Joe Cirulli

The magazine for fitness business s SEPTEMBER 2012
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Joe Cirulli
SURVIVOR
The Journey of a Lifetime

SURVIVOR
Joe Cirulli overcame early struggles in his career before building Gainesville Health and Fitness Centers into a successful company,
which has earned him Club Industry’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
By Stuart Goldman, managing editor
Photo by Migdalia Figueroa
Not long after takeoff, about
10 miles east of Tampa,
FL, the battery on Joe
Cirulli’s A36 Bonanza single-engine
six-seat airplane
exploded. Cirulli, an experienced pilot, lost
all contact with air traffic control as well as
his lights and navigation. His only guide
was a compass that he could only see by
holding a flashlight in his mouth.
It was the middle of the night in
2005, and a hurricane approaching
the east coast of Florida meant Cirulli
couldn’t go east, as several airplanes
were headed from the east to land in
Tampa away from the hurricane. Cirulli,
flying solo, navigated his dark airplane
over the Gulf of Mexico, then he
zigzagged across the state, looking for a
place to land, his fuel running low.
That night was not the first test of Cirulli’s
mettle. Before he became the owner
and CEO of the now profitable Gainesville
Health and Fitness Centers in Gainesville,
FL, he had reached and overcome the
depths of despair many times.
Next month, Cirulli will receive
Club Industry’s Lifetime Achievement
Award at the Club Industry Conference
and Trade Show in Las Vegas. How he
became the 10th recipient of the award
is a tale worthy of a movie script, one
part “Rudy” and one part “Rocky.” It is
a tale of grit, determination and the will
to succeed. Cirulli is, in the health club
industry and in life, a survivor.
A LEADER FROM THE START
Joe Cirulli was born and raised in
Elmira, NY, a largely blue-collar town
in south-central New York just north
of the Pennsylvania border. He is the
third of seven children born to Armand
and Fran Cirulli. Armand served in the
U.S. Navy and later worked for the post
office. Fran was a nurse. Many days,
Armand would return home from his
postal job as Fran was leaving for work.
It was a busy household in which young
Joe saw hard work first-hand.
Cirulli (pronounced “seh-ROO-lee”)
started working out at age 7, watching
Jack LaLanne on TV. By age 9, Cirulli
already showed an interest in lifting
weights, so at Christmas, he received a
Mighty Mouse weight set. Still in grade
school, Cirulli led the neighborhood
kids in workouts in the cellar of his
house. He later lifted weights with men
at the local YMCA.

SURVIVOR
In high school, Cirulli expanded his efforts.
leadership role. He led his football teammates
in weight training, and before his
senior year, No. 63 was named captain.
“He would always leave everything
out on the field,” says Cirulli’s sister,
Linda Cirulli-Burton.
In his Notre Dame High School yearbook,
a photo of Cirulli on the sidelines of
the football field is paired with this quote:
“It’s not winning that matters but the
will to win.” The quote was from Vince
Lombardi, legendary coach of the Green
Bay Packers and one of Cirulli’s idols.
Years later, another of Lombardi’s quotes
is displayed on Cirulli’s club wall.
One of Cirulli’s greatest achievements
in high school came in a loss. As a
wrestler, he faced an opponent 20 pounds
heavier—and with a beard. The opponent
almost pinned Cirulli, but at the last
second, Cirulli lifted his shoulder to prevent
the pin. After time expired, Cirulli’s
teammates gave him a big ovation for his
It was one of the first moments in
which he showed his survivor instincts.
While attending Corning Community
College in Corning, NY, Cirulli ran and
hitchhiked the 20 or so miles back home
so he could lift weights with his friends in
Elmira before returning to Corning.
His journey to Gainesville came
almost by accident. After getting his
associate’s degree, Cirulli and a buddy
planned to travel the country, starting
with a trip to Gainesville, but the buddy
backed out. So instead, Cirulli went to
Gainesville anyway to visit his girlfriend,
who was going to a community college
there. Cirulli arrived in Gainesville on
Oct. 27, 1973. That is when his real survival
story began.
