REMEMBERING THE GREATS A look at past Pioneer Award winners


BY STEVE BRAWNER Contributing Writer


The 19 recipients of the ATA’s Pioneer


Award have included an equipment broker, a transportation attorney, a former Associate Motor Carrier Administrator at U. S. Department of Transportation and a number of motor carriers. One was the wife of a trucking company owner who was selected on her own merits. But despite their diverse backgrounds, they all shared one thing in common: a love of transportation and trucking. The awards were established by the


then-Arizona Motor Transport Association’s Leadership Conference Committee in 2006. The goal was to recognize distinguished members of the trucking profession who had contributed to the industry, the association and their communities. Originally meant to serve as a one-time award in keeping with the 2006 conference theme—“Today’s Pioneers, Tomorrow’s Frontiers” —the awards proved so popular that the Board of Directors decided a year later to make them permanent but to award them only when individuals truly merited recognition for their industry service.


2006 Jerry Moyes, chief executive officer


of Swift Transportation, founded the company in 1966 hauling steel with a single truck and led it to become the world’s largest truckload carrier. He also founded Central Freight Lines in 1997 and served as its chairman until 2005. He served as president of the AMTA from 1986-87 and was a member of the Facilities Task Force that oversaw the building of the association’s current headquarters in Tolleson. Moyes also served as a vice president of the American Trucking Associations and as a board member of the Truckload Carriers Association. He and his wife, Vickie, have


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10 children and are involved in numerous organizations, including the Special Olympics and the Boys and Girls Clubs. Clyde McDonald owned Tatel, Inc.


until selling it to EZE Trucking. Meanwhile, he helped establish and served 14 years on the state’s Over-dimensional Permit Council, where he led the effort to modernize Arizona’s permit regulations and processes. He served on AMTA’s board of directors for many years, including as president from 1997-98, and was later elected a director emeritus. Katie and Bruce Dusenberry have


been the only husband-and-wife team honored to date. Katie was recognized for her dedicated leadership in transportation over several decades, including service on the State Transportation Board, as well as for her role as a partner in helping build the Dusenberrys’ company, Horizon Moving Systems. Bruce served for decades on the Arizona Trucking Association’s Board of Directors while building a safe and prosperous business. Katie and Bruce made many contributions to their community of Tucson over several decades. Arizona’s legal and regulatory climate


would look a lot different were it not for another 2007 award winner, Richard Dungan, who was employed by Southwest Industrial Rigging when he received the Pioneer Award. Dungan was a key figure in rewriting the state’s permit laws and its regulations governing over-dimensional loads. He served for several years as chairman of the state’s Over-dimensional Permit Council. He also helped develop the state’s online permitting system and promoted greater uniformity in truck size, weight and permit requirements among the states. Dungan also served as a member of the ATA’s board of directors and Facilities Task Force. Ben Cravens and his family helped


establish Utility Trailer Sales Company of


Arizona, one of the trucking industry’s oldest businesses. Utility Trailer Sales, which joined the association in 1946, is the ATA’s longest-sustaining member, and Cravens was an active member. He served a leadership role when the AMTA’s original facility on McDowell was built, and his company was an early contributor to the association’s current facility. Cravens’ son George serves as the current chairman of Arizona Trucking Association. Terry Smalley was the only 2006


Pioneer Award winner who received the award posthumously. As AMTA’s former executive vice president, he pioneered Arizona’s third-party motor vehicle registration program and helped pass important pieces of legislation, including repealing Arizona’s onerous ton-mile tax. Hired in 1973, he led the organization for 28 years and was named AMTA Man of the Year in 1993. His death from a heart attack in 2001 at age 64 was a shock to everyone in the association.


2007 The year 2007 saw three more Pioneer


Award winners. Tom Morgan, the only living recipient, was honored as the owner of Citizen Express Lines, a company incorporated by his father as Citizen Auto Stage Company in 1916. Morgan started working for Citizen in 1943 as an 18-year- old college student and moved up the ranks until becoming president in 1954. He served on AMTA’s board of directors from 1979 until 1992 and again from 1996 until 2004. He also was president of the Arizona Bus Association from 1977 until 1979 and was active in the American Bus Association, where he was a director from 1974 until 1999. Two others were honored


posthumously, including Hal Hedges, who started Atlas Forklift Rentals. By 2007, the company had grown to more than 60 tractors


Arizona Trucking Association 2012 Yearbook


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