaq's pending acquisition by California's Hewlett-Packard Co. in limbo, a new power broker has come forth, a business titan who needs no introduction to the nation's fourth-largest city.

Mattress Mack.

Jim McIngvale, a Houston fixture known by his advertising moniker "Mattress Mack," is hoping to put the name of his Gallery Furniture Co. on Houston's two-year-old former Enron Field — unless the Houston Astros can find a tonier corporate sponsor with deeper pockets.

The baseball team is discussing naming rights with as many as 10 companies, among them Conoco Inc. and Compaq. But Compaq would lose its Houston ties if acquired by H-P, and Conoco is in the midst of a merger with Phillips Petroleum Co. of Bartlesville, Okla., though its headquarters will remain here.

That leaves Mr. McIngvale, a 51-year-old irrepressible pitchman seen or heard in commercials 2,000 times a week, waiting in the wings. "My strategy is to sit back and see what happens," says Mr. McIngvale, who held preliminary discussions with the Astros on Friday. "If the price comes down, I'll go ahead."

The Astros paid Enron $2.1 million to remove its name from the ballpark in an effort to disassociate itself from the company and its inglorious collapse. That the team would consider selling the naming rights to a freeway furniture store illustrates the extent of Houston's recent reversal of fortune.

Mr. McIngvale, on the other hand, has been on an upward trajectory since landing in Houston two decades ago with $5,000 in his pocket. He set up a store on Interstate 45 just north of downtown and launched a relentless, if amateurish, TV-advertising campaign. Today, the ads are little changed, with the manic Mattress Mack promising, in a frantic, nasal pitch, "Gallery Furniture really will save you money!" and then whipping out a wad of cash from his back pocket.

"I'm a huckster," says Mr. McIngvale, who can be found on the floor of his 100,000-square-foot showroom, a theme-park-like place featuring Elvis Presley's 1956 Mark II Lincoln Continental, Shaquille O'Neal's custom-made Reeboks and jewelry that belonged to Princess Diana. "That's all I've ever been."

In recent years, Mr. McIngvale, having made a fortune in furniture, has become much more than that. In 1994, the graying fitness buff and runner bought Houston's languishing Westside Tennis Club and transformed it into a practice facility for the Houston Rockets basketball team. This year, Mr. McIngvale will bring the Davis Cup to Houston.

For the past two years, Mr. McIngvale's Gallery Furniture sponsored a post-season college football game, the galleryfurniture.com Bowl, played in the Astrodome. He is pushing to bring the Olympics to Houston in 2012 and is thinking about going after naming rights to the Rockets' downtown arena, which is supposed to be ready for the 2003-04 season.

Along the way, he has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on charity auctions of grand-champion steers, promoted championship wrestling and horse racing, and even produced — for $10 million — a 1992 Chuck Norris movie called "Sidekicks." "He's a risk taker," says Bill Miller, an Austin political consultant who represents Mr. McIngvale. "He plays big."

Born in Starkville, Miss., Mr. McIngvale moved to Dallas in the 1960s, where his father was an insurance salesman. He grew up watching television, and a Texas TV pitchman named Art Grindle made a particularly strong impression on him. Mr. Grindle sold cars. "He was just in your face," says Mr. McIngvale. "But he broke through the clutter. That's the whole idea."

To a certain extent, Mr. McIngvale fits right in with Houston, a place where men with moxie have always been able to strike it rich. But Houston is now a city that wants desperately to shake its various stereotypes, grow out of its cowboy past and refine its reputation as a hot and humid mosquito-ridden concrete sprawl. Thus Mr. McIngvale presents a problem. He can be sensitive and self-deprecating, but he isn't sophisticated in the way that Houston aspires to be.

"His heart's in the right place," says Dave Walden, a city-hall lobbyist and staff member under former Mayor Bob Lanier. "But he's not the kind of guy you'd invite to a social function."

"I focus on two things, customers and sales," says Mr. McIngvale. "That's all that really matters to me."

Mr. McIngvale has had his problems. In 1978, Texas sued him for selling supposedly discounted group memberships to Dallas fitness clubs that weren't any less expensive than what individuals paid. He ran into further trouble when some of the clubs weren't built. Mr. McIngvale settled, admitting no wrongdoing, but he acceded to a court order barring him from making deceptive sales and put up $40,000 to pay off disgruntled members.

"It was an abysmal business failure, and I blame myself," says Mr. McIngvale, who adds that the ordeal forced him to build his furniture business without borrowing money, a blessing in disguise. Today, he says, Gallery Furniture has $150 million in revenue a year, and he estimates his personal wealth at about $100 million.

In 1994, Houston's Better Business Bureau revoked Gallery Furniture's membership after two competitors accused Mr. McIngvale of misleading the public with an advertising campaign that disparaged particle board, many kinds of which are commonly used in furniture. They said his ads suggested incorrectly that all particle board is of low quality. Mr. McIngvale says his parting of the ways with the Better Business Bureau was mutual.

Mr. McIngvale has held Thanksgiving dinners for the poor and homeless at the downtown convention center. He has bought blocks of football tickets to give away in advertising promotions, so sold-out games weren't blacked out on TV. This month, Mr. McIngvale who was raised Catholic and reconverted in 2000 during a visit to Rome, spent $550,000 to send 300 Catholic schoolchildren on a pilgrimage there.