GATOR COUNTRY
Cirulli’s first job in Gainesville, at the age
of 19, was at the Steve Spurrier Health
Spa, which was partly owned by the
University of Florida Heisman Trophy
winner and later head football coach.
When Cirulli arrived in Gainesville,
Spurrier was across the country serving
his seventh season as a quarterback for
the San Francisco 49ers.
In exchange for a membership, Cirulli
worked as an instructor at the club. A few
months later, after the club gained new
management, he asked if he could sell
memberships, and he sold eight his first
day. Eight memberships in a month was
a good month, he was told later.
Over the next five years, Cirulli
experienced a series of high hopes and
dreams crushed, as a total of six clubs
that Cirulli worked for either went out
of business while he was there or went
bankrupt shortly after he left. On two
occasions, Cirulli lived and slept inside
the club. When things were really bad,
he slept in his car.
One day, the fiscally challenged Cirulli
went to McDonald’s for a 16-cent Diet
Coke, only to discover he had 12 cents
The Cirulli family, which graced the cover of
Club Industry in November 1990, continues
to be involved in company operations. Photo
courtesy of Gainesville Health and Fitness.
in his pocket. That was all he had to his
name, too.
As he walked out of the McDonald’s,
he began to feel grateful for the lessons he
learned from all the club owners whose
poor handling of their clubs led to his
penniless circumstance.
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ReQuest photo by Migdalia Figueroa; 2012 photos by Cheri Jones; other photos courtesy of Gainesville Health and Fitness.
Joe Cirulli’s Timeline
1953: Joe Cirulli was born
on Dec. 13 in Elmira, NY.
1973: At age 19, Cirulli
arrives in Gainesville, FL,
works at the Steve Spurrier
Health Spa.
1978: The first
Gainesville Health and
Fitness Center opens in a
2,500-square-foot space
in Creekside Mall.
1984: The 9,500-squarefoot
Gainesville Health and
Fitness Center for Women
opens. It eventually
expands to 14,000
square feet.
30 • CLUB INDUSTRY.COM | September 2012
1986: The main club
moves to a 22,000-squarefoot
space formerly
occupied by a Winn-Dixie
grocery store. It eventually
grows to 31,000 square feet.
1996: The main
club moves to a
51,000-squarefoot
facility at
its current site.
It eventually
expands to
66,000 square
feet.
1988: The
first ReQuest
Physical
Therapy
center opens.
2001: A
ReQuest
satellite office
opens in
Alachua, FL.
2007: A new
25,000-square-foot coed
club and a ReQuest center
opens in Tioga Town
Center in Gainesville.
2012-2013: The
main club undergoes
expansion that will
take it to 78,000
square feet.
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SURVIVOR
Joe Cirulli’s
Top 10 List
As a young man, Joe Cirulli set
10 goals to achieve in his life. He
accomplished all of them before he
turned 33.
1. Own a health club in Gainesville, FL,
so no one can tell me where I’m going
to live.
2. Make it respected in the community.
3. Earn $100,000 by the time I’m 25.
4. Own a Mercedes-Benz like the one
driven by the Six Million Dollar Man.
5. Own a home in the mountains, one
by the ocean and build a home for my
parents.
6. Become a black belt in karate.
7. Become a pilot and own an airplane.
8. Travel all over the United States.
9. Travel all over the world.
10. Save $1 million.
Photo by Migdalia Figueroa.
32 • CLUB INDUSTRY.COM | September 2012
“I will never allow myself to be broke
again,” Cirulli told himself.
In the parking lot, Cirulli encountered
a friend who, upon learning of his situation,
offered him a place to stay. Inspired
earlier in his career by Norman Vincent
Peale’s “The Power of Positive Thinking,”
Cirulli found another motivational
book called “Think and Grow Rich” by
Napoleon Hill. After reading that book,
Cirulli wrote down a list of life goals.
