Thank you, Gert Boyle Special Olympics Team USA athletes have worn uniforms with the familiar logo of the Columbia Sportswear Company, which has designed the apparel, since 1995. The uniforms are only the latest in a long line of special commitments that Gertrude Boyle, Columbia Sportswear's Chairwoman of the Board has made to Special Olympics over the past 20 years, including donating her royalities from her 2005 book One Tough Mother: Success in Life, Business, and Apple Pies, tol aid Special Olympics and CASA for Children. The most moving Special Olympics moment for Gert Boyle? When the mother of one of the athletes told me that her son's most treasured possession was his uniform bearing the Columbia Sportwear logo. "This is the first uniform he ever had," she explained. "It's the first time someone has honored him for who he is." Gertrude Boyle is the 79-year-old spirited matriarch of the international outdoor apparel and footwear manufacturer Columbia Sportswear Company. Boyle is hailed by Working Woman Magazine as one of America's Top 50 Women Business Owners — and named one of 1994's “Best Managers” by Business Week magazine. Boyle is also the center of Columbia's award-winning advertising campaign which earned the coveted Marketing Innovation award at the 1997 Super Show, an international sporting goods and apparel trade show. Gertrude "Gert" Boyle, Chairman of the Board of Columbia Sportswear Company, tells her incredible story in One Tough Mother: Success in Life, Business, and Apple Pies, published in 2005 by Westwind Press. All author royalties from the book will aid Special Olympics and CASA for Children. That Boyle would give the royalties from her book to Special Olympics and CASA for Children should come as no surprise to anyone involved with the movement. For the past decade, Special Olympics Team USA athletes have worn uniforms from Columbia Sportswear.       One Tough Mother, published in 2005, can be purchased at bookstores or online at Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com. "Special Olympics is truly a remarkable organization, and attending the World Games is certainly a privilege as well as an incredible and life-altering experience," Boyle said. "I continue to be inspired and amazed by the athletes' devotion, accomplishments and camaraderie." Boyle became involved with Special Olympics when Team USA asked Columbia Sportswear to outfit the team for the 1995 World Games. She later met Special Olympics Founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Shriver's family, and attended Special Olympics events around the world. She accompanied the Shrivers on a trip to South Africa in 2001, where she met former South African President Nelson Mandela. In her book, she writes, "I didn't think that thrill could be topped, but the Special Olympics moment that remains the most moving was the time when the mother of one of the athletes told me that her son's most treasured possession was his uniform bearing the Columbia Sportwear logo. 'This is the first uniform he ever had,' she explained. 'It's the first time someone has honored him for who he is.'" Boyle (nee Lanfrom) is inspiring and amazing in her own right, as One Tough Mother makes clear. She has been a part of Columbia Sportswear since her father founded Columbia Hat Company in 1938 in Portland, Oregon, USA. She married Neal Boyle in 1948, and he joined the family business. When Gert Boyle's father died in 1964, Neal took over the company. But only six years later, at the age of 40, Neal suddenly died of a heart attack. He left three children, an expanding company leaning heavily on bank loans and a wife whose previous experiences with finances was her monthly ritual of throwing all the bills across the living room and paying the one that flew the farthest. Boyle soon discovered that running the family's milliondollar sportswear company might be a little different. Two years later the bankers decided it was time for Boyle and her son, Tim, to sell the business. When she sat down with the prospective buyer and realized she would only make US$1,400 from the sale, Boyle told him, “For that kind of money I'll run the company into the ground myself.” Gertrude Boyle with a group of Special Olympics South Africa athletes. [Photo by Richard Corman] That was in 1971, when Columbia Sportswear had US$600,000 in annual sales. Today, Gert and Tim Boyle are still in charge and annual sales for 2004 were more than US$1 billion. The company has grown to be one of the world's largest outerwear manufacturers and the leading seller of skiwear in the United States. Throughout her career, Boyle has been a leader in the Portland community. The area's deep respect for her was exemplified in 1997 when the prestigious University of Portland bestowed an honorary doctorate on the then 74 year-old grandmother of five. Boyle has received many other honors recognizing her business savvy and philanthropic endeavors, including: The SBA Outstanding Business Person Award for Oregon (1977) The Oregon Chapter of Women's Forum Woman of the Year Award (1987) The March of Dimes White Rose Award (1988) Northwest Master Entrepreneurs of the Year, which she shares with son Tim (1992), by Inc. Magazine A Top 50 Woman Business Owner by Working Woman Magazine (1993-96) Oregon Entrepreneur by the Oregon Enterprise Forum, a group composed of Oregon business representatives (1994) Astra Award for Outstanding Oregon Woman-owned Business (1996) The Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement (1998) Inducted into the Sporting Goods Association Hall of Fame (2003) Awarded the Jimmy Huega “Can Do” award (2003) Special Olympics is extremely grateful to Boyle for her deep commitment and personal generosity to Special Olympics. A supporter of the athletes, her spirited personality has touched the Special Olympics family for many years. Return to main Celebrating Growth page