Real Success Story Phil Camp Saw Potential In Johnny Marsh And Gave Him A Second Chance; It’s Paying Off For Both

Of the more than 30 sales representatives at Camp Chevrolet, Johnny Marsh has the least experience. Even so, the 26-year-old has an office next to some of the most experienced sales reps in town.

His position is all the more amazing when considering Marsh once helped himself to a Chevrolet Corsica from the Camp lot when he was working for the company in high school.

He would take the car to school and return it to the lot at the end of each school day. He was fired after he got caught.

Phil Camp, owner of the dealership, later gave him a break.

“I remember Phil telling me that I’d never work here again after that,” Marsh said. “But he gave me another chance. If it weren’t for him, I don’t know where I would be.”

Camp said hiring Marsh years after his teenage gaffe wasn’t as big a risk as it might sound.

“See that smile of his? See how he is with people?” Camp said. “I see a lot of potential there.”

Camp shrugs off his generosity with an easy explanation.

“I have a stronger training program there,” Camp said. “I thought he would have the best opportunity to learn the business there. Management has more time to spend with the newer sales people.”

And his hunch about Marsh was right.

“Ever since Johnny has been here, I’ve had so many letters and phone calls from customers commending him,” Camp said.

“I don’t think it’s taking a chance. Johnny means well and has a good heart.”

Camp first offered Marsh a job in 1985 washing cars when he was a student at Gonzaga Prep. Marsh, who played football at the school, was referred to Camp Chevrolet by way of a summer job program offered by the team, Camp said.

Attending the predominantly white school wasn’t easy for Marsh, an African American who is the youngest of five children. Academically, he held his own. He graduated with a B average, he said.

At times he stretched his grade point to a 3.5, but he only maintained his academic intensity during football season. When football was over, he would let his grades drop to as low as a 1.5.

Marsh said he could only remember four other minority students in the entire school at the time. His classmates were friendly and his teachers helpful, but he still felt out of place, he said.

“It seemed like when everybody turned 16 there they got a car,” Marsh said. “I didn’t get my first car until I was 22.”

Still, Marsh credits his mother, Ethel Marsh, for realizing that he needed more discipline growing up. That’s why she sent him to private schools, he said.

But often he felt inferior at G-Prep and that he didn’t belong there because he grew up with modest financial means. When he turned 16, that’s when he decided to help himself to one of Camp’s cars.

“It was weird, I just wanted to feel more in place,” he said.

Though Camp fired him, he continued to keep in touch with Marsh.

“Dad - that’s what he always told me to call him - was always on me about getting my education and taking care of my responsibilities,” Marsh said. “When I was in school, he always seemed to know what my grades were before I did.”

After finishing high school, Marsh saw the birth of his first child, Jordan Mackin-Marsh. He didn’t have a job when his son was born.

Shortly after that, Camp decided to give Marsh another chance.

Marsh was a shuttle driver for the company for almost two years before Camp moved him into the sales department five months ago. He’s sold 12 cars.

“I owe it to Phil to keep his customers happy,” Marsh said. “My focus isn’t so much the money as it is to show him my appreciation.”

Marsh believes Camp and the rest of his family have “their feet on the ground.

“Phil and I were driving around one day last summer,” Marsh said. “We passed a Camp sign and I asked him, ‘How does it feel to have your name all over town?”’

“He told me, ‘That’s not what I think about, it’s what my family had to do to get here that I think about,”’ Marsh said.

As for Marsh, it may be some time before he has his name on a billboard.

“I have absolutely no background in sales and absolutely no clientele list,” he said.

His commission-only salary is light-years away from the gross $300,000 salary earned by the company’s top sales rep last year.

“I would one day like to top sales, but that’s a long way away,” Marsh said. “There are a lot of intelligent business people here.

“But for now, to be honest with you, if I can keep one customer here, make one person happy, that’s fine by me,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo