Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 20

n. Monday moanin'; Monday, Sept 30t 1C35 10 II IrOJ I) l( (TirSr (1 (1 ll 0 J) fl l( 0 fo 1 there area MICHIGAN MARKETS 4 viN LJI ll-JV L-JLJLJV L-ILJV IVJ I fanatics out there? See the WORKING IT OUT 7 I jn DETROIT FREE PRESS Feature Page on 13C. with bu.m... n.w. 222-6425 vJ.

Ml I. I I I III I ,1 1 I designs its next era fij James G. Fate calls Mike Calvert, but he still does his best Luck of the Six decades of intermittent study convince me that ability, dedication, pleasing attitude and faith are as nothing compared with the cards one holds. Take the hand Mike Calvert drew. He became a tv 1 iw f)V-i) i Jm- i timekeeper at DeSoto 35 years ago.

A fine tenor, he also sang with local bands, even did one-night stints with the Tex Beneke and Ray Anthony orchestras. But instead of making music except for the church choir he went to Kokomo, to run a Chrysler accounting department. Recalled to Detroit, he managed Chrysler's service contracts department, selling warranties on air-condition ers, electrical systems, etc. He loves to play the game A Chrysler colleague recalls that in the early 1970s Calvert presented a program to extend conventional warranties, but management yawned. Came Lee Iacocca from Ford Motor asking, among many things, why no extended 3 i Architect firm moves I toward new leadership-.

By TIM KISKA Free Press Automotive Writer 4 When architect Sheldon Smith moved his twr year-old practice from Sandusky, Ohio, to Detroit hi 1855, the city's population was about 45,000 and growing. Aided by a new rail line, Detroit's population more than doubled from 21,019 in 1850 to 45,619 in 186Q. It was just the right sort of place for an ambitious young man like Smith to make his mark. Almost immediately an important commission, the Garrison House Hotel at Jefferson and Cass, came his way, laying the foundation for what would become Smith, Hinchman Grylls, one of Detroit's largest and most successful architectural firms. The company had billings of $15.1 million in 1984.

Today, the company's record is written in the area's skyline, in landmark structures that include the Penobscot Building (1928), the Guardian Building (1929) and the American Center (1975). also designed the innovative General Motors Technical Center in Warren in conjunction with architect Eero Saarinen in 1956. On the horizon is the proposed Beta West project, a 26-story, 500,000 square -foot office complex near downtown Detroit. Models of those buildings were on display in the lobby of the company's West Fort Street building last week. IN THE SAME way that architectural styles have evolved over 132 years, so has the organization of The firm is in an evolutionary phase just now as the leadership seeks a new chairman, who will be only the seventh since 1906.

Phil Meathe, 59, the head of has not announced a retirement date, but he makes no secret that the selection process for his successor is underway. He said in a recent interview that after all the years the firm has been in operation, such a change should be made carefully and with consideration for all that has gone before. "The firm is bigger than any of us here," said Meathe. "It would be a little bit different if my name were on the front door, if I started it But when you're with a company that's much older than you and has a great history, you've got to respect that and build." executives also emphasize that their respect for tradition does not mean they work only on traditional projects. They are quick to point out that they have worked on such projects as the high tech Potomac-Defense Intelligence Analysis Center in Washington, D.C., which features an uninterruptible power supply.

also designed the ultra-modern Mountain Bell Center in Denver. The Center, which is 706 feet high, is formed from two interlocking octagonal structures to provide a maximum number of corners. Still, tradition is valued, and that can be maintained only if the company remains private, Meathe said. In the 1970s, he said, "we were approached by E.F. Hutton who wanted to take us public.

And I said I couldn't vote for it because the people that would run it would never have the chance to really run it. "Profit becomes such a driving thing that I think there's a great temptation to say to yourself, 'Well, Meathe, you've got five more years to go, the hell with what's going to happen. You're going to be judged on how well you do on the bottom I See Page i r.1 warranty was in place. Calvert presented his program anew and was, forthwith, named president of Chrysler Service Contracts a wholly owned subsidiary. When the company was brought into the corporate fold, Calvert became manager and made a remarkable record.

Not surprisingly. Calvert is as thorough-going a workaholic as ever I've known. He saddled up most days at 5 a.m. and beat everyone but the night watchman to offices in Troy, seldom returning to his Bloomfield Township home earlier than 7:30 p.m. He also frequently felt a Saturday need to hit the office running.

This ferocious approach cost him a heart attack in 1970, but did nothing to cool his enthusiasm. Then, last November, the dealer dealt him a stroke, hobbling his ability to deliver words as he'd like. He's still 'the best' He has since drawn nine months' full salary and is now receiving 75 percent of salary for three months. In a successful effort to say what he intended, he recognized that he cannot return to his managerial post (although gutsy as he is, he cited other possibilities, including driving a truck). I'm sharp," he said, "I'd rather not work for the corporation.

