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Richard Kevin Harrison (born March 22, 1965) is an American businessman,
reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
personality, and owner of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop which is featured on the
History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
series ''
Pawn Stars ''Pawn Stars'' is an American reality television series shown on History and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24 ...
''. Harrison and his father,
Richard Benjamin Harrison Richard Benjamin Harrison Jr. (March 4, 1941 – June 25, 2018), also known by the nicknames "The Old Man" and "The Appraiser", was an American businessman and reality television personality, best known as the co-owner of the Gold & Silver Pawn ...
, opened the shop in 1989, which they co-owned until his father's death in 2018.


Early life

Rick Harrison was born on March 22, 1965, in
Lexington, North Carolina Lexington is the county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term ...
, the son of
Richard Benjamin Harrison Richard Benjamin Harrison Jr. (March 4, 1941 – June 25, 2018), also known by the nicknames "The Old Man" and "The Appraiser", was an American businessman and reality television personality, best known as the co-owner of the Gold & Silver Pawn ...
Jr., a U.S. Navy veteran, and Joanne Rhue Harrison. Harrison is the younger brother of Sherry Joanne Harrison (died at age 6), and Joseph Kent Harrison, and the older brother of Chris Harrison.Harrison, Rick (2011). ''License to Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver''. Hyperion (2011). New York; According to Harrison's son Corey, his grandfather stated that they are related to U.S. President
William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...
. Harrison has indicated that he does not give much credence to this idea, although Harrison's father stated the family is distantly related to
Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...
, a grandson of William Henry Harrison. In 1967, when Harrison was two years old, his father was transferred to
San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, where the family relocated. As a child, Harrison began having
epileptic seizures An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with los ...
at age eight. As a result, he spent much of his time in bed which led to a lifelong love of books and reading in general. He became particularly enamored of a series of books by
John D. Fitzgerald John Dennis Fitzgerald (February 3, 1906 – May 30, 1988) was an American author, most notable for The Great Brain series of children's books. Biography Fitzgerald was born in Price, Utah, the son of an Irish Catholic father and a Scandinavi ...
called ''
The Great Brain ''The Great Brain'' is a series of children's books by United States, American author John D. Fitzgerald, John Dennis Fitzgerald (1906–1988). Set in the small town of Adenville, Utah, between 1896 and 1898, the stories are loosely based on Fitz ...
'', whose main character, a ten-year-old Utah con artist named Tom D. Fitzgerald with the ability to conjure up money-making schemes, greatly influenced Harrison. Harrison was also fascinated with physics and history, his favorite area of historical study being the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
from the late 1700s to the early 1800s. Harrison attended Taft Middle School, which is part of the
San Diego Unified School District San Diego Unified School District (formerly known as San Diego City Schools) is the school district based in San Diego, California, United States. It was founded in 1854. As of 2005 it represents over 200 institutions and has over 15,800 employee ...
, but dropped out during tenth grade to pursue his "$2,000-a-week business of selling fake
Gucci Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragran ...
bags". The Harrison family relocated to
Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, in April 1981 after the collapse of his parents' real estate business. When Harrison was 17, his girlfriend Kim became pregnant. Despite a subsequent miscarriage, the couple decided to marry. Their first child,
Corey Corey is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a masculine version of name Cora, which has Greek origins and is the maiden name of the goddess Persephone. The name also can have origins from the Gaelic word ''coire'', which means "in a caul ...
, was born on April 27, 1983. Within two years, their second child, Adam, was born. Soon after Adam's birth, Harrison and Kim separated. Nine months later Harrison met the woman who would become his second wife, Tracy, on a blind double date. After dating for six months they moved in together, and eight months after this they married, and assumed the responsibility of raising Corey and Adam.


Career


Businessman

In 1981 Harrison's father opened his first 300-square-foot secondhand store, the Gold & Silver Coin Shop, on Las Vegas Boulevard South. Harrison worked for his father in the store in the daytime while repossessing cars at night. After five years the store moved to a larger location on
Fremont Street Fremont Street is a street in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada that is the second most famous street in the Las Vegas Valley – and Nevada – besides the Las Vegas Strip. Named in honor of explorer and politician John C. Frémont and located in the h ...
. After two years at that location the Harrisons lost their lease. They subsequently moved into a new building in a commercial neighborhood on Las Vegas Boulevard. Harrison relates in his autobiography that he and his father had long-sought to convert the store into a pawn shop, calling it a "logical progression." Because of a 1955 Las Vegas law requiring the issuing of new pawn licenses to be limited on the basis of the city's population, which by 1988 was over 200,000 and rapidly growing, Harrison called the city statistician every week, so that they could apply for a rare and much-coveted pawn license as soon as the city's population reached 250,000. By 1989 the city's population reached that number and after some legal struggles, the Harrisons obtained their pawn license. That year Harrison and his father opened the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop less than two miles from the
Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...
. By 2005, Harrison and his father were loaning out about $3 million annually, which brought them about $700,000 in interest income. By 2006, the shop had developed a reputation for carrying special sports items with unique histories, including a 2001
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
ring that belonged to
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...
Brock Williams Brock Williams (born August 11, 1979) is a former professional American football cornerback. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Will ...
. It also served gamblers who, according to Harrison's son Corey, often came in to "pawn something so they have gas to get back home." According to Harrison in 2010, the items most often brought into the store are
jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western ...
. Since the inception of ''Pawn Stars'', Harrison's inventory typically has a ratio of 5,000 items pawned per 12,000.


