Meet Tony Ricketts, General Manager Of D-Patrick Auto Sales

By Michael L. Smith, Jr.

When you walk into D-Patrick Auto Sales, located on the corner of the Lloyd Expressway and Green River Road, the first thing you’ll notice is the fact that you are immediately met with a warm smile and a greeting by one of their sales team member.  D-Patrick employees welcome you like you are family, and one of the main reasons is that D-Patrick is a local family-owned business.

The D-Patrick sales team is primed to help each and every person who walks through the door, in large part due to the excellent leadership and training provided to their employees by Evansville native and General Manager of D-Patrick, Tony Ricketts.

Tony was born in Evansville, In, and was raised here until the early 70s until his father bought a farm in Spencer County, Indiana next to Lincoln Park, near Santa Clause. Ind. Tony recalled “that the farm that he grew up on was originally the Thomas Lincoln farm. So, I like to tell people that Abraham Lincoln and I spent our formative years in the same place, just separated by time.”

When he was fourteen his family moved to Santa Clause, Ind because his dad owned a  restaurant/gas station there.  Tony said, “working at my dad’s restaurant/gas station is where my love for cars started.  Really it all began with my grandpa, who lived in Evansville, he was a  car collector. I spent a lot of time helping my grandfather restore old cars.” Tony described a litany of cars that his grandfather used to collect and restore, including some older cars like the Model T and Model A.  He remembered those times fondly, saying, “My grandfather even collected Edsels, which some people look back on as a failure, but really Edsel was a car that was ahead of their time. His grandpa collected Ford’s and various other types of cars as well, like an old Mercedes Benz that he and I would work on together.”

Tony graduated from Heritage Hills High School in Spencer County.  He attended Indiana University in Terre Haute for a couple of years, where he studied aviation. He enjoyed his  time there, learning the ins and outs of airplanes and how to fly them, but after a couple of years I decided that aviation really wasn’t the direction I wanted to go.” Tony moved back to Evansville and started school at the University of Southern Indiana, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Business.”

After Tony graduated college he wanted to go into sales somewhere. He had a passion for cars, so he thought the natural thing to do was to apply for a job at D-Patrick. He applied for a management position and 34 years later he’s still there!. Tony said, “D-Patrick has grown by leap and bounds over the year, and how he has been able to grow with the business. “D-Patrick has provided me with a lot of opportunities over the years”

His management and sales skills have served him well over the years. He has dabbled in every aspect of the D-Patrick.  He was a salesperson, a finance and insurance manager, then was promoted sales manager.”

Tony has received leadership training in Cincinnati, OH with an interesting group of individuals led by Richard Olivier, son of the famous actor Lawrence Olivier. The entire process of this training session was based around Shakespeare’s play Henry V. The point of me bringing up this most interesting training session was to show that I know that my job as a leader is to communicate to my team members what is expected of them, and to show them, to guide them how to get there. It’s not about being a boss and yelling at people or making unreasonable demands just because I can, it’s about showing people what your expectations are and how they can meet those expectations. We’ve all got a job to do, we’re all on the same team and we all have the same goal.”

I asked Tony to tell me about the history of D-Patrick. He told me that one of the things he really loved about D-Patrick was that it is still a local family-owned business. Tony also gave me a brief history lesson about D-Patrick. “The O’Daniel family started the company in the 1930s, during the height of the Great Depression. Joe O’Daniel became the owner of an Oldsmobile dealership, and from there it has grown generation by generation. Slowly they expanded into having multiple car lines and became one of the largest sellers of used cars in this market. D. Patrick O’Daniel took over after Joe and expanded the business even further, and now Mike O’Daniel and his brother-in-law Ray Farabaugh, who are partners, are taking it to the next level.” Tony informed me that D-Patrick even has a dealership in the Indianapolis market now, where they have recently opened up in Lebanon, IN.

As the interview winded down, and as the customers continued coming in, I asked Tony if there was one last bit he would like to say before he returned to help his sales team. He pondered the question for a moment, then said, “I’m a person who doesn’t really change a whole lot. I’ve worked at D-Patrick for over 34 years, I’ve been married to my beautiful wife Heather for 31 years, and I’ve lived in the same house for nearly 30 years. I have two grown sons in their thirties. My oldest is named Alec and he’s a funeral director up in Boonville, married to a wonderful woman named Ariel and I am very proud of both of them. My youngest son’s name is Adrian, he works in the building trades here in Evansville, and I’m very proud of him as well. I also have a dog named Skipper who I love. I’ve been blessed with a happy life and a great job.”

There you have it, readers. If you need a car, new or used, come on down to D-Patrick Auto Sales and see Tony Ricketts and his team. They won’t steer you wrong!

FOOTNOTE:  Michael L. Smith, Jr is a profile writer for The City-County Observer and is currently completing classes at Ivy Tech Community College in pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism.