For an Edwardsburg farm boy who attended Southwestern Michigan College, sitting in George Steinbrenner’s Yankee Stadium box with Donald Trump and USA Today founder Al Neuharth felt daunting.

Elkhart County entrepreneur and philanthropist Kelly Rose, chairman of EverGreen Recreational Vehicles in Middlebury, in 1990 purchased Starcraft Corp. assets out of bankruptcy and invested $600,000, taking it public in 1993.

Even in the 2008 recession, Rose was starting companies such as Stealth trailers, for which he declined a $40 million offer.

Students lined up after Rose’s Dec. 9 talk in the Barbara Wood Building on SMC’s Dowagiac campus to meet him.

Rose, 63, was accompanied by Karen, his wife of 43 years and an SMC nursing graduate from Dowagiac.

“Three months and 44 years ago I walked on this campus for the first time at 19,” said Rose, who speaks in aphorisms — poor planning promotes poor performance, if you have no debt you will never go broke and the harder you work the luckier you get.

“It was but a moment ago,” Rose said, quoting the 2000 golf film “The Legend of Bagger Vance” directed by Robert Redford and starring Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron. “That’s how my life seems, like I was here the other day. You are all going to be in the same boat, wondering where time went. We’re all trying to get through this tough, competitive world, but we’re not getting out alive. I’ve hired a lot of people and I’ve never asked an applicant for their GPA. All you can do is all you can do. Maximize your potential.”

“The number-one thing I gleaned from SMC was my wife — she told me to say that,” Rose said. “We were dating other people when I first saw her in the student commons. My buddy who ended up being best man at our wedding reminded me that the first time I saw her, I said, ‘That’s the woman I’m going to marry.’ ”

Rose in 1977 co-founded Automotive Sound and Accessories (ASA Electronics), which he owned half of until 1990.

Making $44,000 in 1975, he got fired before the holidays while idled six weeks by back surgery.

“I’m looking out the window at my wife shoveling snow, tears rolling down my cheek because I couldn’t help. A devastating time in my life. I was disgruntled at getting fired and felt I could treat people better, so I started my own company. God never closes one door without opening another,” Rose said.

A 1982 photo shows him with Coach Mike Ditka and quarterback Jim McMahon three years before they led the Chicago Bears to Super Bowl success.

“Terry Bradshaw is a good friend of mine,” he said. “I’ve stayed at his ranch on the Texas-Oklahoma border. He’s stayed in our home in Bristol. Celebrities are no different than us. Trump was down-to-earth, a knowledgeable guy talking baseball who didn’t come across as egotistical.”

“When we got married, I told Karen that within 10 years I was going to buy a Corvette and take her to Hawaii. We did, though I didn’t really have a plan. I learned as I went. If we make sure mistakes don’t bury us, we learn more from dry holes than gushers.”

In 1994, Rose was Indiana Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year.

In 2002, he became one of 367 RV Hall of Fame inductees.

He is past Recreational Vehicle Industry Association chairman, a leading promoter of the “Go RVing” national campaign, pioneered high-tech electronics and led development of RVs equipped for disabilities.

Rose dreamed of playing professional baseball. He went from Redfield Road to Bethel College, played basketball freshman year, then transferred to SMC.

“I remember seeing people go by in nice cars who worked in the RV industry,” said Rose, who considered teaching business and coaching. “My mom pointed out a lot of millionaires had been made in Elkhart — more per capita than any city of 40,000 in the United States. I was about 14, but it stuck.”

Business “isn’t rocket science,” he said. “I have an iPad and a computer, but (no device replaces) eyeball-to-eyeball, belly-to-belly, handshake communication. They’re great tools, but don’t be complacent when you get behind a screen.  Follow up. After you interview for a job, why not send a handwritten note?”

“I knew if I got in the game, I could figure the rest out by hard work,” Rose said. “Incorporate bits of what I say into building your own platform.”

“What am I doing with George, Al and Donald Trump? (Neuharth) was on my board at Starcraft for 11 years. My dad was a retired truck driver, my mom a housewife. I was born with a spoon in my mouth, but it was plastic and broken.”

Rose eschewed financial figures because “once you reach a certain income level, money doesn’t matter. If you work with money as your goal, you’ll never have enough. Make your journey an adventure and enjoy it every step of the way.”