Before he was the Houston furniture tycoon known as Mattress Mack, Jim McIngvale was a divorced, failed entrepreneur crashing with relatives in Dallas. So how did he become a millionaire TV legend whose commercials are forever chiseled in the memory of longtime Houstonians?
Here’s a look at McIngvale’s rise to Houston celebrity status, from his birth in small-town Mississippi to his move to the Bayou City more than 40 years ago when he had just a few thousand dollars to his name.
Be sure to check out the Houston Chronicle’s new narrative portrait of McIngvale, explore some lesser-known moments from his career and peruse his wide ranging political donations.
February 1951
MACK IS BORN
James McIngvale is born Feb. 11, 1951, to George and Angela McIngvale in Starkville, Mississippi. His family moves to Dallas where he will spend his early adulthood.
1965-1974
MACK TAKES THE FIELD
McIngvale attends Bishop Lynch High School where he plays football and baseball all four years, and secures a scholarship to play at the University of Texas. He later transfers to the University of North Texas but never completes his degree. Decades later, he is awarded an honorary degree from UNT.
1978
WEATHERS PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SETBACKS
After just three years of marriage, McIngvale’s first wife, a trailblazing Olympic diver from Houston named Cynthia Potter, files for divorce. That same year, the chain of Nautilus health clubs he’s been running — that his father bankrolled — fails.
May 1981
OPENS GALLERY FURNITURE
With just $5,000 to his name, McIngvale opens Gallery Furniture’s first store in May 1981 at an empty, weedy abandoned model home park on the North Freeway. McIngvale and Linda sleep there sometimes to guard the furniture they did not have insurance on. Linda makes the first sale.
March 1983
AIRS FIRST COMMERCIAL
McIngvale later says that those first commercials helped save his business. Within five years, he adopts an aggressive marketing strategy that calls for 600 radio and television spots a week.
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September 1989
CONSIDERS RUN FOR OFFICE
McIngvale considers putting his name in for Houston City Council with the ultimate goal of preparing himself for a bid for mayor. He scraps the idea when he learns his home is outside Houston city limits.
1994
INVESTS IN THOROUGHBRED RACING
He becomes a major investor in horseracing, spending millions buying and training thoroughbreds for some of the biggest events in the country. McIngvale struggles to maintain trainers, according to reports.
January 1994
MACK IS OUSTED BY BBB
McIngvale would later say that both he and the BBB shared blame for the episode. Gallery rejoined the BBB in 2013 and held an A+ rating; currently, Gallery is not accredited.
1996
DEBUTS ROCKETS PRACTICE CENTER
McIngvale offers to build a training center for the Houston Rockets at his Westside Tennis Club in 1996. (The Houston Rockets had previously practiced at Ball High School and Texas A&M’s Mitchell Campus in Galveston.) The Westside facility comes with designer weight rooms, locker rooms and lounges. The players and their families are invited to use the club’s restaurant, tennis courts and nursery.
December 2000
HOSTS INAUGURAL GALLERY BOWL
The Astrodome hosts the first galleryfurniture.com college bowl with teams from the Big 12 Conference and Conference USA. The event puts Houston back on the NCAA football map and breathes new life into the Astrodome. McIngvale’s vision is for the bowl to be one of the best in the county. He tells the Chronicle the event is “a good marketing opportunity.” It lasts for two years before fizzling out.
March 2003
BOOSTS HOUSTON’S TENNIS BONA FIDES
The International Tennis Hall of Fame presents McIngvale and Houston with the Tennis City of the Year award. McIngvale’s state-of-the-art Westside Tennis Club helps elevate Houston, becoming the home of the U.S. Men’s Championships and Masters Cup for several years.
January 2005
AIDS PRESIDENTS IN RELIEF EFFORTS
Later that year, he opens his showroom to people fleeing the wreckage of Hurricane Katrina. He chairs a local relief fund launched by former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and delivers furniture to 5,000 people who sought refuge following Katrina.
March 2009
OPENS SECOND STORE
After operating for 28 years in one location, McIngvale opens his second store off Post Oak near the Galleria.
May 2009
FLAGSHIP STORE GOES UP IN FLAMES
The warehouse at McIngvale’s flagship store goes up in flames, causing $20 million in damage. It takes firefighters nearly three hours to extinguish the four-alarm fire. A disgruntled employee is charged with arson and spends years in state custody and mental health units while awaiting trial. He is ultimately declared incompetent to stand trial.
