CBI AUGUST 01 Cover A 1/TOC.QK

CBI Feb 06 Cover
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Club Business
February 2006
> > > The magazine of the
International Health, Racquet
& Sportsclub Association
www.ihrsa.org
$7
International
Star
Entrepreneur
Jackie Chan is the
Augie’s Quest
Augie Nieto,
leading man in
the founder of
›52
Life Fitness, is applying
24 Hour Fitness’
his skills to finding a
newest club production cure for ALS
in Asia ›44
Certified Safe!
›62
CBI’s annual guide
to the industry’s
personal-training issues
and certifying organizations
IHRSA 2006
›69
Colin Waggett and
Nerio Alessandri prep
IHRSA’s 25th International
Convention and Trade Show
Augie’s
The founder of Life Fitness is applying his skills
and time to finding a cure for ALS
A
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thin, mid-morning fog clings tenaciously to loose, easy strides of an athlete. There is an aura
Balboa Island. Silhouetted shoppers cruise about him, a feeling of peace and purpose, like
the tidy sidewalks of this quaint coastal town he’s traveling somewhere at the speed of light but
nestled between the massive urban sprawls of taking his time along the way. He talks about his four
Los Angeles and San Diego. This is where Augie
children, three of whom are in college, and one
Nieto, the founder and retired chief executive
who is a junior in high school. They are
of Life Fitness, lives these days, in a
clearly a source of deep pride and inspitwo-story rental on the Grand Canal.
ration in his life. “It’s all about passion,”
His own five-story home, perched on
he says of their varied interests, which
a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean,
range from social justice, to pre-med,
is being remodeled. “Five stories,” he
to elementary school education, to
says, smiling at the irony. “Not the
crew and football. “Passion is the
right place for someone like me.”
engine that drives success.”
“Someone like me” refers to his diagAnd those two words—passion
'
and success—epitomize the journey of
nosis, in February 2005, of amyotroph7
96
) %0
Augie Nieto.
ic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known
Born in Anaheim, California, in 1958,
as ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. In preparation for the inevitable advance of this disease, which Augie, one of five children, spent much of his childhood
weakens and eventually destroys motor neurons, in the “overweight” category. “I was 5'7" and 250
his family home is being outfitted with a five-story pounds,” he remembers. As he sought a weight-loss
elevator. It’s not the sort of feature one would expect solution, he discovered the transformative power
to find in the house of a man who has dedicated of exercise, which ignited his passion and fired his
his life to practicing and preaching the gospel of commitment to fitness.
“I was a contrarian,” he recalls. “When everyone
regular exercise—but it’s a symbol of where his life
is headed, a change of course that he faces with else was going right, I went left.” His willingness to
do the unexpected and to take risks, along with his
characteristic energy, determination, and grace.
Augie’s energy is legendary in the fitness industry, extraordinary vision, energy, and drive, propelled
and it’s evident as we walk toward breakfast. Lean, him on a career trajectory that helped transform
muscular, and deeply tanned, he moves with the an industry. ©
Quest
Latest
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Augie’s Quest continued
He is generally credited with starting the cardio-equipment revolution in health clubs. Norm Cates, a long-time club owner and
publisher of the Club Insider, a trade newspaper, describes
Augie as “the Henry Ford of the fitness industry.”
“Just as Henry Ford revolutionized the world with his ModelT,” says Cates, “Augie forever changed our industry by moving
clubs from being nearly exclusively a weight-lifting environment
to the impressive cardio-fitness facilities that they are today.”
In a remarkable story that spans two decades, starting in
1977, Augie went from traveling the country in a motor home
selling Lifecycles (he purchased the marketing rights at age 19),
to cofounding Lifecycle, Inc., in 1980, with partner Ray Wilson.
