Rudolph Tires
Selflessly Serving the Community and the World

Robbie Rudolph can be described as an entrepreneur, a philanthropist and an all-together good guy. Robbie is the owner of Rudolph Tires, located in Murray, Kentucky.

His company employs over 50 people, and that is one thing Robbie is proud of. "We have an extremely low turnover here," states Robbie. "I am certainly proud of all of my employees and what they contribute to this community and to the company."

Robbie started selling tires when he was in high school. "I worked for Goodyear Tires in Fulton, Kentucky, as a kid, putting bicycles together and doing other jobs, and then I got into assisting the manager with collecting the receivables."

Robbie came to Murray in 1973 as a student at Murray State and was able to work for Goodyear in Murray at one of their new stores. Goodyear obviously saw some talent in Robbie and asked him to go to store manager training. "I enjoyed working in the Murray store, and I was lucky to be working with the same manager I worked with in Fulton, Kentucky," says Rudolph. "My first store manager's job was in Kennett, Missouri, and while I appreciated the opportunity, I wanted to get back to Murray; and so finally, Goodyear put me in charge of the Murray store."

Robbie also wanted to get back to Murray because his future wife, Lisa, was attending Murray State. Robbie left Goodyear for a short time; he then came back and ended up franchising the Murray store and four others (stores in Cadiz, Mayfield and Fulton, Kentucky; and Sikeston, Missouri). Robbie eventually sold all five stores and, in 1986, went strictly into the wholesale business with Rudolph Tires.

Robbie sells tires in Western Europe, South America, the Far East and the Caribbean; but he is extremely modest about his successes and likes to talk more about the work he, his family and church have done in Brazil. He spends time every summer in Brazil building churches. Robbie is associated with AMOR (Amazon Mission Organization), which he and his church family, First Baptist Church in Murray, started several years ago. "My favorite word is selfless," says Robbie. "I try to live my life with that word in mind."

In fact, Robbie was reluctant to talk about the philanthropy that his company is involved in for fear of sounding selfish, which happens to be his least favorite word. "With AMOR, we have started over 80 churches and built over 40 church buildings. I am excited about all of the good things to come."

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