ACPA Honors 2020 Awards Recipients

Carl Walker: ACPA Hall of Fame Award

Carl Walker was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, and those who know Carl know to never refer to him as being from Dallas! Carl is a loyal Fort Worth native and attended schools in the suburb of River Oaks. He and his wife, Rebekah, have been married for thirty years and have three children: Callie, Robert and Levi; as well as three grandchildren: Dominic, Henry and Poppy, with another granddaughter, Charlotte, due on his birthday, June 18.

Carl has been in the concrete pumping industry for over 30 years. For his first year-and-a half, Carl worked two jobs: At night, he worked in a machine shop, and during the day, he worked for Mel Grantham, founder of Central Concrete Pumping. Mel, a previous ACPA Pioneer Award Recipient, became a respected mentor to Carl and taught him everything he knew about the concrete pumping business. He moved Carl throughout various roles in the company, including that of mechanic, line pump operator, boom operator, dispatcher, salesman and safety manager. Mel passed away in 2009 and today, Carl is the general manager of their family business. Carl is also the owner of Longhorn Line Pumps, a Schwing concrete pump dealer for the state of Texas. CCP has served the concrete pumping industry for over 50 years and Carl has been an integral part of their growth and success.

Carl and Rebekah are very active in their local community and attend Gateway Church. Carl is involved with several local organizations, such as The Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation, of which he is currently an executive board member as well as the Gala Chairman. The foundation awards college scholarships to local youth while they are in eighth grade, inspiring kids to stay in school and attend college, and has awarded over two million dollars in scholarships to date.

Carl is an avid car enthusiast, restoring, showing and racing his cars, as well as attending races. He is a lifetime member of the Lone Star Corvette Club and the National Corvette Museum. In addition to his love of cars, Carl is a member of the Fort Worth Trap and Skeet Club, where he competes weekly. He belongs to the Tarrant Republican Club, the Society for American Baseball Research, is a Lifetime Benefactor Member of the National Rifle Association and sits on the board of directors for Save LaGrave Field Foundation, helping to preserve Fort Worth’s baseball history. Carl also supports and mentors young men in Adult and Teen Challenge, a faith-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

Carl has served on the ACPA Board of Directors for the past nineteen years and on the ACPA Executive Board as vice president and president. He is currently the Southwest’s regional director and is a member of various committees including communication, promotion, events, as well as being the chair of the Education and Legislation Committee, a role near and dear to Carl’s love of advocacy and politics. Few members can rival Carl’s many trips to Washington, D.C. to advocate on the industry’s behalf. Whether lobbying for a tax break or promoting the use of concrete in infrastructure, Carl’s activism has been an invaluable resource for the association and industry. As a board member, Carl has an impressive tenure, missing only two board meetings in his 19 years of service.

Besides running a busy pumping company and participating in his various civic activities, when Carl does have some down time, he loves to take his Jeep off-roading or spend the day on a golf course. He also enjoys hunting, fishing, trap and skeet shooting. View award video, here.

Roy and Dawn Thompson: Pioneer Award

Roy and Dawn Thompson, co-founders of Champion Concrete Pumping Inc., first met in high school in Southern California. After high school, they got married and started working—Roy in printing and Dawn as a receptionist in a law firm. Dawn worked her way up in the firm, taking classes on bookkeeping, accounting and law, and eventually became the bookkeeper and legal secretary. Meanwhile, Roy got his first introduction to concrete pumping in November of 1984. David Bertsch, who was managing the Spokane, Washington, branch of Cherokee Equipment, asked a then-unemployed Roy to help on a line pump

job. The job ended up a disaster, but Roy considered the experience to be the challenge he had been looking for and began working for David at Cherokee.

Making ends meet in Idaho was difficult, and Roy and Dawn had to take on various side jobs, such as cutting firewood, digging trees for nurseries and selling barrels. The couple returned to California to work for Roy’s parents’ printing company, but Roy had enjoyed his brief concrete pumping experience and didn’t want to spend the rest of his life doing commercial printing. He contacted Dave and asked if he would be interested in starting their own concrete pumping company; their partnership was finalized at a Denny’s Restaurant in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Roy returned to California to pick up his wife, Dawn, and purchased a C-30 Mayco line pump before heading back to Hayden, Idaho. Though Roy only had a little pumping experience and she herself had no idea what a concrete pump was, Dawn was completely on board with the idea, deciding that her mission was to figure out how to do this the right way, the legal way and the profitable way. The couple, expecting their first child at the time, lived in an unfinished tar-papered garage while preparing to launch their new business.

