Page 27 - ATR 3 2012 web 2

Three industry

legends who

made their

mark

Photo courtesy Arkansas Best Corporation

said Steve Williams, chairman and CEO example of both their styles and their Cleburne County, Arkansas during the
of Maverick USA in North Little Rock. capabilities. With an end to federal reg- depression. He never graduated from
Asked for a common thread among ulation of the trucking industry, it was high school, leaving school after the
those three men, Williams replied: a no-brainer that things would have to seventh grade to work in his uncle’s
“Work ethic, honesty, they weren’t big- change. But how, and how much, were sawmill. He made a living picking cot-
ger than their shoes. the questions nobody yet had answered. ton. He sold lumber, became an auc-
“You go back to the list of the car- The key, though, was taking risk—it was tioneer, sold lawn sod and became a
riers that were in business when the a totally new environment and some of truck driver. Driving a truck for the rice
industry was deregulated in 1980 and the rules would simply have to be writ- mills in Stuttgart, Arkansas, Hunt had
there’s only a handful of those compa- ten by the bold. the idea of selling those hulls as bed-
nies still around,” Williams said. ding to chicken farmers in northwest
How the companies these men THE IdEa maN Arkansas.
founded responded to the landmark Hunt was one of the bold ones.
Motor Carrier Act of 1980 is a good Johnnie Bryan Hunt was born in 

aRkansas TRucking RePoRT | issue 3 2012 27