Chuck on the shore next to a sea kayak
Position: Minister of Culture.
Location: Raleigh, Beryl location.
Specialties: Hiking, trail running, and kayaking.
When did you start at GOPC? 05/01/85!
A 1981 photo of Chuck in his days as a member of the YPSS staff
What (or who!) first introduced you to the outdoors lifestyle?
My sister - 10 years my senior, who was a fabulous Girl Scout and later became a National Park Service Ranger in Yellowstone.
What's been your most memorable trip/outdoors experience?
So I'm fortunate to have many to choose from... I'd have to say the 2012 MST Endurance Run where we covered nearly 1,000 miles over 3 weeks with TNF Athlete Diane Van Deren.
A fun youtube clip from that finish - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDZjRUMjkuo and photo album here - https://flic.kr/s/aHsjzsg3rY
What first brought you to GOPC and what do you love about working there?
I think it was the winter of 1983 and I was backpacking at Mountain Mitchell, heading from Deep Gap to Mitchell on the Crest Trail. I ran into two other backpackers, a teacher from Charlotte and his son. We struck up a friendship, and a couple years later I got a call from the father. He said he’d left teaching and was now running an outdoor shop in Charlotte. I was working for an urban ministry in Washington, D.C., at the time, but wanted to get back to Charlotte to be closer to Kim, who I was hoping to marry (she said yes!!). He asked if I might be interested in working with him. (That father was Bill Mauney, who was with Great Outdoor Provision Co. until 2018 as part of the company’s four-person ownership team and Vice President of Management.)
A selfie of Chuck at the Seven Mile Hole in Yellowstone National Park
What has been your most special customer moment?
Each day is still an adventure. My colleagues here at GOPC and the customers make the time most rewarding. I refer to my experience as a “turtle on a fence-post”. Somebody just put me here. I had the good fortune to start out on the sales floor in Charlotte where I had grown up. Bill Mauney was a great mentor as we worked to deliver great service to our customers. Moving to Raleigh in 1988 allowed more time with customers in the Village District shop.
My fondest memory is from the mid 90's. We were offering rental gear at the time and had rented a Eureka Willow Creek to a father taking his children and 3 others on a birthday camping trip to Hanging Rock. He picked up the tent at 2pm on a Friday and at 5pm we realized that we had not included the bag of tent poles as they were in a separate stuff sack. We quickly called the Winston-Salem shop where Rich, still with us today, tossed a brand new Willow Creek 10 in his car and drove to Hanging Rock and set up the tent for the birthday bash just as they were arriving to the campsite. Team Trusty saved the day and we had a customer for life whose children still shop with us!!!
