Sam Walton: Entrepreneurial Genius and Creator of Wal-Mart Dedication, risk-taking, empire-building, and world-shaking; words that describe a man who changed this world. This man is not just any man, but a man of vision and hope; a man who started from nothing, and if he lived today he would be worth more than Bill Gates. Sam Walton, creator and founder of Wal-Mart Incorporations, shaped this world. From his birth on March 29, 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma until his death on April 6, 1992 in Little Rock, Arizona (Sam Walton NNDB), Sam Walton changed this world for both better and worse by providing such cheap goods to people all over the world. Born into a less than wealthy family, Sam quickly learned the value of a dollar as a child. "During high school Walton was very athletic playing basketball and football as the starting quarterback at Hickman High School in Columbia. He became vice president of the student body his senior year and became president his senior year, and also excelled academically becoming a honors student. (Sam Walton InvestingValue) "In 1940 he graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in economics, and throughout high school and college he had a paper trail and earned $4 to $5,000 a year, which a that time The weather wasn't bad because they were about to fall into the Great Depression" (Walton and Huey p. 20). After college Sam continued to "hold a management position at J.C. Penny's and remained there until 1962. Towards the end of 1962 Sam Walton changed this world, and opened the first Wal-Mart” (“Sam Walton“ InvestingValue)(see “First Wal-Mart Store“). “We opened our first Wal-Mart here in Northwest Arkansas” (Walton and Huey eLibrary. CSA Request. Hermon High School. “Sam Walton’s Wife.” Photo. Money.cnn.com. 3 May 200805/100008717/index.htm>. . Photo. HRH Media.com. 7 May 2008. "Wal-Mart's Smiley Face." . Fresh Thinking Business. 2008. New York Times Company. 9 May 2008p/aasamwalton.htm>.