New Memoir Lights The Path From Poverty To Pro Basketball And Business Success

In his memoir Catch as Catch Can, Tinsley takes readers on an inspiring ride featuring the power of faith, perseverance, hard work, relationships, and mentors.

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, July 30, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Much of life and work is about overcoming challenges, and George Tinsley Sr. embodies the extremes of that journey, rising from childhood poverty to playing professional basketball and becoming a successful franchise owner overseeing a restaurant empire.

In his memoir Catch as Catch Can: Building a Legacy By Finding Opportunity in Every Obstacle, published by Advantage Books, Tinsley takes readers on an inspiring ride featuring the power of faith, perseverance, hard work, relationships, and mentors.

“My lessons could be valuable to others of younger generations who are charting courses like those I have forged,” Tinsley writes. “My teachers, community, coaches, church, and mentors who have helped me along the way inspire me to do for others what they did for me.”

Tinsley’s memoir is a reminder of great possibilities regardless of the obstacles in our path. He also shares valuable lessons learned from business failures and successes.
When readers consider how high Tinsley climbed in his career – to president and CEO of a family business that he grew into the ownership and operation of over 60 restaurants – compared to where he started, his message of turning obstacles into opportunities resonates.

He faced challenges early in life that would have derailed the growth and development of most people. He was 7 months old when his mother left him in the care of an elderly woman and never returned. Raised in poverty in the racially divided South, he was “encouraged” by a teacher to quit school in the sixth grade.

“From an early age, I had to learn how to face challenges head-on and turn them into opportunities,” Tinsley writes.

Tinsley went on to become a two-time college basketball All-American and academic standout at Kentucky Wesleyan College, where he helped lead the school to three NCAA Division II national championships. He also played professionally in the American Basketball Association before becoming a multiple national brand award-winning franchise owner.

Along with showing how he kept moving forward in business, Tinsley reflects on the search for his birth parents after getting married to his college sweetheart and on key relationships that were instrumental in his life and success, beginning with his adoptive mother, Willie Tinsley, wife Seretha, and sister Mary. He also writes about the loss of his beloved daughter, Penni, and her remarkable life.

Tinsley’s book is filled with life lessons that anyone would be well-served to follow. He’s a man who never forgot where he came from and never stopped believing he’d get to where he wanted to go with God’s blessing and a white-hot desire for success.

About George Tinsley Sr.
George Tinsley Sr. (tinsleyspeaks.com), author of Catch as Catch Can: Building a Legacy By Finding Opportunity in Every Obstacle, is a motivational speaker, motivational coach, author, and business advisor. Tinsley, co-founder with his wife, Seretha, of Tinsley Family Concessions, has turned the leadership of his business over to his son, George W. Tinsley, II, and is the vice president of the company. Tinsley Family Concessions operates more than 60 restaurants at airports in Florida and Kentucky, including KFC, Chili’s, PF Chang’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Home Team Sports Bar and Grill, and Nathan’s Hot Dogs. Tinsley is also president and CEO of GWTinsley LLC Consulting, and president of PenGeo Inc. dba KFC of Auburndale, which he sold two years ago. Tinsley is a former professional basketball player in the ABA, and was a two-time college All-American at Kentucky Wesleyan College. He is also past chairman of the NBA Retired Players Association and was on its board of directors. He began his business career at KFC as a trainer working closely with Colonel Harland Sanders and quickly ascended the corporate ladder before taking the leap after eight years into franchise ownership.

Miguel Casellas Gil
Advantage Media
mcasellas-gil@advantagemedia.com