THE RICHARD "DICK" ANDERSON STORY

Dick Anderson grew up on a small farm in Montrose, South Dakota.  In those days it took raw muscle and perspiration to produce a crop.  His father survived the depression and passed on his work ethic to his two boys, Dick and Roger.  Dick learned at an early age that the way to get ahead in life was to work hard.  Working hard on the farm produced athleticism in Dick that showed itself in high school sports.  Excelling in both basketball and football, Dick developed a love for athletics that would affect him profoundly throughout his life.

Dick attended college at General Beadle (now Dakota State University) and became a stand out football player.  This was in a day when the gyms weren’t fancy and there was not any weightlifting equipment.  In the summer, he worked at a local dairy for spare money.  Earning $20 a day, Dick built muscle the old fashioned way – lifting 100 pound milk cans!

After graduating with a teaching & coaching degree from Dakota State, Dick’s career spanned six different high schools and four states (South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska).  As a Head Football Coach, he compiled a 149-68-3 record.  He was named Nebraska’s Coach of the Year in 1986 after his Grand Island Northwest team won its second straight State Championship.

In 1986 Dick was at a crossroads. He was looking for a new challenge, but wasn't sure if he wanted to leave the position of Athletic Director & Head Football Coach at Grand Island Northwest. After some careful consideration, Dick and Roger decided to do what they had done in high school and college: play on the same team. Roger (who had been in the car business since 1969) wanted to try and buy a big Ford dealership where Dick lived in Grand Island, Nebraska.

THE WINNING TEAM

“In the mid 1980’s my brother Roger, started to encourage me to consider the car business,” remembers Dick “It certainly was a new direction for my life, but I could see how a lot of what I had done in coaching would be of benefit in working with people buying cars.”  In 1986 he made the decision to join Roger and over the next fifteen years the Anderson’s built a very successful franchise. Their “customers first” attitude combined with their hard work farm ethic brought them lots of repeat business. Ford Motor Company consistently ranked them at the top of their Oval Circle, a customer satisfaction program. Over time most of their sons and daughters came to work at the dealership providing them each the joys of a true family business.

Over the next decade they would add dealerships in Lincoln, Nebraska and St. Joseph, Missouri. In 1998, after a vacation in Lake Havasu City, Dick decided to sell out to Roger and then buy a Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership and enjoy the warmer weather. A few years later he bought a Toyota dealership in Kingman. Today, Dick continues to play an active role in the community as well as guiding his family in running the dealerships. Currently, Dicks son Jason has taken over the helm in the daily management of both dealerships and is a chip off the old block. The Anderson Automotive Group will continue to operate under what Dick refers to as a "mom and pop philosophy of business". That is to treat everyone you do business with as if they were your own mom and dad!

Many other accomplishments piled up over those years but Dick is quick to lay the credit for the success in two areas outside of himself. .  “I owe a great big thank you to all those teachers and coaches who cared about this South Dakota farm boy.” He points to the wonderful athletes he had throughout his career and their determination to succeed, and to the many coaches that he had the privilege to work with. He also gives the rest of the credit to his family.  “From my first coaching job in South Dakota after college, my wife, Judy, has always been there with me supporting me and encouraging me,” shares Dick.  “As my children grew up they were on my team, too, always spurring me on. Everything was so much easier because of the togetherness of our family”.