THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210425
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KIMBERLY O'BRIAN, THE DAILY PROGRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
By this time next year, mover extraordinaire Leon White is hoping he'll be a household name.
And not simply because of the success of moving company he started six months ago - he's also hoping his entrepreneurial journey can serve as a model for disadvantaged children.
Judging from how things have gone so far, his vision might not be far off.
Since August, Leon White Movers Inc., has helped more than 100 people in the Charlottesville area to move from house to house, apartment to apartment, or simply to pick up something really heavy - say, a refrigerator - and move it to another floor.
In that time, he's also tried to teach children that no matter where you come from, it's always possible to make something of yourself.
``It's a shock to me how things have been going,'' the 39-year-old White said over bagel sandwiches at Bodo's Bagels, just a few blocks from his home basement office. ``But working hard has paid off.''
White started his company last summer after suddenly realizing what an asset a small, local moving company could be in a city like Charlottesville. Over the years, he had helped friends and colleagues move with the aid of a small pickup truck he bought in 1987, but never thought about turning his help into a business.
At one time, in fact, he never thought about business at all.
Born in Norfolk, White, at 6-foot-6 inches and 215 pounds, once dreamed of playing in the National Basketball Association. After high school, he received 27 offers from colleges to play basketball, he said. He chose Virginia State University - a college at the time - near Petersburg.
``I knew basketball would take me around the world,'' he said.
In 1979, after three-and-a-half years in college and just a few classes shy of graduation, he left with the hopes of trying out for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
That didn't work out, and the next couple of years found White playing basketball for various European teams, including in Holland.
But one year, while he was between teams, he decided he needed to make some cash and found a job with Allied Van Lines. Though he didn't realize it, the training for his career as a mover had begun.
Eventually, White found a job as a mail clerk in the Albemarle County office building, where he worked, happily, he said, for eight years - until last summer. Then a phone call from a friend asking him to help her move changed his life.
``I realized I should be doing it full time,'' he said.
So it began.
With the help of his wife, Cynthia, White printed fliers and business cards, bought a truck, and suddenly the calls started coming in. But for White, who banks on the training he received in earlier years, every move is a learning experience.
``Every move is personal to us,'' he said, citing the company's motto. ``That means we treat the furniture like it's our own. The things we don't know, we get someone in to train us.''
One customer, Kim Jefferson of Charlottesville, said she enlisted White and his five-man moving crew about a month ago to move her from Country Green apartments to her new apartment on Michie Drive.
Satisfied with the work, she's now recommending White to her friends.
``I've used other moving services in the past and something's always been scratched or broken,'' said Jefferson, 35. ``White did a very good job. He was very careful.''
And now that the business is rolling, White said he thinks he can be a role model for children - perhaps those growing up in not-so-great neighborhoods, as he did - and show them the value of setting realistic goals.
``Most kids have goals to be Michael Jordan or someone,'' said White, who himself has two daughters, Brooke, 8, and Briana, 10. ``That's not always the reality. Kids today don't have many role models. Mainly they see the negative side of adults.''
After having lunch one day at Clark Elementary School with one of his daughters and several of her friends and sharing his message, White said he began hoping to go to other schools and speak to more students.
``I want to tell them it doesn't matter what you do in life - just do the best you can do,'' he said. ``Don't look at your life and say it's all you can do. Learn. Be a sponge. Soak everything up.'' by CNB