A University of Mississippi graduate’s surprise gift to his father will benefit student entrepreneurs.
With $112,600, Jeff Michael of Tupelo, Mississippi, established the Charles Larry Michael Entrepreneur Scholarship Endowment within the Ole Miss School of Business Administration.
The fund, named for the donor’s father, provides income to support entrepreneurship majors. Selected students are eligible to receive the $2,100-per-semester scholarship for three academic years if they’re actively engaged with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at Ole Miss.
With an entrepreneurial spirit of his own and only $700, Charles “Larry” Michael moved his family from Chicago, Illinois, to Tupelo when Jeff was three years old. There, he watched his father work to build a life for his family with one successful venture after another.
“When we first moved here, we lived in a small rental house. I can remember the landlord knocking on the door wanting rent. I witnessed my family going from living there to moving into the first house we owned. I remember the first car we bought,” Michael recalled. “So, I was able to witness my dad build business after business, and I’ve always wanted to repay and honor him for that.
“There’s not a lot you can get my dad because if he wants something, he buys it himself,” Michael continued. “To be able to get him something that he appreciated was pretty cool.”
At first, though, he misunderstood the magnitude of the endowment certificate he’d been given.
“I think he thought it was a diploma,” said Amanda Michael, Jeff Michael’s wife and a 1996 UM College of Liberal Arts graduate with an emphasis in communicative disorders. “But once it was explained to him, he was so proud and so appreciative. He had it framed, and now it’s hanging right above his computer.”
Larry Michael became successful through vertical integration; as one of his businesses began to create a need for a new product, he would start another business to meet the need.
The CIE’s mission is to inspire UM students to create similarly innovative businesses through excellent teaching, exceptional service and world-class research.
“Overall, our purpose is to provide students with the knowledge, skills and experience necessary to become successful entrepreneurs who create innovative companies that provide valuable services, products and employment,” said co-director for the CIE, chair of entrepreneurial excellence and professor of management Clay Dibrell.
“We are fortunate to have alumni and friends like Jeff who have a vision for the future of the CIE and an interest in the work we’re doing with our students, preparing them to make a transformative impact on our world as future business leaders,” he said.
The CIE recently invited Michael to judge its annual Business Model Competition — a Shark Tank-style competition in which entrepreneurship students pitch business ideas for a chance to win cash prizes.
In college, Jeff Michael joined Kappa Sigma fraternity. After earning a degree from the UM School of Business Administration in 1992, he joined his father in business; first, in the sales department of Transport Trailer Service and later with a sister company, Precision Machine and Metal Fabrication, where he increased sales by 40% annually through innovative expansions.
He then ventured into real estate before purchasing a fleet of buses with which he built a highly successful business, Celebrity Coaches, renting the vehicles to many of the nation’s top entertainers. Mötley Crüe, Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood, Greg Allman, Nickelback and Mariah Carey have all been his customers.
In 2023, Michael sold Celebrity Coaches to Allied Industrial Partners. Though now semi-retired and taking a gap year, he remains involved with the business as founder and guiding consultant.
The Michaels enjoy traveling (they recently toured Croatia and Israel), playing pickleball and spending time with their children: Chase, a 2018 UM graduate; Caroline, who’s attending Appalachian State University; Hannah Grace, a UM sophomore; and ninth grader Macie.
The Charles Larry Michael Entrepreneur Scholarship Endowment is open to support from businesses and individuals. Gifts can be made by sending a check to the University of Mississippi Foundation, with the fund’s name noted on the memo line, to 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655 or by giving online at https://give.olemiss.edu.
For more information about supporting the School of Business Administration, contact Patrick Salter, associate director of development, at psalter@olemiss.edu or 662-915-2712.
By Bill Dabney/UM Foundation