Forty years after starting business in Bradenton, he’s ready to call it a career

Four decades ago, Dan and Betty Callaghan started a business with little more than a vision and a $20,000 stake – half of it borrowed.

Eventually, they grew that stake into a $50 million-a-year business.

When Dan Callaghan, 81, stepped down as chief executive officer of Bradenton-based Callaghan Tire on Wednesday, the company had two Bandag retread plants, and service centers in Bradenton, Clearwater, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Miami, Naples, Ocala and West Palm Beach.

Betty Callaghan retired a few years ago, although she still keeps her hand in the business.

Founded on Feb. 1, 1978, in Venice, the company moved to the Bradenton area six months later to be closer to the Tampa Bay trucking hub. The Callaghans started their business in Bradenton with six employees. Dan Callaghan served as the owner, manager and salesman.

“I had $10,000 of my own, $5,000 I borrowed from my brother and $5,000 that I borrowed from my father-in-law,” Dan Callaghan recalled Wednesday at his corporate office at 4421 12th St. Court E.

“I always wanted to have my own business and to have a family business. We had four daughters and ended up inheriting sons-in-law along the way,” he said.

Originally from the Chicago area, the Callaghans moved to Florida from Iowa when their daughters were teenagers.

Two of the daughters, Patty Virgilio, and Jane Trinci, are still active in the business.

“The key to their success is his ability to relate to anyone, and he has always pitched in. If the job needed to be done, he always led by example,” said Virgilio, who serves as chief administrative officer. Her husband, Guy, is vice president of operations.

Trinci says her parents grew up in working-class families.

“Both have a complete work ethic. It’s been the American dream, the good times and the not-so-good times,” said Trinci, who serves as human resources director for the company of 170.

Adds Virgilio: “They rode the roller coaster together.”

The couple’s other two daughters are no longer involved in the business, but their husbands are. Kathleen Gainer’s husband, Tom, serves as industrial tire manager in Fort Myers. Michelle Severson’s husband, Todd, is president of the company.

Family members who don’t work in tires are educators. Vince Trinci was a Manatee High School teacher, and Michelle Severson retired after 35 years as a second grade teacher.

The company retreads about 60,000 truck tires a year, Betty Callaghan said.

Retreaded tires have an undeserved bad reputation, she said, adding that when motorists see tire fragments on the road, it’s not because a retread was bad, but because the tire was not maintained properly or was low in air, possibly due to a puncture.

Some big names with substantial truck fleets are regular customers, including Publix Supermarkets and Ryder Truck Rentals.

The company also sells 60,000 new truck tires a year.

On his last day as CEO, Dan Callaghan walked a visitor through the retread process.

After a used tired is smoothed out, a bonding layer is added to the casing and new tread is applied on top. The tire goes into a curing chamber for three hours and is heated to 210 degrees, bonding the new tread to the old tire. The tire is then inspected visually and electronically to ensure it has no flaws and is serviceable, Callaghan said.

Outside, the company has a yard full of stacked tires that Dan Callaghan sees as money in the rough, awaiting new treads.

Last May, a fire spread from a neighboring property at 1301 44th Ave. E., and fanned by winds, quickly spread to 4,000 tires on the Callaghan property and became a five-alarm emergency.

Dan Callaghan later publicly thanked firefighters for their quick action in stopping the fire from spreading further.

During the company’s long history, it has sponsored the Callaghan Tire Charity Pro Am for the past 12 years.

“Since starting the tournament, we have given over a million dollars to cancer research via Golfers Against Cancer. Most of that has ended up at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa,” Jane Trinci said.

The company is also a major sponsor of the Bradenton Blues Fest.

“Here we are 40 years later with a very profitable business, very energized. It will continue to grow even after Betty and I are no longer around,” Dan Callaghan said.

For more information about the company, visit callaghantire.com.

James A. Jones Jr.: 941-745-7053, @jajones1

This story was originally published January 31, 2018 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Forty years after starting business in Bradenton, he’s ready to call it a career."