| IHRSA Report | Success by Association
A Legacy of Connections
A quarter-century later, Wendel is still finding success by association
By Patricia Amend
S
o much in life is about connections. As Phil Wendel Building his company
tells it, the connections he has made through When Wendel attends IHRSA conventions, he takes
IHRSA over the past 25 years have helped him along eight to 16 staff members—with the stipula-
forge his career and his company, Legacy tion that they must each bring home one imple-
Management Group, just the way he wanted. mentable idea or program to enhance business.
“In the late 1960s, I played baseball in college,” Through the years, he’s met many industry lead-
he recalls. “Afterward, I stayed fit with baseball ers and hired key industry consultants who’ve been
and by joining a racquetball club. When a friend instrumental to his success. For example, he tapped
introduced me to strength training, I was hooked. Rick Caro, president of Management Vision, Inc., a
I opened my first club—which was just 6,000 New York City-based fitness industry consulting
square feet—in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1984.” firm, for assistance with market research and finan-
Still, starting a club company isn’t easy, and cials, and Laurie Cingle, president of Laurie Cingle
Wendel doubted his career choice—that is, until Consulting and Coaching, Inc., in Grants Pass,
he joined IHRSA and traveled to his first conven- Oregon, to help beef up his programming.
tion in Reno, Nevada, in 1989, which made all the Today, Legacy Management owns and operates
difference. two ACAC Fitness & Wellness Centers in Charlottes-
“Without access to IHRSA publications, the ville, Virginia, and one each in Richmond, Virginia,
breakout sessions, and trade show, I would have and West Chester, Pennsylvania. The clubs range in
thrown my hands up and said, ‘This isn’t a busi- size from 47,000 to 120,000 square feet, and feature
ness I want to be in.’ ” fitness facilities, aquatics, personal training, summer
He has been a devotee ever since, and now gives camps, senior fitness and wellness, kids’ facilities,
back in whatever ways he can. and corporate fitness programs.
“We have 300 full-time employees and 700 part-
timers serving about 35,000 members. We’re on
pace to grow both sales and revenues at our four
clubs—to about $34 million, up 7% from 2008. All
of our locations will show net gains in membership
in 2009. And we’ll open a 7,000-square-foot
express club in a housing development west of
Charlottesville.”
Wendel is also a partner, with Tim and Liz Rhode,
at the two Maryland Athletic Clubs in Baltimore,
a venture that grew from yet another IHRSA
relationship. “In 1995, Tim consulted with us on
organizational behavior and job descriptions. He
was a referral from Rick Caro.”
Broadening the market
Wendel’s philosophy—that clubs should work
hard to attract “uninitiated believers,” the 63% of
Americans who want to be more active—was
inspired, in part, by IHRSA.
“Since the mid-1990s, I’ve been motivated by
IHRSA-sponsored research by Harvey Lauer and
American Sports Data, Inc., which defines our
market as four times larger than what we tradi-
Phil Wendel
tionally serve.”
100 Club Business International | JANUARY 2010 |
www.ihrsa.org
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