"Entrepreneur of the Month"
Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.
(Published By Point Magazine, By T.J. Paolino)


Business: Classic Entertainment and Sports

Job Title: President

Residence: North Providence

Sign: Cancer

Biography: Jimmy Burchfield, Sr. is a teacher, mentor, philanthropist, successful businessman and local hero. As President of Classic Entertainment and Sports, Mr. Burchfield guides a stable of 35 elite fighters through the trials and tribulations of professional boxing. The former owner of The Classic Restaurant, he has raised over $2 million dollars for charity, focusing his efforts largely in support of treatments for ileitis colitis, a disease of the colon. A native of North Providence, Jimmy has always sought out challenges and risked uncharted territory whether it be starting a new business, or fathering a wayward youngster.

POINT: What did your parents do for a living?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: My mom was a mill worker and then a house mother. I have two brothers and one sister. My dad was an automobile salesman. My father and mother both come from very humble beginnings.

POINT: What high school did you go to?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: North Providence High School.

POINT: What was your very first job?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: My very first job was working for a company called CAP Products. It was a purveyor that had everything from pickled peppers to pasta in the truck and we'd sell to Italian families on Federal Hill. I would earn extra money delivering product up and down the stairs of the tenement houses in the area. I was 13 years old.

POINT: Any other memorable jobs?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: Yes. I went to work for my now deceased mentor. His name was Clarence Coutu and he owned one of the biggest building material facilities in New England which was called Coutu Lumber in West Warwick. I spent 13 years of my life working there. I started unloading freight cars and became General Manager in 3 years. We worked hard there and Clarence challenged the heck out of me every single day. It was a great experience, an experience I will never, ever forget. I also went to work for my grandfather's business which was International Building Wrecking. We would demolish a building and save every single part of that building, then we'd sell them--radiators, windows, doors. That taught me at a very young age how to run a business and how to make money. That was another great, great experience.

POINT: What does it take to create a new boxing fan?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: Like any business, you can't grow and you can't be successful unless you can increase the market. These days there are more young people coming to the fights, including females, so we want to present an entertainment package. Very seldom will you get a new fan to the fights that doesn't become a regular. So we're working hard. Anywhere we have to go, we're willing to do that. We're willing to help charities, raise money; we're serious. We have great talent coming out of Rhode Island and the fans feel a part of those fighters. Every one of our gates gets bigger, bigger and bigger.

POINT: What fights are you promoting now?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: We've been able to bring unbelievable events to Rhode Island. Our August 10th event at Twin River features Matt Godfrey who is currently #2 in the world. We have over 35 elite boxers on my team. We have great players from all over that are on our team. For this fight we were able to put Comcast Network together with Cox Communications for the broadcast. Sponsors get the live hit of the telecast and then it is run at least three more times nationwide. The fighters are seen all over; it's really great exposure.

POINT: So many of your contemporaries describe you as a great teacher. What makes a great teacher?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: Well you have to have a great student. You also have to be a people person, to love people. What I love and what I've done all my life from my days at Coutu Lumber to the days at Classic Restaurant is getting a young person and letting them be really involved, no holes barred. When you get up in the morning, whatever is your most difficult task that you have do that day, I get them done first. The rest of the little stuff can get done after, no problem. I think of difficult tasks as challenges, not problems. You just try to be a step ahead in dealing with them. Whatever I get involved in I want to be the best at. I want to give it my all, and I expect my players to do the same. It makes you sleep good at night, too.

POINT: What are your plans for CES over the next five to ten years?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: I'd like to bring CES to the ultimate in entertainment and boxing. I want to make it the biggest and best in the world. I'm looking for the future leaders to take the business over that are willing to put the time and effort into it. We want to get new people, younger people, to the events because once they get there, they're gonna be sold.

POINT: Are there any other businesses that you own or are a part of?

We own some real estate and I do some consultant work both in the restaurant end of things and in entertainment and boxing. I like to take restaurants or entertainment organizations that have problems and make them work efficiently, and then walk away from it. We're getting more involved in real estate development also.

