Describing last Thursday night as a celebration of the Tri-Cities barons of business might be a stretch. However from a local perspective, this was an extraordinary night to honor two of the region’s most influential businessmen as recognized by the 14th annual Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame.
Since 1994, JA organizes a posh business event to bring together regional entreprenuers and area youth to recognize the region’s inspiring leaders and this year, automotive maven Don Hill and construction magnate, JA Street were inducted into the Junior Achievement Laureates of Business. Past recipients of this honor include Larry Carrier, E. Ward King, Toy F. Reid, Earnest Deavenport, Scott Niswonger, Jack Smith, Charles Gordon, Sam Anderson, Wallace Alley, Pal Barger, Dan Mahonney, Wayne Basler, Steve Smith, Mitch Cox and several others.
I’d received an invitation from Keith Wilson to join the Kingsport Times-News table for this celebration and since it was my first Hall of Fame I arrived a bit early around 6.15. It was surpirsing to see so many tuxes and gowns on a Thursday night too. Keith told me it was black tie optional (I took that literally with no tie at all), but for the most part MeadowView was once again aglow with glamor.
Bill Dudney with Citizens Bank greeted me just inside the door and was kidding me about my Papparazi photos. I’m always taking pictures of his branch in their train station location right across the street from our office. He introduced me to a couple of friends and that’s one of the main reasons I appreciate functions like this. There are some folks you rarely see enough and after wrapping my hand around my favorite Amstel Light, I made my way to the reception area for my name tag.
Among all the people tonight, I was delighted to see Lane and Sherry Latimer. They are Kingsport royality and always seem happy together despite some health complications since Lane’s retirement from Oak Hill several years ago. They truly looked at the top of their game and I’m going to try to hold him up on that invitation to play music sometime at his North Carolina estate.
There were plenty of Food City brass on hand tonight. Evidently, they are big supporter of this event and among the many Food City name tags, I did spot Steve Smith and Tom Hembree. Tom is a great client and we talked about Food City’s website traffic and their new FoodCity.tv website Davis Newman Payne has been cooking for them.
My old buddy Jantry Shupe was taking advantage of the night to do a bit of last minute politics. I think he’s a bit miffed at me though because I mentioned to Lane that he was sharing his rag to riches story. He told me that he started out as a gardener for Oak Hill Funeral Home – but Lane brought things into perspective saying, “Jantry’s never had a lawn mower in his hands.” I’m still trying to figure that one out, but nevertheless, Jantry won his first seat on the Board of Mayor Alderman this past week and I’m glad to know we have a fresh new perspective on our City Council.
Later, Jane and Larry Crawford with Able Printers were sharing with me some things I didn’t know about tonight’s inductee Don Hill. Evidently, he is a big supporter of the Gideon Foundation and that meant alot to Jane as she also works with this program.
There were several other guest I enjoyed talking too and was joined later by my colleagues from Times-News – Diana Meredith, Ted Como, George and Sarah Coleman as well as Keith and Pam Wilson. The hosts were walking through the crowd lightly hammering a tone on a zylophone/bell device and we assumed that was the polite way of saying the program was about to begin and we all began to assemble in the main ballroom of MeadowView.
Tonight, the tables at the convention center had elegant decorations and place settings for some 300 to 400 people. Steve Smith introduced the invocation by Bristol Motor Speedway’s Jeff Byrd.
Steve later introduced Emily Kilgore, the young representative for Junior Achievement and she was radiant in a red dress and articulate and professional as she described her experience in JA. Her comments and realization of the personal rewards of this program were inspiring and she was easily the most memorable speaker of the night.
Mark Mahonney had prepared a video presentation for each of the inductees this evening and each was an entertaining documentary of the individual’s contributions to family, community and the world.
Don Hill began his career near Alcoa, TN selling dump trunks in the mid-fifties and his early relationship to Sam Anderson brought him to Kingsport to sell trucks to Mason Dixon. It wasn’t long before Don had eight franchises and after more than fifty years in the business, he’s one of the largest automobile dealers in Tennessee representing BMW, Pontiac, Toyota, Lexus, Mercedes and the Jeep brands from their locations in Kingsport (see Don Hill Automotive).
It was clear to see Don’s faith is an important guidepost for his business ethics and that dedication has led him to mission trips working with the Gideons for 30 years. He’s visited over 45 different countries and his faith and community support has certainly changed the world.
Although he had recent back surgery, Mr. Hill was in the audience, but his sons Chris and Rick Hill proudly accepted the award for their father’s proud career.
After the standing applause, Steve Smith introduced the second Business Hall of Fame Winner – J A Street. Street and Food City have a strong relationship because he grew up in Grundy, VA . That’s where Jack Smith the late CEO of Food City started his business.
Street is a graduate of Virginia Tech and as a builder became involved building most all of the Food City stores. Steve commented that this lifelong business relationship was built on a handshake too as he said, “we’re not even sure there was ever a written contract – we’ve never been able to find it.”
Over the past several days, I’ve noticed the JA Street name on a number of sites throughout the region. Not only will his organization be building the new Food City facilities on North Eastman Road, Street is currently building the new Wellmont Hospital on East Stone Drive.
Street is a rags to riches story too. He was one of eight children born in Southwest Virginia and his success as a builder and architect is evidently only matched by his management style of which someone commented during his video-bio as “He manages from the heart.” Street is a significant supporter of Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs and continues to be a major force in the economic development of our region.
The dinner was excellent tonight too, so hats off to MeadowView for the spare ribs, cheese grits, shrimp and key lime pie. A delicious creole experience!
Don Hill and JA Street are now among some of the region’s greatest business characters and both are well-deserving of this honor from Junior Achievement. These businessmen are admirable standards for any young person or new entrepreneur and each have a bold and distinct legacy in our region. I was glad to share this experience and learned a few things for myself once again and glad to be in good company.