Matt Rowland from Indiana is a bit of an anomaly. A communications major in criminal justice, attends XJ conventions without an XJ, and a builder of fabulous bonfires! Join us for some Midwest history on Episode 236. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
4:35 – …that might be part of the reason I’ve always had affection for Jeeps
13:50 –my freshman year, we lost to the big high school in Fort Wayne by over 100 points
18:49 – everything auto mechanic-wise, I learned from working on the junk we were driving
31:59 – Tony bought a ’99 TJ and started taking it to the Badlands, in Attica, Indiana
39:24 – In 2005, I got on the police department in Fort Wayne, and I’ll have 20 years next May
44:31 – I had to borrow $1500 from my parents to pay off the loan on the XJ because they said Modified Cherokees were worthless
51:02 – I had a buddy who said, “Hey, are you ever going to settle down and get married?” and I’m like, I guess, maybe.
1:03:45 – The LJ became the family truckster for wheeling, and we changed the bylaws when I was NAXJA President
Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:39.800] – Big Rich Klein
On today’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I’ll be talking with a past President of the North American XJ Association, Yep, NAXJA, a member of Team Indiana, and a longtime friend, Matt MacGyver-Rowland. Matt MacGyver-Rowland, how are you doing?
[00:01:59.600] – Matt ‘MacGyvr’ Rowland
I’m doing well, sir. How are you?
[00:02:01.450] – Big Rich Klein
Excellent. So it’s really good to have you on the air here. Thank you for saying you would do this. We go back quite a ways, but we’re going to go back even before that and find out more about you. You ready for this?
[00:02:19.510] – Matt ‘MacGyvr’ Rowland
Let’s do it.
[00:02:20.380] – Big Rich Klein
All right. So first question, where were you born and raised?
[00:02:25.580] – Matt ‘MacGyvr’ Rowland
So I was born in Muncie, Indiana, East Central, Indiana. My dad was a glass factory worker. He was an electrician, and he started working in the factory. And we grew up… He got laid off a lot. So money, I remember a Christmas where the Christmas presents was the free stuff from the auto parts store in town. Things got better, though, because eventually he was able to change jobs, and he actually just retired in 2022 from Dana Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana. So we moved up to Dana. I’m sorry, we moved up to Fort Wayne in 1989. He started there in ’88, and on my 10th birthday, and then we moved up to Fort Wayne. All right. So the early years, we’re in a little town called Dunkirk, Indiana, which is affectionately known as the Glass Capital of Indiana. They had two glass-producing plants there, foundries or whatever you would call them. And he went into Hartford City, worked for an auto parts place that made the… If you remember the old Impalas? Right. They had the plastic pieces on the front. They used water jets to cut those pieces. So we worked there for a little while and then ended up getting the job in Fort Wayne.
[00:03:57.470] – Matt ‘MacGyvr’ Rowland
And I had to say that was It was pretty awesome because that just opened up a lot more opportunities going from the small town to the big town of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
[00:04:08.070] – Big Rich Klein
When that move happened, about how old were you?
[00:04:15.930] – Matt ‘MacGyvr’ Rowland
I was 10 or 11 when he got that job. I believe he started on my 10th birthday in ’88 in July, and then we moved in January of 89 up here.
[00:04:31.600] – Big Rich Klein
So your dad just retired in his 60s?
[00:04:35.200] – Matt ‘MacGyvr’ Rowland
Yes, he is 69 years old. He retired two years ago after 34 years at Dana. And that might be part of the reason why I’ve always had affections for Jeeps. It also might be the 1955 Willey’s pickup that he’s had since he was a senior in high school in 1973. READ MORE
