After the sale of his auto dealership empire was announced in January, Jim Click agreed to sit down with me to discuss his 54-year Tucson tenure as a businessman, civic leader and philanthropist.
We met in Click's office, a bright, sparkling place that quickens the heart. Looking around, it's like watching that half-century-plus go by on fast forward. The old saw about "if the walls could talk" doesn't work here, because these walls do talk.
At least, they smile.
The things that are important to Jim Click are all here, in a profusion of wide grins.
Foremost is his family — wife Vicki, kids Chris and Carrie and granddaughter Sophia. They are everywhere.
Jim Click in his office: "Everybody in this community welcomed Vicki and me with open arms."
Then there's his beloved Oklahoma State Cowboys football team from his senior year. That year, 1965, Oklahoma State beat the University of Oklahoma 17-16, the Cowpokes' first win against the Sooners in two decades.
Click was the starting center, and the game ball rests beneath the team picture.
Jim Click's office features memorabilia from his years at Oklahoma State University, where he was a starting center on the football team.
"I'm still friends with these guys," Click says, quietly. (Of course he is. If Jim Click is your friend, you have a friend for life.)
He rattles off a roster of names, some living, some passed, the latter including NFL great Walt Garrison.
Barely six years after that team picture was taken, Click's great-uncle, Holmes Tuttle, gave him an assignment that would change the course of his life and countless other lives. In 1971, Tuttle sent Click to Tucson to run his Ford store, Pueblo Ford, which was generally considered to be underperforming.
The rest is history — well, the rest is actually a love story that's still going on.
Jim, when did you get the feeling that Tucson was a special place, and what happened to make you feel that way?
A. It was the welcome we got. Everybody in this community welcomed Vicki and me with open arms. That included competitors like Buck O'Rielly.
And the people who worked at the dealership were just great, I found out.
I remember as we prepared for our grand opening, Vicki, who was pregnant with Chris, pitched in with our employees. She helped them take all the cars down the street to a car wash and back, getting them spiffed up for the opening. And we started selling cars right away. It was a great bunch of people, and they just needed a little leadership and enthusiasm, and off we went.
Pretty soon, I was asked to join Rotary, to join the Tucson Conquistadors, to lead the United Way's small business giving. I just started meeting people, and soon we felt like we were home.
Speaking of giving — how did your philanthropy in Tucson get started? What motivated you to start giving?
A. Vicki went into labor Christmas night 1971, and we went to St. Joseph's Hospital, and the next day she had Chris. Afterward, I sent a letter to St. Joseph's telling them that for Vicki and me, it was one of the best experiences of our lives.
Judge Evo DeConcini got that letter and called me. And when we talked, he said, 'Jim, Tucson isn't a wealthy place. It has many needs. But the more I've given, the more Tucson has given back to me.'
I remembered, too, that Mr. Tuttle had told me, 'Tucson's a wonderful town and if you make money from the community, you need to give back.'
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To say that Jim Click took that advice to heart is a massive understatement. His gifts have been spread far and wide across Tucson, from the Tucson Symphony to Boys & Girls Clubs and a whole variety of other causes. But his generosity has highlighted several areas of overarching importance to him. One is education; another is athletics; and a third is people with disabilities.
Why education, particularly San Miguel High School?
A. I got asked. Really, it's as simple as that. Judge DeConcini and Buck O'Rielly both talked to me about Catholic education. Vicki and I hadn't done anything on the southside really, and we went down there to St. Monica parish, and they found the land, and we got the land acquired, then lent them money to get going, ended up giving half of it. At first, we advertised to get kids to go there, but it took off and was wildly successful. It's been going great for 20 years.
(San Miguel is part of the Cristo Rey network serving children of limited economic means, providing a career- focused, college-preparatory education in the Catholic tradition, integrating rigorous academic curricula with four years of professional work experience and support to and through college. It has graduated more than 800 students.)
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How did you become so involved with helping people with disabilities?
A. Very early on, I became involved with the Beacon Group, which helps people with disabilities get jobs. We've had people with disabilities working here for more than 50 years. And I had some personal experience. Mr. Tuttle has a disabled grandson.
Also, one of my body shop guys, back in the '80s, Richard Nolen, got hurt in a touch football game and became paralyzed. We helped him with rehab, and he ended up joining the track team at the adaptive athletics program at the university. He earned his degree in business at the UA, and he came back to work for us, and worked his way up to controller.
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Nolen's experience alerted Click to the adaptive athletics program, and his interest soared. It was a place where two of his passions — athletics and differently abled people — came together.
Click recalls one other galvanizing moment.
"Back in the 1970s, I saw Roy Drachman make a million-dollar gift to the UA Cancer Center during a football halftime show. I said to him, 'Roy, someday I want to do that.'
"Well, about 20 years after that, our company sold a bank that we owned. I was at the Tucson Country Club, and Roy said to me, 'Jim, maybe it's time for you to give that million dollars.'
"I talked to Vicki and we made our first million-dollar gift, to the University of Arizona adaptive athletics program."
Several more millions have followed.
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Among those smiling faces in the photographs on Click's office wall are four sitting presidents of the United States — Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
Photos of Jim Click with former U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are displayed inside his Tucson office.
Holmes Tuttle has been widely credited with "inventing" Ronald Reagan the politician, talking him into running for governor of California and later supporting him as a member of his "kitchen Cabinet" in the run-up to his presidential election victory in 1980.
Click has been politically active ever since, supporting a wide range of Republican candidates. Click is not a MAGA figure — he says he misses the days when politicians on both sides of the aisle worked together to get things done — but he is the largest individual donor to Congressman Juan Ciscomani and firmly believes Ciscomani is "trying to do the right thing."
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I ask Click about another of his passions.
You've been a race car driver and a racing team owner. What was your happiest moment behind the wheel, or running a team?
The answer comes quickly.
Click owns the winningest Shelby Cobra in racing history — which is saying a lot — and he personally drove the car to victory in a memorable race at California's Laguna Seca Raceway. The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the Cobra at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion in 2012.
Click's victory was all the sweeter because one James Farley came in third — that would be Jim Farley, who is now CEO of the Ford Motor Company. Another also-ran: Rob Walton, Wal-Mart heir.
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Jim Click is 81. What's next for him, now that he has a deal for the sale of his company's 16 dealerships?
One thing's for certain — more fly-fishing at his Idaho ranch.
And another: "I want to give away some more money in Tucson."
But not so fast. He's still working.
"I told my crew, I want us to keep doing better than we've ever done until we turn it over in a few months. And I want them to do great too (new owners Gee Automotive Companies). After all, it will still have my name on it."
He fully expects the deal to go through — although he adds, with a little grin, "The deal's not done until the taillights leave the parking lot." And if, for any reason, the deal doesn't close?
"We'll still be here," he said, "having fun and selling cars."
