Valley native invents Awesome Auger

By ELISE FRANCO and JON MOFFETT

What began as a hobby for Youngstown native Tom Motosko has turned him into a nationwide success.

Motosko, 58, of Cambridge, Wis., is the brain behind the Awesome Auger, a gardening tool that attaches to any drill. He said it takes the tough labor out of gardening and yard work.

Motosko, who lost both legs in 1996 when a private plane he was flying crashed, said he came up with the idea in the late 1990s while doing rehab exercises on the floor of his father’s Youngstown home.

“I saw the neighbor digging in his garden. He always had a beautiful, meticulous garden, and when I was a little kid I always wondered what the point was,” he said.

“That particular day my father brought back a bag full of personal stuff from the crash [including] an auger tie down for the plane. Something in my head just clicked about putting that on a drill.”

The tool has grossed more than $10 million through online purchases since hitting the market in 2003, he said.

Hiring a famous pitchman to advertise the product may have helped.

“When I invented the product, I invented it for TV,” Motosko said. “After a contract was negotiated, I got a call saying Billy Mays was going to do the commercial, and I just started laughing because I’ve known Billy ... since the 70s.”

Mays, who grew up in Pittsburgh and frequented the Youngstown area, said he has a lot of respect and admiration for Motosko.

“It was an honor. Here’s a guy who had everything,” Mays said of Motosko. “This guy was the premiere pitchman at the time. He was the best pitchman you could imagine in terms of working the crowd. Us pitchmen, we all watch each other.”

Motosko hooked up with Mays again in January to film a guest spot Discovery Channel’s “Pitchmen.” Mays is an executive producer of the show.

“What they were doing was shooting another version of the [auger] commercial,” he said. “The Discovery Channel was filming Billy as he filmed the commercial.”

The show aired June 3 and ran again on June 7.

Mays said he knew the Awesome Auger would be a success the moment he saw it.

“I’m very superstitious about the products I sell,” Mays said. “But for some reason I was very confident that this was going to be a smash hit ... I had no doubt.”

He said the auger is easy to use and affordable, two key elements for a successful and marketable product.

“A lot of people can’t afford to go out and rent a tiller, but a lot of people have a drill,” Mays said. “It gives people the power and gives instant gratification because you see results right away.”

Motosko said until the auger was patented in 2005 he frequented home and garden shows and local fairs, sizing up his competitors and improving his product.

“I’d go to different fairs and shows where people were demonstrating and selling different garden augers,” he said. “I would ask audience members what they liked and didn’t like about each one.”

Motosko said his father, also Tom Motosko, 90, became interested in product-pitching after spending time with an out-of-towner who was a pitchman at the Trumbull County Fair. The hobby stuck with the family.

“[My dad] would say, ‘I put five kids through college, and when they graduated, I had to teach them how to make a living,’” he said. “Four of the five of us are pitchmen.”

Motosko, who graduated from the former Woodrow Wilson High School and Youngstown State University, said he’s no stranger to fair demonstrations and spent a great portion of his childhood alongside his father at the Canfield and Trumbull County fairs.

“We had a trailer outside where we showed knives and kitchen gadgets,” he said.

Motosko said he’s been hooked ever since, leading him to his auger success.

Mays said he hopes to work with Motosko again and that Motosko’s story should inspire others.

Mays said Motosko lives by Billy’s personal motto for pitchmen: “Life’s a pitch, and then you buy.”