Inaugural Farm Equipment Hall of Fame Class of 2024: Charlie Hoober, Hoober Inc.

When the group returned to Pennsylvania, they shared the news with Charlie. He still went out to Kansas and sat through the same dealer program. The only difference was he came home with a contract, Yohe says. 

“What he told them was, ‘OK, you can’t provide us with much equipment, but provide us what you can, we want to sell your product,” he says. “He was able to convince them that we weren’t in a hurry, but we needed their product. That’s one story where he was able to sell himself and the company.”

In 3-4 years, Hoober became Krause’s biggest dealer, and at one point Hoober was shipping over 100 Krause implements a year from Kansas to Pennsylvania and Delaware. 

When the IH Axial-Flow combine came out, Hoober saw its value, Yohe says. Up until that point, the dealership hadn’t done much combine business. “We didn’t have a combine that could compete with Massey and Deere,” he says.

Hoober sold the first one east of the Mississippi River to Mel Lapp of Lapp Farms in Cochranville, Pa., in 1977. Charlie, along with a salesperson, mechanic and Lapp decked out in Hoober gear as a “mechanic” went to a demo in Columbus, Ohio, to see it working in the field. As soon as Lapp saw it working in the field, he told Hoober, “I want to buy the first one from you.”

“We've been running rotories ever since. We love them. And Charlie’s been great. I tell you, we never wait for service. Whenever we need help, the Hoobers are there right away,” says Lapp. “Because that’s what Charlie thrives on, his service and to make people happy about the equipment and the personnel.” 

Fair & Honest

Salzman recalls that for 2 years after the Case and New Holland merger, the whole product line had to be reconciled. “There were some successes and there were some opportunities, and we had one on the combine side,” he says. The larger combine was basically a New Holland machine, but it tended to be more of a small grain machine than a corn machine, Salzman says. “And that was a problem. For about a year it was tough representing the brand, but we stuck together and Charlie said, ‘You guys stand behind it.’” 

Salzman says Hoober recently told him, “‘Sometimes people think customers will think more highly of you if you never had a problem.’ Charlie said, ‘No, that’s untrue. Until you’ve had a problem and either the company or the dealer fixed it, the customer really never knows if you will stand behind them.’ 

“Therefore, customer evaluations tend to be a lot higher after a problem. Then you see how the dealer and the company behaves as a team to make sure it goes. He strongly believes that. And I do too. After 40 some years, you learn a few things, and that’s one of them.” 

Salzman says when he would call on Hoober, he would often fill Salzman in on a deal or concession he made for a customer when there was a problem. “He would say, ‘Here’s what I’ve done. I hope you would do this for me.’ It wasn’t all about what we as the OEM were going to do. He clearly volunteered and just said, ‘Hey, here’s what I’ve done so far, what are you going to do?’ That was a very fair way to do it.” 

He was honest and fair in his dealings, including selling equipment to other dealers. Johnson says, “I bought some equipment from him long ago. One tractor I bought from him was a 130 horsepower tractor. We put it on the dyno, and it was putting out 55 horse. The engine was in terrible shape and needed an overhaul.

“I called Charlie back to say the tractor wasn’t very good. He said, ‘Well, we can handle it two ways. I’m going to ask you to pay the freight if you send it back to me, but if you agree to have your technicians overhaul it, I’ll pay for all the parts.’ 

“And he shipped me all the parts within 2 or 3 days. And for a used transaction dealer to dealer, he could have easily said, ‘Hey, I’m in Pennsylvania, you’re in Wisconsin; you figure it out.’ But he was good about it. I didn’t know him personally at all at that point, but we got to know each other better after that and I continued to buy from him.”

Charlie’s Air Freight

Charlie Hoober was a service-focused dealer. His son Chuck Hoober, third-generation owner of Hoober Inc., says Charlie spent a lot of time out in the shop with the service technicians and would readily go out into the field to help fix problems. “He is a ‘whatever it took’ type person,” Chuck says.

He adds, “My dad is 100% customer focused, driven to take care of the customer. He was always preaching customer service over the years. In management meetings, whenever we had a decision to make, he would always make sure that it was a good decision for the customer in some form. The customers had to be part of the decision.”

That focus on customer service led Hoober to become a small plane pilot in the early 1970s, Chuck says. “The reason for doing that is so he could deal with farmers, give farmers good service at a distance,” he says.

The program was called Charlie’s Air Freight, and he would drop parts to customers who were broken down in the field. “He’d fly low and drop it right out into the field next to the combine,” Chuck says.

Hoober has the ability to command any room he’s in. “When he’s in the room, he’s the guy who can take charge. When Charlie spoke, people listened,” says Johnson. 

Salzman agrees, saying Hoober has an easy way about him, but has a unique way of getting his point across. “He didn’t demand anything, but he gave you some strong direction. When you got done with the conversation, you knew what he needed and he knew what he was talking about. He wasn’t emotional or got carried away,” he says. 

Chuck adds, “He is very good-natured, but he was always intense too. In other words, when it came time to make things happen whether on the service side or putting a sales deal together, he’s always been intense. He’ll do whatever he can to make something work.”

Hoober’s wife Sally was also an integral part of his success. As soon as their third child entered school, Sally began working in the business parttime. When the youngest entered college, Sally worked fulltime as the executive secretary for Hoober and Yohe, as well as secretary for the Board of Directors. 

“We would never have been able to achieve a significant level of success without Sally,” Yohe says. “Whatever events or strategies management came up with Sally was the engine behind their execution.” 

As part of the business planning, she worked by Hoober’s side helping the company grow and prosper, Chuck says. 

At 82, Hoober still has a passion for the business and works part-time as a construction sales specialist, Chuck says. “He personally sells 8-10 new Steigers a year and between 12-15 new K-Tech and Ashland scraper pans a year.”