Together with Dave and his wife Janelle, Roy and Dawn came up with the name for their new company: Champion Concrete Pumping. Their first boom pump was an old 1977 Schwing 28-meter 800 gate valve that needed a lot of work and paint. The first three years were difficult times, but Dawn recalls how helpful others in the industry were--whether she had a question about the language used for terms and conditions on an invoice, or if she needed help learning more about the equipment and tools used in concrete pumping, there was always someone willing to help. “I had to learn a lot to be able to talk to the contractors and subcontractors,” says Dawn, who often tagged along to job sites while pregnant so she could learn all she could about concrete pumping.

Starting out, Dawn and Janelle handled the office, dispatching, bookkeeping and mailers/advertising from their homes, while Dave and Roy ran the pumps. There were times they wouldn’t even turn the truck off—they would just switch out as operators and drive to the next job. Dawn and Janelle scheduled as many jobs close together as possible because they never wanted to turn a job away if there was a chance they could make it work. This often resulted in Dave or Roy driving all night to a job site, catching a nap in the truck, then waking up to pump the next morning.

The company acquired every phonebook within a 300-mile radius and Dawn remembers wearing their baby daughter on her back as she typed up mailing labels for everyone who had anything to do with construction and concrete. They sent out introduction letters, business cards, rolodex cards and job shack sheets by the hundreds, over and over. They advertised in the Yellow Pages and joined every building/ construction association and chamber of commerce in the greater Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area.

It soon became clear to the four of them they needed to do a better job of educating the contractors and subcontractors that pumping was a more efficient, cost-effective and safer way to place their concrete. They then made the decision to join the American Concrete Pumping Association, which they consider one of their smartest choices.

“The association and its members provided an abundance of excellent tools in education, business and safety for Champion and the industry as a whole,” Roy recalls. “Dave and I did our best to be at meetings, on committees and boards no matter how broke we were.”

Unfortunately, it was difficult convincing many in the construction industry to use a pump, so Dave and Roy made a clever cartoon explaining how current methods were out-of-date and ineffective. “Well, it blew up in our faces and offended all those old-school contractors and subs,” says Roy. “They thought Dave and I were a couple of young, arrogant know-it-alls, who knew nothing!”

To compensate for this misstep, they had some ground to make up and did so by humbly working harder than ever.

After three years of being broke and exhausted, things started to turn around for the company. One of their first big jobs was Avista’s Long Lake Dam Project, which Dawn and Roy remember as being scary and overwhelming. Then, the USK Paper Mill and the Bennet Bay Bridge Projects came along, which meant more equipment and hiring their first coworkers. The first was George Wilke, who was with the company for 20 years until his retirement. The second was John Swanstrom, who is still with Champion after 31 years.

“We’ve been blessed with many long-term coworkers who have worked side-by-side with us to make the concrete pumping industry and Champion the company it is today,” Dawn says.

The company was growing slowly but steadily, and they had to purchase more boom pumps to keep up with their workload. “Dawn and I were still living in the unfinished garage and now had three children, and every time we bought another pump, she’d say ‘I’d better be able to put curtains in it!’ because it would cost more than a house,” Roy remembers.

The couple raised their children along with their business, from putting playpens in the parking lot and watching Disney movies in the filing room, to dinner-table discussions about the company and industry. They still remained actively involved in their kids’ lives, and Dawn recalls taking scheduling sheets, a two-way radio and a brick phone to their children’s sports and activities in case a client called and wanted to schedule a job.

In the 1990s, concrete pumping was finally starting to catch on as contractors and subcontractors saw that it was the better, quicker and safer way to place concrete. Champion was always pushing to develop the concrete pumping industry in their area and were the first to utilize separate placing booms and bring in big booms to the greater Coeur d’Alene/Spokane area. In 1998 and 1999, they put everything on the line again and doubled their fleet from five to 10 boom pumps. Business continued to grow steadily into the 2000s.

When the economy tanked and the 2008–2009 slowdown came, Champion was prepared. They hunkered down and kept their nose to the grindstone, making it through those difficult years with hard work and determination. In October of 2012, after 26 years of great partnership with Dave and Janelle, Roy and Dawn bought them out. It was hard to go back into debt, but even harder to suddenly not have partners to share the load with, as they had been through lots of ups and downs together over the years.

Champion is now in succession transition. Roy and Dawn’s sons, Lee Roy and Caleb, are tremendous young businessmen and will be taking over the company. Their son-in-law, Dillon, has been working with Champion since 2015 and has become a great asset. This truly is a family business.

“We didn’t come this far on our own and we are receiving this award for everyone that has played a part, including but definitely not limited to, Dave and Janelle, Roy’s parents, Billie and Lee Roy Thompson; our committed and hardworking coworkers and customers. But in the end, we know who we are, and Champion would not be the company it is without our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have been abundantly blessed,” says Roy.

