Page 30 - ATR 3 2012 web 2

perfect strategic fit” for the company.
It was one of those “everybody’s talking
about it” moments.
But Garrison, an inveterate joker,
couldn’t let even an event as big as this
merger pass without some humor.
Pat Reed, the executive vice
president and COO of FedEx Freight,
remembered how at Garrison’s induc-
tion to the University of Arkansas
Business Hall of Fame, shortly after the
deal, the guest of honor strode onto
the stage in front of a crowd of about
3,000 that included important FedEx
representatives...wearing an American
Freightways hat.
“I’m thinking, ‘Gosh, this isn’t
Courtesy ABF Freight System, Inc.
going to be good, what is he going to
and coordinating with customers. founding Arkansas Freightways. say?’” said Reed.
By 1970, when the elder Young The company promptly began los- But then again, the guy on stage
handed the reins of the company over ing money. was the same one who had included
to his senior management team, he had “More than $10,000 each day for “have fun” among his six guiding busi-
grown it into one of the top 50 trucking what seemed like a long time,” Garrison ness principles.
companies in the nation. said in a 2001 Arkansas Trucking Report “Thank you very much,” Garrison
He’d also become a political force profile. “I went home that first night and said, then announced, “By now you’ve
in Arkansas, counting governors, con- thought, ‘You’ve bought the farm now.’” all heard that we bought FedEx.”
gressmen and U.S. senators among his But Garrison stuck with it, of And the crowd “just went nuts,”
personal friends. He was appointed to course, and by the end of the ‘80s, said Reed. It was just the kind of humor
the University of Arkansas’ Board of American Freightways was steadily needed to lighten the mood and make
Trustees. The library at the University climbing the ranks of less-than-truck- folks feel comfortable, he said.
of Arkansas Bowen School of Law bears load carriers. The company was ulti- Humor was Garrison’s hallmark.
Young’s name. mately purchased by FedEx in 2000 as The 2004 memorial article from
Young instilled loyalty in his the foundation of the overnight deliv- Arkansas Trucking Report is full of exam-
management team. He utilized a style ery service’s LTL trucking arm, FedEx ples, both from people who’d known
that delegated authority and trust to Freight. him and from Garrison himself. Take
his employees. His approach worked. “All-points coverage in LTL was this snippet from a 2001 interview,
Executives stayed until retirement, a Sheridan’s idea,” said Ken Reeves, vice where he told about the first time he
trend that remains a common thread president and general counsel for FedEx ever met Sam Walton.
among the senior executives at the com- Freight. “It was a harebrained idea at “When he opened his second store
pany today, where people retire after the time. But it was also what he liked it was right here in Harrison. And I,
working there for 30 or even 40 years. about FedEx, the idea to deliver letters being a local chamber of commerce guy,
anywhere overnight. went over and was standing next to
THE WorkaHolIc “He did something no one thought him when he cut the ribbon,” Garrison
Sheridan Garrison took a differ- he could do,” said Reeves. “From said. “And I thought, ‘You know, this
ent approach to deregulation, which the very beginning with American old boy may have something here. He
would surprise few people who knew Freightways, he was told at every turn might wind up with six or eight of these
him. A year before the Motor Carrier this has no chance, which just fueled things.’”
Act of 1980 went into effect, he sold his flame to do it.” Clearly Garrison wasn’t afraid to
the trucking company his father had The $1.2 billion acquisition by make himself the punch line, and his
founded in 1955—Garrison Motor FedEx of American Freightways was, at natural ability to put people at ease was
Freight—and for the next two years the time, the largest business transac- evident every where he went. That atti-
he just sat back and observed how the tion in Arkansas history; it was also one tude was one key to Garrison’s success,
industry was changing. In 1982 he was of the year’s largest nationwide. FedEx said FedEx’s Reeves.
ready, and returned to the business by chairman Fred Smith had called it “a “He was comfortable in Wall Street

30 aRkansas TRucking RePoRT | issue 3 2012