A former sheriff and powerlifting champion, Frank Hackett has led National Auto Auction Association as its chief executive for the past eight years.

Auto Remarketing recently chatted with Hackett about his journey to the remarketing business and all the interesting stops along the way.

Below is an excerpt from the most recent entry in our Auto Remarketing Profile Series, which spotlighted Hackett. The complete profile can be found in the Oct. 1–14 print edition of Auto Remarketing, which is our special NAAA issue that can be found on site at the conference.

AR: Your childhood years were spent in New England, weren’t they?

Hackett: That’s correct. I was born and raised in Waterville, Maine, which is about 20 miles from the state capital of Augusta. It was a mill town when I was growing up, and my dad was in the wholesale paper business. My mother was a school teacher who later stayed at home with the children.

There was a river that ran through the town, and I remember all of the logging that went on around town (to support the paper mill), as well as the trains that ran through on a regular basis. It had a lot of small town values.

AR: What were some of your favorite childhood activities?

Hackett: My brother and I liked to hang out at the Boys Club. Both my brother and I were very active in athletics, and that was a place where all of the guys liked to go.

AR: Did you just have the one brother?

Hackett: No, actually, I have that one brother and three sisters. We had a pretty large Catholic family.

AR: Talk a little more about your Boys Club activity. Sounds like it was a major gathering place for young men.

Hackett: I would say it was. We all went there to play sports. It was the women’s gymnasium from an old college that has moved. It might have been very old and run-down, but it was a place where kids could go and feel comfortable.

AR: Tell us about your family.

Hackett: My mother was very outgoing, a lot of fun and laughter. What is rather unique is that she loved professional wrestling! So, as kids growing up, we were always watching professional wresting on TV, and she would put moves on us in the kitchen. I remember her breaking a wooden spoon over our heads, things like that; all in fun and jest. We just had a great time.

Dad was a native of that area, while my mother had been adopted. Even though my grandfather died about the time I was born, I discovered later that he was a good athlete and had actually tried out for the Boston Red Sox after being the captain of the University of Maine baseball team. You can just imagine the feeding frenzy that took place around our dinner table at night, especially as my brother and I began participating in the sport of powerlifting.

AR: That is a sport that most people know little about. Can you tell us more?

Hackett: Sure. Actually, around where we lived was more or less a powerlifting concentration for the rest of the country. There were a lot of great athletes who came out of that area.

We (brother and Hackett) ended up winning a number of national and international world championships. I think that is where we found our athletic niche.

AR: Tell us about the awards you won.

Hackett: We each were Teenage National Powerlifting champions, at different times because he was older than I was by about two years. Later, when I was in police work, I won several powerlifting championships at the International Police Olympics. My brother won a couple of world championships, as well as competing in the World’s Strongest Man competition.

AR: That is quite a resume. How much (weight) were you lifting?

Hackett: One of the things we did in 1982 was that we broke the world record for the most weight ever lifted by two men in a single lift. We did a two-man 1500-pound squat.

I weighed 280 pounds at the time, and he weighed 325. (laughter) We both were in a different phase of our lives at that time!

We always knew that at some point we were going to have to go off and do something that had some true meaning. We knew we could not have a career in powerlifting, but we certainly enjoyed it at the time.

AR: Certainly your parents were supportive and involved.

Hackett: Definitely. This was during our high school years, and we had gotten so good that we could not find anyone (locally) to compete against. We were so much stronger than most kids our age.

So we would compete with men. I remember when I was in the eighth grade and he was a high school sophomore, we were competing at a local high school in a meet. During the meet, there were eight inmates from the local prison there also competing. They faked an injury and escaped out of the back of the gymnasium in a stolen car!

When we went home that night, our mother — who had been watching the news on television — asked us what had gone on that day. When we tried to tell her, I think she quickly realized that we were hanging out around people we probably should not be with.

Looking back, I think it was those relationships at the Boys Club and focus on powerlifting that kept us from getting into trouble.

AR: Tell us about school; were you a good student?

Hackett: I was a mediocre student! (laughter)

I didn’t apply myself until after high school when I attended a post-graduate boys school so that I could be better prepared for college. Bridgston Academy is one of the best prep schools in the country, and it became a turning point in my life. It was there that I realized there are things you need to accomplish in life besides sports.

Bridgston was a school where kids who were really, really good athletes went. But probably the most important thing was they taught you how to study. That was the key; how to speed read and how to write. It was a small school, only about 200 students, but the faculty dedicated itself to helping each and every student.

Looking back over the years now, I think one problem I had with school work was that I just didn’t know what I wanted to do. In sports, you always have a clear goal. In my early years, however, my career goals were more abstract.

AR: Good observation. What did you think you wanted to be when you became an adult?

Hackett: I remember thinking at an early age I wanted to be in law enforcement, but more specifically, I wanted to be the sheriff, not just a patrolman.

I think that thought came to me when I was in about the seventh grade, and I was working on a guy’s campaign who was running for sheriff. I was just intrigued with that position.

AR: Did you know anyone in law enforcement, someone who inspired you?

Hackett: No. Not really. It just appealed to me.

AR: So, what triggered that?

Hackett: Good question. I think down inside I really had a desire to help others.

Going back to the studying side, I think you really don’t apply yourself until you know what you want to do.
That took place after my year at prep school when I enrolled in the University of Maine. I originally planned on majoring in physical education, but I hated every minute of it.

The university had a community college right there on campus, and it had a criminal justice program that was a two-year school. So I stayed in college but switched my focus. Then, within days after I graduated I got a job with the Augusta Police Department as a patrolman.

AR: How did your parents feel about your career choice?

Hackett: Actually, my mom died from cancer while I was still in college, so she only saw me in college and not on the job. Dad, I think, was pretty pleased with that career choice.

But you know, it is funny, but as soon as I got that job (Augusta Police Department patrolman), I knew that I was going to outgrow it. Even while I was a rookie cop, I remember thinking, “When I outgrow this job, what am I going to do next?” (laughter)

AR: Talk about changing focus — you had gone from national powerlifting champion to a city cop in just a few short years. That must have been quite an adjustment.

Hackett: Believe it or not, but while I was working as a police officer, I was running a weight-lifting program in the county jail! You might say I had managed to blend the two.

AR: You said earlier that you weighed about 280 pounds when you broke the world record in powerlifting. How much did you weigh when you joined the police force?

Hackett: I was probably about 240.

AR: I can see you stopping someone while on patrol and not getting a lot of lip!

Hackett: (smile) I had no problems.

At the time I was running the program in the county jail, I was competing in what is called the International Police Olympics, which is held every two years. One of the sports is powerlifting, and we competed against other policemen from all over the world.

The City of Augusta supported the program and paid the expenses for me to go to the international event. And, I won it the two times I competed. Through this, I got to be known throughout the community and the county;, and a Catholic priest, who was ministering one day in the jail, approached me and said, “Frank, I want you to run for sheriff.” Of course, that had always been one of my dreams.

Editor’s Note: For the entire profile, see the Oct. 1–14 print edition of Auto Remarketing.