Jack Gosch

Born June 26, 1928 in Norwich, Kansas to long-time farmers, Jack moved with his parents Fred and Ruth and sister Betty to Anaheim when he was seven. An entrepreneur from the beginning, Jack was so successful at selling nickel magazines door-to-door and winning all the sales contests that the magazine company stopped including him in the contests, and just automatically gave him a prize, so the other boys could have a chance to win.

Learning that the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team had their spring training nearby, Jack, at age 10, convinced legendary owner/manager Connie Mack to let him be a bat boy, even though he was too young and too small. Besides working with the players for two seasons ('37 and '38), Jack got to meet the retired Babe Ruth, and get an autographed baseball, which the family still has.

After graduating in 1946 from Wilson High School in Long Beach, where he was on the tennis team, Jack attended UCLA and joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, where he met many life-long friends. He also met Gwenyth Edmiston, his soul mate and wife of 62 years. He graduated from UCLA in 1951 with a degree in business.

Jack joined the Marine Corps Reserve while he was at UCLA, and was discharged the day before his unit learned they were being shipped to Korea. Jack and Gwen were married in September 1951 after he graduated from Officer Candidate School. He was shipped to the Japanese island of Okinawa. Jack spent his two Air Force years managing a Post Exchange (PX-a military dept store). Gwen followed Jack to Okinawa and worked in an insurance office. Jack was discharged when the war ended.

After the Air Force, in 1953, Jack joined Ford Motor Company along with his fraternity brother Hal Bracken. Based at the Pico Rivera plant, Jack rose over the next 11 years from an entry-level data clerk to L.A. General Field Manager, responsible for the sales operations of Ford's L.A. district. Not wanting to move back to Ford headquarters in Michigan, Jack decided to leave Ford and become a car dealer. It was very unusual at that time for an employee of a major company like Ford to quit and strike out on his own, but Jack was always self-confident.

The Ford dealership in the very small town of Hemet was for sale, and Jack struck a deal with the owner. He mortgaged his house, and the fourplex apartment his parents had planned as their retirement. In 1964, at the same time the Ford Mustang debuted, Jack and Gwen moved to Hemet with their sons Eric, Marc, and Kurt.

Successful from the start, the dealership grew, and Jack started other car dealerships of many makes over the next three decades in Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Banning, Perris and Temecula. With partner and General Manager Jim Willerford, the Gosch Auto Group grew from 12 employees to over 600. Today Eric and Marc own and run the family business. Their sons are following in their fathers' footsteps, becoming the third generation at the Gosch Auto Group. Jack could be a hard-nosed businessman when necessary, but he taught his sons that only happy employees make happy customers and it's the many long-term employees of the company that have made it the success it is today.

Jack always made family and friends a priority. Coaching Hemet Youth Baseball, camping and jeeping in the desert and Baja, fishing at Panguich Lake in Utah, skiing in Mammoth, reading on the beaches of San Clemente or Puako, or traveling near and far, his easy-going joker attitude always made him seem larger than life. Jack especially loved wine and spending time on Puako on the Big Island in Hawaii.

Jack enjoyed his old cars, several of which he owned for decades and drove regularly. In 1992 he and friend Norm Lean entered The Great American Race, an annual cross-country road rally for classic cars. With Jack as the driver and Norm as the navigator, they drove for 14 days in Jack's 1930 Model A from Ottawa, Canada to Mexico City. Two years later Jack and buddy Clayton Record Jr. entered the Race again, this time traveling from San Francisco to Washington DC in Jack's 1934 Ford Pickup. Never close to winning either race, Jack and his friendships miraculously survived the prolonged close quarters and the constant bickering over whether one person was reading the directions correctly or the other was following the directions as they were read to him.

A lifelong tennis fanatic along with Gwen, Jack played singles well into his 70s. The high point of his tennis days was playing recreational doubles with his neighbor, Rod Laver. Gwen continues to play tennis several times a week.

Jack ridiculed his friends who played another game where the small white ball didn't even move before you hit it. But when both of his hips were replaced in 1997, he reluctantly took up the "unathletic" game of golf. Always just a regular duffer, he poured himself into this new pastime.

Much to the chagrin of long-time golfers, on January 6, 2003, six years after taking up the game and at age 74, Jack made back-to-back holes-in-one. The 1-in-67 million event happened at Sunrise Country Club in Rancho Mirage, on hole #10 (204 yards) and then again on hole #11 (134 yards). Jack's foursome included Jerry Seeman, former head of NFL referees, so his feat was duly recognized.

The media attention was swift and overwhelming. ESPN, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, LA Times and LA television stations all ran articles on Jack and city proclamations were presented. When friend and Dodger play-by-play announcer Ross Porter put the story out on the Associated Press newswire, it went around the world, from Thailand to London. Jack had long lost friends calling him, wondering if he was the same Jack they knew in high school.

Jack was very involved in the Hemet-San Jacinto community before his retirement. He was a founding board member of Valley-Wide Parks & Recreation District in 1972. Valley Wide has grown from one small park in 1972 to over 75 parks today, serving thousands of kids and adults in the San Jacinto, Menifee and French valleys. Jack gave Valley Wide his 1926 Ford Model T, which is being used in local parades and events. He was also president of the Hemet Chamber of Commerce and the Hemet-San Jacinto Exchange Club in the 1970s. Many of Jack's friendships evolved through his 49 year membership in the Exchange club. He received the Club's 42nd Book of Golden Deeds award in 2008 for his years of service to the San Jacinto Valley community.

In 1974 Jack and friend Jim Agnew founded The Bank of Hemet, where Jack served as Chairman of the Board until his retirement in 2001. The Bank continues to be very successful with a strong focus on community involvement in the San Jacinto Valley.

Thinking about the future growth of the valley, in 1987 Jack convinced the other six Hemet car dealers to form a partnership to develop a new auto mall on the far west side of the valley. Four of the six dealerships, including both of the Gosch stores, moved from the county to the city of Hemet, bringing into the city millions of sales tax dollars annually. Jack convinced the city to finance the streets and utilities through bonds to be repaid out of new sales tax revenue, and over the course of the next few years the auto mall infrastructure was built. In 1991 Jack was the first dealer to open his new dealerships in the auto mall. Since its inception the auto mall has brought an extra $25 million in tax revenue to the city of Hemet.

The restaurant business also fascinated Jack, so he made a couple of stabs at it. In 1969 he and Jim Agnew opened a Taco Bell at the corner of Florida and Santa Fe, Hemet's first franchised fast-food eatery. They attended "Taco Bell U" and learned how to make the famous 19 cent tacos. They also tried to buy a McDonalds franchise, only to be told that Jack would have to sell his car dealerships as a condition of purchasing the franchise. That quickly killed the McDonalds plans.

Jack was involved as a partner in many other businesses, including starting the Valley Chronicle newspaper, Barnaby's Restaurant, Hemet Valley RV, Hemet Cycle Center (motorcycles), Hemet Insurance, La Casa Mobile Homes, Easy Ad of Santa Rosa (with Winston Greene) and several of the valleys' retail shopping centers. Literally until his last days he still had fun buying, renovating and flipping Rancho Mirage condos.

Knowing that their success comes from the support of the community, Jack and Gwen gave generously to found the Hemet Hospice Arbor House, and to support UCLA, his Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, and college funding for a number of young graduates, and many other local organizations.

Jack is survived by his wife Gwenyth, sister Betty Davidson,

Eric, Gisela, Courtney, Bret, Lily Mae, Patrick, Carina

Marc, Marie, Kurt , Matthew

Donations can be made to Friends of Valley-Wide Foundation or Eisenhower Medical Center