The Lost Decade (1986 to 1996)

The Lost Decade (1986 to 1996)

Can you lose and entire decade? 

No, not really. I started at USF in the fall of 1979. I worked midnight to 6:00 am at the Motel DeVille (now the La Luna Motel). By my third year I had my second surgery to remove a pilonidal cyst and lost my ROTC scholarship. I didn’t have enough money to continue full-time classes. 

I worked the entire decade, I got married, got divorced and I joined the Mogul Ski Club. 

The Lost Decade was not a great period of any wild success. 

It was more a period of recovery from the turmoil of my last year of high school, my lost scholarship, and a bad early marriage.

Small successes: 

I did learn to ski well enough to do a few Black Diamond runs at Lake Tahoe. I did complete my undergraduate degree at USF. My time working for Dick Russell at State Farm, and my time at Fireman’s Fund and Charles Schwab did prove to be an important part of my work foundation. 

I found my (future) wife in 1999.  But it was not until 2000 when I joined Gap that I found my career footing.