Neal Embry Starnes Media
Author, artist and businessman Larry Thornton speaks to the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 12.
There is no substitute for hard work, Larry Thornton told the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce.
“We paint our world,” Thornton said. “You’ve got to put the work in.”
Thornton is an artist, a McDonald’s franchisee through his corporation, Thornton Enterprises, and serves on the board of Synovus Bank and Coca-Cola Bottling Company. He has also authored a book focused on his own journey called “Why Not Win?” which is also the name of the institute he founded. Thornton also taught at Vestavia Hills High School before joining Birmingham Coca-Cola, where he served as advertising manager and director of business development.
He was also the first African-American to own a McDonald’s franchise in Birmingham and was one of the first Black students in a desegregated high school in Montgomery following the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Later in his first year at the school, his freshmen year of high school, Thornton recalled the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I remember the somber, sad evening in our community that night,” Thornton said.
Still, there were those who opposed desegregation that rejoiced in the leader’s death, he said.
Thornton told the crowd people must work on themselves, and be willing to work hard on themselves, if they want to see change in their workplace and in their world.
“Until the great mass of people is consumed with the welfare of all people, social justice will be a challenge for us,” Thornton said. “It would behoove everyone in here to get to know someone who does not look like you or believe like you.”
Social constructs, Thornton said, are enemies. He saw that firsthand with his sister when he was 5 years old. She had received a doll for Christmas, but instead of the white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed doll her friends had, her doll was Black. It was no doubt a choice of his mother, an effort to try and show her daughter that dolls could look like her, too.
But because the children had grown up watching commercials only for white dolls in between their favorite cartoons, the little girl thought her doll wasn’t as pretty or as nice as the white doll. His mother eventually caved and bought the doll her daughter wanted. If he could, Thornton said, he would take time with his mother to ask how painful it must have been to have her gift rejected, all because of the social construct that white dolls were more valuable than Black dolls.
Those constructs also affected his life, as he said he never thought once about majoring in art in college because in all of the studies he had done in art, he had not seen a Black artist. He also did not know he had what it took to be a college graduate until a particularly tough high school English teacher took time with him.
Thornton had failed a grade and had to take summer school classes. He learned quickly to not let the past determine the future.
“Do not allow your past failures and missteps to define you,” Thornton said.
The teacher invited him to her home, spent time with him and his father, and, unlike many in those segregated times, invited Thornton in through the front door.
“She realized, ‘There’s something more to this kid,’” Thornton said. “All of a sudden this mean, cold woman was showing sympathy, a genuine concern, for me.”
It taught Thornton that sometimes, the most meaningful moments come without the use of words. The words did come, though, when she encouraged him to pursue college.
“I always believed I could make a contribution,” Thornton said.
So many times, Thornton said, people do not realize the opportunity that is in front of them. Some people, Thornton said, are more concerned with getting through the workday than they are making the most of the day they’ve been given.
“Life is interesting, but only to interesting people,” Thornton said. “Life is dull, boring and lugubrious, but only to dull, boring and lugubrious people.
“Life is successful, but only to successful people,” Thornton said.
Talking about the name of his book and institute, Thornton said he recalled watching the NBA Finals in the 1980s, a matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Three simple lines appeared on the screen, a note one of the coaches had apparently given his team. It shaped the rest of Thornton’s life.
“The game has been scheduled, so we have to play,” the note read. “Why not win?”
Thornton changed the words to inspire the gathered crowd at the Vestavia Country Club.
“You have been born, so you have to live. Why not win?” Thornton said. “Don’t just be here. … Let’s not just be here. Let’s win in life, not for ourselves only, but for others.”
