I head up all things marketing for the CRI and basically consider myself the mailman for the organization. I take CRI information and data and deliver it to the people who want to make the most informed decision possible when purchasing flooring.Prior to joining CRI, I spent 20 years as journalist, first as a sports writer and later as a business reporter. I spent the next stage of my life working for a public relations firm, serving as the senior communication specialist for The Moriah Group in Chattanooga. Scattered among the many responsibilities at The Moriah Group, and the work I was most proud of, were handling media campaigns for several elected officials during their campaigns and handling the PR for the local school system.
I live in Harrison, Tenn., with my beautiful wife Kristi who also happens to be the wonderful mother of my two children: Emma (10) and Connor (6). I sit on the board of directors for the Roman Open charities, Dalton’s largest local charity, and head up the marketing committee for the local Boys Scouts Association. I am an avid golfer in my spare time -- which with two kids playing softball/baseball the word spare time is laughable – and I travel entirely too much. I attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and majored in public relations.
OK….that is what I do, now who am I?
I’m a newspaper junkie, real old school I guess you would say. I read the Chattanooga and Dalton papers daily, cover to back, and it saddens me to think that one day we might be without that medium in our lives, or that my children will never grown up to appreciate the quality of real print journalism. I hate sound bytes. Give me details, baby.
Like the growing majority, though, I have become reliant on the internet to read newspapers as well. I have all four major newspapers in Alabama, the Denver Post, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Nashville Tennessean, Knoxville News-Sentinel, Washington Post, New York Times, Cincinnati Inquirer, Dayton (Ohio) Daily News (home of Hal McCoy, the best baseball beat writer who ever lived) and Wall Street Journal bookmarked under my favorites.
As you might gather, I am passionate about sports and have been very fortunate in my life to have been to just about every major sporting event one can imagine often times reporting on them for the paper. I’ve been to Super Bowls, World Series, NCAA Final Fours, all of the major College Bowl games, the Kentucky Derby, PGA Championship, NASCAR races and hung out with some pretty interesting characters to say the least.
[Bo Jackson on the baseball field; I'm in the background.]
I saw Jack Nicklaus win his final green jacket at the Masters in 1986 and nothing has every compared to that kind of emotion as far as covering a sporting event. Aside from golf, my real passion is baseball.I’ve been to all but four (oops, make that six with the two New York palaces opening this year) and in my extensive travels for the carpet industry these days you had better believe that the first thing I check when I’m heading into a city is whether or not the home team is playing. I’ve never caught a foul ball in well over 500 major and minor league games I’ve attended. I’ve sat with Joe DiMaggio for hours and bit my tongue in order to not ask him about Marilyn Monroe. I’ve had Charles Barkley curse a teammate for being rude to me and make him apologize. I’ve wrestled with Bo Jackson. I’ve played golf with Chi Chi Rodriquez, Tom Lehman and Vince Gill (and since I’m not much of country music guru, I asked this fella named Vince after a few holes “So Vince, what do you do for a living?”)
I used to drive the legendary sportscaster Lindsey Nelson from Knoxville to Chattanooga to visit his daughter and soak in the stories about the Amazin’ Mets of 1969 of which Lindsay was the voice. I met Mickey Mantle as a youngster, ate lunch at Pizza Hut with Tom Seaver and covered Dale Earnhardt’s Daytona 500 win.
I knocked John McCain to the ground as he was coming out and I was going into a restroom in DC. I’ve been in a movie called “A Winner Never Quits: The Pete Gray Story” that starred Keith Carradine as the one-armed baseball player. Christie Brinkley once introduced me as her friend to her then-husband Billy Joel after a concert.
I’ve worn an Olympic Gold medal around my neck. I’ve played basketball at Rupp Arena, the Georgia Dome and the Superdome. I played on a celebrity softball team that included Pat Dye, Wimp Sanderson, Pat Sullivan and Ray Goff (all head coaches in the SEC).
I’ve been to Graceland 11 times, the Country Music Hall of Fame once and the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame once (where a colleague of mine starting shouting at a customer in the gift shop who was holding the line to hurry it up only to find out that the customer was Joe Walsh.)
I once ran into Al Pacino at the Seattle airport and shouted “Whooo Haaa,” his famous line from Scent of Woman at him, which he acknowledge with a fist held high. I’ve survived an earthquake (Alaska 1964), a volcanic eruption (Mount St. Helens 1989) and a F3 tornado (Chattanooga 1974) and am thankful I live far enough inland to avoid Hurricane season.
I’ve done the only sit-down interview with Summerfield K. Johnston, perhaps the richest Coca-Cola bottling magnate in the world who routinely refuses press interviews and once threatened to fire a staff member for sending a picture of him to Forbes Magazine to run with its richest 100 people story.
I’ve been to 49 states and have Hawaii in my sights. I can’t sing, play a musical instrument or have any musical talent whatsoever, but can put on a show like no other playing Rock Band with my kids on the Wii. I’ve shook George H. Bush’s hand, saw Dr. J play his last NBA game, and my wife thinks if I get one more gold crown tooth I’ll be worth more dead than alive.
I love to read as much as I love to write and anything that Stephen King, Dean Koontz, or Nelson Demille has published has been read by these eyes. I can trace my love for reading back to my childhood when I couldn’t wait for another Hardy Boys book to come out. Frank and Joe Hardy…now those guys could solve a mystery or two!
I have an interest in politics and had the good fortune to be involved with several state campaigns in Tennessee, and I have to admit, I really love writing a good political speech. When now Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) won the mayoral race in Chattanooga, I got to pen his acceptance speech.
[Connor, Emma and I at an Auburn game.]
Other than those few things, I’ve lived a pretty boring life!Ok, so what does a political sports junkie know about carpet? Well, I know as much as anybody who cares enough to research the fuzzy stuff. And well, it kinda falls under the job description to at least know a little bit what you’re talking about. Actually, the one thing that I think even the most common layperson will find intriguing is the amount of data that has been accumulated over the years on floor covering. (And you thought it was just something to walk on tsk tsk)
I think you’ll be amazed to find out that carpet may be the MOST tested product that is brought into your house. When I first came to work for CRI, the extent of my carpet knowledge could be summed up in three words: It feels good. And the funny thing is that after almost eight years here now, those three words still stand at the core of what I think remains the greatest benefit of carpet.
Fortunately, I have gotten quite an education into the world of carpet over those years and my vocabulary now includes a great many words to describe additional benefits of the product. From acoustics to insulation, audibility to ergonomics, carpet is the most versatile flooring you can put down. I’m amazed at the research that has been done and what an enhancement carpet is in creating a better environment for living, working, learning and healing.
My hope is that this blog will both answer any questions you might have and make you ask even more questions as we deluge you with data and information we feel is relevant to help each and every one of you make an informed decision when choosing a product.
You can reach me at JBeach [at] carpet-rug [dot] org.
~ James
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