Cal Worthington, the iconic used car salesman who dominated television car sale ads with his "dog spot" for decades died at the age of 92 while watching football on his ranch near Orlando, California.

Cal’s dog spot was always something other than a dog, he started his spoof in 1971 when he chained a gorilla to his bumper and introduced him as his “dog spot.” Through the years his dog would be seen as elephants, frogs, lizards, grizzly bears, lions, tigers, and hippos. Once even a Killer Whale.

Cal Worthington wrote and acted in his own commercials. He owned approximately 25 dealerships in five states with three in Anchorage alone. Cal owned his own ad agency named Spot Advertising and was the agency’s only client. His ads skyrocketed him into used car dealership fame when he grossed $316.8 million in 1988 making him the largest single owner of a car dealership chain at that time.

Cal Worthington, born Calvin Coolidge Worthington in 1920, dropped out of school at the age of 13 years and got a job as a waterboy on a road construction crew for 15 cents an hour. He later joined the United States Army where he eventually piloted a B-17 Flying Fortress. During that time he was awarded the Air Medal five times as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was awarded to him by Jimmy Doolittle.

Not able to become a commercial pilot after the war because of a lack of a college degree, Cal sold his car for $500 and bought a gas station. The station did not pan out and he sold it for the same price as he paid for it then began selling used cars in front of the local post office in Corpus Christi.

Through the success of his TV ads, Cal expanded throughout the West and Southwest. He eventually started a dealership in Anchorage after buying Friendly Ford from the Stepp family in 1976. He made his Anchorage debut during the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline construction.

Cal Worthington’s cause of death is currently unknown.