Tim Holan is the boy who ran away and joined the circus.
And stayed."I really felt as though my life didn't have a direction. I wanted to prove myself," he said. "I got on a Greyhound bus and I went to San Diego."
Fifteen years and countless nights under the big top later, Holan has returned to his hometown at age 29 as general manager of one of two traveling shows of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
He spent Wednesday supervising a crew of about 85 as they set up for a five-day run in Pittsburgh. It's a long way from his first job with Ringling Bros., which had him sweeping out animal cages. He now wears a tie.
Holan watched from what would be top-dollar seats as workers rigged the spider's web of cable and wire that supports everything from the swirling spotlights to the flying trapeze.
He has held nearly every behind-the-scenes job - from carpenter to wardrobe to train master - but has never performed.
"I know a lot of the performers and I see the satisfaction they get out of performing," he said. "I know that I get the same satisfaction in putting the show together."
Holan said he initially planned to stay with the circus just long enough to get back home to Pittsburgh from California. But he got back on the train after the Pittsburgh shows without contacting his parents.
It would be several more months before he told them where he was or what he was doing.
"That's probably the saddest part of this story," he said. "Running away is not the kind of thing you consult about with your parents."
Holan's parents have since moved from Pittsburgh but come to see their son when the circus stops near their home in Virginia. He expects to see his sister, aunts, uncles and cousins before the circus leaves Pittsburgh.
He spends all but about six weeks a year on the road with the circus, stopping in 85 cities during a two-year tour. Holan, who is single, makes his home outside Austin, Texas.
He said it isn't likely that a runaway teen will be able to follow in his footsteps and join the circus.
"It really can't happen nowadays. Laws are such that we have to pretty much check out everybody's background before we hire them," he said. "My story is a success story. I've been very, very fortunate."