Speaking Frankly

"Cylde Riley tells his story, how he left the rural South as a young man, with little more than a high school education, pocket money and a few months experience in the Navy. Relying on energy, determination and the skills learned growing up on a small farm, he rose to the presidency of Hygrade Food Products, a major U.S. corporation. He spent most of his career in Detroit, parlaying his merchandising and marketing talent into the creation of a brand based on the tasty hot dog formula created for the Detroit Tigers baseball team. Today Ball Park Franks is one of the nation's most recognized and valuable brands. Along the way, Riley earned the respect and trust of political leaders and powerful entrepreneurs, as well as factory workers and fellow executives. His remarkable and quintessentially optimistic tale of American business success rebuts the belief that it's impossible, or nearly so, to reach great heights from humble beginnings."--Back cover.

David Clyde Riley - known as Clyde - was born on a farm in rural Alabama. After completing high school, he served a short stint in the U.S. Navy before accepting employment in a slaughterhouse in Dothan, Alabama. Over the next half century, Riley rose through the ranks to become president of Detroit-based Hygrade Food Products, a meatpacking company that created Ball Park Franks, the nation's most popular hot dog brand. He also served as chairman of the American Meat Institute, the industry's top trade organization. Riley retired in 1994 to his home in Howell, Michigan where he lives with his wife, Helen.