fbpx
Orville Thomas Neal

Father of the Portable Spa Industry

Remembering O.T. ‘Tom’ Neal

It was a bleak winter in 1982, and our 3-year-old hot tub business was nearing the end. Our sole business — wood hot tubs — was declining due to the rising popularity of acrylic spas. But try as we might, we couldn’t find an acrylic hot tub we liked. Plus, Blair Osborn’s Ph.D. was on heat and plastics, so he knew acrylic spas would eventually blister. 

One day, I got a call from O.T. “Tom” Neal who was in Seattle representing Hot Spring Spas and wanted to convince us to carry them. He said, “I’m going to come over and show you the greatest thing since sliced bread.” He came over and started pitching. And pitching. He was brash and persistent. Good with a quip and the company motto: Sell, Deliver, Collect. He hadn’t bargained for a tough sale. 

Blair asked him question after question. Tom kept saying, “I don’t know, but Jon knows.” (Jon Watkins, one of the founders of Watkins Manufacturing, with his brother Jeff). The sale that Tom made that day was that we paid our own way to the factory in Escondido to see the manufacturing plant and ask Jon all the technical questions.

A few weeks later, we flew to San Diego and drove out to Escondido. At that time, there were many turkey farms out there, and feathers lined the road. I was navigating and said, “That’s it!” Blair said, “Can’t be.” It looked so unlikely as a manufacturing facility. We turned around and went up the driveway.

It was a pretty modest place. The original Hot Spring spa — the Model D, the only model they made — looked like a giant dog dish. The spas were on dollies that were moved from one section of an open-air shed to the next as each part was finished. Being a mechanical engineer, Blair was interested in every aspect of the manufacturing process. Me? I didn’t care. My view in life is that if you push the button and it works, good. If not, forget it. So, I read magazines — probably all they had were Popular Mechanics. At the end of the day, Blair said, “There’s nothing wrong with it.” For an engineer, that is the highest praise. We tried out a tub and thought it was great. The seats were angled just right. Jet pressure was good. We still didn’t commit.

We flew home and on Monday morning opened our showroom at 10 a.m. as usual. Soon after, an older woman came in and said, “I’ve heard of something called a portable hot tub. I think if we had one, our grandchildren would visit more often.” Then she noticed the Hot Spring brochure I had put on the counter. “This looks interesting,” she said. “We’ve just been to the factory and are considering carrying this brand,” I said. “You’ve been in business a long time and have a good reputation, so I’ll take one,” she replied. 

- Sponsor -

I was astonished. She left me with her calling card and told me to call her when we received a shipment. We called Hot Spring at 10:15 and said, “We sold one.” They dropped the phone. 

We have Tom Neal to thank for his sales ability, and dedication to getting dealers, plus the commitment of the Watkins brothers to make a quality product.

Alice Cunningham, Olympic Hot Tub

You had to buy three to be a dealer. By the time the truck arrived with our three, we’d sold the other two. We have Tom Neal to thank for his sales ability, enthusiasm and dedication to getting dealers, plus the commitment of the Watkins brothers to make a quality product.

Sometime later, my uncle Chuck who lived in Redlands came to visit. “Is that the Watkins spa?” he asked. He said those Watkins boys had gone to school with his son, and his wife said those boys would never amount to anything. Small world.