O. Wayne Rollins
from Entrepreneurs Hosted by Academy of Achievement
Orville Wayne Rollins (1912 ’Ŭ 1991) was born in rural Georgia to a farmer father and a schoolteacher mother. He worked on the family farm throughout high school and graduated valedictorian of his class in 1930. Rollins hoped to became a lawyer, but a hailstorm destroyed the family's crops and along with them, his dream of attending college. He found a job at $10 per week in a textile mill in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he worked for the next 15 years. In 1945, he returned to Georgia where he, his wife, and his younger brother began rebuilding a mineral springs resort. Rollins ruptured two discs in his back, and while on bed rest, he devised a plan to start a radio station that would provide affordable advertising for his younger brother’Ŵs auto dealership in Virginia. In 1948, Rollins launched Rollins Broadcasting and successfully acquired and repositioned underperforming radio stations to appeal to niche markets like the local military. His company grew to 10 radio stations, four TV stations, four cable TV systems, and an outdoor advertising division. In 1964, he borrowed $60 million to complete the nation’Ŵs first leveraged buyout transaction, with the purchase of Orkin pest control and alarm business. Rollins also became one of the largest landowners in Florida and Georgia, and amassed a fortune estimated at $1 billion. Wayne Rollins participated in the 1982 Achievement Summit in New Orleans and spoke to the student delegates about his faith, his self-discipline, and his career as an entrepreneur.
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