CELEBRATING VETERAN TRAILBLAZERS
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MARINE CORPS STINT, VIETNAM CHANGED TOMMY MAY’S DIRECTION TO BANKING LEADER BY KIMBERLY DISHONGH F
or a time, there was good reason to wonder whether Tommy May would amount to much. He had a reputation as a rabblerouser in his native El Dorado and had underachieved in high school, barely reaching the minimum graduation qualifications. So it was a shock years later, maybe even to May himself, when he ascended quickly in bank management. Those promotions were among the many highlights that landed May, as longtime chairman and chief executive officer of Simmons First National Corp., in the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame. May’s father, Buck May, was a no-nonsense individual who worked as a land man and later an attorney at Murphy Oil Corp. for 40 years. “He was pretty tough,” May said.“He believed in discipline and accountability, and I had neither.” May, who played football at El Dorado High School, took his academics for granted and barely skated by. He says he was an average athlete and an average student. May is not sure how, but he was accepted to the University of Arkansas in 1965. He made it through the first two years in Fayetteville. After the fourth semester, his GPA was just over 2.2. “My dad said, ‘Looks like you have done well up there’,” May said. “I said that I thought so. He said, ‘I don’t mean school, I mean in partying. So you can do that from here just as well. We’re not going back next semester.’” Unbeknownst to May, his dad had orchestrated a backup plan, arranging for his son to work on a Murphy crew laying saltwater pipelines in the south Arkansas woods. May spent a couple of months on the crew battling “mosquitoes the size of sparrows” and decided he had enough. He enlisted in the Marines and took off for basic training in San Diego. May said joining the Marines marked a defining moment in his life. May served three years in the Marines with a tour of duty in Vietnam. “The Marine Corps was the best thing that happened to me,” May said. “If trouble could be found, I seemed to be able to find it. The Marines helped me mature very quickly and understand what was really important in life. It helped me learn about teamwork, loyalty and dealing with adversity.” May entered boot camp weighing more than 200 pounds but slimmed down to 175 pounds by the end of basic training. May said, “Boot camp was an eye opener and, other than graduation day, I didn’t enjoy a single day of it. Their goal is to break you down and rebuild you, physically and mentally. They
were highly successful, and it was truly life changing.” May’s tour of duty in Vietnam lasted 13 months and four days. He counted himself as one of the lucky ones who didn’t serve on the front lines. Instead, he was assigned to the psychological operations unit of the 1st Marine Division. “My duties covered many areas, but our overall focus was winning the hearts and minds of the enemy,” May said. While May said he “saw most of the bad stuff from afar,” he did have a few memorable experiences to later share with his family. A rat bit him, he had to have rabies shots and he was in a truck rocked by an explosion (without injury).
At the end of his tour, May returned to Arkansas 58 pounds lighter and with a new attitude. He re-enrolled at the University of Arkansas under the G. I. Bill and graduated in 1971. He earned a master’s of business administration degree a year later. May’s first banking job was at First National Bank of Commerce in New Orleans. The bank’s CEO was an Arkansas native and had traveled to Fayetteville for interviews. May returned to his hometown of El Dorado after five years in New Orleans to work for Exchange Bank. In 1981, May became president and CEO of Exchange Bank. Legendary Arkansas banker Louis Ramsay recruited May to Simmons in 1987. Under May’s watchful leadership, the bank grew from $527 million in assets to more than $4.4 billion by the time he retired in 2013. The road to success was not without adversity. Early in his career, May dealt with his mother’s death, a divorce and a major medical challenge. In 2005, May, an avid runner who completed
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a marathon in 1989, noticed during runs that his feet were heavy. After seeing several doctors and undergoing a battery of tests, he was diagnosed with ALS, a fatal degenerative disease. “When I was diagnosed with ALS, I was like every other individual who receives the shock of such a diagnosis,” he said. “My wife Kathryn and I went through the depths of despair, denial and fear. However, Kathryn’s positive attitude, our strong faith and my military experience helped me get a grip on the reality of the situation and realize the importance of living one day at a time with a realistic but positive attitude. “You deal with each situation as it arises versus being paralyzed with fear of the unknown. Learning from other ALS patients, who are phenomenal individuals, the support and encouragement from Kathryn, a strong belief that God would be with us during our journey and the trust that God still had a purpose for me gave us the strength and conviction to stay involved and to live one day at a time.” The fact that the Mays have four children (Chris/Amy, Chad/ Joye, Mary Kate/Jason and John Daniel) and six grandchildren (Jackson, Thomas, Mary Alice, Ross, Halle and Hendrix) who provide the same enthusiasm and support made it easier. May continued to serve Simmons as he battled the disease. He retired from the bank but did not quit working. George Makris Jr., May’s successor as Simmons chairman, made a surprise announcement at his retirement ceremony that May would be the chairman of the newly formed Simmons Foundation. The challenge of starting an organization from scratch and being responsible for developing a team to identify funding opportunities and provide grants was just the challenge May needed. “Attitude, purpose and getting up every day excited about that day have been great things for post-retirement,” he said. May now uses a wheelchair, and his voice is never louder than a whisper. But he goes to his Pine Bluff office every day dressed in a suit and his trademark Simmons tie (black and red) with a smile on his face, ready to give a friendly fist bump to those he encounters. May is complimentary of the Veterans Administration and the assistance it has provided him and others with ALS. His U.S. Marine Corps coffee cup is always within reach and is a constant reminder of how far he has come on a journey that he hopes is far from over.