Still, the question lingers. Would it be a classy thing to do for Houston to have a baseball stadium called Gallery Furniture Field? "We're a global city," says Jim Kollaer, chief executive of the Greater Houston Partnership, an organization that shares in an economic development effort with the chamber of commerce. "I'd like to see a global name on that ballpark."

The Astros decline to discuss the specifics of their negotiations but say the crucial issue in finding a new corporate sponsor is long-term stability, not corporate image. The team doesn't want to sell naming rights yet again. "We're not going to make just any deal," says Pam Gardner, the Astros' president of business operations. "But we'll talk to anyone interested in talking to us."

http://demo.baseview.com/dm5/business/281134187455913.php

Past Events. Houston Baptist University

Mr. Jim "Mack" McIngvale Co-owner of Gallery Furniture How to be Successful Through Making a Connection: Mattress Mack November 20, 2002

Jim McIngvale and his wife, Linda, are the co-owners of Gallery Furniture. "Mattress Mack," as he is know throughout Texas, started Gallery Furniture in 1981 with five thousand dollars and a dream. That dream has grown into one of the most successful businesses in Houston and the single most successful furniture store in the country. The success of Gallery Furniture is truly embodied by Mack's strong commitment to hard work, customer service and grass roots marketing.

http://www.hbu.edu/hbu/Past_Events_2002-2003.asp?SnID=2

September 17, 2006

"Mattress Mack" Makes Offer Customers Can't Refuse

Furniture impresario Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale is offering his customers a deal they can't refuse - free furniture --if the Houston Texans beat Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday, September17th.

"If you buy $3,000 or more worth of furniture from Gallery Furniture between Wednesday, September 13th and take immediate possession by either delivery or pick up by the Texans kickoff at noon on Sunday and the Texans win, we will give you back every cent you spent with us," said McIngvale.

Posted by Cay Dickson at September 17, 2006 01:42 PM

http://www.beloblog.com/KHOU_Weather_Watch/archives/2006/09/mattress_mack_m.html

Houston Alumni Organization Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

HAO Chair’s Award Recipients

Jim McIngvale Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale founded Gallery Furniture in 1981 and quickly turned it in to the second largest single-location furniture store in the United States. Affectionately known as “Mattress Mack” to scores of Houstonians, he is also well-known for his philanthropic contributions to the community, donating furniture to area schools, the poor, and victims of natural disasters.

McIngvale has a long-standing connection to the University of Houston and is thrilled that his daughters Elizabeth and Laura are now Cougars. In 2002, he co-authored Always Think Big with the C. T. Bauer College of Business’ Thomas Duening John Ivancevich. McIngvale has also sponsored numerous UH functions and has served on the Board of Advisors for Bauer College’s Program for Excellence in Selling.

http://www.mycougarconnection.com/awardsdinner/recipients_07.htm

Jim McIngvale Jim Hackett

Business owner says Texas should lead nation in mental-health funding

Jim McIngvale, known throughout Houston as "Mattress Mack," owns Gallery Furniture, one of the largest single-store furniture companies in the United States, with annual sales of $150 million to $200 million and about 300 employees. Mack, as he calls himself, is also known for his civic work and currently serves as the Houston chair of the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Relief Fund.

Mack's advocacy for those with mental illness began four years ago, when his wife came to him and said they needed to talk. "She said there was something terribly wrong with our daughter," Mack recalls. "She was washing her hands 600 times a day."

Mack and his wife took their daughter, Liz, to a therapist who said that Liz had one of the most severe cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder he had ever seen. "We researched our options and took her by force to the Menninger Clinic," says Mack. "I'll never forget seeing Liz with her face pressed against the door, crying, 'Mom, please don't leave me.' She was just 14."

Six or eight weeks later, Liz came home, ready to work on the long, slow process of recovery. "She never went back to school," says Mack. "She graduated by home schooling. She's made a lot of progress. We're proud of her."

“Mental illness needs a face to help people understand it's real. It isn't a disease that affects strangers; it affects families like yours and mine”

Mack admits that his background as a college football player and as an entrepreneur made it hard for him to understand other people's mental-health challenges. "I'd see people with mental illness and wonder why they couldn't just tough it out," he says. "Then I saw with my own eyes. I understand that obsessive-compulsive disorder affects more than one out of 50."

Wasting no time, Mack took the lesson he learned at home and applied it to Gallery Furniture. "We changed our insurance policy to provide mental-health parity," he says. "I'm a lot more sympathetic toward my employees' challenges than I used to be. Now, I'm an advocate, trying to help them get better."

In Mack's view, things are changing for the better, although perhaps a bit more slowly than he would like. "Folks are becoming more aware of mental illness. It's starting to come out of the closet, like cancer 30 years ago," he says. "Educated people are beginning to understand that it's biological."

A born marketer, Mack views the challenge of overcoming the stigma that still surrounds mental illness as a matter of changing public perception. "Mental illness needs a face to help people understand it's real. It isn't a disease that affects strangers; it affects families like yours and mine," he says. "When people understand that, they understand that nothing should differentiate a person with mental illness from someone with a broken arm."

