March 22, 2007
By D. TOM PATTERSON, Pacific Digest Editor
When interviewing important people, I've developed a habit of beginning with a Google Search. Type in the name "Bud Klein Stockton California" and there are roughly 45,500 entries.
Voilà!
Yet four hours later, I know little more about the man than when the journey began. No more than three entries deal with the Bud Klein who helped build a baseball field for the University of the Pacific. In a week of asking and researching, and endless hours on the Internet, I've discovered Stockton's Bud Klein is a lot more successful than anyone ever can imagine.
The largest single contract in the history of the world dry bean industry in the late 1970s launched a modest Stockton company to international fame. Bud Klein put that deal together with Mexico. Those packaged snacks on airplanes? Sun-Maid raisin packaging? The Rodney Strong winery, and 10 others in Sonoma, Alexander, Chalk Hill and Russian River appellations. Bear Valley and Kirkwood Ski Resorts. These are all things Bud Klein has founded, owned, or done serious business with. And it's only some of the things he's touched. California coolers? Who else but Bud Klein?
In fact, just about anytime you walk down Aisle 14 at your favorite grocery store, fly on an airplane, sip a glass of wine or take a drive in Sonoma, why Bud Klein will just reach out and grab you, and you won't even know it.
Ironically, it's an empire built with almost no public perception. A person is challenged to find a newspaper story on the Bud Klein Family. I didn't. But maybe that's just the way Bud Klein likes it.
In June of 2004, Bud Klein donated $1.5 million to the University of Pacific to build a baseball field to be named "Klein Family Field." It was a huge boost to a program which had not played a game on campus since the 1940s.
The name of the field alone goes a long way in telling you about Bud Klein. "Bud Klein is a very generous man who has followed the footsteps of his father," said Pacific baseball coach Ed Sprague. "He's a guy who sort of has flown under the radar in Stockton. It's one thing to write a check for that much money, but you won't believe the people who have contributed and want to be a part of this because of the name. They want to be associated with the love and the passion of Bud Klein."
So where do we begin? This is a story that will leave you shaking your head. This is Bud Klein: The man, The myth, The legend.
The Man
Sol Klein was born in New York City and moved to San Francisco at the turn of the century. His mother perished in the San Francisco fire of 1906 and Sol and his two brothers grew up in an orphanage. The eldest brother moved to Stockton to open a brokerage; Sol would soon follow to help, but both eventually went off to war.
"He was an avid, avid baseball person, who helped start the Stockton Ports," said Bud Klein, Sol's son. "He dedicated his life to helping young baseball players. Our life was baseball and still is a huge part. I played in high school, in college at Pacific and Stanford and in the Navy. I played with great players like Phil Rizutto and I even batted again Early Wynn. I hit a homer off him the first time. Next time up, he struck me out on three pitches that I never saw, but I felt awfully close to my head."
Bud Klein is five months shy of 80-years-old, and going on 21. His eyes dance with magic when he talks about baseball. And he is equally as excited and proud talking about his children. And therein lies another chapter of this truly remarkable and successful man.
"In 1950, I was offered a pro baseball contract," he said. "But my Dad was recovering from a heart attack and my wife Jane just had our first child. I made a choice not to join the pro circuit. Taking a wife on a bus to Texas would not be a very good start."
Wise decision.
As the businessman in Bud Klein grew, so did the family. First was Katherine (now Kathy Jackson), then came Tom, and Dick (who passed away in February 2003 with cancer) and Steve. Each roughly two years apart.
It is his kids, not the overwhelming success, of which Bud Klein is most proud.
The Myth
So why, Steve Klein was asked, doesn't anyone know much about your Dad and the Klein family? With so little documentation, it's almost as if these successes-and the amazing stories behind them-are mythical.
"We want it that way," said Steve. "Dad's a private person. We're all private and down to earth. I don't need a big car (he drives a truck and an SUV) and we don't go to 5-star restaurants. I don't even care much for fancy restaurants."
He was asked to elaborate.