I'd go to a full physical tit Vh Free Press Photo by WILLIAM ARCHIE disability (pension)." Further, he reckons, he'd open a business if he could find time. He serves up to five days a week as a volunteer at Royal SE3'8 bright lights cn thn clxylir.a Oak's Beaumont Hospital. He swims daily, undergoes speech therapy Noel Fagerlund, left, executive vice-president, and Phil Meathe, 59, head of with a model of the Wayne County Building, which their firm has a contract to restore. three times a week, and attends a "stroke group" clinic four times weekly. At 57, Calvert drew a bum hand.

He was General Motors Technical Center, Warren, 1952-1956 Michigan Consolidated Gas 1961 (Minoru Yamasakun association with looking at eight more lucrative years in a manage J.L. Hudson Detroit, 1892 Buhl Building, Detroit, 1925 Penobscot Building, Detroit, 1928 Meadowbrook Hall, Rochester, 1929 ment post he cherished. His staff knew that and presented him with a classy plaque which emulates Chrysler's slogan, to be the best." addition, Detroit, 1973 mart Corp. Patrick V. World Headquarters, McNamara Federal Troy, 1972 Office Building, Michigan Bell Detroit.

1974 Telephone Co. American Center, Headquarters Southfield, 1975 I Rrst Federal It says of him: "Chrysler's Service Contract Co. Guardian Building, Savings Loan, Detroit. 1929 Detroit, 1967 'already has the His devoted wife, Katie, leaves the choices to him. He struggles to express love of his sons and daughter: "They allow me to say what I want to say, and they're forgiving no, they're I don't know what I want to say.

They're incredible." (If you're as Irish as his name, go ahead and After 10 years at Ch. 62, she still can't walk away express some ethnic pride, but be aware that he's not Irish. When his parents got off the boat, an immigration officer examined their name Kaiavreteenos and altered it. Mike Calvert is as Hellenistic as any of those guys in Greektown. 1 1 V- jE 111 -I vf V''f i (Luck of the draw.) By LUTHER JACKSON Free Press Business Writer personal file ji Michigan's economy When Tenicia Gregory took a leave from a college teaching job to help her late father establish the nation's first black-owned and -operated television station in 1975, she fully intended to return to the classroom.

"At that time," she said, "I thought I would (help) get it all set up organized and running, and then I could go back to teaching." WGPR-TV, Channel 62, celebrated the' 10th anniversary of its first broadcast on Sunday, and Gregory, 52, is still there, now as vice-president and general manager in charge of television and radio operations. "Well, television turned out to be more than any of us thought," she said. "At the end of the year, it was obvious that I couldn't walk away from it. It was impossible." So after earning a masters degree in education and teaching in elementary, junior high, high school and community college, Gregory plunged into her work at the station founded by her father, the late Rev. Dr.

William Banks. Mr. Banks, a lawyer and minister who founded the International Masons Inc. and WGPR radio, died last month at age 82. The International Masons, a fraternal organization, owns WGPR which operates the television and radio stations.

TENICIA GREGORY, who refers to her late father as "Dr. Banks," said he ingrained in her the importance of making her own decisions at the station. She recalled that when she had a problem, "he would never answer you. He would say, 'Well, you're running the station, what do you He made you make your decisions and then act on them." Jerry Blocker, a former associate, says that Gregory performed well amid the tight budgets and malfunctioning equipment that plagued the new television venture. "She took all of that philosophically," he said, "whereas a lot of folks, including yours truly, were a bit harried." A veteran of radio and television when he came to help organize Channel 62, Blocker now runs Jerry Blocker Enterprises, a public relations and advertising firm with offices in Farmington Hills and Detroit.

In general, "she was very businesslike," Blocker said. "If you were taking care of your area, then you were OK. And if you didn't, she was going to see to it that you did." Since those early days when Channel 62 clung to survival, the station has grown to a 24-hour format featuring community-oriented, locally produced news and entertainment programming; religious shows; sports, and reruns of old series and movies. Of 164 weekly hours on the air, 60 '4 hours are local programming. As general manager, Gregory oversees an operation that recorded 1984 revenues of about $3 million and employes between 80 and 90 full- and part-time workers.

WGPR Inc. is a privately held company, and Gregory would not release profit figures. In the February 1985 Arbitron ratings, WGPR finished last in virtually every category, including audience rating, in which See GREGORY, Page 8 UP firm pursues success with a full-court press By LUTHER JACKSON Free Press Business Writer When the Syracuse University men's basketball team opens its home season Nov. 23, it will jump-shoot and fast-break on a northern hard maple court produced by the Horner Flooring Co. of Dollar Bay.

Horner, in business since 1891, manufactures maple strip flooring for racquetball courts, roller rinks and the textile and tobacco industries, and it has received good reviews on portable basketball floors like those it has just sold to Syracuse and the University of Tennessee. Portable basketball floors are designed to be removed so other activities can be held in the same area. "In checking around the country with people who had used the court, we got very positive See COURTS, Page 6 Free Press Photo bv HUGH GRANNUM Tenicia Gregory in her office at WGPR-TV: "Television turned out to be more than any of us thought.".