Cirulli was thinking positively again, but
he would soon encounter more obstacles
that would test his mettle.
A CLUB TO CALL HIS OWN
After a brief stint at the International
Health Spa in Gainesville, Cirulli began
working as manager at the Gainesville
Executive Health Spa and soon worked a
deal to take over the failing 1,500-squarefoot
club from the owner.
“He was on a mission. You could tell
even back then,” says Karen Coley-Cannon,
who started working for Cirulli at
the Gainesville Executive Health Spa and
has been working for him ever since.
Cirulli wanted to expand the club and
thought he had found the perfect spot
for it, but when he went to sign the lease,
the bank had leased out the space from
under him.
Cirulli was crushed. He went to a
friend, an attorney named Bill DeCarlis,
and shared his frustration.
“You’ve got no choice,” DeCarlis told
Cirulli. “You’ve got to go find another
place.”
And Cirulli did—a 2,500-squarefoot
space in Creekside Mall. After years
of bouncing from club to club, Cirulli
finally had a club of his own, the Gainesville
Health and Fitness Center. Before
construction was finished in 1978, Cirulli
began selling memberships and opened
the club for workouts even though it
meant that members needing a restroom
had to use the one at a nearby restaurant.
Cirulli needed the membership money to
pay for the rest of the construction.
Eventually, the club passed the final
inspection, and it became successful
enough that in 1984, Cirulli opened a second
club, Gainesville Health and Fitness
Center for Women. He also expanded the
original club and was about to expand
further when city regulations ended
those plans. Cirulli was three parking
spots short of what the city required for
his planned expansion.
Cirulli was crushed again, especially
after a club operator from Wisconsin
who also owned a club in Clearwater, FL,
visited Cirulli to tell him he was going to
open a club in Gainesville that would put
Cirulli out of business.
After visiting the potential competitor’s
Clearwater club, Cirulli determined
he needed to act fast to keep his business
in business. For years, Cirulli had had
his eye on the 22,000-square-foot Winn-
Dixie grocery store across the street from
his club. He knew a move to that location
was the key to his company’s future and
the key to warding off the would-be competitor
from Wisconsin.
When Cirulli heard the Winn-Dixie
store was closing, he approached Fred
Cone, the building’s co-owner. With
the relentlessness of a college football
recruiter, Cirulli talked to Cone every
day for the next five months, trying to
persuade him to give him that store.
By the time Cirulli’s would-be rival
and other companies expressed interest
in purchasing the grocery store, Cone
had already determined who the future
tenant would be.
“If anybody’s going in that spot,” Cone
told a prospect over the phone in front of
Cirulli, “it’s my Italian Stallion here.”
Cirulli got the Winn-Dixie store and
moved his club there in 1986.
More challenges faced Cirulli, but he
met them head on. Around the time of
the main club’s move, the University of
Florida announced the construction of
its own student recreation center. The
student population made up the bulk of
Cirulli’s memberships at that time.
Undaunted, he began an aggressive
marketing campaign to the entire
Gainesville community to replace the
students he likely would lose. As part of
the wooing of the Gainesville community,
he also opened his first rehabilitation
center, complete with Med-X equipment
developed by Arthur Jones, the Nautilus
founder whom Cirulli knew and
worked with for years. Back when Jones

SURVIVOR
owned Nautilus, Cirulli would help give
equipment demonstrations around the
country. The Arthur Jones One Set to
Failure training method became a staple
in Cirulli’s clubs.
Today, the main Gainesville Health
and Fitness Center, which moved
from the Winn-Dixie site in 1996, is
66,000 square feet, with plans to take it to
78,000 square feet by early next year. In
addition to that club and the women-only
club, Cirulli opened a 25,000-square-foot
Gainesville Health and Fitness club in
2007. The company also runs three Re-
Quest Physical Therapy centers, including
one inside the main club.
