The story of the Drurys' entrepreneurial beginnings

Editor's note: The following is a transcript of prepared remarks delivered by Chuck Drury at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce banquet Friday night, in conjunction with the announcement of the new Drury Family Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award.

Mayor Rediger, John Mehner, Jon Rust, and Members and guests of the Cape Girardeau Chamber:

A year ago, members of the Drury Family had the privilege of witnessing my father, Charles Drury, receive the Rush H. Limbaugh Award for the Drury Family's long and dedicated service to the Cape Girardeau community. It was a great honor to Charles, Jim, Bob and Jerry Drury -- hard-working, hometown sons of Cape who were shaped, strengthened and inspired by this community.

You've just heard about the establishment of the Drury Family Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award that's intended to honor the legacy of the Drury brothers, whose entrepreneurship, rooted here in Cape, continues to generate opportunities for many in this community.

Many decades have passed since the Depression years of the early 1930s when two men in Sunday suits came to the family farmhouse in rural Scott County near Kelso. They told Lambert and Lorraine Drury they'd need to move off the farm because they had not been able to make their loan payments.

But two weeks later, one man came back and said, "Mr. Drury, we have nobody better than you to put on this farm. If you can stay here and keep the weeds down, we'll let you live here and you pay us when you can." It was a remarkable act of kindness that our grandparents extended to others many times, and their children learned to do the same.

Grandpa Drury knew he needed to do something different. To supplement his meager farm income, he began a small plastering business. Over the next couple decades, it grew into a modest but profitable operation. His employees included many of his nine children. His sons helped him from a young age, starting with cleanup and advancing to the back-breaking work of plastering. He taught them to work hard, work smart, do every job to the best of their ability, and always provide good value.

The high level of quality they provided to customers was what made selling the next job easy. Between the farm and plastering, they worked sun up to sun down. Grandpa Drury's daily example shaped their strong will to succeed and overcoming challenges honed their spirit of grit and determination. As Uncle Bob and my Dad used to say, "We all worked half time...12 hours a day."

Grandpa Drury also taught them important lessons about taking responsibility and sharing. The Drury brothers watched their Dad always take the toughest part of the plaster job -- the small, exacting space of a closet. As their skills grew, they each would run to see who got the closets first because they learned from their teacher's willingness to take responsibility and give that little bit extra to help the team.

Just last month, my Dad recalled how it took three chickens to make one dinner for their large family, and they grew up thinking their Dad loved the backs. Grandpa took the backs so his kids could have the best, meatiest parts of the chicken. And that's the way the Drury brothers approached life too -- giving their best to everyone!

Shaping walls and ceilings with their own hands ignited their imagination while they were plastering a Holiday Inn in Paducah, Kentucky. The Drury brothers believed they had learned enough to build one themselves. They also liked the idea of making a little money while they slept.

So in 1959 they bought a great location near where Interstate 55 would be built outside Cape, on Route K. Jeff Mann, the head of real estate for Holiday Inn, came for a look. He approved their location, but they needed to complete an application and send $10,000 to ink the deal. Grandpa Drury always said, "Don't bet the whole farm on one project."

Suddenly, afraid to move forward, they stalled by telling Mr. Mann they "lost their typewriter." Mr. Mann said, "We'll hold the franchise in your name, but if the Drury boys can't find their typewriter by the end of the year, we'll be forced to sell to another interested party."

His letter got their attention. They mustered their guts, found their typewriter, signed the application and sent it off with $10,000. They didn't quite know what they had gotten themselves into. The drugstore owner asked my Dad whether he really intended to try building such a thing, and he told him, "No, we're not going to try, we are in fact going to build it." They were afraid and uncertain, but still they forged ahead with plans for their 108-room Holiday Inn.

They dove into building themselves a hotel without thinking about how to finance its construction. By the time they reached the roof, they were nearly out of money. So they went to First National Bank for a loan.

When the banker asked Charles, Jim and Bob to put their wives and homes on the line for the business debt, they backed away. Two weeks later, the banker called to tell them a check was ready. He had decided to lend them the money on their word alone. And they proved worthy of his trust. Their word was their bond. To all the bankers here tonight, rest assured, we now have come to grips with the fact that we have to sign loan documents!

The Drury brothers opened their first hotel in 1963. From there and over the next many decades, they put their competitive spirit to work, practicing most of all on each other. Here in Cape, Jim opened a Burger King, 200 yards away Bob opened a Burger Lane, and across the street, Charles built a Steak 'N Shake. They developed strip malls and built hotels in close proximity and worked in competition against each other to fill them. All three started their own hotel development companies, their own billboard companies and more.

They weren't afraid to compete against one another and everybody else competing against them -- and the winner ended up being this community of Cape Girardeau.

Like their father, the Drury brothers grew into hard-working humble leaders who saw their efforts as a way to create job opportunities for friends and family with businesses that reinvested profits in growth and worked hands-on to make this community a better place to live.

What the Drury brothers started decades ago today employs almost 1,000 local team members in the Cape/Jackson and Scott County areas. In addition, we employ over 8,000 team members around the country. They work for companies under the names of Midamerica Hotels, Drury Restaurants, Drury Southwest, Drury Development and Drury Hotels. These Drury team members and these companies contribute to this community in countless ways with time, treasure and talent.

The Drury brothers dared to be different. They went out on a limb, over and over and over again -- with projects and with people. They learned courage from Grandpa Drury, who never gave up. They took time to think and to imagine. They had an unceasing desire to try new things, learn from mistakes and keep getting better at whatever they tried. Good was never good enough. And, they believed they could accomplish what they imagined they could do.

These are the qualities that we -- members of the Drury Family -- hope to inspire in the community of our roots and recognize with the Drury Family Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award, beginning in 2019.

Look around the room tonight and look within yourself. A certain number of you -- and more than you might expect! -- have the potential to be the entrepreneurs who can make a lasting difference here in Cape by:

• expressing the classic entrepreneurial values lived by the Drury brothers,
• engaging your imagination about how to serve this community,
• stirring up the fire in your belly to make it happen and
• taking risks, trying different ways and contributing what you have to give.

There's no magic in the doing, but the results can be magical. This region offered the Drury brothers opportunities to take risks and supported their efforts. Cape offers you the same opportunities and potential for success.

Our family is happy to foster this "spirit of entrepreneurship" and look forward to knowing future winners who delight in building foundations for success right here in Cape Girardeau.

On behalf of the Drury family, we thank you and applaud your entrepreneurial endeavors. Like you, we're proud to call Cape Girardeau our hometown.

Thank you.

Chuck Drury is the president and CEO of Drury Hotels. His company has more than 130 hotels, 5,000 employees and revenue above half a billion dollars per year.