Those smart people led to smart business, which attracted hard workers.Įventually, Rice would surround himself with beautiful women vying to become Hawaiian Tropic models.
Rice surrounded himself with smart people, he said, including some of the world’s most brilliant minds when it comes to aloe. He joined the Hawaiian Tropic team and made a whole lot of money, Rice said. The coach couldn’t believe Rice’s invoice, but there it was. Rice set out on his own that day and sold $2,000 worth of products to local stores by the time the final school bell rang. He showed up to a class taught by the coach, who quickly sent him out the door, fearing he might get in trouble. An assistant coach responded, and Rice made the trip to South Carolina. Rice sent a letter to a Myrtle Beach high school, hoping to reach a football coach interested in working during the slower summer months to expand Hawaiian Tropic's distribution. Eventually, he found his first distributor in Tampa. Rice, who was living off a steady diet of peanut butter and vegetable-bean soup, had other UT graduates supporting him in his endeavor. The business went from a closet to the bay of a service station - “little junky places,” Rice said. The early Hawaiian Tropic headquarters, if you could even call it that, moved 13 times. Turns out, he couldn't have picked a better one. Hawaiian Tropic was the next-best name, Rice thought at the time. In fact, Rice had no clue his original Tropic Tan name already was registered by a family in New Jersey until an attorney checked into it. “I was a pretty good salesman.”īut he wasn’t the best when it came to patents. “I knew that whatever I (made) I could sell myself and sell bottle by bottle,” Rice said. Plus, there was the pleasant smell and the customer belief that the oil actually came from Hawaii. We were growing like crazy.”īut what made people flock to this new product? Part of the answer, Rice said, is that he had the right idea at the right time. “I paid them big money to do that work because I needed them, and I needed it done quick,” Rice said. And when it came time to apply labels to bottles, 11-year-old kids became incredibly resourceful. He wasn’t qualified to make lotions but called upon someone who could.
He rubbed his concoctions on beachgoers to get a feel for what worked best. He mixed oil in the can and came up with his own formulas - a little “A, B, C” with “X, Y, Z,” Rice said. His father always thought Rice would work for a corporation and taught him that the last four years of life would be his most productive and prosperous. The possibility of being drafted in the Vietnam War loomed over him after graduation in 1964. I was strictly trying to get my education and get that graduation certificate and get out and get moving.” … I didn’t have any dates in school, or very few at all. “I love Tennessee I love Knoxville,” he said. And I learned a lot being around him - watching him being taken advantage of by this, that and the other.”Īttending UT was an opportunity for Rice to build his own life. “His entire life and career was building buildings,” he said. He learned a lot from watching his father, a dedicated company man who didn't care so much about money, Rice said. “I would run around the mountain like you wouldn’t believe. He would mix mortar during the day to help build his dad’s dream home on top of the mountain. Growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, Rice could do only three things: hunt game for Sunday morning meals, play defensive end and build a house.īefore he made his way to the top, Rice climbed from his family’s home on the side of a mountain toward the peak carrying rocks.
Keep scrolling for the original story documenting Rice's life, from "mountain boy" to beach tan tycoon. Obit: Notorious Hawaiian Tropic founder and UT grad Ron Rice dies at 81 “Tennessee gave me more credit than I was really worth,” he told Knox News in 2020. His life has been filled with fast cars, celebrity encounters and “so much money we were rolling in it.”īut before his fame and fortune, Rice was just a student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville looking to capitalize on a unique opportunity after flunking out of nearly every school he attended. View Gallery: Notable University of Tennessee alumni
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