For Mack, it's not a cost issue. "People are concerned about exploding health-care costs, but we tend to focus too much on treatment and less on prevention," he says. "For good companies, it's a matter of doing the right thing. At the end of the day, the litmus test is what did we do to help people. Providing mental health benefits is going to increase productivity, and do good for people."

President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush Heed the Call to Ring in the Season for the Salvation Army

The Bushes manned the kettle stand in front of Gallery Furniture in Houston during an event at the store Monday. The Salvation Army was represented by National Commander Israel L. Gaither, Houston Area Commander Marshall Genser and a four-piece brass band, among others. Gallery Furniture owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, one of Houston’s biggest philanthropists, hosted the President and First Lady. In addition, a huge, 7-foot-tall Red Kettle—one of the world’s largest—was on site.

http://salvationarmy-newyork.org/news/dec18_formerpresidentbush.html

The Daily Cougar Sports Online

Thursday, October 29, 1998 Houston, Texas

Volume 64, Issue 48

Mattress Mack of Gallery Furniture, the entrepreneur/philanthropist, is always in the mood to give. Whether it is selling furniture to flood victims for a fraction of the cost or giving a huge donation to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, which took care of his father, he is always there wielding a pen and his checkbook.

http://www.stp.uh.edu/vol64/48/sports/sports2.html 

May 4, 2005, 2:48PM

Mattress Mack offers to pay Jeff Van Gundy's fine

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Recommend HOUSTON — First, Houston Rockets center Yao Ming offered to pick up half of coach Jeff Van Gundy's $100,000 fine from the NBA.

Now, Gallery Furniture store owner Jim McIngvale says he would like to pay the fine the NBA gave Van Gundy after the coach's accusation that officials are targeting Yao this postseason.

"I would be willing to pay the $100,000 fine that the NBA levied against Mr. Van Gundy because I just admire him for standing up for his employees," McIngvale told Houston television station KRIV on Tuesday.

McIngvale said he knows some will laugh at his offer and see it as nothing but a publicity stunt.

"I've got the $100,000 and I'm ready to pay it. I like coach Van Gundy because he does the right thing whether it's popular or not. I'm ready to pay it because he stood up for employees. I think it's great."

Van Gundy told the station he wouldn't comment until speaking to McIngvale.

McIngvale, who also owns the Westside Tennis Club, said if the NBA had a problem with his offer, then he'd just ask Van Gundy to make an appearance at his store and pay him the $100,000.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3167316.html

Making a difference

'Mattress Mac': Customer service is key to success

Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale told Texas A&M students Monday that monetary success was less important than bettering the world.

"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much money you make, it's the difference you make," McIngvale said.

McIngvale has won awards in the Houston area, ranging from the worst radio commercial to the highest furniture sales in the world, and has made donations to the Ronald McDonald House Charities and the Tsunami Relief Fund for the victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia.

He shared the secrets of his success with A&M students, and emphasized the importance of customer service.

"Are you going to say 'yes' to the customer, or are you going to quote them the rules? It's all about the customer," McIngvale said.

McIngvale said he has personally risen from rags to riches.

"I was 29 years old living with my parents, sacking groceries for $3 an hour," McIngvale said.

He said his boss told him that he had a bad attitude and fired him. After a few weeks, McIngvale began working in the retail industry, selling furniture in Dallas.

"I had finally found something that I was good at doing and began to dream of opening my own store," he said.

McIngvale encouraged students to pursue their dreams as he did, no matter what happens to them in life.

He said an important ingredient to success is being surrounded by successful people and standing up for principles.

"My parents gave me a gift," he said. "It wasn't a car or clothes or computer; these things are temporal, here today gone tomorrow. My parents taught me principles."

Clarissa Garcia, a senior economics major, said that being from Houston, she had heard McIngvale on the radio and was glad to hear him speak in person.

"He's very motivational," Garcia said. "As a Houston native it was a pleasure to listen to."

McIngvale said through hard work and dedication, any dream can come true.

"You can pretty much do anything you want if you want it bad enough," he said. "Hard work isn't a punishment or a curse. Work is man's glory."
Conner Prochaska, a sophomore political science major, said he felt the speech was motivating.

"It made me want to make the world a better place," Prochaska said.

http://media.www.thebatt.com/media/storage/paper657/news/2005/04/26/News/Making.A.Difference-937529.shtml

Texas Medical Center News

Gallery Furniture President Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale donated seven truckloads of home furnishings, including sofas, chairs, tables, beds and lamps.

http://fisherhouse.org/inTheNews/largestEver_04_15_TMC.shtml

Mattress Mack

They say that when you know how to stay grounded on your two feet amidst the success achieved, the more you will be dignified by your accomplishments. This is absolutely true to Jim McIngvale who is also known as Mattress Mack. His name may not immediately ring a bell into your ears but he is that same guy in late night television who dresses up in a bed cushion and waves dollar bills just to promote Gallery Furniture. More than the image he suggests on national broadcast, in real life he is actually a number of people. He is an entrepreneur, movie producer, risk- taker, Houston supporter and author. Jack of all trades, you may think.