“We will always appreciate the camaraderie and close friendships the ACPA has facilitated. Not just the members, but their families—they have all become part of our family.” View award video, here.

Gustavo Cruz and Kenny Allen: 2019 Safe Operators of the Year Award Recipients

Gustavo Cruz

“The industry needs more operators like Gustavo Cruz,” says Tyler Wood, fleet manager for McClure Concrete Inc. of Aurora, Colorado. “For Gustavo, safety is always his number one priority, and his positive attitude is contagious.” Gustavo began working for McClure Concrete in 2012 and has made a substantial impact in the time he has been there.

Gustavo got his start with one of McClure’s window digging teams and was promoted to the warehouse shortly thereafter. After expressing an interest in running a pump truck, Gustavo was trained on a 34-meter Schwing, then promoted to a Putzmeister 38Z and finally a Putzmeister 42-5RZ. With ACPA and NCCCO Certifications and OSHA 10-hour safety training under his belt, Gustavo is an efficient, knowledgeable pump operator who makes safety his top priority on the job site.

Beyond his skills as an operator, Gustavo has a personality that people can’t help but be drawn to. “When Gustavo arrives on the job site, crews are excited to work with him,” notes Jorge Cedilla-Perez, safety manager for McClure. “He takes pride in understanding that when he is pumping, he also has crew members’ lives depending on him to do the job safely.”

It’s not only his colleagues at McClure that notice Gustavo’s excellent work ethic and leadership capabilities. “Gustavo’s positive attitude always reflects on anyone fortunate to work alongside him,” says Roman Lavrinenko of SFICompliance. “His respect for coworkers, vendors and general contractors helps McClure build and maintain relationships for years. In short, Gustavo encompasses all the qualities that our safety professionals value and admire in our clients. McClure is an industry leader when it comes to job site safety, and employees like Gustavo are the main reason.”

As a strong advocate for safe operations, Gustavo always makes it a point to speak with crewmembers prior to a job, ensuring the job site is safe and the pumps are in perfect working order. Whether setting up traffic control or instructing newer members of the crew on how to avoid job site hazards, it’s clear Gustavo makes safety—for his fellow workers, for the public and for himself—his number one priority.

Gustavo has been married to his wife Daisy for eight years and they have two sons: Gael, age 7, and Iker, age 4. He loves spending time with his family, especially time outside at parks and playing soccer with his boys.

Gustavo is passionate about his work as a concrete pump operator, which has become a lifestyle for him—not just a job. “You’ve got to strive hard if you want to learn and be successful,” says Gustavo. View award video, here.

Kenny Allen

“Kenny Allen is everything you would want an operator to be,” states Carl Walker, partner and general manager of Central Concrete Pumping in Fort Worth, Texas. “He has an excellent personality and a great attitude. The contractors love to have him on their job.”

Kenny has worked with Central Concrete Pumping for 20 years, and his diligence and commitment to the job makes him an invaluable member of the team.

At just 16 years old, Kenny started working in Central Concrete Pumping’s shop and running a line pump. Because he’s so mechanically inclined, he quickly moved up the ranks through all the line pumps and then all of the boom sizes. A natural with any equipment he works with, Kenny is able to run any pump in Central Concrete Pumping’s entire fleet. In addition to his role as an operator, Kenny has taken on the position of safety director, ensuring all employees are trained properly and up-to-date on the latest safety standards.

Thanks to his hard work and excellent safety record, Kenny receives the most compliments from Central Concrete Pumping’s contractors and is regularly requested for their jobs.

“Even though we think highly of everyone at Central, one of your operators has stood out to us at Conscape for many years—Kenny is an exceptional operator,” says Ryan Halfmann of Conscape Inc. “Kenny’s professionalism is hard to find these days. I believe he is the best operator we have had on our jobs.

Kenny’s positive contributions on the job site, such as assisting other operators, running a smooth setup and ensuring safety standards are being followed, consistently lead to project success. He has an excellent safety record, and coworkers and contractors alike know they can trust in him to get the job done safely.

“Kenny is definitely an employee who contributes to the high standards Central Concrete Pumping has established over the years,” concludes Halfmann. “Central and their customers benefit from Kenny as much as Kenny benefits from Central.”

When he’s not pumping concrete, you’ll find Kenny spending time outside: cooking out, building bonfires, mudding in an ’82 Chevy truck and hanging out with his new mixed-breed puppy Scarlett. Kenny has a passion for vehicles, especially building and working on drag-race cars. His love for working on drag-race cars led to his involvement helping a crew in local races and traveling whenever possible to help the team.

When asked the secret to a successful pump operating career, Kenny responds that dedication and a calm attitude are key—with the ability to resolve situations quickly and properly. View award video, here.