Person of Interest

A Walk Through

History continued

Minutes from the first meeting of the Club to come back whenever you have a spare moment. Chairs are provided to encourage relaxation, and your presence is welcome any time the Club is open, free of charge.

The Grosse Pointe Yacht Club has a long and storied history - one that every member should be aware of. Knowing some of that 107-year journey, with all its ups and downs and twists and turns, will make you prouder to be a member.

The Heritage Gallery is the work of the Club’s Heritage Committee, established by Com. Ilja Vreeken and chaired by member Joe Schmitt. Committee members include Linda and Joe Schaden, Com. William and Sue Vogel, Dr. Larry

A model of French Boy, a successful racing iceboat co-owned by members George and John H. French Jr.

Stephenson and the author. If you have any questions about what is on display or have an item of historical relevance that you would like to donate, please contact any of the committee members. Framing of the historical photos was done by Posterity: A Gallery in the Village.

The Real Deal

With an independent spirit, compassion for the other guy and the will to lead, member Cathy Champion is still carrying on the family tradition.

By Past Commodore James L. Ramsey

Years ago, a friend gave Cathy Champion some simple advice that changed her life. Fresh out of Michigan State Business School with a degree in Marketing, she had gone to work as a sales rep selling Polaris snowmobiles, snowmobile clothing and E-Z-GO golf carts. Cathy worked hard, balancing one seasonal line of merchandise in winter and the other in summer. She was good at what she did, but when she discovered that a male counterpart was making four times the salary she was, she took her concern to her managing director, who basically told her that she didn’t need the money as much as a man. Disgruntled, she complained about the disparity to a friend, and the wisdom of their response startled her: “Cathy,” they said, “until you work for yourself, you’ll never be paid what you’re worth.”

The advice struck a chord with Champion. She quit her job selling snowmobiles and entered the real estate business in Lansing. Eventually her career path would bring her to Grosse Pointe, but for the time being Cathy chose to make her way on her own.

“My mother and father were both in real estate before me,” says Cathy. My father started his own real estate company, William J. Champion Real Estate, on the Hill in 1952, then convinced my mother, Kay, to get her real estate license and join him in the business. The logic he used had something to do with getting her out of the house and away from eight kids. In any case, she accepted his offer. When my father died at age 49, she took over the company. I didn’t work there in the beginning because I didn’t want to be known around the office as the boss’s daughter.”

Cathy cut her teeth on Lansing real estate until time and circumstances suggested a change. In 1978, pregnant with her first child, Erik, she moved back to her hometown and a career in the family business. Selling real estate seems to have come naturally to Cathy, not because she fancies herself a great salesperson, but because she is above all a people person. “My parents, being realtors, were always discovering homes in Grosse Pointe they had to have, so we moved often and I changed schools frequently – from Maire to Kerby, to Richard, to Pierce and then GPHS,” recalls Cathy. “Moving like that taught me how to make new friends, and I still enjoy connecting with people.” Cathy Champion remembers the first real estate sale she ever made. It was in Lansing, and she was tasked with finding a home for a young, single mother with three children. The lady’s financial situation was difficult, and the banks in those days weren’t particularly interested in loaning money to poor divorcees with kids. Cathy’s client needed a roof over her head, and the only place available to her had been trashed by the

previous occupants. But Champion found a way to get financing and make repairs; she closed the deal and got the woman a home. It taught her the importance of going to bat for the customer.

No story about Cathy Champion is complete without mention of her mother Catherine, aka “Kay,” whose maiden name was Wood and whose uncle, Gar Wood, was the legendary speedboat racer of the 1920s and 1930s, a winner of both the Harmsworth and Gold Cup trophies. Catherine and William Champion each had two children from previous marriages, then four more of their own, which accounts for Cathy’s wry reference to escaping the eight kids at home.

William Champion’s early death undoubtedly posed a huge challenge for Cathy’s mom, who suddenly had to juggle the running of a business with tending a family. Even so, Cathy affectionately recalls the way her mother insisted that her children enjoy themselves growing up. “She always wanted us to have fun being kids,” she says. “She didn’t want us to find part-time jobs to help out. She saw work as her responsibility.” Mother and daughter remained best friends throughout their lives, dining often at the Club and every Monday evening at The Hill, now the Bronze Door. Cathy’s mom passed away in 2011.