Television fame

Harrison spent four years pitching the idea of making a show about a pawn shop after his shop was featured in the show ''
Insomniac with Dave Attell ''Insomniac with Dave Attell'' was an American television show on Comedy Central hosted by comedian Dave Attell, which ran from August 5, 2001 until November 11, 2004. Overview Host Dave Attell goes through a particular city at night, usually cl ...
'' in 2003, but his efforts did not yield success. In 2008, Brent Montgomery and Colby Gaines of Leftfield Pictures came up with an idea about a reality show based in a Las Vegas pawn shop and approached Harrison. The series was originally pitched to
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
, though the network preferred the series to have been a ''
Taxicab Confessions ''Taxicab Confessions'' is a television series of hidden camera documentaries that aired on HBO from 1995 through 2006. When passengers enter the cab, they are recorded with several small cameras hidden in the taxi. The producer prompts passeng ...
''-style series taking place at the Gold & Silver's night window. In a February 2009 YouTube video titled "Pawn star$", Corey Harrison promised to gun down an intruder with a handgun he displayed, and a woman screamed as she was removed from the store after demanding that the wedding ring her husband sold to the shop be returned.
Nancy Dubuc Nancy Jean Dubuc is an American businesswoman who currently serves as chief executive officer of the American-Canadian media company Vice Media. Early life and education Dubuc is the daughter of Carol D. Smith and Robert H. Dubuc Jr. Her parents ...
of the History Channel changed the format, which included on-camera experts appraising the items brought into the Gold & Silver as well as personality dynamics of the store's staff and patrons. Initially to have been titled ''Pawning History'', the program was renamed ''Pawn Stars'' at the suggestion of a Leftfield staffer, playing off the term ''
porn stars A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts in video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie. Such videos tend to be made in a number of dis ...
'' for more marketing appeal. The show features Harrison and his father, Richard Harrison (generally referred to as "The Old Man" on the show and who died in June, 2018) along with his son Corey ("Big Hoss") and Corey's childhood friend and employee Austin "Chumlee" Russell. during production of the fifteenth season. In 2010, the
National Pawnbrokers Association The National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA) is a USA-based trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesse ...
awarded the Pawnbroker of the Year Award to Harrison for his contributions in enlightening the public about the pawn industry. In January 2011, ''Pawn Stars'' was the highest rated program on the History Channel, and the second-highest rated reality show behind ''
Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...
''.Seidman, Robert (January 25, 2011)
"'Pawn Stars' Delivers 7 Million Viewers, An All-Time High for History"
TVbytheNumbers.com. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
On June 7 2011, Harrison published a biography called ''License to Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver''. His book reached No. 22 on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list on June 26, 2011. Harrison appeared as himself, alongside his son Corey and Chumlee, in "iLost My Head in Vegas", the November 3, 2012 episode of the American TV series '' iCarly''. Four days later, he appeared as an antique store owner in "The Safe", the November 7, 2012 episode of the TV series '' The Middle''. In January 2014, Harrison became spokesperson for the Micro Touch One Razor, a personal care shaving product for men. Harrison appeared in a television commercial promoting the One Razor product line. In June 2014, History premiered ''United Stuff of America'', a series from the producers of ''Pawn Stars'' that focuses on notable artifacts that were used in important moments in history, such as the cane with which
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
fended off a presidential assassin, the axe
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
used as a young rail splitter, and the pencils
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
used to write his memoirs. In July 2014, the game show '' Pawnography'' premiered on the History Channel, in which Harrison, Corey, and Chumlee compete against players in an attempt to prevent them from winning cash and items from the inventory of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop.


Personal life

Harrison has two sons, Corey and Adam, with his first wife Kim, and one son, Jake, with his second wife, Tracy. Adam worked at the pawn shop, and later became a plumber. According to Corey, quoted in a 2016 ''
HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' article, Adam had no apparent interest in appearing on the show. In 2012, Harrison, twice divorced, announced his engagement to Deanna Burditt, who was also twice divorced. The couple married on July 21, 2013, in
Laguna Beach, California Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation efforts, and a ...
. ''
Counting Cars ''Counting Cars'' is an American reality television series shown on History and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series, which is the third spinoff of ''Pawn Stars'', is filmed in Las Vegas, where it chronicles the daily activities at Count's ...
'' star and car expert Danny Koker became an ordained minister and performed the ceremony, while ''Pawn Stars'' costar Austin "Chumlee" Russell served as a ring bearer."Celebrity Weddings 2013"
''
Us Weekly ''Us Weekly'' is a weekly celebrity and entertainment magazine based in New York City. ''Us Weekly'' was founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986, and sold to American Media Inc ...
'' Retrieved January 19, 2014.
The couple
divorced Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
in September of 2020. Harrison supported
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
candidacy for president, and
Daniel Rodimer Daniel Stephen Rodimer (born May 22, 1978), also known by his ring name Dan Rodman, is an American retired professional wrestler, former football player, and former political candidate. In 2006, he signed a one-year developmental contract with W ...
for
Nevada's 3rd congressional district Nevada's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district occupying the area south of Las Vegas, including Henderson, Boulder City and much of unincorporated Clark County. The district was initially created after the 2000 census. It was ...
in 2020. He considered a potential run for
governor of Nevada A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...
in
2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
. In a 2018 interview on the
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
program '' Life, Liberty & Levin'', Harrison described himself as "more of a libertarian" than a conservative, and telling host
Mark Levin Mark Reed Levin (; born September 21, 1957) is an American lawyer, author, and radio personality. He is the host of syndicated radio show '' The Mark Levin Show'', as well as '' Life, Liberty & Levin'' on Fox News. Levin worked in the admin ...
that history proves that less government leads to a better economy.


References


External links

* * Gold & Silver Pawn Shop {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Rick 1965 births Living people Nevada Libertarians People with epilepsy Participants in American reality television series People from Lexington, North Carolina Businesspeople from Las Vegas Pawn Stars North Carolina Libertarians