May 30 - Dick Nunis

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On this day, in 1932, Richard A. Nunis was born in Cedartown, Georgia. Dick received a football scholarship to play for the University of Southern California and enthusiastically moved to Los Angeles. His dream of becoming a professional football player and then transitioning into a coaching position were on track right up to the moment he broke his neck in a game. He was lucky beyond belief to recover from his injury, but obviously had to change his career path. He graduated from USC in 1955 with a degree in education and at something of a loose end as to what to do with the rest of his life. A fellow football player, and lifelong friend, Ron Miller, told Dick he should apply for a job for the summer at the theme park his father-in-law was getting ready to open. Dick thought why not and became part of the opening training team at Disneyland, just for something to do for a few months. It would be more than four decades before he needed to find something a little more permanent.

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One of the first classes Dick taught included a group of executives from the top levels of the company, one of whom was Ron's father-in-law, Walt Disney. The class was what would eventually evolve into the first day of training for every new Disney cast member and is now called Traditions. Apparently Dick did a good job of imparting the wisdom he needed to and setting the tone Walt wanted, because he got to go on to train a big chunk of Disneyland's incoming cast. He often said in the years to come that he was forever grateful he got to learn the Boss's philosophy right from the man himself.

Dick didn't stay a trainer long, though. He soon became an area supervisor, then was put in charge of the mail room and steno pool before becoming an operations supervisor. At that point in his career, Dick was in charge of developing a formal standard operating procedure for every attraction in the park. Again, he did an outstanding job as most of the SOPs he helped write are still in effect today. By 1961, Dick was the director of Disneyland operations and became part of Walt's inner circle working on Project X, what I commonly refer to as the Florida Project in this blog, except, of course, at that point no one knew where it was going to be built.

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In 1968, Dick was made Vice President of Park Operations and, when Project X officially became Walt Disney World in 1971, his role expanded to Executive Vice President of both parks. As he oversaw the expansion of the Disney empire through the Seventies and early Eighties, with the addition of Tokyo Disneyland and EPCOT Center, he was named the President of the Outdoor Recreation Division in 1980. About the same time he was elected to the company's board of directors, a position he would hold until his retirement eighteen years later. In 1991, as the company went through a reorganization of all its divisions, Dick was named chairman of Walt Disney Attractions, which would be his last official job title with Disney.

Two of the main things that Dick made an important part of his leadership strategy were the importance of people to the organization and the concept of giving back to the community. When he started at Disneyland, the park employed about 600 people. When he retired, it took over 63,000 cast members to keep the North American parks going. During that entire time of expansion, he encouraged his fellow cast members to support charities. He served on the board of Give Kids the World, the village in Central Florida where kids from wish organizations from around the world come to stay for free when they visit, and was a big part of the University of Central Florida Foundation.

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When he retired on May 26, 1999, the day of his 44th anniversary with the company, Dick's days as a Disney executive were over, but he had no plans to slow down. Since then he's served on the boards of organizations as diverse as Duke Energy and Enterprise Florida, a group trying to promote economic growth across central Florida. He's led trade missions to Asia and Central America and created his own consulting firm, New Business Solutions. He's chaired arts councils, United Way campaigns and economic forums. At 87, he might not do quite as much as he used to but he remains an active and respected member of the community. And, of course, for turning a temporary summer job into a legacy of leadership, Dick was named an official Disney Legend in 1999, shortly after his retirement. He also received a window on Main Street USA in Disneyland that reads "Coast to Coast Peoplemoving - World Leader in Leisure Management - Dick Nunis, Proprieter - Founded 1955 - Offices Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo - Wave Machines a Specialty"