Gainesville Health and Fitness Centers
generated $14.7 million in 2011
revenue, putting the company at No. 54
on Club Industry’s Top 100 clubs list this
year. The company has 26,000 memberships
and 456 employees. Some of those
members who have been with the club
since the beginning pay the same rate as
Gainesville Health and Fitness has three clubs in operation, two coed clubs and one for women
only. The company also runs three physical therapy centers. Photo by Cheri Jones.
when they started, in some cases, as little
as $50 per year.
Cirulli’s impact on the Gainesville
community has resulted in several
awards and recognition, including turning
Gainesville into the healthiest community
in America in 2003. Cirulli’s
status in Gainesville may be on par with
Spurrier, who came back to Gainesville
to coach Florida in 1990. Spurrier didn’t
know Cirulli well when Cirulli worked
at the clubs that bore his name, but when
Spurrier was the Gators’ coach, he worked
out at Cirulli’s club, and when asked, he
always attended company events.
“He’s come a long way,” says Spurrier,
now the head football coach at the
University of South Carolina. “I forget
who said it, but the way you measure a
man in life is not where he is but how far
he came to get there. Joe came a long way
from those early days.”
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SURVIVOR
EMPLOYEES AND FAMILY
ARE ONE IN THE SAME
Cirulli has created an environment at
Gainesville Health and Fitness in which
the staff treats him like family and vice
versa. Some of the staff is in fact Cirulli’s
actual family.
In addition to Coley-Cannon, several
Gainesville Health and Fitness employees
have been with Cirulli for 15, 20, or 25 or
more years. It is not hard to understand
why. Cirulli has rewarded his management
team with whitewater rafting trips
and excursions to Costa Rica. One year, as
a Christmas bonus, Cirulli took his staff to
a mall in Orlando and gave each employee
an envelope containing more than $1,000
that they were to spend that day.
“I wouldn’t want to work for anyone
else,” says Shawn Stewart, operations
manager, an 18-year veteran at the club.
“He’s helped me grow as a person as much
as any person I’ve ever been around.”
One day, Cirulli told Stewart to keep
Thursday open for a special trip, just for
the two of them. Cirulli flew Stewart that
day to a golf tournament. In Augusta,
GA. At The Masters. Stewart, a golf fanatic,
was floored.
“It’s that personal level of knowing
that he’s thinking about you all the time,”
Stewart says. “We all work hard, but we
get to play hard.”
Sometimes, Cirulli will solve a problem
for which his staff sees no resolution.
One day, a car that was part of a giveaway
was parked in front of the club and
needed to be moved but was not moveable
conventionally. Depending on whom you
ask, the car either was barricaded and/or
no one could find the keys. Not a problem,
Cirulli thought. He and a few staff
members simply lifted the car and carried
it out of the way.
“Failure never enters his mind,” Stewart
says. “It truly never enters his mind.”
Debbie Lee’s first exposure to Gainesville
Health and Fitness came in 1984 as a
part-time aerobics instructor. Right away,
Lee said to herself, “One day, I’m going to
work for this man.”
Today, Lee is the company’s director
of marketing. She calls Cirulli a marketer’s
dream.
“Joe is willing to put up the money to
allow us to be the best we can be at our
positions,” Lee says.
Jan Matkozich, general manager and
sales manager, has been with Cirulli
since 1980, with a couple of pauses in
between.
“I don’t come to work,” Matkozich
says. “This is just part of life. This has
never been a job in that sense. Outside
of my wife and my two kids, this is my
family. Joe and his family took me in like
I was one of theirs.”
Matkozich says Cirulli leads by walking
around, often stopping to help a
36 • CLUB INDUSTRY.COM | September 2012
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SURVIVOR
member on a machine or picking up a
candy wrapper or paper clip off the floor.
