GRENADA — An area business leader recently honored hundreds of 2015 high school graduates with a very special graduation gift.
Dynamite Kirk, owner of Kirk Automotive Group, headquartered in Grenada, gave $100 each to all 751 graduates in Leflore, Carroll, Montgomery and Grenada counties in honor of their graduation.
The total bill for his generosity was $75,100.
In a letter to the graduates, Kirk wrote, “Your hard work and dedication to achieve this goal is admirable and will benefit you the rest of your life. You will always look back on this benchmark with pride and fondness. ... We believe God has great plans for your future, so we would like to honor you with this gift.”
Kirk said each year he and his family receive many graduation invitations from young people around the area, and he always sends a gift to each one. This year, he began thinking of ways to honor every area graduate.
“I remember when I finished school, Bob Tyson of Tyson Gibbs Lumber Company gave me a silver dollar,” Kirk said. “In 1954, a silver dollar was pretty good money — like $10 is now.”
Inspired by Tyson’s kindness to him, Kirk decided to give every senior $100 to help them as they go into the next chapter of their lives.
“We try to give back to the communities that we do business in,” Kirk said. “We give back to the schools and towns and just about any fundraiser. We don’t do as much as we should, but we try.”
Growing up in Duck Hill, Kirk graduated from Binford High School before moving on to Holmes Community College.
“I went to Holmes Junior for six weeks,” Kirk said. “I did some farming at first and then went into construction, doing road and bridge work. I started selling cars in November 1967 — 48 years this year.”
Kirk began in the automotive industry as a salesman for Cliff Colbert Chevrolet in Grenada. In 1973, he purchased the Ford dealership in Grenada.
“I just started adding on every four or five years,” Kirk said, although he dealt strictly in Fords until the early 1980s, when he purchased the Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership in Grenada. In 1986, he bought the Lincoln Mercury and the GMC dealerships.
In 1997, Kirk opened a GMC Buick dealership in Greenwood, and in 1999, he opened Kirk Toyota in Grenada.
“I had a dealership in Cleveland, but I sold it to Kent Hull, the football player, in 1999,” Kirk said.
Hull, who starred in football for Greenwood High, Mississippi State University and the Buffalo Bills, died in 2011.
In 2001, Kirk bought the Chevrolet dealership from Cliff Colbert, followed by his acquisitions of Earl McKay Pontiac Buick Cadillac in 2008 and Buddy Jones Ford in Greenwood in 2010.
Today, Kirk operates four new car dealerships in Grenada and two in Greenwood. He also owns two used-vehicle dealerships, one for cars and one for trucks.
Kirk attributes his success to hard work and also says “the Lord has blessed us.”
“I’m fixing to be 79 years old, and I am still working,” he said. “I’ve made a lot of good friends. It has been a fun trip with a lot of ups and downs.”
Kirk said he has fought through many economic downturns. However, his company has survived and continued to grow.
It is also a family business with “sons, grandsons, cousins and in-laws” working side by side in the various dealerships. Many of Kirk’s 220 employees have been with his company for decades, he said.
“We try to treat them right, like we want to be treated ourselves.”
Kirk offered this year’s graduates a little advice about succeeding in the business world. He said a strong work ethic and dedication is the key to success. He also urged graduates to be professional in appearance and attitude.
“Don’t call on the phone looking for a job,” Kirk said. “Clean yourself up, and go to the business, and see whoever is in charge.”
