Frank Argenbright, Jr. is the Chairman and CEO of SecurAmerica, a security company that is rapidly growing, employs more than 3,000 people and reached $80 million in revenue in 2013.
But before his business expanded into what it is now, Argenbright was a Madison native.
A 1966 graduate of Madison High School, Argenbright’s goal was to join the FBI when he majored in criminal justice at Florida State University.
During college, he joined the ROTC and after graduation, he enlisted in the Army Reserves. His goal of joining the FBI never came to pass when he realized that the hiring goals for the government agency was more in the line of hiring lawyers and accountants at the time; instead, Argenbright took a commission in the U.S. Army Reserve and rose upwards to the rank of captain in the Military Police (MPs) within six years.
Argenbright decided to take his degree and military policing experience into the private sector and began the task of learning the security business over the next decade in several sectors in several cities.
In 1979, with $500, he founded Argenbright Security and Argenbright Polygraph in Atlanta, Ga.
It was his business that first brought him in contact with Donald Trump.
In 1986, Argenbright saw an article in People’s Magazine about Oscar Lorik, a southern farmer who was in danger of losing his farm. Deciding to lend a hand, Argenbright assisted Lorik with raising the funds to help save the peanut farm. By odd chance, Ivana Trump, Donald Trump’s former wife, saw the funds campaign on national television and Trump made a move to assist in the cause.
“Whether people hate Trump or love Trump, he did the right thing,” Argenbright said. “My [encounters] with [Trump] have always been very nice.”
Assisting Lorik led to a business relationship forming between Argentbright’s company and Trump, as Argenbright’s company provided security for Trump during a period of time.
However, after a few years, Argenbright and Trump dropped out of contact…until Argentbright received a call from the Trump campaign, asking if he would like to be present at the Trump rally that took place on Monday, Feb. 29.
Argentbright and his wife were flown out to Valdosta and by an odd coincidence; the security escort that had been assigned to the Argenbrights was a sheriff’s deputy from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.
“I was talking to [the Sheriff’s Deputy] and he said, ‘I’m from a small town, you probably don’t know of it, it’s called Madison.’ I laughed and said, ‘actually, I do’” said Argenbright.
Regarding the Trump rally, Argenbright said it was full of energy. “It was like a rock concert [and] he was a rock star,” said Argenbright.
Argenbright stated that he has been to many presidential rallies and tries to refrain from offering any political endorsement to any of them, but he had never been to a rally like the one the was in Valdosta; the energy and excitement of the crowd was entirely unique.
Before the start of the rally, the Argenbrights were ushered into a VIP room with Trump as well as NASCAR associates. Argenbright remarked that even while they were so close to his hometown of Madison, it felt entirely foreign.
So when a Secret Service member was escorting the Argenbrights to their seats in the packed university building, seeing Gary Haire, another Madison native and high school friend of Argenbright’s made the event feel a bit more closer to home.
“To see your high school friend in a rally you were invited to, it was interesting,” said Argenbright. During the event, Argenbright also received a text from Judge Wetzel Blair, another Madison native as well as a former Madison County Court Judge.
Trump rallies receive a lot of bad rep for violence and racism during the events and Argenbright said that while he is aware of that, he did not notice “any of that happening.”
Rather, it was the unison enthusiasm of the people that sparked his interested and was the highlight of the event.
“It was fascinating to me to see the passion of the people,” said Argenbright.