We were very privileged to have Tom Monaghan as our first guest speaker in 2011. Many thanks to Richard Gargano for his effort in getting Mr. Monaghan to address our club members, spouses and other guests.
Tom Monaghan is most known as the founder of Domino's Pizza, as well as owner of the Detroit Tigers. This was a dream come true for such a sports fan. He is known for his kindness and generosity, founding the first US Catholic university in 50 years. He spoke of his childhood in an orphanage and his desire to make a better life, leaving the orphanage at the age of 12. Tom was not a particularly good student and barely graduated from high school. In spite of that, he had a desire to attend college, but had little money to do so. Tom went into the seminary for a year but when he became attracted to a young lady, that ended his idea of becoming a priest. He joined the Marine Corps in order to have his tuition paid for. He felt that it was the best decision he had ever made. The rigors and discipline of the military gave him more focus to his life.
In 1960, Tom and his brother borrowed $900. to buy Dominick's Pizza in Ypsilanti, MI. At that time Tom knew nothing about making pizza but gave it his all. He worked hard and long hours making very little money. The first week of business he made just $99. and could not even afford to have a phone. Tom later went to the college town of Mt. Pleasant Michigan to open another pizza store and there he met Margie, who is his wife of 48 years.
After opening many pizza shops in college towns, Monaghan was forced to change the name, Domino's was chosen. Because of the fast growth of adding new stores , he almost went bankrupt. Eventually he emerged, being able to pay all his creditors.
Between 1980 and 1989, Domino's became the fastest growing chain in the world and Monaghan remained it's sole owner. Sales topped a billion dollars and Domino's
became the world's number one pizza maker with over 5,000 locations.
After selling the business, the Domino's chain went into a free fall. Tom had to take charge again to turn things around, which was no easy task.
When Tom began making millions upon millions, he bought several boats, planes, helicopters and many luxury cars. At that time, he felt the need to impress people with his sucess and he certainly was able to.
A turning point in his life came when he read a book called "The Weight of Glory" written by C.S. Lewis. That book gave Tom an awareness of the change he needed in his life. Monaghan gave up building his dream house and sold off many of his "toys", wanting to make the world a better place.
Monaghan's new focus was to found a catholic university with high academic and moral standards. Being unable to get approval in Ann Arbor, he decided to try the Naple's area and we all know the rest of the story. We all have been encouraged to visit Ave Maria to see what progress has been made there.
We will remember this day for many years and we thank Mr. Monaghan for sharing his story. Again, Mr. Monaghan showed his generosity and gave a copy of his book, Pizza Tiger, to all who attended.
