LEWISTON — Tom Auger Sr. could have played professional baseball. In fact, he did pitch for a time in the St. Louis Cardinals’ farm system before a shoulder injury brought an end to his baseball career.

Major League Baseball’s loss was Maine’s gain.

Auger came home and spent $300 for a used-tire-changing machine. He turned that small venture into an empire, launching VIP Discount, which ended up with 46 stores across New England.

Auger died early Wednesday surrounded by his friends and family. And he did it his way.

“He went out with style,” said Auger’s son, Tom Jr. “We sent out for Simones’ hot dogs. That’s what he wanted. He had a couple dogs with mustard and onion.”

Auger was 82. He suffered from diabetes, his family said, and recently had a heart attack. Lately, he was in a lot of pain.

On Monday, Auger decided to stop taking dialysis. He summoned his people to his side, ate some hot dogs and prepared for the end.

“He was ready,” said Tom Jr. “He was ready to go.”

So rich was Auger’s life, even those closest to him didn’t know the whole story, or they had forgotten parts of it.

“We learned a lot of stuff just surfing the Internet,” Tom Jr. said.

There is a lot about the man to know, after all.

Like the way Auger saved the Fourth of July fireworks in the Twin Cities several times by making hefty donations.

The way he shared profits after selling his business in 2001, handing over checks in the tens of thousands of dollars to loyal employees.

The way he cooked hot dogs for those employees at the VIP Show, Shine and Drag events at Oxford Plains Speedway to show his appreciation.

And his 1993 induction into the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame, not for his work in St. Louis but for his prowess on the baseball diamond here, at home.

Auger won his first varsity letter in baseball as an eighth-grader at Webster Grammar School in Auburn. He followed that up with two more letters as a ninth-grader at Walton Junior High.

In 1946, at the state championship, Auger pitched a two-hitter for Edward Little High School. Add that to his skills in other sports — he anchored the EL football team’s line at guard and was noted for his two-handed set shot on the basketball squad — and you have a man destined for the Hall of Fame.

But Auger is mostly remembered for the things he did once he returned to Maine. At first, he was a tire salesman for B.F. Goodrich. Then the 1955 economy went sour and Auger found himself working as a tire-changer.

“I didn’t like being a tire-changer,” he said in a 1999 interview with the Sun Journal. “So I took an old barn in Lewiston with one bay, borrowed $300 and went into business selling tires.”

At first, the store at Main and Sabattus streets was called L&A Tire and Service. Auger later changed the store’s emphasis from tires to auto parts, chemicals and accessories. In 1976, it was officially founded as a chain operating under the name of VIP Discount Auto Center.

“He was a gambler; he was willing to take risks,” Tom Jr. said. “He was a maverick.”

Name the business award and Auger probably won it at one time or another. He was named Retailer of the Year by Automotive Marketing magazine in 1998. The Lewiston-Auburn Chamber of Commerce named him Outstanding Business Person in 1990. A year later, it was Retailer of the Year, an award from the New England Automotive Booster Club.

Auger and his company made money. He used that money to help his family, his friends and sometimes, strangers. He spent in Lewiston-Auburn whenever he could, telling a reporter that he liked to support local businesses.

He supported the Great Falls Balloon Festival. He sponsored youth athletic teams and supplied warm-up apparel to his old high school, Edward Little.

“He was always there to help people,” said Diane Auger, the senior Auger’s former daughter-in-law. “He was a good, good guy. He did so much for the community.”

When he sold the business in 2001, he handed over nearly $2 million to dozens of employees. He also turned his attention to spending more time with his family.

“In the last 10 years, since we sold the company, we became very close,” Tom Jr. said. “We had some good times.”

A funeral service will be held Monday at Holy Family Church. Who knows what new memories of the man will surface when so many gather in his honor.

“We all loved him so much,” Tom Jr. said. “I’m very proud of him.”

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