40 years of parking cars
Valet brings human touch to athletic club job
Everyone at the Milwaukee Athletic Club knows James. He has achieved one-name rock star status, like Bono or Beyoncé.
It comes with being the downtown club’s parking lot valet and greeter for 40 years, longer than some members and guests have been alive.
More than anything, folks here like the way James spreads joy and offers a human touch in a world of automation that tells us to press 9 for more options.
“This has been my heart right here. I enjoy getting up and going to work,” says James, born James Jackson and raised in Milwaukee.
His father-in-law, who worked at the club, put in a good word for young James who then was hired on May 16, 1977. That’s a whole lot of parked and retrieved cars ago.
“Along with a warm greeting, he is responsible for parking the members’ vehicles that want valet service,” said Paul Heck, general manager of the athletic, business and social club at 758 N. Broadway. “He is as easygoing of a gentleman that you’ll find. He’s got a cando way about him.”
James tells me he picked up his strong work ethic from his father, who toiled in a foundry past age 70, and his cheerfulness from his laid-back mother. He has endured heartbreaks and disappointments like any of us, which only strengthens the connection he feels with people he sees on the job.
“Make the best day out of it no matter what’s going on. I try to come in here and do that. I’d rather stay happy. I hardly ever have a down day. Keep your personal stuff somewhere else.” That’s exactly what he said when I asked how he stays upbeat out there in all kinds of weather.
The Milwaukee Athletic Club sold its parking structure a few years ago and has trimmed its valet staff to one per shift. The peg boards that used to hold hundreds of keys in the parking office are now mostly empty.
James has survived all that change. He parks maybe 25 cars during his daytime 8-hour shift, making him more of a greeter and doorman now. His uniform is a blue shirt, black jeans, black shoes and a Milwaukee Athletic Club cap.
“One thing I know is that James is what we call untouchable,” said former club board member Rob Grede. “Just a great guy. Always remembers your name.”
James admits to denting a few cars over the years on snowy days. He has parked the Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and other vehicles of the rich and powerful. He recalls celebrities he met on the job, including athletes Reggie White, James Lofton, Sal Bando and Cecil Cooper, and entertainers Bob Hope and Rodney Dangerfield.
People often are in a hurry when they enter or exit the club. But if they stop and engage James in a conversation, they may discover that he is pastor at his church, Crown of Victory on the north side. He sings tenor in the New Gospel Five. He once bench-pressed 500 pounds at his athletic club, the Martin Luther King Community Center on Vliet St.
And he is proud of a 39-year marriage with his wife, Rosie. Now living in Wauwatosa, they raised four children and enjoy 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Especially when he smiles, you can’t help noticing that James has three gold replacement teeth right up front. A club member who is a dentist did that for him. Each top tooth is engraved with a star.
“I told him I was going to put two M’s on them for the MAC. We decided to do the stars instead,” James says with his easy laugh.
Tips are down these days because he is parking fewer cars, but I saw a few members press dollar bills into his hand.
“God will provide anyway,” he sighs. “If you can provide for your family, that’s all I want to do. And this place provided that. I’m thankful.”
“Have a good one,” James calls out to a man leaving the club, reminding him to get a noise coming from his Lincoln checked out.
“I never knew I’d be here 40 years,” he tells me. “I’ll take 40 more.”