All employees follow the company’s
core values: hard work, integrity, a
commitment to helping people and a
willingness to create your own future.
The staff—men and women—wear blue
dress shirts, with the men required to
wear a tie. That’s partly due to Cirulli’s
Catholic school upbringing and partly
to differentiate the staff from the club’s
trainers, who wear polo shirts.
Gainesville Health and Fitness receives
about 2,000 employment applications each
year. The extensive interview process concludes
with a workout in the club.
All six of Cirulli’s siblings, from Linda
to Debbie to Dan to Ro to Mike to Crissy,
now live in Gainesville, as do their parents.
And all but one of the Cirullis have or have
had roles at the company, from public relations
to the smoothie bar to finances.
At 86, Armand still goes to work every
morning to manage Joe’s personal bills.
Jan Matkozich (left), general manager and sales manager, has worked for Joe Cirulli at
Gainesville Health and Fitness Centers for more than 30 years. Photo by Cheri Jones.
He shares an office with Mike Kline, CFO
at Gainesville Health and Fitness.
“He doesn’t believe in retirement,”
Armand says of Joe. “I can understand
what he means.”
Joe Cirulli, who will turn 59 in December,
bought Armand and Fran a
house in Gainesville, one of the many
goals he set as a young man. Joe himself
was married for a brief time in his 20s
to the girlfriend who brought him to
Florida. They later divorced, and he has
never remarried. Although he does not
have kids of his own, he sees his many
nieces and nephews at birthday party
after birthday party.
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SURVIVOR
“The industry is what he loves,” Dan
says. “I don’t know how he could get tied
down.”
SAFE LANDING
After flying all over Florida with no
lights, no instruments, nothing but
a compass lit by the flashlight in his
mouth, Cirulli finally was ready to land.
Some runway lights happened to turn
on at a small airport in Cross City, about
50 miles west of Gainesville.
Cirulli had to manually lower the
landing gear. For every turn, he had to
twist the handle four times. It required
15 turns, and he needed every ounce of
his upper-body strength to maneuver
the handle. He pushed himself the way
he would push someone to lift a weight
in his club.
“Thank God I work out,” Cirulli thought.
After landing the plane safely in
Cross City at 2:30 a.m., he called a friend
to take him back to Gainesville. Later
that morning, Cirulli, still shaken by the
flight, went into his club without telling
anyone what had happened, even denying
anything was wrong when someone
noticed that he was less talkative than
usual. Then Cirulli found a book on his
desk that included this famous quote:
“Circumstance does not make the man;
it reveals him to himself.”
After reading that quote, Cirulli
thought about all the times in his health
club career when he had no one else to
turn to, just as he had no one to turn to
but himself that night in the dark skies
above Florida. His flying adventure reemphasized
what he had learned in his
journey to becoming a business leader:
Focus on what you can accomplish, not
on what you cannot accomplish.
“I did OK,” Cirulli said to himself that
day. “I did what I was supposed to do.” l
To read more about Joe Cirulli’s career, go to
www.clubindustry.com/currentissue.
Lifetime
Achievement
Award Recipients
Profiles of all Club Industry honorees
are available online at www.
clubindustry.com/awardsrankings/
lifetime-achievement-award.
2003 — Joe Weider, Weider Publishing
2004 — Joe Gold, Gold’s Gym, World Gym
2005 — Judi Sheppard Missett, Jazzercise
2006 — Rick Caro, Management Vision
2007 — Alan Schwartz, Midtown
Athletic Clubs
2008 — Dr. Kenneth Cooper, Cooper
Aerobics Center
2009 — Jack LaLanne, TV Fitness
Personality
2010 — Curt Beusman, Saw Mill Club
2011 — Red Lerille, Red Lerille’s
Health and Racquet Club
2012 — Joe Cirulli, Gainesville Health
and Fitness Centers
40 • CLUB INDUSTRY.COM | September 2012
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