In turning a clever idea into a $14-million business, American Leisure is a classic INC. 500 company. Too bad, then, that its address is 4501 Forbes Boulevard. Mr. Forbes, we hear, always travels first-class.

#232 ORIGINAL COPY CENTERS INC. CLEVELAND

She has lost her house -- twice.

The first time, a fire left Nancy Vetrone and her five children with only the shirts on their backs. She borrowed mattresses from her mother, clothes from a friend, and moved in with her sister.

The second time, about 10 years later, Vetrone had just started her secretarial service. The entrepreneurial impulse was born of the frustrations of raising five children while trying to hold down as many as three jobs at one time. But unschooled in the ways of the business world, she had financed her start-up with three short-term home-improvement loans, secured by the house. When the loans came due, the company was still short of cash, and she was forced to put the house on the market.

Happily, Vetrone is now a homeowner once again, thanks to a $1.1-million copy service that boasts profit margins of more than 16%.

#251 COMPUTER SHOPPER OF TITUSVILLE INC.

#269 TITUSVILLE AIR CONDITIONING INC. TITUSVILLE, FLA.

Judging solely by its size -- 38,000 population -- a place like Titusville, Fla., would do well to show up once on the INC. 500. As it turns out, two Titusville companies made this year's list, and we quickly figured out why: outer space.

From Titusville, you can look out the window at the Kennedy Space Center, and for some time, Titusville's economy has been tied to the fortunes of its more famous neighbor. With the start of the space-shuttle program in the early 1980s, Titusville was booming, bringing to town hundreds of professionals who needed the air-conditioning units sold by Gary Luke and Gary Altman and the personal-computer products advertised in Glenn Patch's Computer Shopper. More recently, the hiatus in the space-shuttle program after the Challenger tragedy has left 2,000 people temporarily unemployed in Titusville. But the official line from the Chamber of Commerce is that the next big project, the space station, will do for Titusville what microcomputers did for San Jose.

#302 HISTORY ASSOCIATES INC. ROCKVILLE, MD.

Alex Haley proved you could make money with personal history. Herman Wouk did it with world history. Now comes Philip Cantelon, who has figured out a way to turn a profit on institutional history.

Cantelon's History Associates has compiled a history of the Three Mile Island accident for the U.S. Department of Energy, written the corporate history of Texas Instruments Inc., helped organize the archives of Florida National Banks, and provided historical research in connection with lawsuits for the states of Texas and New Mexico. History Associates charges anywhere from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand dollars for its research and writing. But Cantelon is quick to add that the professional historians who oversee the projects will accept no money for historical revisionism in the cause of public relations.

#329 MATARAZZO ASSOCIATES ATLANTA

Ladies and gentlemen! The Amazing Matarazzo Brothers!

Last year, it was George Matarazzo, the landscape architect from Concord, N.H. -- #409 on our list.

This year, it's brother Stanley, from Atlanta, who does international tax consulting for commercial banks -- #329.

As kids growing up in New Jersey, Stanley was the studious one, but in the end, it was George who wound up with an advanced degree from Harvard University. George married a young woman from the South, then brought her up North. Stanley married a Northern woman, then brought her South.

This last has been a good year for landscaper George, but as it turns out, not good enough for the INC. 500: he's #574.

It's been a spectacular year, however, for tax consultant Stanley. With many of his bank clients, he earns a percentage of the previously unidentified foreign tax credits -- and last year, there were plenty of tax savings. Stanley closed out 1985 with $1.7 million in sales, up from $411,000 the year before.

#373 THE FOREIGN CANDY CO. HULL, IOWA

First, there was the gummy bear. Then, gummy worms, gummy strawberries, gummy hearts, gummy fish. One young correspondent has suggested gummy trees.

They are among the hottest candy items to come along in years, these chewy bits of color that seem the perfect compromise between a jujube and a gumdrop. And for the second year, they have sufficiently sweetened sales at The Foreign Candy Co. to earn a place on the INC. 500.

Former teacher Peter De Yager discovered the appeal of the gummy products while leading his high-school German-language students on a trip to Europe. His initial instinct was to import several lines of European candies for sale to students and neighbors as a way of raising funds for future class trips. But soon, these fund-raising efforts took on a business momentum all their own, and De Yager and his wife, Betsy, began selling candy through high-school language teachers all over the Midwest from a small office in their basement. It wasn't long before gummy products had become a national fad, and the De Yagers had a nationwide $9-million import business.

#376 TRACKS TO ADVENTURE EL PASO

#375, from the last page, will sell you one. And then #376 will plan your vacation.

We're talking RVs here -- recreational vehicles. Winnebagos. Pace Arrows. Holiday Ramblers. Vacation homes on wheels. And especially for the growing retirement population in the United States, RVs are the way to go.

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