Olin Mott (March 5, 1921 – July 2, 2013) was the founder of Olin Mott Tire Stores and a philanthropist who lived in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. Mott was born March 5, 1921, in Coffee, Georgia and was one of eight children. He joined the Army and was stationed at

Fort Kamehameha Fort Kamehameha was a United States Army military base that was the site of several coastal artillery batteries to defend Pearl Harbor starting in 1907 in Honolulu, Hawaii. History The eastern areas of the fort were in the district called Moanalua ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. He was injured in the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

on December 7, 1941. After the war, he moved to Tampa. He worked for a tire business that did retreading before starting his own tire business, Olin Mott Tire store, in 1955 at 3741 East Hillsborough Avenue. He eventually expanded the business to six locations. His office was decorated with photos of Mott with notable friends including George Steinbrenner,

Lee Roy Selmon Lee Roy Selmon (October 20, 1954 – September 4, 2011) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a defensive tackle at ...

, and Billy Martin as well as every Republican president of the United States since

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

. He served on the Florida State Fair board from 1998 to 2012, developed the

Bob Thomas Equestrian Center The Bob Thomas Equestrian Center is an equestrian center located on the Florida State Fairgrounds in East Lake-Orient Park, Florida. The center "includes exercise grounds, warm-up rings, two show rings, and a grand prix ring." In addition, the ce ...

at the Fairgrounds with Bob Thomas, and helped bring a football program to

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

. He also started the Tutor-a-Bull school tutoring program in 2007. In 2011, Lee Roy Selmon presented Mott with the Tampa Metro Civitan Club Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award. Mott married Doris Albright in 1946.

References

External links

Olin Mott tire stores website
1921 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists Attack on Pearl Harbor Businesspeople from Florida United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers {{US-business-bio-1920s-stub