PROFESSIONAL TAILGATER
Joe Cahn (above center), Commissioner of Tailgating, U.S.A.
By Interview by Abrahm Lustgarten

(FORTUNE Magazine) – I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN NEW ORLEANS AND knew I didn't want to be a doctor or a lawyer. So I taught myself to cook and founded a cooking school in 1980. Then I guess I got the wanderlust. Nine years ago I sold my house, got an RV, and traveled to every stadium in the NFL in one season. The parking lot is the last great American neighborhood. Normally I don't even go into the games. I don't own the RV--Monaco gives me a new fancy-shmancy one every year. Nothing's expected in return, just visibility. For eight months a year I travel to college and pro games and NASCAR races: 35,000 miles, at seven miles a gallon. That's $10,000 on diesel. The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association helps me out with some gas money. I teach a few cooking classes on the Delta Queen steamboat in the off-season. My cat, Sophie, sits in the passenger seat. No children, no wife, but a beautiful young lady whom I go out with in Seattle, Carman, came to UConn last weekend. My two sisters think it's all a little strange. It may not be the life for everyone, but for me, working in an office is just drudgery. -- Interview by Abrahm Lustgarten