PAGE 8
Miwi
MAY, 1956
Champions Honored At 20th All-Sports Banquet
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More than 200 employees and their children made up the
parade of sports and recreation champions at the 20th An
nual All-Sports Banquet held in the Firestone Dormitory,
Saturday evening, April 14. Awards ranged from the famed
Supremacy Trophy to a gift for the “tallest” fishing story
during the past year.
The 300 employees and guests heard James Moore Tatum,
head football coach at the University of North Carolina, term ath
letic competition “one of the greatest means of teaching the art
of human relations.”
Special awards were made to individuals and departments
with outstanding records in the sports field during 1955.
For the ninth consecutive year the Spinning Department re
ceived the Supremacy Trophy. The Plant Sportsmanship Trophy
was won by Laboratory-General. Also among the awards were
trophies to outstanding basketball players Glenna Hamrick and
Ray Deal, and for the most improvement in bowling, to Beatrice
Bradshaw.
In addition to these awards. Recreation Director Ralph John
son and his assistant. Bob Purkey, presented trophies to team and
individual champions in billiards, baseball, softball, basketball,
bocce, volleyball, golf, fishing, bowling, shuffleboard and football
guessing.
GENERAL MANAGER Harold Mercer welcomed the group and
read a letter of greeting from W. A. Karl, President of Firestone
Textiles. In the letter, Mr. Karl commended the recreation pro
gram at the plant here and also complimented the plant on obtain
ing 97 per cent participation in the recent Savings Bond drive.
Special guests for the banquet included Mayor Leon Schneider
and Big Bill Ward, sportscaster for WBTV, Charlotte.
MOST COMPETITIVE Ath
letes in 1955 were Max Carey
and Lois Auten. The loving cups,
emblematic of this honor, are
given each year by Recreation
Director Ralph Johnson.
OUTSTANDING in baseball
was Sam F. Honeycutt, Jr., who
holds the trophy which com
memorates a no-hit, no-run game
he pitched during the 1955 Little
League Season.
mm.
OLD-TIMERS who have not missed a Sports
Banquet since the first one in 1936, took time out
to look over the program booklet. They are, first
row, from left: Ralph Johnson, Reid Deal, Sam
F. Honeycutt, Artie Ammons. Second: W. H.
Dilling, Charles M. Ferguson, J. E. Spencer.
Third: M. J. Nichols, Vernon Lovingood, Walter
Dockery, S. L. Owens. Fourth: Payton Lewis,
Paul Walker, R. L. Tompkins, W. G. Henson, Sr.,
O. K. Forrester, Sam Guffey. Clyde Moss, the
20th member of the group, was absent for the
photograph but present at the banquet.
IDEAL ATHLETES for the 1955-56 program at
the 20th annual All-Sports Banquet were these
Firestone employees, photographed with Big Bill
Ward, WBTV sportscaster, standing at extreme
left. From left, front row: Martha Morrow, Cloe
McDaniel, Ophelia Wallace and Mary Hager.
Second row: Mr. Ward, Dock Reynolds, Ed Crisp-
John Cothern and A. C. Kessell.
THE COVETED SUPREMACY TROPHY went to the Spinning
Department for outstanding performance in the sports field during
the past year. At the Sports Banquet, Francis B. Galligan, Super
intendent of the Colton Division, presents the much-sought-after
emblem to Spinning Overseer Sam Guffey. This was the ninth
year that Spinning captured the trophy. For two years Spinning
shared the honor with Twisting.
Future Highways
Of Rubber
Rubber will eventually be
used in the construction of high
ways throughout the world. John
L. Cohill, Assistant to the Presi
dent of the Company, made this
prediction before delegates of
the 17th annual Highway Con
ference in Salt Lake City, Utah,
recently. The conference is spon
sored by the University of Utah,
for highway engineers in the
state.
Firestone research indicates
that the use of rubber in asphalt
increases the life of highways
and cuts maintenance costs.
Firestone, he said has 42 test
installations of rubberized as
phalt, laid during the last eight
years. Other rubber companies
and the National Rubber Bureau
have sponsored many similar
projects. In all, there are more
than 1,000 miles of “this modern
highway surface,” Cohill said.
PR Program Is Commended
The Company has been awarded a “Certificate of Outstanding
Achievement” in public relations for 1955 in the field of manufac
turing by the American Public Relations Association.
The citation, accepted at the annual conference of the Associa'
tion in Washington on behalf of the Company by W. D. Hines,
Director of Public Relations, called particular attention to Fir®'
stone’s “truly notable employee relations program.”
The citation read in part: “The Committee of Judges voted the
Certificate of Outstanding Achievement for The Firestone Tire &
Rubber Company’s truly notable employee relations prograr^i-
Through teaching the employee his job, telling him all about the
Company’s history and policy, maintaining a strong safety indoc
trination program, pointing out the employee’s opportunities
self-improvement and advancement in the Company through better
workmanship and offering suggestions, and encouraging workers
to participate in Company-sponsored functions. In the attainment
of these objectives the Company intelligently used all valid media-;'
meetings, individual talks, bulletin boards, reading racks, annual
reports, ample other literature, personal letters dealing with work'
ers’ specific inquiries, visual aids, education about the industry'
business enterprises generally, Open House tours and special
terest booklets for employees, family and general public.”
This is the fifth such award given to Firestone by the AssociatioJ^-
The Company’s public relations program has also received two top
awards from Freedoms Foundation based upon its plants’ public^'
tions.