About Us

Purpose Statement: Improving Lives Through Health and Fitness

This statement is both simple and direct. We want our members' lives to be better as a consequence of utilizing the services and facilities of the Little Rock Athletic Club. The club's goal is to create a positive, nurturing environment stressing the mental, physical, and emotional benefits of leading an active, participatory, and health conscious lifestyle.

Guiding Values

We are keenly aware of and responsive to our members' needs/complaints.
This value reminds us always to stay open-minded and listen carefully to our members. While it can be difficult to receive criticism, nothing is more crucial to correcting deficiencies within our operation than a member notifying us that something is wrong. It is then incumbent upon us to correct the shortcoming in a timely manner.
We hire service-oriented staff and train them to provide unsurpassed service to the membership.
Good service is first and foremost a willingness to take care of others. Some people simply seemed wired to be good service providers. Those are the individuals we want to hire. When we hire employees who have a "service attitude" we must then train them how to utilize their positive mind-set within our system.
Cleanliness and maintenance is critical to our success and everyone's job.
Keeping the Club clean and all the equipment functioning is an ongoing challenge. After all, over a thousand people visit the LRAC on a typical day - to sweat and utilize the equipment. This value recognizes that members deserve to work out in a clean environment and have equipment that operates properly. It further acknowledges that keeping the facility in order is every employee's responsibility.
It is essential that we operate with integrity at all times.
This guideline reflects the role that ethics plays within our business. Whether it involves members, vendors or employees, it is critical that our conduct be honest and fair-minded. This "golden rule" of behavior is just good business and always pays off in the long run.
Teamwork is paramount to our success.
Our organization is made up of twelve separate divisions and nearly 200 full and part-time employees. Each division has its own budget, manager and priorities. This guideline means that in order for our Club to flourish, each division and all employees must operate interdependently. Functioning as a team requires good communication and an ability to maintain focus on the goals of the overall organization.
The work we do makes a positive difference in our members' lives.
This final Guiding Value relates to our Purpose Statement and reminds us of the life affirming nature of our business. It is the "icing on the cake". We are fortunate to provide a service that is both beneficial to our members and a pleasure to deliver.

While it would be an overstatement to suggest that we unfailingly live up to all these standards, their existence helps us correct course when we lose our way. Furthermore, by sharing these ideals here, we become more accountable to you and thereby move closer to achieving our mutual goals.

History

Riley’s Health and Fitness Centers, Inc. (RHFC) was initially formed in 1985 to build the first multi-purpose health club in central Arkansas. The company currently operates four clubs in Little Rock/North Little Rock (i.e. Little Rock Athletic Club, Downtown Athletic Club, North Little Rock Athletic Club, and Little Rock Racquet Club) with a combined membership of 7,000 (family and single memberships) representing almost 18,000 individual members.

The first official act of RHFC was the purchase of the Westside Tennis Center (now the Little Rock Athletic Club) in December 1985. This initial step however, was preceded by several years of planning and dreaming.

The idea to develop a multi-purpose health club in Little Rock was formed in the early ‘80’s in Dallas, Texas. During those years Pat Riley, Jr. was an enthusiastic member of Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s Aerobic Center. At that time, the Aerobics Center was widely regarded as one of the premier multi-purpose health/fitness centers in the U.S.. Being a native of Little Rock, Pat believed that an athletic club, patterned after the Aerobics Center, in his hometown would be successful. He discussed the idea with his father (Pat Riley, Sr.) who had helped develop several clubs in Arkansas (i.e. Little Rock Racquet Club and Westside Tennis Center) in the '60s and '70s and Riley, Sr. was in favor of pursing the idea.

The Riley’s hired the Aerobics Center to be their primary consultant in developing the design and format of the new club. The principle consultant was Bill Grantham who was the General Manager of the Aerobics Center and was regarded as one of the most knowledgeable health club managers in the country.

In 1984, Bill and Pat began working on a plan that would eventually become the Little Rock Athletic Club. Once the general design for the club was in place, the next crucial step in the process was determining a location for the facility. The original intention was to build from the ground up rather than renovate an existing club. However, in the fall of 1985 the owners of Westside Tennis Center approached the Riley’s with an offer to sell that facility.

Westside was originally built in 1973 as the first indoor tennis center in Arkansas and although it had added on a small fitness center in 1983, was primarily known as a tennis club. After a thorough analysis, it was determined that the Westside club could feasibly be renovated to become a multi-purpose facility. An additional benefit was the existing membership of 700 at Westside.

Over the next several years, architectural plans were developed and financing was arranged. In April 1988, the construction of the LRAC began. Throughout the construction, Westside remained open to its existing membership.

A critical component in the eventual success of the project occurred in the summer of 1988 when Bill Grantham agreed to move to Little Rock to assume the position of General Manager. Bill served as the Club’s General Manager from its opening in 1989, until his untimely death in January, 2002.

The Little Rock Athletic Club held its grand opening on April 8, 1989. The Club opened with approximately 1,500 memberships and a staff of 55. Currently, this 130,000 square foot club has a membership of over 4,000 and a staff of 200.