Dave Longaberger

  b. 1935; d. 1999 | American businessman

At The Bottom

— 1955

He felt "scared" and "inadequate."

At the age of 21, Dave Longaberger held the “dubious honor” of being the oldest graduating senior in his high school class in Dresden, Ohio.The fifth child in a family of twelve, Longaberger grew up in a happy family that nevertheless struggled to get by.  His father, who worked at a paper mill, had grown up in a family of German-American basket makers, but the family business had closed its doors during the Great Depression.  Nevertheless, Longaberger’s father continued the craft by making baskets in his spare time, selling them for a few pennies or (more often) giving them away to friends.  Longaberger himself struggled terribly with school as a young boy.  He stuttered and was marked as a slow reader; other kids mocked him openly in class, snickering when he was called on to read out loud.  He was held back twice in elementary school, and by the time he finished high school, he was still only reading at a 6th grade level.  He was excited to be finished with school, but he felt “scared” and “inadequate.”  “What should I do now?” he thought.  “Here I am, reading at a sixth-grade level.  What could I expect the world to do for me?”  It seemed as if he had no good choices.