From there, he went on to develop what eventually became the
largest manufacturer of commercial fitness equipment in the
world, Life Fitness—which he sold to the Brunswick Corporation
(NYSE: BC), for $310 million, in 1997.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
800-572-1717 The toll-free contact number for Augie’s Quest.
www.augiesquest.org The Augie’s Quest Website.
“MDA professional event managers can provide everything
clubs need to put together a fantastic special event as
part of Augie’s Quest to cure ALS.”
—Shannon Shryne, Divisional Field Representative, MDA
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“
There is no known cause, cure,
or treatment for ALS. We can’t stop
it. We can’t even slow it down.
”
But all of his accomplishments, including receiving the National
Fitness Industry’s Lifetime Achievement Award, were, it turns out,
mere stages that have prepared him for his latest, most formidable
challenge—and, in a profound sense, his greatest opportunity.
We sit down for breakfast in the open-air section of a small,
neighborhood café. The atmosphere is warm and friendly—
comfortable is a good word—and that also describes Augie to a
T. His face is handsome, sun-drenched, youthful, prone to
explosive smiles and long, thoughtful pauses, but his eyes are
at once his most striking, and subtle, feature. They are steady
and wise, and often flash with sudden intensity. But there are
moments when it feels as though you are peering into liquid
brown pools that hint at his passion and inner strength.
He converses easily about his years with Life Fitness and
his current roles on the boards of Octane Fitness, which
manufactures high-end commercial elliptical machines, and
North Castle Partners, a private equity investment firm. His
devotion to, and confidence in, an industry that has given him
so much is unequivocal, absolute. “I can’t imagine a better time
to be in this industry,” he says.
But his eyes burn brightest when the conversation turns to two
topics that are inexorably linked: his family and Augie’s Quest.
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Augie’s album From far left, Nieto with legendary bodybuilder
Bill Pearl; fishing in Mexico; with wife, Lynne, in Monaco; and
with family, from r., Lindsay, Nicole, Lynne, Austin, and Danielle,
en route to Santa Barbara, California
He prefaces his discourse on Augie’s Quest, a campaign he
started to raise funds for ALS research, by stating some cold, hard
facts. “There is no known cause, cure, or treatment for ALS,” he
says. “We can’t stop it. We can’t even slow it down. Five thousand
people in the U.S. are diagnosed annually. The life expectancy is
2-5 years, but nearly half will die within two years of diagnosis.”
He pauses for a moment to let those somber words sink in, then
describes how he finally moved past his initial emotions of “Why
me?” and “What did I do to deserve this?”
“Time was my friend,” he says. “Probably the first and only
time with this disease.” But rather then dwell on memories of
those gray days, he brightens and says, “It’s all about the future
now.” And the future, in large part, is consumed—and
enriched—by Augie’s Quest.
“When I heard that I was going to receive the Lifetime
Achievement Award in September,” recalls Augie, “my wife,
Lynne, who has been my partner through all of this, suggested
we start Augie’s Quest and use the Lifetime Achievement award
as an opportunity to raise funds for ALS research.” Although
the awards ceremony hadn’t been used as a fundraiser
in the past, that didn’t stop Augie from making the suggestion.
The program’s organizers gladly picked up and ran with the
idea. “We raised more than $1 million in a single night, and
set an MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) record for a
first-time event.”
But that impressive result is just a preview of what lies ahead.
“Mark Mastrov (the founder, CEO, and chairman of 24 Hour
Fitness) invited me to lunch the following day,” says Augie,
smiling at the memory. “He told me, ‘Nice start. Now let’s go out
and raise some money!’ ”
The two are already deep into the planning stages of another
fund-raising event. “We call it ‘The Bash,’ ” says Augie. “It’s going
THE BASH
The Bash, the “signature event” of Augie’s Quest, will be
a highlight of the concluding celebrations next month at
IHRSA’s 25th anniversary International Convention and Trade
Show in Las Vegas. The gala, which will take place on March
22 at the Las Vegas Hilton, will feature guest appearances by,
among others, the Doobie Brothers and Lance Armstrong.
