Goodyear, American Trucking Associations Establish Truck Driver Hall of Fame
27 October 1998
Goodyear, American Trucking Associations Establish Truck Driver Hall of Fame
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 27 -- Alexandria, Va., will soon join
Cleveland, Cooperstown, N.Y., and a growing list of cities that lay claim to
being home to Halls of Fame. Alexandria's planned Hall of Fame, however, has
little to do with rock and roll or baseball stars, focusing instead on
everyday heroes.
Goodyear and the American Trucking Associations (ATA) announced last night
their partnership to build the Goodyear North American Highway Hero Hall of
Fame at ATA headquarters in Alexandria. The Hall of Fame, set to open in June
1999, will recognize professional truck drivers who have been named Goodyear
National Highway Heroes over the course of the program's more than 15-year
history.
Goodyear's Highway Hero program honors professional truck drivers for the
oftentimes unnoticed, life-saving rescues, roadside assistance and
humanitarian acts they perform as their jobs take them across the country and
throughout North America.
"Goodyear's and ATA's respective strengths in the trucking industry will
help both organizations move toward their goals of educating citizens and
public officials as to the important role professional truck drivers play in
our society," said Gene Culler, executive vice president of Goodyear's North
America Tires. "We're joining forces on this project because together we can
continue to build upon the original goal Goodyear had in establishing the
Highway Hero program in 1983 -- promote a positive, accurate picture of the
industry and its drivers."
The Hall of Fame is part of an extensive remodeling project ATA is
undertaking in the lobby of its Alexandria headquarters. Additional trucking
industry programs will figure prominently in the lobby's redesign when it is
unveiled in June, during ATA's annual spring management conference.
"In redesigning the lobby and partnering with Goodyear, our goal is to
create a lasting tribute that recognizes the industry's countless drivers for
their professionalism and selfless actions and increases public awareness of
this industry's importance to the American economy," said Walter McCormick,
Jr., ATA president and CEO.
While the lobby undergoes construction and plans for the Hall of Fame's
design are being finalized, a temporary exhibit featuring 1997 Goodyear North
American Highway Hero Thomas Lawson will be unveiled there in November. "I
think a Hall of Fame to recognize heroic truckers is a great idea," said
Lawson, who recently retired as a driver for ABF. "I'm looking forward to
meeting the other heroes and hearing their stories."
Goodyear plans to invite all past Highway Heroes to the lobby's unveiling
and dedication in June at which time they will officially be inducted into the
Hall of Fame.
Goodyear is one of the world's leading suppliers of new and retreaded
commercial tires to the replacement market and is a major supplier of medium
radial truck tires as original equipment to truck manufacturers.
The American Trucking Associations is the national trade association of
the trucking industry. Its mission is to serve the united interests of the
9.3 million people and 423,000 plus companies involved in trucking, and to
educate public officials at all levels of government about the essential
nature of the business.
Established in 1933, the ATA Federation is composed of the ATA national
headquarters, 50 state trucking associations and 14 affiliated national
conferences and independent organizations.