Our fourth runner-up for the 2001 Feste Award is Goofy A. Hoofy. Mr. Hoofy is one of the most beloved Fools in the entire Community and has been a member since January of 1999. At 55 years young, he lives in Tennessee with his wife and four cats (five if you count the one hiding under his deck.) Widely appreciated for his sharp sense of humor and willingness to talk about most any subject, GoofyHoofy is probably best known for his contributions to the AOL Time Warner discussion board.
Goofy claims that he was once the spitting image of 70's rocker Duane Allman, but is reasonably sure he has the edge on Duane nowadays. Recently, GoofyHoofy granted an interview with a Fool reporter but declined to give his real name. We can only surmise that he must be in the federal witness protection program. To get an even deeper appreciation for GoofyHoofy and his contributions to the Fool Community, check out the following links and interview:
What kind of work do you do? I'm retired. I used to run big-ass radio stations in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Boston. I've also owned three small businesses, all somehow related to "media." More recently I started a radio network of about 400 stations for one of the national cable channels, then I sold most of my AOL and Cisco in late 2000/early 2001 and decided to kick back. <grin>
What's your quick bio? I went to Lehigh University to become a Mechanical Engineer. However the school had two campus radio stations and I liked being there more than in physics class -- and my grades proved it. I decided I didn't want to go there anymore, shortly after they confirmed my dismissal with a letter to my parents about my lack of attendance, grades, and interest. I transferred to a small college outside of Boston, where I majored in Speech/Radio/TV.
The next 10 years was spent in the tall grass of New England as a DJ -- and everything else -- at small radio. Then I got a job as an underling at a 50,000 watt Clear Channel station in a Top 10 market, worked my way up to Program Director and eventually moved as General Manager to other stations in the chain, all blowtorch monsters. It was a kick! Then the company got a new president, and as I politely say, we didn't laugh at the same jokes. I left, and my wife began to pursue her career in earnest; she wound up being VP of a national cable channel, and supporting me for a while.
Do you remember what brought you to the Fool for the first time? Not specifically, but I came in through AOL, before the Fool moved to the Web. It was definitely the discussion boards. I remember that.
What made you stick around? The amazing idea that "people" could talk about their stocks, instead of the fast-talking broker I was using (good tho' he was), and that I could ask any question I wanted and would probably get a reasonable answer within an hour or two. Sometimes I'd get a dozen answers, all different!
Big or small, everyone has some things they've done that they're proud of. Tell us about them. You're practically begging me to brag. OK, unaccustomed as I am... I invented and ran a weird album rock format on the AM dial on a 250 watt radio station in Cambridge Mass and brought the station out of the loss column and into the black. We only got away with it because we had absentee corporate owners who had given up after years of losses, were headquartered in California, and had no idea what we were doing. We had two full-time employees; I was one of them, the receptionist was the other. It's one of those "you won't believe this..." kinds of stories which I rarely get to tell, so thanks for reading it.
Life Goals? Nope. I've mostly reached them. Financial independence. Great marriage. Wonderful parents. What else is there?
Tell us anything you want to share that we haven't already covered. OK. I'm having a ham sandwich and soup for lunch today, and probably pork chops for dinner tonight. Say, how much detail did you want me to get into here?
[Editor's Note: If you'd like to read more about GoofyHoofy, check out the remainder of his interview on the Fool site. If you're not already a member of the Fool Community, please consider joining us today.]
