Reel Me In! The Art of Fishing and Selling by Travis McWhorter
Travis McWhorter was born in Olney,
Texas on November 19, 1943. He was a
war baby. His dad worked on an assembly
line building military planes while his Mom
stood in lines to get the essentials.
Moving to Megargel, Texas in 1945
became one of the biggest influences of his
life. The small-town environment nurtured
by many relatives living nearby gave Travis
a sense of belonging and confidence that
would serve him well in his future life.
Travis' parents were merchants. So were his
grandparents and several uncles and aunts.
Travis grew up working in the family grocery
store. His uncle Kenneth taught him to
sell, his dad taught him hard work and
honesty, and his grandad T.B. McWhorter
passed down a gift for the gab. Humor,
determination, and discipline came from
his mother Leo, and patience and bread
making from his "Grannie" McWhorter.
Friendly competition came from having
three sisters: Linda Womack, Wanda
Revell, and Gwen Cook. They all became
great influences in the Texas public school
system. All of them worked hard at making
excellent grades and never slacked off
in trying to out score their one and only
brother. They probably all could have beat
him, but he never had to admit it because
they were never in the same classes.
Sports and politics were two of
Travis' early loves. He was class president
five out of six times during his junior high
and senior high school years. He loved
that position. He started in all sports--
basketball, volleyball and baseball--all
four years of high school.
Some other indications of his desire to
win throughout his life include:
When he was ten his Little League
team lost all but two games. The same team
won the Olney City Championship the
next year. When he was eleven he made
the All-Star Team. He loved the team inspiration
provided by Manager Ashley and
Coach Firenza.
His high school basketball team won
only a few games his freshman year, his
senior year they were 34-3. To this day
Travis still cannot get the taste of losing out
of his mouth from the last game. He credits
that loss for inspiring him to push hard
for victory many times over throughout his
business and personal life. His coach took
him out the middle part of that game over
a misunderstanding and they fell well
behind. He put Travis back in during the
fourth quarter and the team rallied but still
lost. Travis felt the coach was a great
teacher but not good under pressure. Travis
has tried hard to stay in every game of life
since and has often came from way behind
to win. It is easy to win when you are way
ahead, but having the determination to gut
it up and come from behind is the teaching
of Travis.
When Travis saw his first graduation
ceremony from high school he knew he
wanted to make the Valedictory Speech
when his class graduated. Thanks to
Marvin Cepica and James Draper pushing
to do the same, when he became
Valedictorian of the class in 1962 he
enjoyed that accomplishment very much.
When Travis made his first 100% club
as a sales representative with Moore he
learned that one gentleman had made nine
in a row and that was the record. Travis
vowed to make ten. The gentleman did not
stop and went on to make eleven before
finally missing. Travis raised his goal to
twelve. When the Southern Division of
Moore eventually was merged into another
one, Travis' record of twelve consecutive
100% clubs still stood.
There were many other examples in
his life, including his ability to get other
people to set and achieve hard goals for
themselves. He has influenced hundreds
nationwide. His determination, humor and
belief that getting people to want to do
something rather than push or force them,
is what this book is about and frankly will
have people saying "Reel Me In!"