Page 28 - ATR 5 2012 web 2

Drew, stephen and matt selig

Army. However, with the government their players to make. So they can relate a west Little Rock cul de sac in 1982
already in the process of bringing people to that.” when a new neighbor moved in, a fellow
back from Vietnam, he wound up serv- Which leads to a natural question: by the name of Steve Williams. He and
ing stateside in the Transportation Has Selig ever driven the kinds of trucks Selig became friends and jogging bud-
Corps. his drivers do? Well, yes and no. “I dies, running 5Ks and 10Ks together.
His service would be brief – the never did and regret that I didn’t,” he’s About a year later, Williams
military, itself, was encouraging newly quick to acknowledge. “If drivers ask approached Selig with an idea – join
minted soldiers to enter the Army me if I ever drove—and that’s a com- him at his trucking company. There was
Reserves, but Selig found even they mon question—my answer some of the a little déjà vu in the offer. A few years
didn’t have a need for more officers – time is that I drove a log truck at the before, Selig had passed on an opportu-
but the leadership lessons learned stuck sawmill, moving logs around, but my nity to join a fledgling new company as
with him. father wouldn’t let me drive it on the one of its first employees – a new busi-
“Some of the basics really helped highway.” ness called Federal Express.
me, things like delegating for example,” Selig couldn’t help but wonder if he
he said. “A lot of people use that term faST frIENdS said no, would he be passing on another
but in the military you need to be able Out of college and the Army, in future success story? Plus, his employer
to do what you ask your troops to do. 1973 Selig moved to Little Rock to work wanted him to either move to Los
It’s a little different in trucking in that for Ward Supply, a metal fabricator sup- Angeles or near their closest manufac-
we have so many people who specialize plying aluminum and steel primarily to turing facility in Newton, Kansas. On
in things – vice president of mainte- the manufactured housing industry; it the other hand, Maverick was a rela-
nance, vice president of safety – but would later be bought out by National tively small company, operating about
understanding means being able to do Aluminum. He started in customer 50 trucks, and almost all of them were
what they’re doing. service, moved into purchasing after a owner-operators. Maverick was housed
“It’s like a coach; a lot of successful year, and then became a regional sales- at the time in a concrete block build-
coaches were really good football play- man. All in all, things were going pretty ing, next to Fisher’s Steak House on East
ers,” he said. “They’ve been there and darn well.
made the same sacrifices they expect Selig and his family were living on 

28 arkansas truCking rePort | issue 5 2012