Thirty years ago, Steve Champion was as far away from the realm of home sales, seller contracts and fretting about mortgage rates as anyone could be. Instead of leading business meetings, tracking changes to forms and laws and training Realtors how to best serve their clients, he was spending his days coaxing music out of guitars, teaching others how to do the same and minding his store, Champion Music.
It was a good life, says the warmly sincere Champion. However, it was not an adequate living, so he pressed the pause button on music and entered the world of home sales, seller contracts and fretting about mortgage rates.
At the penultimate stage of his real estate career, Champion served as the principal broker of Keller Williams Greater Downtown Realty, a firm with more than 430 Realtors operating under his kindly but watchful gaze.
Having reached the age of 71, however, and eager to lock arms with his wife (Vickie Champion, former owner of North Shore Insurance) and travel the world to see their scattered children and grandchildren, he’s taking a few steps back.
Champion is not retiring, though. Instead, he’ll be on tap to help shepherd in the next generation of leaders at Chattanooga’s largest real estate brokerage. “I’m still working here,” he notes, “but in a part-time capacity.”
Tell that to the parade of agents who seem to be surprised to see him sitting in a glass-walled conference room at KW’s Washington Road complex. As they march by, they smile and wave at Champion, who graciously returns their gestures.
Earlier, an agent’s eyes had popped open like a pair of Frisbees when he’d spotted Champion walking to the conference room, and he’d asked, “What are you doing back?”
“They think I’ve made my final exit,” Champion chuckles as he offers another smile to a passerby.
One could blame the confusion on The Week of Steve, a five-day celebration of Champion and his legacy that KW hosted in November. It probably seemed like a retirement party, Champion admits, but he’s not quite left the building. Instead, he’s handed off what he describes as “the heavier parts of [his] job.”
“The principal is an important role, but it comes with a few burdens at times,” Champion muses. “One way I’ve described it to folks who don’t understand our businesses is, ‘I’m helping people do things the right way. This is how you should construct that deal. This is the language you might want to use to protect your client.’”
Champion say he’s grateful to hand over another part of the principal’s domain to his successor, Matt Gann.
“The other part of the job can be thought of as the head of the complaint department,” he explains. “There comes a season in life when it’s time for someone else to take up that mantle – and that’s where I am.”
As Champion looks back, he doesn’t see only the craggy parts of the mountains he scaled but also the peaks he reached. Of those, he says he’s proudest of the many hours he spent teaching agents how to run a business and serve clients well.
“There’s training taking place virtually every day,” he says. “I treasure the role I had in that. I liked learning about this business and then sharing what I knew. I liked feeling as though I was bringing value to the firm. I’d stand in front of a group of agents and think, ‘I can help these people; I can protect them.’
“We think of the agents as our customers,” Champion continues. “The buyers and sellers are our customers, too, but we interact with the agents. So, we want to help them do things the right way and be there for them when things don’t go as planned.”
Champion says he loved teaching aspiring musicians how to play a guitar, too, so he felt passionate about sharing his knowledge with others long before he became a broker. Going deeper, it seems as though a desire to help others grow and flourish resides in the very marrow of his bones.
This essential part of Champion’s character helped him to transition from music to real estate.
“Vickie helped me to see the parallels,” Champion begins. “When I said, ‘I don’t think I can sell enough guitars and teach enough lessons to help support us the way I’d like to,” Vickie said, ‘What about real estate?’ My response was, ‘I’m not a sales guy.’ And she said, “You’d be good at it. You sell guitars.’ And I said, ‘But I’m not trying to sell something to someone; I’m teaching them about the difference between two guitars, and why one costs more, so they understand their value.’”
A bell chimed in Champion’s mind when he said this, and in 1994 he started talking with people he knew in the real estate industry. A friend suggested he speak with Ben Kelly, currently president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Realty Center, who in turn mentioned Darlene Goins Brown, who today is the owner and managing broker of Real Estate Partners.
“One day, a lady calls me and says, ‘I have a son who’s always been a jock, but he said he might be interested in learning how to play the harmonica.’ I said, ‘I can play a little harmonica. What’s your name?’ She said, ‘Darlene Brown.’”
Champion says his chat with Brown nudged him over the line into the realm of homes sales. Now, as he scales back his activities, he says he not only takes pride in his accomplishments (something he seems too humble to do but others insist on) but also feels assured that KW is in good hands.
“Steven LaMar, the principal broker for the Alabama licensees, has worked closely with me for seven years. There’s no way I could have done my job effectively without him going over the paperwork and reviewing the files for compliance. So, Steve is an invaluable member of the team,” Champion says. “Also, Richard Chapman joined us a year ago. Richie is an attorney who worked closely with me on the broker team. That was a game changer in terms of the services and the support we’re able to offer our agents.”
Champion also trumpets the contributions of Emily Shaw, the director of first impressions at KW. “She helps with the onboarding of agents and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks,” he says. “So, we’ve matured as a group and are better organized.”
Last but not least, Champion says he has the utmost confidence in Gann to successfully carry the torch during the next leg of the race.
“I want things to go better than when I was principal, and I believe Matt has that fresh set of eyes that can see how we can improve and the energy to rally everyone.
“Part of my reason for hanging around is to be available to him. Things are going to happen, and even though it’ll be the first time he’s had to deal with them, he’ll be the decisionmaker. However, I’m going to be available as needed to offer my perspective.
“I’m also going to try to not meddle – also as needed.”
Champion might be taking a smaller role at KW, but he says he’ll be busy. After 30 years, he’s pressing the play button again on music – although perhaps not in the way people might be expecting.
“I started playing drums this year. Thankfully, Vickie likes to go outside and exercise. When she takes one of her long walks, I think, ‘Here’s my chance,’ and I go bang on the drums.”
Clearly, Champion enjoys learning as much as he does teaching.
“I decided to learn to sight read. And I thought, ‘I’ll drum out some things that’ll help my reading.’ Before long, I found myself up late at night looking at too many websites and too many drum sets.”
When Champion isn’t hitting the skins, he’s applying brush to canvas. He says his wife playfully chides him for having too many hobbies, but his creative side has been under lock and key for 30 years, and it times to let it out.
“I get certain pleasures with watercolor, while larger roll paintings give me a bigger kick. But there’s only so much time in a day, and it’ll probably be wise for me to focus on one thing or another. Not that it matters. I’m not looking to be in a museum or change the world; painting is a healthy distraction at best.”
As Champion looks forward to what he says will be “a great season of life,” he thinks back on the last 30 years of life and what they mean to him.
“It was a rewarding job. I liked being part of a team, working with good people and trying to achieve positive outcomes. It’s been a good ride. I hope everyone misses me a little.”