To Self-Made Millionaire

Founder, Chairman And CEO

Tom Harken & Associates

"Heeeeelp, heeeeeeelp, somebody please help me. I can’t take it no more,” screamed little Tommy Harken 50 years ago.

Tommy, what’s wrong with you? What’s that all over your face?

“Last night I was sick and threw up, and nobody came to help me,” he recalls saying. “That’s pretty scary for an 11-year-old. One day I’m a happy kid on a bike, and the next I have polio.”

Tommy, what happened? Didn’t they hear you crying last night and help you?

“No, no, nobody heard, Harken recalls, “I just laid in my iron lung and cried all night. I just needed a hug, real, real bad, and finally when the doctor found me, he got me out and cleaned me up and hugged me. I can still smell that starched white coat. And I can still remember that sound. Swiiiish, hooooo, swiiiish. That’s how it sounded, 24 hours a day, that huge barrel of a machine. For 364 days, I was in a gymnasium-size room with 35 - 40 other kids. It wasn’t easy.”

At long last, he finally could return home. Then, he came down with tuberculosis and was quarantined in his room for almost another year. His mother had to leave food by the door, his father wrote “I love you Tommy” in the snow outside his window. He lived one day at a time.

Due to illness, Tommy hadn’t attended much school since the 1st grade. Now healthy and almost full grown, he was placed in class with smaller children. Embarrassed by his illiteracy and their teasing, he called it quits, dropped out of the 7th grade and went to work for his father.

“Dad always said I’d make it because I was a hard worker, and I am,” Harken says. “If God had made eight-day weeks, I’d work eight days.”

Later, Harken managed to get into the Air Force, but was classified as unpromotable due to illiteracy. However, while stationed in Oklahoma, be met the woman who would change his life, his “Miss Melba,” now his wife of 39 years.

Harken sold shoes part-time, then vacuum cleaners. Going full-time after military service, with an innate talent for dealing with people, he became an excellent salesman, started raising a family, rose through the ranks and got his own distributorship in Texas. He was even inducted into the Kirby Hall of Fame.

In the 1960’s Tom took up selling recreational vehicles and soon became the country’s number one selling independent broker of RV’s. In the late 1970’s, Tom purchased a Casa Ole Mexican Restaurant franchise and soon grew into the company’s largest franchisee. He owns 10, plus another chain he founded.

In 1992, Tom was thrust into the spotlight. That year he was awarded the prestigious Horatio Alger award. Harken states, “The Horatio Alger award most definitely is the Oscar, the Emmy, and the Tony of real life.”

Each year, only 10 individuals out of hundreds nominated receive the award. Tom found himself next to other 1992 winners such as billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga, Dr. Maya Angelou, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Henry Kissinger and others. It was overwhelming.

Miss Melba knew, and a few people in Texas. But should he tell his secret to the world? Yes, he thought, if it will help somebody. He then told his secret to that distinguished audience in Washington, D.C., a secret harbored by millions of Americans. He told them that, until recently, he’d been illiterate.

Stunned, awardees such as Colin Powell and Dr. Robert Schuller rushed over to shake his hand, while the whole audience gave him a standing ovation for his unbelievable story.

The next year at the 1993 Horatio Alger Awards, former Secretary of State Kissinger shook hands with Harken and told him that he had heard hundreds of speeches over the past years. “I remember only five of them,” Kissinger said. “Yours is one of those I remember.”

Through the years, he had kept the secret to himself. He’d even taken the job with Kirby because they didn’t require a written application. And when he made a sale, he memorized necessary details and related them later to Melba, who filled in the blanks. Not even his sons knew. When little Tommy and Mark would climb upon his lap and beg their daddy to read to them, he would have to turn away to keep the tears from showing, and Miss Melba would rush over and say, “Daddy’s tired, let me read to you.”

“That was real tough, embarrassing and shameful to me – I felt absolutely useless,” Harken recalls. “But I have a huge library now, and can read anything my grandkids want to hear.”
Since 1992, Harken has given over 500 speeches on battling illiteracy in America. His message, “All you have to do is ask, will you help me? The Literacy Volunteers of America and other groups are ready to help, plus people can go to their local libraries and ask for help.”

Today, Beaumont, Texas, based Tom Harken & Associates has interests in real estate, restaurants, and numerous other businesses. It employs over 800 people primarily in Texas and Louisiana.

Harken is a giving man of strong faith. Among other gifts, the Tom and Melba Harken Foundation has endowed $1 million to Lamar University in Beaumont, $1 million to the Horatio Alger Association and $1 million to Crystal Cathedral Ministries.

In honor of the Horatio Alger Association, Harken’s recent book is “Success Secrets of Power Thinkers,” the title provided by Dr. Schuller. On the horizon, Harken plans a tour with his inspirational autobiography, “The Millionaires Secret.” Movie offers are coming in, and his restaurants continue to grow.

Tom is a doer, always moving forward, never backward. One emotional forward moment was when Harken received his high school diploma. It was 37 years late as part of the Class of 92 at his alma mater in Lakeview, Michigan, where he attended briefly as a child.

“The American Dream is still alive,” Harken says, adding how proud he is of the commencement speeches he makes at various universities, the doctorate from Northwood, the professorship from Baylor. “And you know, if I can do it, ANYBODY can do it.”

Tom Harken, our lovable, huggable, humble Texan and modern-day American hero, gives us the hope that with faith and strong belief we CAN reach our dreams regardless of any obstacles.

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Tom Harken & Associates