In 1981, Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale together with his wife, Linda, moved to Houston. With only $5, 000 he had accumulated by selling a furniture in their former hometown, they established Gallery Furniture in North Freeway which is seen until this juncture. Just like other businesses who started from scratch, it was not a piece of cake for them. McIngvale said that he was attracted to the place because in the 1980’s it was a booming oil and gas town so they as a couple took a shot even with the fact that they did not virtually knew anybody. He was born in Mississippi and was raised up in Dallas but with the trade that he was getting into, he had an experience in the 1970’s where he figured out that he can generate money out of such.

It was only in a small building where Mattress Mack and his wife Linda took office but presently, it is now situated in a 100, 000 square foot showroom. Backed by a warehouse of also similar size, they now have 300 employees. With a fleet of about 60 trucks that are utilized for deliveries, they bring home more than $150 million in annual basis. In Houston, Gallery Furniture is now a household label where they do not only cater to the locals but as well as around the United States. Much more now that there is the convenience of the information superhighway and with just a click of the mouse, orders can be placed.

Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale always say that the recognition they have received is always about a relentless advertising. He added that they hilarious commercials are just part of the scheme to make noise because his philosophy is to be a team player who is not stocked in the corner and watches how the game goes. As much as possible, he is visible especially in their headquarters where there a lot of customers visiting every now and then to take a personal look of their new products. He takes every opportunity to present his brand which he claims that “promotion only serves as the underpinning for what makes his business thrive.”

http://www.mattressideas.com/mattress_mack.html

May 14, 2007

Tie Your Sales Objectives to the Things That Are Important to You

Summary: “Mattress Mack” – Jim McIngvale is a living legend. He loves to work, to delight his customers, reinvent himself and his company, and contributes to the community. He counts his inspiration to leaders like George H. Bush, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, his father George McIngvale “Mr. Mack”, Peter Drucker, Dr. Michael Debakey, his wife Linda, and Daughter Elizabeth. Mr. McIngvale is a salesman’s salesman and his salesman is Jeffrey Gitomer (www.Gitomer.com).

I became aware of Mr. McIngvale when I first moved to Houston in 1993. However, I did not know about his long history in the “Make It Happen City” until I had the honor of getting an appointment with him over breakfast in 2000. From afar, I guess the commercials and his name continued to press the ever important message, that “Gallery Furniture really will save you money.” So, after while, I found it very important to meet the man.

The reason for my appointment with Mr. McIngvale (he reserves “Mr. Mack” for his dad)? I had a client who admired him and I proposed that we take Mr. McIngvale to breakfast (the only time Mr. McIngvale could meet) to pick his brain. I did get that appointment after much persistence and determination (a value he appreciates) – after all I am a former Marine. Well, we had a great breakfast and finally got Mr. McIngvale to relay a few valuable insights that made him a success. He quietly spoke about being relentless when it comes to customer service, working his model to create same day delivery, and his work ethic “early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise”. Well, as we prepared to leave, he picked up the bill for six and I have told that story hundreds of times. I have been fortunate to cross paths with Mr. McIngvale periodically.

I have read both of his books, “Elvis on the Lot” and “Always Think Big” – having him autograph both. I am a fan of Mr. McIngvale for his tenacity (some of which I am working hard to emulate – this is really hard to do).

I had the opportunity to hear Mr. McIngvale speak back to back this week. He spoke at a recent Realtor® luncheon in Northwest Houston and at Open Door Mission. At the Realtor luncheon he spoke about “customer service”, which meant answering the phone when you didn’t feel like it or calling customers back . I have been challenged by Mr. Lupe Fraga, President of Tejas Office Supply and fellow Aggie and influential business owner here in Houston to make sure that I tell people that they need to return calls. I tell people all of the time, if Mr. McIngvale can call people back, so can you. In fact, Mr. McIngvale publishes his personal cell phone – you can call him direct. Well I captured the wind up discussion from Mr. McIngvale here for my great readers:

His admonishment is to write the five things that are important to you and the five selling things you need to do to make each selling day great. At the macro level and at the macro level this could be huge. Selling is an ongoing skill and we should be learning as much as we can about sales.

Finally, Mr. McIngvale spoke at Open Door Mission (I found out about his speaking late in the morning and made a point to rush over to hear him). I currently do some volunteer work at Open Door and one of my guys called me to tell me that he would be there. Mr. McIngvale treated these guys with respect and just shared his story and it has remained the same. He works hard, loves hard work, loves his customers, and challenged the men to develop a “World Class Work Ethic”. He told the men “I am not a show horse, I am a work horse.” He told the guys if they will find an opportunity, start at the bottom, and that they might one day find themselves at the top. The man is amazing and as hard as he works, he cites others who work harder than he. For example, Dr. Michael Debakey, who at 99 continues to teach heart surgery to new students and Dr. Mann who saved his brother George’s life recently, dedicating his personal care and going beyond the call of duty. In the end, a salesman job is never done and the mantra “If it is to be, it is up to me!”, still prevails. Happy selling!!

If you are interested in talking more about selling, I would be happy to talk to you. You can reach me at 281.463.4560 or e-mail: info@marketingdynamics.org

Andy Valadez is President and Founder of Marketing Dynamics, a Strategic Marketing firm working with emerging entrepreneurs and growth-oriented companies, movie makers, authors, musicians, media personalities, television shows, technologists, networkers, non-profit organizations, and real estate professionals with gross annual sales under $50M. Andy graduated from Texas A&M University with a BBA Degree in Marketing focusing on Public Relations, Promotion Strategy, and Sales. He also received an Applied Business Certificate from Tulane University in New Orleans and served our country as a United States Marine during Desert Storm/Shield.