"What we do is what we do. We aren't really concerned about what people think. We don't need people patting us on the back telling us what a great job we've done. We all like to be somewhat anonymous. That's our whole family. We just are private about things."
It is not meant in a mean way because there is not an ounce of meanness among them.
Their generosity, like the business, often goes unnoticed, but is almost as legendary.
Bud Klein knows some of it has been luck. "I've been involved or owned 20 different companies," he said. "Some not very successful." Here modesty reigns, because where Bud Klein and Family has ventured, overwhelming success is close behind.
Example: California coolers.
Bud Klein smiles.
One of the great success stories branching off California's powerful wine industry was the wine cooler. And you'll never guess who started it.
"My dentist's son and his college buddies had gone to the beach and made a batch of Chablis wine and juice," said Klein. "The dentist talked me into trying it. It was awful, but my wife and daughter tasted it, and they loved it. So I invested and it just went crazy, just crazy."
Right place, right time.
It came at a time when Chardonnay hit the market. People gave up on Chablis. But that was the main ingredient for California Coolers, so Klein was able buy the main ingredient at tremendously low prices. "There was a glut of Chablis and I bought enough at 50 cents per gallon to run the company for three years. It was so successful, in two years there were 94 kinds of coolers. It was the hula hoop all over again."
By then, the Klein Family had made their mark, sold out and moved on.
Example: Rodney Strong winery.
The winery was up for auction in 1989, said Steve, and the Klein Family put in a bid, not really expecting to win. "We figured if we got it and sold it as parcels, then we still would make money," said Steve.
They won, but they didn't sell because Tom was ready to make his mark. A graduate of Stanford with a business degree and a love of agriculture, Tom talked the family into giving Rodney Strong a chance. With the same business acumen as his father-and the same luck-it has become another miracle story.
"60 minutes," said Bud laughing. "60 minutes."
A truly loyal business partner since 1971, and now a member of Pacific's Board of Regents, Bob Corkern remembers.
"Right after we made the purchase, the TV show 60 minutes did a piece entitled "The French paradox." The show was based on a medical study that said red wine helped you live longer. "The show got so much response," said Corkern, "they repeated it two our three times. We couldn't have spent $100 million and gotten that kind of publicity.
Right place, right time.
In 1989, Rodney Strong produced 69,000 cases of wine, which sold for an average of $30 per case.
Today the winery produces 600,000 cases of wine which sell for an average of $120 per case.
You do the math.
Similar stories exist with the ski resorts. That investment started with a group of Klein's buddies from his college days at Pacific "because they love to ski," said Klein. The family still is involved with Kirkwood, which is experiencing tremendous growth yearly.
And, of course, we shouldn't forget beans, where it all began with Klein Brothers Inc. as a rapidly-growing company in the 1960s. That deal with Mexico only a decade or so later--negotiated by Bud Klein--was worth $145,000,000 to American companies. In 1992, Klein Brothers sold out to Con Agra for money most of us can only dream about.
The Legend
Bud Klein was a great football player under Amos Alonso Stagg at Pacific. As a baseball player, he was even better. He's proud of that.
In the mid-1950s, he took up volleyball at a Y-Club in Stockton. The team won a national tournament, went to the Pan Am Games and to the World Tournament in Paris, where they finished fourth among 30 teams. And Bud Klein never had played volleyball in high school or college. Of this, he also is proud.
In 2001, Bud Klein set into motion a plan to build a baseball field on the campus at Pacific by donating $1.5 million. "I love watching college kids play and I've gone to a lot of games at Klein Family Field. I watched it being built and there was so much rain for awhile that we joked about the flock of ducks at second base." You can sense the pride as he talks about this field that will carry his family legacy for decades to come. "We stepped up because of a combination of two things-our admiration for Ed Sprague and the Klein family's love of baseball."
But a legacy?
Sol Klein instilled three important things in son Bud: Respect, integrity and morale character.
Bud Klein was asked if his father would be proud of him.
He eyes welled.
"I believe he'd be real proud of me, the way I'm so proud of my kids, " he said.
And in the end, it is the family, just like the name says--"Klein Family Field"--that will forever be Bud Klein's legacy.