August 2013
UNDERGOES CARDIAC PROCEDURE
McIngvale undergoes surgery for a patent foramen ovale, or PFO, which is essentially a hole in the heart. He goes on to fund research toward the development of the first permanent artificial heart.
Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle
February 2014
MAKES GALLERY’S FIRST SPORTS-RELATED WAGER
McIngvale places his first huge sports bet linked to customers at his store. He offers a full refund on up to $6,000 of furniture if the Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl. The Seahawks beat Denver, 43-8. The bet costs him $7 million.
June 2014
BREAKS GROUND ON THIRD STORE
McIngvale breaks ground on a new 165,000-square-foot store on West Grand Parkway South in Richmond, southwest of Houston. The store opens a year later and boasts a restaurant, aquarium and atrium that houses exotic birds and a family of capuchin monkeys. (The animals will later be removed.)
April 2015
TAKES STAGE FOR TRUMP
McIngvale moderates Donald Trump’s first 2016 speaking engagement in Texas, seven months before the New York Republican is elected president. In his remarks at The Woodlands High School event, McIngvale offers to send Trump a mattress. In 2023, he will make good on this promise.
August 2017
OFFERS SHELTER DURING HARVEY
Two years after the record-breaking hurricane, Gov. Greg Abbott signs several disaster relief acts, including two aimed at Hurricane Harvey aid, at Gallery Furniture’s flagship store.
Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer
November 2019
OPENS GALLERY SCHOOLS
“I want to leave a legacy for myself and my wife, and not just be a couple of people who made a lot of money,” McIngvale tells the Houston Chronicle.
April 2020
JOINS ABBOTT’S COVID TASK FORCE
When public figures in Texas begin taking sides in the early days of the global coronavirus pandemic, McIngvale takes a stand for reopening shuttered businesses. Gov. Greg Abbott, who champions reopenings, names McIngvale to a special advisory position on his Strike Force to Open Texas. The council’s aim is to rally professionals and civic leaders around reopening businesses.
February 2021
GALLERY TAKES IN VICTIMS OF WINTER FREEZE
McIngvale opens his main showroom to victims of the deadly winter freeze that leaves hundreds of thousands of Texans in the dark for days and without heat and potable water.
March 2021
MAKES A PLUG FOR LEGALIZED BETTING
“My change of heart is that I know myself and I’ve seen the light as far as impulsiveness on me to sports gambling,” McIngvale tells the Chronicle. “Because I’ve got to drive to Louisiana, it limits those impulses by a factor of 1,000. So I’m not in favor of sports gambling in Texas.”
April 2021
HIT WITH COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT
Gallery Furniture denies any wrongdoing, and has moved to have the case dismissed. The suit is ongoing.
“This was a sad end to a pretty creative girl’s life,” Rachel’s father, Robert Youens, said.
January 2022
MACK BACKS MEALER
Mealer loses her bid for county judge. She files a challenge to the election on Jan. 6, 2023, two years to the date of the violent insurrection by Donald Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol. The lawsuit is still pending.
November 2022
MACK GOES VIRAL
“My blood pressure got a little high but that’s alright, I lived through it,” he says. “I will always take up the Houston Astros.”
McIngvale’s reaction is lauded by Houstonians and someone turns McIngvale into a mega-hit meme dubbed “Gangster Mack.”
Karen Warren/Staff photographer
November 2022
WINS BIG ON ASTROS SERIES VICTORY
McIngvale collects a $75 million payout after betting $10 million on the Houston Astros to win the World Series. It marked the largest win ever through a legal sportsbook in the United States. Gallery Furniture customers who bet on the home team received double their money back on their Gallery Furniture purchase.
February 13, 2023
SUES COUNTY OVER ELECTION
McIngvale sues the Harris County Elections Administrator’s office saying it failed to turn over public records related to the November 2022 election. A week later, he launches a website called Hard to Vote to try to gather evidence of voter disenfranchisement. The case is pending. In April, Mack showed up at the Texas State Capitol to press his points with lawmakers and the media.
March 2023
ANNOUNCES NEW ASTROS BET
As the season opens, McIngvale bets $1.9 million on the Houston Astros to win the 2023 World Series. If the team wins, McIngvale will make over $11 million and Houstonians who spend $5,000 on furniture at Gallery will receive a full refund for their purchases.