Posted at 07:24 AM | Permalink

http://hbs.typepad.com/valadez/2007/05/tie_your_sales_.html

Mattress Mack Quote

"Nobody makes money when you're just selling a commodity. You have to make it bigger than it is, whether it's selling furniture or turning a baseball game into this incredible, fun experience, and the best way to do it is by making things fun."—Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale, CEO, Gallery Furniture

http://www.holtzbrinckpublishers.com/academic/Book/BookDisplay.asp?BookKey=2746538

Kickstart

Sidekicks was very successful. A friend of mine put up the money for it—a guy named “Mattress Mac.” Mattress Mac owned—and he still does—one of the most successful furniture companies in Texas. He was actually the first man to put up money for KICKSTART, then known as Kick Drugs Out of America. I met him and his wife, Linda, at a charity function and started telling them about what I wanted to do with at-risk kids and all that. The next day, I went to their office and told them more about the program. Linda pulled out her checkbook and started writing. I was wondering how much they would give me—$5,000 maybe? I would have been excited about that, but she handed me a check for $50,000! Then Mac started promoting the program on his radio spots. All of a sudden, we had people coming in. I don’t know if I would have gotten it started without their help.

http://www.blackbeltmag.com/archives/296

Houston reaches out to help evacuees

Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale says Hurricane Katrina evacuees are welcome to spend the night in his Gallery Furniture store.

The store is in northwest Houston in the 6000 block of I-45.

Evacuees can also get a shower, a free meal and a mattress to sleep on.

Just go to the store around 10 p.m. at night and stay until it opens in the morning.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou050831_cd_houston.109465ab.html

Secret of Success

His real name is Jim McIngvale. They call him Mattress Mac. Twenty-five years ago he dove headlong into the furniture business with just five thousand dollars. It's all he had. This year that furniture store will do nearly 200 million dollars in a single location, placing it among the most successful stores in the world.

Jim occasionally buys a day of my time to pick my brain and bounce ideas off me. I should be paying him.

During our last visit, I asked my friend if I could share the secret of his success with you. Graciously, he allowed it: As simple as this may sound, Jim's 200 million dollar secret is immediate delivery. When people buy new furniture, they want to see it in their home immediately. "Buy it today and we'll deliver it tonight," is Jim's angle. He doesn't do special orders. "If you see it, we've got it." Remember all those people who said they wanted to pick from a large selection of fabrics and wood grains? Tell them you'll deliver their new sofa in 8 to 12 weeks. Then Jim will show them something entirely different but offer to deliver it immediately. Guess who usually wins?

http://www.brandingblog.com/advertising/index.html

Gallery Furniture to give a whole house worth of furniture.

Susan Benoit Lychner Unit Liaison determined to help former co-worker in need

Susan Benoit’s letter wasn’t addressed to that merry old soul at the North Pole, but she still got what she wanted for Christmas. And as always, what she wanted was to make Christmas merry for someone in need. So on the day before Thanksgiving, Benoit wrote a letter to Jim McIngvale of Gallery Furniture notoriety telling him about the misfortunes of Kareasa Hicks, a former correctional officer at the Pam Lychner State Jail in Humble where Benoit has worked as a Human Resources assistant the past four years. Susan Benoit sitting in front of fountain with statue Susan Benoit, Human Resources Assistant at the Pam Lychner Unit sits in front of a statue (dedicated to the Unit's namesake an her daughters who were killed in a plane crash) outside the unit. She wrote a letter to Gallery Furniture on behalf of a correctional officer who l ost all her belongings in a flood in Houston and then was diagnosed with Cancer and lost her left leg. The letter prompted Gallery Furniture to give the officer a whole house worth of furniture. She also raised a considerable amount of money and presents for her children as well.

Benoit wrote that Hicks, a 27-year-old single parent to three young children, desperately needed furnishings because in June 2001 she had lost all her household possessions to floodwaters spawned by Topical Storm Allison. And just two months later, she was forced to take medical leave because of a persistent pain in her left hip and leg, a symptom that would eventually lead to the discovery of a cancerous tumor, and, in November 2002, the amputation of her left leg at a Houston hospital. And since exhausting her sick leave in March after nearly five years of service, Hicks, after paying her bills, had only what was left from a small disability check to provide for her family at Christmas, Benoit wrote.

"I just told the truth," Benoit said about her heart-wrenching letter to the man widely known as "Mattress Mac." "She needed help."

Benoit wrote to McIngvale after a co-worker told her that the furniture store selects 15 needy families from the Houston area each holiday season and provides them with free furnishings.

"After that, I saw a couple of commercials and thought, well, I’m just going to try it," Benoit said.

Georgia Ann Spears, Special Events director for Gallery Furniture, read Benoit’s letter and pulled it from among the 8,000 letters the company received this year.

