Profile of an Entrepreneur
Early Years
Samuel Moore Walton was born on March 29, 1918 to Thomas Gibson and Nancy Lee Walton near Kingfisher, Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, he lived and worked on his family’s farm. He grew up during the depression and knew the meaning of hard work and dedication. He started selling magazine subscriptions by the age of only eight years old to help with money because it was lacking on the farm making it hard to feed their family. The Walton's decided that the farm was not profitable enough to raise a family on. So, Sam and his family decided they would go back to being a Farm Loan Appraiser. Once this job started the Walton family moved out of Oklahoma and moved from town to town in Missouri. This would shake up most children but for the Walton boys, it was no big deal (Wikipedia Encyclopedia 1).
As Sam Walton grew up he was always a determined child. He attended Hickman High School in Columbia where he played football. He was the starting quarterback for the football team and led them to the state title in 1935. Sam wasn't the smartest kid at school but with hard work and lots of studying he became an honors student (Fitzgerald 1). This is just the beginning to his go get it all attitude.
Along with being athletic and smart he was also a political figure at school. He served as Vice- President of his Junior Class and President of the Student Body his senior year. He was known then as a good leader. When he graduated from high school he was voted the "Most Versatile Boy" in his class (Wikipedia Encyclopedia 1). Along with all this he also had to help support his family because money was lacking due to the depression. Sam's job was to milk the family cow, bottle the milk, and then deliver the surplus of it customers and then went off to deliver newspapers afterwards as a part-time job by the age of twelve. During this time it would have been easy for Sam to just give up on school and go to work full time so he could further help his family during the depression.
Samuel Moore Walton was born on March 29, 1918 to Thomas Gibson and Nancy Lee Walton near Kingfisher, Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, he lived and worked on his family’s farm. He grew up during the depression and knew the meaning of hard work and dedication. He started selling magazine subscriptions by the age of only eight years old to help with money because it was lacking on the farm making it hard to feed their family. The Walton's decided that the farm was not profitable enough to raise a family on. So, Sam and his family decided they would go back to being a Farm Loan Appraiser. Once this job started the Walton family moved out of Oklahoma and moved from town to town in Missouri. This would shake up most children but for the Walton boys, it was no big deal (Wikipedia Encyclopedia 1).
As Sam Walton grew up he was always a determined child. He attended Hickman High School in Columbia where he played football. He was the starting quarterback for the football team and led them to the state title in 1935. Sam wasn't the smartest kid at school but with hard work and lots of studying he became an honors student (Fitzgerald 1). This is just the beginning to his go get it all attitude.
Along with being athletic and smart he was also a political figure at school. He served as Vice- President of his Junior Class and President of the Student Body his senior year. He was known then as a good leader. When he graduated from high school he was voted the "Most Versatile Boy" in his class (Wikipedia Encyclopedia 1). Along with all this he also had to help support his family because money was lacking due to the depression. Sam's job was to milk the family cow, bottle the milk, and then deliver the surplus of it customers and then went off to deliver newspapers afterwards as a part-time job by the age of twelve. During this time it would have been easy for Sam to just give up on school and go to work full time so he could further help his family during the depression.
References: (Fitzgerald 4Bickford, Jim. American Dreams (2002) An American Original. http://www.usdreams.com/Walton34.html Sanford, Ruth. Sam Walton (2002) http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/Walton92/Walton92.htm The Wal-Mart Story: http://asms.k12.ar.us/armem/clark/index2.htm Wikipedia Enclopedia. Sam Walton: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Walton Fitzgerald, Kelly: “The Model Manager of Wal-Mart” http://www.stfrancis.edu/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/bbios/biograph/walton1.htm