‘long overdue’
Tulare
-Those who have worked with Lionel Pires, Tulare's 2011 Man of the
Year and owner of TF Tire & Service, see not only a good businessman
but an outstanding citizen who cares about his community.
“He has taken a small town tire dealership to the level of a major tire distributorship for the West Coast and at the same time helped the community in several ways,” former partner Dick Johnson says.
Daniel Enriquez, an active member of the chamber's Tulare Downtown Association (TDA) and owner of Hazel's Kitchen, said recognition of Pires was long overdue.
“He does so much for our community, so I was very excited to hear he was named Man of the Year,” Enriquez said. “He's a big advocate for our downtown. He's really a big asset to our community.”
Pires
is a former chairman and member of the Tulare Chamber's board of directors
and currently is chairman of TDA's Downtown Tulare Revitalization Committee,
formerly the 2040 Downtown Visioning Committee. He also is a member of
the Greater Tulare Chamber Trust, which lends money to start up and existing
Tulare-area businesses.
Through TF Tire & Service, he and his family have given time, money or both to Tulare schools, youth programs such as the Boys and Girls Club in Exeter, the Salvation Army and LightHouse Rescue Mission.
In years past, he worked with Cub Scouts and coached Little League, soccer and softball. He is a past president of the Breakfast Lions Club and also served on the Project Area Committee for the Alpine redevelopment area and on the Valley Water Alliance board, which worked towards a solution to keep San Joaquin River water for local farmers.
Early years
Ask Pires who was the major overall influence in his life and he will tell you it was his father, Lionel Sr., who died about 10 years ago at the age of 83.
“He was everything I would like to be,” Pires said. “He was a farmer and worked really hard and in the summer I worked alongside him. I just idolized him. He taught me how to work.”
Lionel Sr. was a “quiet man” with “a big, big heart,” who would readily help a neighbor in need, his son said.
Lionel Jr., the second of Lionel Sr. and Georgia Pires' three children, was born in Hanford but moved to Visalia when his parents relocated their dairy and farming operations.
He attended Mt. Whitney High School, where he enjoyed math and science classes and played varsity basketball under Les Borges, a former All American college player who was a major influence on him during his teen years.
Pires, who at 5 feet 7 inches was the shortest player in the league, said he listened to Borges who told him he needed to “off-set” his size with other strengths. “Mine were speed and hard work,” he said.
Under Borges' leadership, Pires and his teammates became the number two team in the Valley.
Because of allergies and asthma, Pires said he could not follow in his father's footsteps as a farmer, so he chose to study engineering in college instead. But he left school after his junior year.
“I just wanted a break from college and found I loved the bank,” he said. “I enjoyed it all.”
He worked for Crocker Bank in several cities and was handling large agricultural and commercial loans in Tulare when the bank assigned him to its Los Banos office. But before he could relocate an opportunity arose to buy into what was then Tulare Firestone. He did.
“I was doing well and helping the bank make money and I wanted to be profitable and help myself and my family,” Pires said. “I wanted to grow the business.”
That he has done well. In 1984 he and his wife became sole owners and today TF Tire & Service operates at 10 locations. Tire World Car Care Centers, which the family also owns, operates at two Valley locations. All together the company employs 135 people.
Pires and his wife, Vicki, his high school sweetheart, run the business with their two children, Kevin Pires and Kristin Pires. They have one grandchild, Sebastian, 8.
The above story is the property
of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit
permission in writing from the publisher.