"It touched me, because I thought it was so sad that she had all these problems and this cancer and she had taken all of her sick leave and then they had to let her go," Spears said. TDCJ Employees greet Kareasa Hicks at her home as they surprise her with Christmas gifts and help Gallery Furniture deliver a house full of furniture in her time of need. Photo courtesy of Susan Benoit Just days after writing her letter, Benoit was informed that Hicks was one of 30 persons still being considered for furnishings from Gallery. All the store needed was additional information about her dire situation, said Benoit who immediately started collecting information and personal references from Hicks’ friends and former colleagues.

"They wanted to know everything, just to prove my story, that I wasn’t just trying to get something for somebody when they didn’t really need it," she said.

Meanwhile, Benoit was also busy collecting cash and toys from unit employees to present to Hicks and her children at Christmas. In all, Lychner employees gave more than $1,300 in cash and more toys than could fit under the family’s Christmas tree.

"?With the gifts, you couldn’t see the tree," Benoit beamed. "We wanted it to be a Christmas they would always remember."

It would turn out to be.

With less than two weeks left before Christmas and just days before Hicks was to return home from the hospital, Benoit received word that Gallery would indeed be providing the Hicks family with much-needed furnishings. It was delivered the day after Hicks returned home and unloaded by more than 30 of her former colleagues at Lychner. Gallery provided Hicks with a dining room set, a sleeper sofa, a love seat, end tables, a coffee table, lamps, bunk beds for her two boys, ages 4 and 8, a twin bed for her 6-year-old daughter, and two king-size beds for Hicks and her brother who helps with her care. Sheets, pillows and comforters were also provided.

"She couldn’t believe so much was there," Benoit said about Hicks’ reaction. "We all started crying. It was nice."

Spears said Gallery has provided free furnishings for needy families the past 19 years.

"Mac believes in giving back to the community, and he thought this would be a good way to give something back," Spears said about the annual giveaway. "Of course, we can’t give everybody something, but we certainly do try to do what we can. Like we always say, no one can do everything, but every one can do something."

Benoit, who serves as the unit’s liaison to the Correctional Peace Officer’s Foundation, strives to do something for someone each holiday season because she, too, has suffered loss. While living in Liberty in May 2000, she and her husband Edmund, a major at the Hightower Unit in Dayton, and their two children lost most of their possessions to floodwaters.

"I’ve been through a flood and know what it’s like not to have anything, not to have any assistance," Benoit said about her efforts to aid Hicks and her family this year. "We have to help each other. You have to be there for somebody else, not just yourself. That’s what Christmas is all about."

http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/mediasvc/connections/JanFeb2003/saluting_v10no3.html

About Mack

About The Speaker Known as "Mattress Mac" to just about anyone in Houston who has ever turned on a TV, Jim McIngvale is the owner of Gallery Furniture. A true supporter of the community in which he lives, "Mattress Mac" said he believes in supporting Houston activities that benefit the youth of the community. He is constantly asked to give speeches and rarely, if ever, refuses. He estimates the number to be "hundreds a year". He supports an impressive number of events, including the Houston Women's Tennis Championship and Chuck Norris' Houston-based 'Kick Drugs out of America', a program that teaches inner city kids in Houston to develop character traits such as self-reliance, responsibility and discipline. "My wife, Linda, and I have long believed that we have to give back to the community from which we derive our support. " McIngvale said. Gallery Furniture is located near Intercontinental Airport at 6006 I 45 North between Tidwell and Parker where he really will "SAVE YOU MONEY $$$".

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:YKYYytfkbs4J:www.apics-houston.org/LinkClick.aspx%3Flink%3DNovember2000
HOR.pdf%26tabid%3D88%26mid%3D493+mattress+mack&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=411&gl=us

Gallery Furniture Gives to the Honors Program

At the Honors Program Parents’ Weekend Luncheon, Director Glenn Sanford presented an overview of the growth of the Honors Program. He talked with parents about the new facilities in ABIV, the computer lab, seminar classroom, and offices, now made avail- able for the increased Honors students enrollment. He also noted several new computers had been added to Spivey Hall, which serves as the Honors Program residence hall, and to the Honors Study Lounge in Frels Hall. He further mentioned that a few used desks had been provided for the study lounge from the Surplus Property Department. However, the lounge was lacking in comfortable seat- ing for students to study and use the computers. Dr. Sanford inquired if any parents were able to donate used couches, tables, lamps or rugs that could furnish the study areas. At once, Y. G. and Cynthia Hinson, parents of freshman Elizabeth Hinson, offered to contact friend and owner of Gallery Furniture, Jim McInvale. Soon thereafter, Dr. Sanford was on his way to Gal- lery Furniture to select two leather sofas, a coffee table, and large area rug, all contributed by Gallery Furniture. With the gift of an end table by Cynthia Hinson and a lamp by Dr. Sanford, the Frels Study Lounge is now fully furnished and used throughout the day and evening. As membership in the Honors Program continues to grow, the additional study areas, fully equipped with computers, desks, print- ers, and now comfortable furniture, are in constant use and prove to be valuable additions to the program. The Honors Program stu- dents are most appreciative for being selected as recipients of Gal- lery Furniture’s generosity and the thoughtful involvement of Mr. and Mrs. Hinson. Once again, “Mattress Mac” has proven to be one of the area’s outstanding philanthropists.