Also: an auction of high-end items, including a Trek bike
autographed by Armstrong, and a one-on-one session with
Magic Johnson. Tickets are $300; VIP tickets, $500. The goal:
to raise $2 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association
(MDA). Augie Nieto’s mother- and father-in-law, Kathy and
Jack Bransford, have volunteered to match all donations up to
a total of $1 million. For more information, call 858-277-8206
or log on to www.augiesquest.org.
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Augie’s friends Nieto with Arnold Schwarzenegger, President George Bush, and participants in $1-million ALS fundraiser
Augie’s Quest continued
to be part of the closing ceremonies at the 2006 IHRSA
convention in Las Vegas next month. Lance Armstrong will kick
off the show, and we fully expect to have the Doobie Brothers
as headliners. Our mission,” he adds, “is to raise another
$1 million, and I’m confident that, with the support of club owners and the vendor community, we’ll do it.”
As Augie’s Quest continues to build momentum, his goal—
which is shared by Robert Ross, the president and CEO of the
MDA—is to make a difference by slicing through the red tape,
speeding up the grant process, and quickly getting funds to
those conducting critical research. “Saving lives by saving
time,” explains Augie, quoting a phrase from the Quest’s marketing campaign. “That’s what this is about.”
ALS FACTS
1869 The disease was officially named amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot.
30,000 Number of people in the U.S. with ALS
5,000-6,000 Number of cases of ALS diagnosed in the U. S.
each year
1–2 per 100,000 people The annual incidence rate in
U.S. of new (diagnosed) cases
5,000-6,000 Number of people in the U.S. who die of
ALS each year
1.84 per 100,000 Annual U.S. mortality rate for ALS
2-5 years Life span after diagnosis
$172 million Annual public donations to the MDA in 2004-05
$170 million MDA’s spending on ALS research and services
to date
$5.9 million MDA research spending on ALS in 2005
$9.6 million MDA spending on ALS healthcare services in 2005
[All information provided by the MDA]
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The goal of making a difference has been an overriding theme
in Augie’s life. Shannon Shryne, a divisional field representative
for the MDA, is thrilled to have someone of his stature, and with
his demonstrated entrepreneurial skills, helping to advance their
cause. “Augie’s a great guy dealing courageously with a difficult
situation,” she observes. “His vision and drive inspire us to work
even harder.”
But now Augie feels the press of time, is touched by an
“intensity” that adds another layer of meaning, of importance,
to everything he does. The progression of the disease is steady.
Although he continues to exercise for an hour every day, he is
experiencing weakness in his upper body, especially his hands,
where he’s lost 50% of his strength. “What I have learned from
all of this,” he says introspectively, “is the difference between
being successful and being significant. I want to be significant
to my family by spending more time with them, and I want to
be significant to the MDA by doing my part to help identify the
cause of, and find a cure for, this disease.”
Breakfast is over and we’re walking back to the car. The fog
has released its grip on Balboa Island, promising an afternoon
of blue skies and warm California sun. Augie talks about some
trips he has planned with his family: a couple of relaxing weeks
in Mexico on their boat, a ski trip to Vail, Colorado, with close
family friends, and a two-week journey to South Africa. But
for the moment, his day is simple: there’s a conference call with
the MDA. After that, there are more phone calls and some emails to attend to. “Then later,” he says with the hint of a smile,
“I have a big date with my lovely wife.” And in Augie’s world,
where empires are built from a single innovative idea
and million-dollar deals are closed with nothing more than a
handshake—“Never sell your integrity,” he says. “You’ll never
make enough money to buy it back”— the spark of light in his
dark eyes says it all.
Augie is still making a difference by helping those who need
him most. He is focused and determined, and it’s full speed
ahead. But that final appointment—the one with his wife,
Lynne—will be the most significant thing he does all day. n
S TEPHEN WALLENFELS is a contributing editor for CBI and can
be reached at [email protected].
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