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Yarbrough Took Lessons From Gridiron To Business

Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

Danny Yarbrough learned honesty, integrity and a strong work ethic will take you a long way in life.

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By Christopher  Hoffman | Highlands Today

Published: May 18, 2008

SEBRING — No-nonsense and fair dealing has always been the mantra of Yarbrough Tire, and Danny Yarbrough hasn't let the hard work of his father and grandfather in building one of the oldest and most respected businesses in Highlands County go by the wayside.

Danny was eight-years-old when his father Floyd bought the business from his father and changed the name to Yarbrough Tire, watching his father work non-stop as a hardware salesman and in the tire shop.

"My dad would work from [6 a.m. to 6 p.m.] on his hardware sales route," Danny said. "Then he'd recap tires starting at 6:30 p.m. and do that all night.

"He'd literally sleep in between the recap cycles. A bell would go off to end the cycle and dad would get the machine going again and then catch a nap until the next bell would go off."

Floyd kept that pace up for three years before doctors told him that it would kill him, so he went into the tire business full time.

Growing up around the business, Danny saw the value of hard work, helping his father by painting the recapped tires, until he came into the business full time in 1980.

"After school and football practice, my brothers [Buddy, Hunt, Jerry and Kenny] and myself, we'd work in the shop and now we carry on the legacy."

Danny, a former Blue Streak star football player and at Livingston University in Alabama, may have had a chance for greener pastures in the realm of football, as Bobby Bowden and Florida State were taking a long look at the Sebring native.

"Florida, Florida State and Miami [recruiters] were all at the Sebring/Hardee game my senior year," Danny said. "The recruiters came to see me and a Hardee player by the name of Zeke Mowatt. I got a visit with Bowden in his home and was 31 out of 30 scholarships, but it was an experience I'll always remember."

Danny's love of football has stuck with him all his life and watching his father work helped him mold his own work ethic. The itch to suit up still lingers even after so long away from the game.

"I'd put on a uniform right now if I could," Danny said. "I miss it that bad. Growing up, our coaches told us to enjoy it now, because it will end.

"I never thought I'd miss practices and the work, but I do."

But the business takes up a lot of Danny's time these days and the family business continues to grow and grow, but the same philosophy still remains.

"Just be honest with people," Danny said. "There is enough legitimate business out there that you don't have to lie to someone about their car. The good thing about our business is that the same people have owned it for 40 years. If you have a problem, you don't have to wait to speak to someone else or call someone else for a decision. We make the decisions right here.

"That kind of commitment still means something today."

From his grandfather to father to one day, maybe, his son, Danny is proud of the work he and his brothers have done and being a fixture in the community when so many businesses come and gone.

"You've got to evolve, as a business, as people evolve," Danny said. "We're still doing business like my father did when he took over the business and that'll never change."

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