In his first wide-ranging interview in 20 years, the man who some believe stands to gain the most from the 2002 Winter Games, said he sees his Olympic-related projects as "labors of love" rather than moneymakers.
Earl Holding, the owner of Sinclair Oil, Little America, Snowbasin, Sun Valley and several ranches, spent nearly an hour with the Deseret News Friday answering questions about how he became one of the country's richest men.Settled into a comfortable chair at the head of a long conference table at the Sinclair Oil headquarters in an unmarked building on South Temple, the Salt Lake native told the newspaper:
- The reason he's building a luxurious new hotel and convention center complex across the street from Little America now is that he promised he would if Salt Lake City got the Olympics.
- Snowbasin, site of the downhill ski competition during the 2002 Winter Games, has not made a profit since he purchased it a dozen years ago.
- There are no plans yet for developing the 20-plus acres he owns around Little America and the new hotel site.
- He's not reclusive, even though he said the last time he gave an interview was 20 years ago, when he bought the Sun Valley ski resort in Idaho and agreed to talk to Sports Illustrated.
Holding raised his public profile in recent years to support Utah's effort to land the Olympics, contributing more than $100,000 to the bid and joining the Salt Lake Organizing Committee board of trustees.
His name became better known when Olympic organizers helped him win congressional approval for a controversial land swap with the U.S. Forest Service that will enable him to expand Snowbasin into a full-fledged resort.
And Holding is likely to get even more attention for another Olympic-related project, a new $180 million hotel and convention center complex downtown that may be called Little America Grand.
"Certainly, the hotel project and Snowbasin are both labors of love at the moment. I hope to do a good job there that will make Salt Lake and Utah really proud," Holding said.
Neither project necessarily makes a lot of business sense, he suggested. The new hotel, which will feature huge suites outfitted with marble bathrooms, is "something we're really doing as a promise that was made" during the bid.
That promise was to provide the elite members of the International Olympic Committee and other dignitaries with the state's only five-star hotel during the Winter Games.
As for Snowbasin, the ski area near Ogden has "never been in the black yet," Holding said, and won't be without a lot of work - and money. He hopes to transform Snowbasin from a day ski area into a destination resort.
He reportedly spent some $115 million on improvements to his other ski resort, Idaho's Sun Valley. Although it's finally showing a profit, Holding said he bought the ski area because he enjoys winter sports.
"If you have strictly a profit motive in mind, there has to be something better . . . than a seasonal resort," Holding said, or the new hotel and convention center complex.
His motive may well be supporting the Olympics. "It's a great thing," he said. "I don't see any downside to it. The Games will give Salt Lake and Utah a chance to showcase the people who live here and the beauty."
Holding has been criticized for using the Olympics to push the land swap through Congress by what he describes as a small but vocal group who call themselves environmentalists.
"There's been a lot of mean things said by extremists that I don't think helps anybody," he said. "All these things about how we'll make trillions of dollars up there."
Holding said he's facing "a massive project at Snowbasin, taking it from virtually raw ground" and building ski runs, lifts, trams, lodges and other facilities.
A road is also needed to connect Snowbasin to Trapper's Loop road. Several years ago, Holding's associates committed the company to picking up the $7 million-plus cost.
Now, Holding said, the federal government should build the road. "There are so many things we need to do there that I think things have changed," he said. "I hope the federal government will support that."
The road made the Utah Department of Transportation's $4.3 billion project list. It's also considered a top priority by Olympic organizers, who supported UDOT's request for federal funding in exchange for a pledge that their projects will get done.
Despite his reluctance over the years to talk to the media, Holding said he's no recluse. "I don't think I'm reclusive. I'm out and about all of the time. I think that comes from the press," Holding said.
In a February 1994 profile, Forbes referred to Holding as "reclusive yet personable," as well as eccentric after he declined to cooperate with the magazine.
Holding acknowledged that he is a very private person who doesn't seek publicity. But he was willing to tell the Deseret News "the story of my life."
The only questions he declined to answer Friday were his and his children's ages. According to published reports, he was born in Salt Lake City 70 years ago.
Holding said he met his wife, Carol Orme, when both were study-ing at the same table at the Salt Lake City Library as University of Utah students. The Holdings have three grown children, Anne, Kathleen and Stephen.
"My hair wasn't quite as gray then," Holding said with a laugh as he recalled those early years. "It's been a fast and furious ride. A great full life. Lots of great people around me."
His working life started when he was a boy, after his parents lost everything in the stock market crash of 1929. He took a job managing a Salt Lake apartment complex for the Covey family.
Holding worked several hours before school and eight hours after, saving what he earned. He was one of a dozen or so graduates of West High School able to afford tuition at the U., then $35 a quarter.
"I saved $10,000, which was a lot of money at that time," Holding said. After a year of college, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and spent two years overseas before returning to finish a degree in civil engineering at the U.
Holding took a job with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and worked on several projects including the reservoir on Wasatch Boulevard that he said was covered with grass so it wouldn't become the target of an atomic attack.
Even then, though, he was looking for ways to make money. One of his first investments was some property near Dimple Dell where he planted 3,500 fruit trees.
In 1952, he and his wife moved to Little America, Wyo., to run what was then "a little place with a dozen counter stools and 12 little rooms" owned by the Coveys.
Holding initially had a 12 percent interest in what was then a money-losing business, which he increased to 23 percent before he was able to buy the Covey family out.
"When we were first out there, we were not doing well. I remember people saying, `Gee, why would anybody build a place out here in the middle of nowhere?' " Holding recalled.
Later, when the highway stop was jammed with customers, Holding said he heard a different story. "People would say, `You know why this place is so successful? It's the location.' "
That was the beginning of what has become a company said to be worth $800 million. In 1996, Holding was one of just five Utahns to make Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the 400 wealthiest Americans. Holding ranked 180th.
He earned his success the old-fashioned way. "I've always worked hard (and) lots of hours," he said, confirming stories that he still sometimes tackles jobs like planting flowers in the Little America hotel gardens.
Hard work helped turn Little America, Wyo., into the largest volume service station in the country. Now, Holding said, he's adding a truck facility that will be one of the biggest in the world.
The Little America in Wyoming has been joined by Little America hotels in Salt Lake City, Flagstaff and Cheyenne. Holding also has a French-style hotel in San Diego.
Holding expanded the fuel side of the business, too, into 20 states by buying oil refineries, pipelines and several hundred Sinclair service stations, as well as drilling for oil.
And he owns huge ranches in Montana and Wyoming, big enough for 50,000 head of cattle. Holding said he especially enjoys spending time on those properties but seldom can because he's so busy.
"I've got my plate full right now doing those things that need to be done," Holding said, adding that he never expects to retire. "When I die," he said. "What else would I do if I didn't work?"
The last comment from Holding was a repeat of something he'd said earlier in the interview. As the elevator doors on the executive floor were closing on a reporter, Holding said, "Be nice, will you?"