The $50,000 Shoeshine

Lee Ferguson, one of East Texas' last shoeshine artists, is giving $50,000 shines these days in a place you'd never expect to get your boots polished.

Ferguson, who once practiced his art at the Fredonia Hotel in Nacogdoches, is shining shoes at First Bank & Trust, which opened a new bank on University Drive last year.

The unlikely combination of shining shoes and banking came about when David Draper, the Nacogdoches bank's president, asked Ferguson to set up his stand in the bank and give free shines to customers.

Draper put Ferguson on the bank's payroll and during the bank's working hours Ferguson plies his trade on the shoes of any customer who wants a shine.

It isn't uncommon for customers to come into the bank, sign up for $50,000 certificates of deposit, climb in Ferguson's chair, and tell him: "Well, this shine you're giving just cost me $50,000."

Draper, who calls Ferguson "the best public relations man I ever had," admits the idea of installing a shoeshine artist in his bank lobby wasn't original with him. "Actually, Arthur Temple (the Diboll philanthropist who owns a chunk of the bank company's stock) suggested the idea after having a shine in another bank he owns."

Ferguson's shoeshine skills come naturally. He was one of 12 children of Houston Ferguson, an Alabama-born barber who put his four boys, including Lee, to work in his Nacogdoches shop shining shoes.

"Daddy wanted to make sure we understood the importance of working, so he made sure we learned it very early in life," said Ferguson.

Ferguson retired after a 25-year career with a Nacogdoches manufacturing plant in the mid-1990s, and began shining shoes again to stay busy.

Ferguson and his wife Esther are strong workers in their church, where Esther regularly sings as a soloist. Every time she does, Lee's eyes fill with tears. "Lee gets real emotional about Esther's singing," said Draper.

Ferguson feels just as strongly about his shines and frets over the nature of the shines passed out by younger, big city shinemen.

"It seems like most shoeshine folks today just want to rub on a little polish, slap a rag on your shoes, and get you out of the chair," he said. "A lot of them don't take pride in what they do."

In Nacogdoches, Ferguson labors 10 to 15 minutes on a shine. While his shines are free, he seldom finishes working on a pair of shoes or boots without a generous tip from his customers, even from those who don't leave with a $50,000 shine.