POINT: What prompted you to get into the fight promotion business?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: As an international judge, I saw internal challenges and I saw people doing good, fair and poor jobs and I said to myself, "I know I can do this better than these people". I then relinquished my judgeship and promoted my first fight. I lost $18,000 and that was enough for a young man to say, "what am I doing?" but I said "no, I'm gonna keep goin". Today, we have a franchise at CES.

POINT: What is the top priority for CES?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: The top priority of CES is to make world champions. We need to have the networks recognize the talent that we have on our team. It's very important to entertain the customer that's going to buy that ticket to the fights. We want to make sure that at the end of the night, they've had a good time and they're gonna say, "when is the next fight?"

POINT: What is it like for fighters to have the infamous "Jimmy Burchfield" talk?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: If I see a fighter slacking off, they're gonna be called in. Sometimes they say it's being called into the "Principal's Office" but it's just me saying, "hey, do you want to be a world champion? You want to be a champion, to have people look up to you, well you gotta make sacrifices" or "you're trainer tells me you haven't been in the gym in three days, so why don't you take your contract, you can have it! Go with somebody else because you don't want to be a champion. Champions don't do that. I work out everyday and you can't work out?" I find that the complete athlete is the athlete that is willing to do what they have to do to travel that mountain of greatness. It's about the athlete that is clean cut, that's respected in the community, that's going to respect people because he could be a great boxer, but if the marketability is zero, he's not going anywhere. I sometimes call athletes in when things are going right. If you want to be number one, there are sacrifices that you have to make in life, and it's hard to get out of the comfort zone. These are still young men and women, they are still learning and being developed. "Look, I give respect, but I expect respect back." That's how I tell them to live their lives. It doesn't take anything to be respectful to people.

POINT: How many hours would you say you work each week?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: I don't count my hours because my job requires a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week committment. What I count is how many hours a week am I able to be with my family. That's time I want to take. I'm the type of person, if I've just worked a 12 hour day and you call me and say "You know what, Jimmy, I need to see you tonight, it's important," I'm gonna see you. I work as many hours as it takes to accomplish what I have to accomplish.

POINT: What is the biggest mistake you have made that our readers can learn from?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: I think the biggest mistake that I made is that I didn't fully extend myself with the talent God gave me. I wanted to see if I could have been a major league baseball player, and I'll never know that. If you have goals in your life, give it everything you've got, because if you don't, you'll never know if you could have reached the goal you wanted in life. I think about it still to this day.

POINT: What do all champion fighters have in common?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: It's the perserverence. To become a champion, you really have to work hard. If you've got great work ethic, you can become a champion. If you wanna be a champion and you're supposed to do 50 sit-ups, you're gonna do the 50, but you're gonna do 10 more. That's what it takes to be a champion. You're gonna go that extra mile, without anybody telling you, without anybody watching you. It's like you're doing a great deed for someone; you wanna do that deed for someone because you want it in the papers. No...the greater deed is doing something for someone and nobody even knows you did it. That's what life is about.

POINT: At what age would you like to retire?

Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.: I don't know if I ever can retire. Part of what keeps me going is my challenge of life and so far I get up everyday motivated. I think that when the time comes it will show itself, but that is why you develop people to step in and take over. I'm not ready for it; I don't know if I'll ever be ready for it, but if it comes, I'll know about it.

Sidebar:

Watch on wrist: Movado.

Favorite clothing line: Armani

Cars in driveway: Cadillac, Ford Escalade

Favorite music: Frank Sinatra

Favorite food: Italian, and healthy

Favorite vacation spot: Aruba

Favorite TV show or series: Brotherhood, Sopranos

Favorite toy: Crossword puzzles

TIMELINE:

1956 - Begins working at Coutu Lumber
1958 - Graduates from North Providence High School

1959 - Is promoted to General Manager of Coutu Lumber

1969 - Opens Classic Restaurant

1983 - Becomes International Boxing Judge

1985 - Reaches $1 million mark in fundraising efforts

1988 - Reaches $2 million mark in fundraising efforts

1991 - Lauches Classic Entertainment and Sports