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:odaRk0L_Jf4J:www.shsu.edu/~org_shsupa/newsletters/Fall2003.pdf+mattress+mack
&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=437&gl=us

Scholarship Sponsor

Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale of Gallery Furniture in Houston sponsored one four-year university scholarship.

http://www.window.state.tx.us/comptrol/fnotes/fn0111/help.html

UT Game

Local businessman Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale has pledged his support to help promote the UT game and surrounding events by spending $200,000 to enhance Houston's public perception

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default.asp?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot/news/AFN1623544.htm

Childhood Obesity

Jim McIngvale, Houston’s beloved “Mattress Mac,” contributed $400,000 to the Center for Childhood Obesity and Adolescent & Sports Medicine Clinics at Texas Children’s Hospital to help fight childhood obesity and launch obesity awareness efforts in the community.

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:H9HBKMl3ReUJ:www.texaschildrenshospital.org/WaysToGive/FinancialSupport
/Shine/PDF/Sp06Fight_Against_Childhood_Obesity.pdf+Jim+McIngvale&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=19&gl=us

Mattress Mac Helps Lead Fight Against Childhood Obesity

Dr. Albert Hergenroeder and Mattress Mac, Jim McIngvale Dr. Albert Hergenroeder and Jim McIngvale

Jim McIngvale, Houston's beloved “Mattress Mac,” has personally contributed $400,000 to the Center for Childhood Obesity and the Adolescent & Sports Medicine Clinics at Texas Children's Hospital to help fight childhood obesity and launch obesity awareness efforts in the community.

http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/WaysToGive/FinancialSupport/Leaders.aspx

May 26, 2004

Guest Speaker: Jim McIngvale

Today Jim McIngvale, owner of Gallery Furniture (http://www.galleryfurniture.com) was our guest speaker and he told us about himself, the gift of living in America and the gift of the work ethic that he received from his dad.

"I received two great gifts. (1) I got a great work ethic from my dad. He's 85 and I am so lucky to have him still working with me 3 days a week at Gallery Furniture and (2) I won the lottery...I live in America, the greatest country in the world."

"I wish that every school kid could go overseas for just one day to see what it is like in other countries. If they could, then they would realize how good it is to live in America." Jim McIngvale, Laura Hogan (one of our scholarship winners) and Gerald Cothran, the current Rotary president.

Jim and Gallery Furniture are involved in scholarship programs and charitable programs all over our area and Gallery Furniture sponsors a number of events which raise money for good causes.

(All quotes are paraphrased humbly by the webmaster.)

http://www.deerparkrotary.org/news.htm

WAPEN presents Jim McIngvale, Making a Difference

by Beth Tabak

Click to enlarge photo. South West Area Professional Express Network Presents:

Jim McIngvale Topic: "Making a Difference"

Tuesday May 17th

Jim McIngvale, known affectionately as "Mattress Mac" with his uncompromising attitude has built the biggest single retail store in American which this year will do in excess of $150 million worth of business. Mac sells more furniture per square foot of retail space than any store in the world!

Jim McIngvale is one of Houston's most well-known philanthropists and community leaders. Jim's core values can best be summed up in his book, Always Think Big where he outlines 7 principles he uses every day in his approach to marketing and management. They are the compass points Click to enlarge photo. that guide him in solving problems, making decisions, and delighting customers. Mack's lessons are applicable to work settings, career management, community involvement, and life. They are specific, practical and powerful.

Learn more about Jim at his web site: Gallery Furniture

http://www.sugarlandtoday.com/ClubsNOrgs/SWAPEN.html?article=2453480-78752

$100 million in Katrina Relief Funds

McIngvale, who is helping to lead a private effort to raise $100 million in relief funds, spoke about his belief that, from those to whom much has been given, much is expected. He praised the work of those at the health science center and Texas Medical Center who use their talents to help those affected by the tsunami.

http://distinctions.uthouston.edu/archive/2005/April/tsunami.html

$1 Million Donation to UNT Athletic Center

UNT alumnus Jim McIngvale (center) was recognized at the Feb. 12 Mean Green men's basketball game for his $1 million contribution to the university to help fund a new athletic center. Rick Villarreal, athletic director, and North Texas Dancers including Natalie Cox presented McIngvale with an artist's rendering of the building.

http://www.unt.edu/inhouse/february272004/mcingvalegift.htm

Furniture Donation

Jim McIngvale, owner of Gallery Furniture, receives thank you cards made by adolescents receiving treatment at The University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center (HCPC). McIngvale donated furniture to be used in the center’s new Residential Treatment Program, which opened in January. Joining McIngvale is Susanne Foster, HCPC’s director of social services. Photo by Geri Konigsberg

http://publicaffairs.uth.tmc.edu/distinctions/archive/2006/February/kids.html

Darrell R. Dickey Football Practice Facility

After more than six months of debate, North Texas made a decision on the name of its football practice fields. They will be named the Darrell R. Dickey Football Practice Facility.

The name was added to the sign next to the fields today.

UNT officials were set to name the fields after booster Jim McIngvale, who donated $1 million toward construction of the Mean Green Athletic Center. McIngvale later came back and asked that they be named after Dickey shortly after UNT's head football coach was fired last season. Dickey and McIngvale later requested they be named after Andrew Smith, a former UNT quarterback who died in a car accident.

In the end, UNT named the fields after Dickey, a move the school's Board of Regents approved.

I will be in the minority on this one, but naming the fields after Dickey was the right move. Dickey led UNT to four straight Sun Belt Conference titles and the Mean Green Athletic Center was built largely because of McIngvale's donation, one he gave the university partly because of his friendship with Dickey.

Dickey's teams hit the skids his last two seasons, but what he accomplished in his four-year run in the Sun Belt moved the program forward. Dickey's tenure is worth honoring, and naming the practice fields named after him is the best way to do just that.

For more on the new Darrell R. Dickey Football Practice Facility, see tomorrow's edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle.

http://meangreen.beloblog.com/index.xml

Gallery Furniture Houston Business Journal Outstanding Large Corporation

Gallery Furniture owner Jim McIngvale is the consummate role model for philanthropy and community involvement, both through his personal donations of time and money and through generous contributions from Gallery Furniture. McIngvale applied his dynamic personality to lead fundraising efforts for victims of the Asian Tsunami disaster and for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The store's recent $3 million gift to the College will fund research into obsessive-compulsive disorder.

http://www.bcm.edu/solutions/v2i3/heroes.html

Letting Evacuees Stay at Gallery

Update 3: Here comes Matress Mac. He’s “letting frustrated evacuees spend several nights at his Gallery Furniture store in north Houston. “We’ve decided to open our doors up. Some of the people have run out of money for hotel rooms,” said Gallery Furniture owner Jim McIngvale. McIngvale also provided food for those displaced families.” Mac rocks!

http://www.texasrainmaker.com/category/houston/page/2/

Donation to The Roger Clemens Foundation

Jim McIngvale at Gallery Furniture for the generous electronics and furniture donations.

http://www.rogerclemensonline.com/new/news22.htm

KIPP Funding

Other Houston-based funders to participate in this growth campaign include: The Brown Foundation ($2 million), the Fondren Foundation ($1 million), the Kinder Foundation ($1 million), Jim McIngvale ($1 million), the Rockwell Fund ($500,000), David Weekley ($500,000), the City of Houston ($500,000), Ann and Johnny Johnson ($250,000), and the M.D. Anderson Foundation ($250,000).

http://www.kipp.org/08/pressdetail.cfm?a=318

Westside Tennis Club Events

Linda and Jim McIngvale put the fast serve on philanthropy at the Westside Tennis Club during the 2006 U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships April 10-16, scheduling a number of special events benefiting pediatric, uterine and gastric cancer research at M. D. Anderson.

“Hats Off to M. D. Anderson,” a ladies fashion show and luncheon on April 11 featuring designs by Vanessa Riley, raised more than $10,000 for uterine cancer research. Guests were invited to wear a hat in honor of women undergoing cancer treatment at M. D. Anderson. Dozens of hats were donated to M. D. Anderson’s Department of Volunteer Services, which maintains a hat cart for patients in clinic areas and at Jesse H. Jones Rotary House International. The hats, provided free of charge, are welcomed by those who have lost their hair during chemotherapy.

On April 12, invited guests gathered in the formal dining room at Westside for cocktails, dinner, an off-court glimpse of the tennis pros and a chance to shake hands with honorees President George H.W. and Barbara Bush. M. D. Anderson President John Mendelsohn, M.D., made an appearance after playing in the Pro Am. Tennis pros in the crowd included Tommy Haas and James Blake. The reception raised almost $20,000 for the Robin Bush Child and Adolescent Clinic in the Children’s Cancer Hospital at M. D. Anderson, named in memory of the daughter the Bushes lost to leukemia in 1953, two months before her 4th birthday.

Tennis pro Blake, who lost his father to stomach cancer in 2004, donated $25,000 to gastric cancer research under the direction of M. D. Anderson’s Lee M. Ellis, M.D., professor of surgical oncology and cancer biology. Blake took time before his April 10 match to visit the Children's Cancer Hospital, playing “peewee” tennis with pediatric patients on a miniature court in the Hoglund PediDome before visiting children and their families in the Robin Bush Child and Adolescent Clinic.

In the midst of the U.S. Tennis Association activities, M. D. Anderson’s OR Nursing Tennis Team – Brian Jahrsdoerfer, Michel Lavoie, Peter Okpokpo and Warner Tse – broke the Guinness World Record in doubles April 15, playing for 48 hours, 15 minutes and raising approximately $15,000 for pediatric cancer research at the Children’s Cancer Hospital. Co-workers, friends and family members cheered the players and served four-hour shifts for around-the-clock monitoring and medical support.

Other M. D. Anderson proceeds resulted from fastest-serve booth ticket sales and Jim McIngvale’s opening night Vince Young pass challenge, bringing overall event contributions to almost $140,000.

http://www.mdanderson.org/publications/promise/display.cfm?id=2430b91e-9966-4bc1-a7815b4af8eaccc6&method=displayfull

Bush-Clinton Tsunami Fund

The Bush-Clinton Houston Tsunami Fund grew out of this national movement, inspired and chaired by local businessman Jim McIngvale and his wife Linda.

http://www.slembassyusa.org/press_releases