Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Standing behind the counter enveloped by a cloud of steam, Billy Webster carefully heats screen print logos onto black cotton T-shirts in his shop, pausing only to move to his office in the back.
Wearing jeans with an open blue and gray long-sleeve, plaid button-up over his white T-shirt, Webster casually leans back in his chair.
As owner of the Shirt Shack, Webster has made his boardwalk-like shop a Fort Scott mainstay for the past 35 years. A businessman to his core, he works hard and is starting to receive recognition for the years he’s put in.
The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce recently awarded the 54-year-old with its annual Small Business of the Year award at its Feb. 9 dinner and awards celebration. Chamber Executive Director Lindsay Madison said a survey was sent out to all chamber members to find potential award recipients. Unfortunately, Webster was unable to attend the dinner to receive his commemorative plaque.
Billy Webster’s National Avenue home is easily recognizable by the palm trees outside. (Angelique McNaughton/Tribune)
“If I would have known I was going to get it, I would have been there. It was great getting that award, though,” Webster said.
Friends notified Webster through text messages the evening of the dinner that he’d won the recognition.
“I think the community really likes us, which is good. I mean I get tons of people that come here that I’ve known all my life,” he said.
Born and raised in Fort Scott, Webster displayed entrepreneurial traits even as a child.
Shirt Shack Manager and longtime friend Becky Allen said she’s heard countless stories of his money-making schemes.
“In grade school he would have all the neighborhood kids come over to his house and he would set up what he would call a ‘carnival’ and then charge them to play board games,” Allen said.
Allen said Webster also published and distributed his own newspaper downtown entitled “Grit.”
During high school, Webster skipped class to sell car wax at local car shows. It was around that time that he found an affinity for the clothing industry, especially selling T-shirts.
“I’ve always liked clothes but I saw the T-shirt guys and they were smoking, I mean they were cool,” Webster said.
He then decided to become one of the guys he envied.
Webster established connections and was able to obtain a screen print machine at low price.
Originally, he planned to take his new business venture on the road, but instead he bought a vacant beauty shop in Fort Scott and just “threw” his stuff in there.
“Sometimes you don’t plan on something and it just sort of happens,” Webster said.
He created T-shirts with logos ranging from “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” and the “Dukes of Hazard” to Elvis, who died the year Webster got started.
After Webster established himself, he began on-the-road merchandising working with bands such as Alice Cooper and ZZ Top.
Following a tour with Sting in the late ’80s, Webster lucked into the house where he currently lives on National Avenue.
“I always liked that house ever since I was a kid and I had called about it once and the guy said it was tied up in some sort of trust thing,” Webster said. “Well, I was out on the road with Sting and came back into town late one night and there was a for sale sign. I called and the guy said he had about 10 other people who were interested and since he didn’t know what it was worth he was just accepting bids. I guess I put in the highest bid.”
Much like his shop, Webster’s house has also inadvertently become a well known landmark to Fort Scottians, recognized by the twin palm trees in the front yard.
Built in 1929, the house has been altered very little by Webster or the previous owners.
“I wanted to put the house back the way it was,” Webster said.
And that’s exactly what he’s done.
Webster didn’t change any floorplans and the home has 1950s tables and chairs with a uniquely tiled kitchen and bathroom. The art deco style captures the era and Webster has framed posters lining the interior walls featuring The Who, Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy.
“I was told by a guy one time that ‘I went to some of the best parties of my life in your basement,'” Webster said.
The house was recently featured in Southeast Kansas Living magazine’s winter edition.
These days, Webster divides his time between his business, his community and his family. He doesn’t do “the road stuff anymore,” retiring two years ago after 30 years road merchandising.
Laura Hyer, Webster’s girlfriend of three years and a State Farm Insurance agent, met him when she worked at the Tribune and wrote a 25th anniversary piece on the Shirt Shack.
“I didn’t really know him when I first met him, but my first thoughts were wow, just wow,” Hyer said.
Hyer described Webster’s current stage in life as one of transition.
She said Webster, who doesn’t have any children of his own and was an only child growing up, is adjusting to sharing his house with herself and her two children. She said Webster’s influence on her children as a stable and financially responsible man has been amazing.
“I really love his ability to give himself to whatever the occasion is,” Hyer said. “When he does something, he does it right.”
In their free time during the summer, the couple enjoys water-skiing about four or five times a week.
Webster used to race motorcycles, and while he gave up the sport, his friends are still racing.
“I wasn’t that good at it,” he said.
He still loves the road and open air, though, satisfying his craving with frequent Route 66 trips with Hyer.
“It reminds us a lot of the era (when) he and I grew up,” Hyer said.
All in all, Webster tries to stay low key.
“He doesn’t like people knowing all about him,” Allen said. “He’s a little reserved.”
Reserved but with great stories to tell and described by friends as a “self-made man”.
“He should have written a book about his life,” Allen said. “He literally has had a very colorful life.”
Angelique McNaughton 