Vol. 5 # 1 - Tiffin Motorhomes

Family ManagementWhatever it Takesby Bob Tiffin with Van TiffinDean Dixon PhotographyA s a youngster, Van wanted to tear everything apart to see how it workedand then try to put it back together. As often as not, he would take the partsand try to make something different. One time he took a bicycle and a tricycleapart and built a truck wagon to race down the hill in front of our house.He and two cousins built a fine racer but they got bunged up several times.I guess brakes were not part of their design. Van was always building things— bird houses were a favorite item and he came up with several designs.He was rather young when he learned how to ride his bike. We lived on ahill and when he got going pretty fast, he would aim for the front yard anddrag his feet across the grass to stop the bike.Later Van and the cousins decided to build a tree house. Somehow itcaught on fire and created a big mess. My brother-in-law wrote them a lettersaying they were covered by the National Treehouse Fire Insurance Companyand that they should submit a claim immediately. They did and he sent thema small payment.By the time he was 12, Van was working at Tiffin Supply learning how torepair air conditioners, water pumps, refrigerators, washing machines, andstoves. This was a major part of his education in how things worked.When he got to high school, Van weighed about 145 pounds and wastrying to play linebacker on the varsity team. About that time, the Universityof Alabama put together several good seasons and went to the Sugar Bowlin ’77, ’78, and ’79. They beat Penn State 14–7 and won the National Championshipon Jan. 1, 1979. Woody Umphrey, Alabama’s left-footed punter,kept Penn State in the corner time after time and helped win the game. JohnUnderwood wrote a real nice article in Sports Illustrated about the game andmentioned Umphrey and his kicking coach, Dr. Edward Story. Dr. Story wasan engineering professor at a university in Florida. I found his name in thephone book, called him, and explained Van’s interest in punting and kicking.He graciously said, “Sure, bring Van on down here.”When Spring Break came in March, Mickey Kennedy took Van and Tim toFlorida and Van got three days of instruction on place kicking and punting.I remember very well the day they left. Van was 15. When they got there,Mickey had a hard time finding a place to park the motorhome for threedays. In the meantime, I bought 30 footballs for Van to use in practice whenhe returned.After that first trip, Van went three times a year for further instructionfrom Dr. Story. Van thought nothing of practicing six days a week. He had a Roughing It Smoothly Family Management