When Kay Champion retired from the business in 1980, Cathy took over as president. Her second son, Jason, was born a year later. Under her leadership, Champion Real Estate continued to grow and Cathy found herself becoming Realtor of Choice when it came to high-end properties in the Grosse Pointes. Her good reputation was paying off; but success has a price and Cathy’s workload was taking a toll. Part of her frustration stemmed from the fact that all Grosse Pointe real estate transactions in those days had to be overseen by the Detroit Board of Realtors, an organization that was ill-equipped to serve the needs of the Grosse Pointe market. So, in 1984, Cathy and five of her fellow Grosse Pointe Realtors broke away and began the process that would create the Grosse Pointe Board of Realtors. The process was arduous, involving more than two years of litigation, endless documentation, and state and federal approvals; but in the end, Cathy and her group won out. In 1986, Champion was named first president of the new, self-governing coalition that would monitor ethics, set professional standards and resolve problems among Grosse Pointe Realtors, and in the end provide an equitable playing field for both buyers and sellers.

Cathy would repeat as president in 1998. She was also named Realtor of the Year each of those years. In 2011, she was named to Hour Magazine’s prestigious list of Real Estate All-Stars, an honor she has received every year since.

But perhaps her highest accolade comes from a competitor, realtor Tom Youngblood, who says, “She has high ethical standards, she knows the market and she thinks of her clients before she thinks of herself. That’s why she’s one of the top performers in this market.”

In 1984, Cathy made a move that would simultaneously grow her business and free up her time. She and realtor “Skip” Baer merged their two companies to form a union that would increase their presence in the marketplace and give each of them a partner they could rely on when they were away

The Real Deal continued

from the office. The Champion-Baer merger worked as planned. Several years later, when a conglomerate offered to buy them out, they accepted.

From there, Cathy Champion joined Bolton-Johnston Associates, owned by former member Nanci Bolton. She is a broker with them today. Over her career, she has sold more than $100,000,000 worth of real estate.

Off-duty, Cathy devoted herself to the community. From 2005 to 2008, she served as president of SOC, or Services for Older Citizens, now known as The Helm, which is widely acclaimed for its programs and services to Grosse Pointe’s senior community. And from 2011 to 2014, she served as chairperson of the Grosse Pointe Chamber of Commerce and as nominating chair of the Grosse Pointe Farms Foundation.

Cathy and her husband, Kevin, joined the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club in 1996 and quickly became involved in numerous Club functions. She served as chair of the Membership Committee for several years and was a founding member of the Wine and Gourmet Food Group, which was instrumental in creating the Club’s ever-popular wine cellar. She also chaired the Book Committee and the Sailing Rendezvous Committee, which introduced the idea of close-to-home rendezvous events for boats of limited range. “Why can’t my son meet a nice girl like you?” and I said, “Here I am.” Kevin and I were both single; we went on a test date - a series of test dates, actually. We joked later that every restaurant we went to is now out of business. We’ve been married for almost 27 years now with three fabulous grandchildren.

Q: Kevin is in real estate, too, isn’t he?

A: Kevin retired from Chrysler in 2007 and got his license. Like my mother and father, we work as a team.

Q: How did you acquire your knowledge of wine?

A: By drinking too much vodka. (Laughs) No, seriously, it was on an early trip to California. We got to visit a lot of wineries and fell in love with trying and tasting. Wine has so many nuances; why the grapes taste differently; even the design of the labels; the study of it is endless. But I’m not a wine snob. I can enjoy a cheap bottle of wine as much as an expensive one. There’s no such thing as a bad bottle of wine. Well, rarely!

Q: Cathy, how did you and your husband Kevin Killebrew meet -- what was the attraction?

A: There was no attraction. (Laughs) We were roommates at Michigan State. We shared a house with several couples, and it was all platonic then. Years later, I was talking to Kevin’s father at a party and he said,

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Q: You two were avid sailors. How did that happen?

A: Kevin was a big sailor. We went through a string of sailboats - a Sunfish, Hobie Cat, then several Catalinas; the last one was 35 feet. We had a lot of fun cruising - the boat was our weekend cottage - but we needed more space. So we bought a real cottage on the lake in Grand Bend, Ontario, with the idea of sailing the boat to the cottage. A couple of trips up the St. Clair River against the current convinced us that was a bad idea, so we sold the sailboat about four years ago. We sold the cottage just before the pandemic, luckily.

Q: Do you remember your great-uncle Gar Wood?

A: Uncle Gar, yes. He was quite a powerful figure at the Detroit Yacht Club. One day, he accidentally stepped in a dog deposit there and had all dogs banned from walking on the premises. Owners had to put dogs into carts to get them to and from the harbor. That rule was just changed last year.

Q: You’ve traveled extensively. Where does the urge to travel come from?

A: My mother. My mother loved to travel. So do Kevin and I. We honeymooned in Italy, and every year afterward we went to a different country in Europe. We’ve been to every country on the continent. We’ve also been on a number of boat cruises - Transatlantic, Asia and the Far East.

Q: Who in all the world would you most like to have dinner with?

A: I can tell you who it wouldn’t be: politicians or religious leaders. Beyond that, it would be my dad and mom, and then someone funny, like Tina Fey or Bob Newhart, someone who is fun to be around.