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Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
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November 2024 #16304 Page #164
The Last Word Rural Cousins in the Truss Business — Making a Mark Joe Kannapell, P.E.
O
ne of the strangest twists of fate in the truss business was initiated by Larry Rogers, and fortunately it boosted his career and that of his replacement, Dickie Vail. Out of this occurrence, both men launched successful startup companies. However, there was also a flood and more than one bankruptcy that had to be surmounted along the way. Dickie unfortunately left us too soon in 2022 and Larry sold his business to his employees in 2016, but both left an indelible mark on the truss business. Larry and his 10-year younger cousin Dickie grew up in the tiny town of Bastrop, Louisiana. After finishing school, they traveled in opposite directions to find work. Larry ended up 30 miles south of home in Monroe, Louisiana, at American Building Components (ABC) where he quickly rose to the General Manager position. Dickie ended up 100 miles north in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, at Rawick Manufacturing where he helped management greatly expand their truss business. After nine successful years at ABC, Larry was recruited by Lenny Sylk to run his Houston, Texas startup. After informing his owner, Lamar Buffington, that he was leaving, Larry recommended Dickie as his successor. In 1980, Larry moved his family to Houston, bought a house, and reported to work in Lenny’s plant in the suburb of Tomball. Dickie moved his family back closer to his home town and took the GM job at ABC. After only a few weeks, small-town-reared Larry realized that he did not want to raise his family in the maelstrom of America’s fourth largest city, so he called Mr. Buffington to get his job back. Learning Dickie had taken it, he put his Houston house on the market and returned to Monroe to examine his options. To his credit, at age 35, Larry had accumulated $80,000 in savings (the equivalent of $200,000 today) and he used that money to convince a local banker to back him with a $500,000 loan to start his own truss business. Since he clearly couldn’t afford a Gang-Nail press like he had at ABC, he called Hydro-Air (MiTek’s predecessor) to get something he could afford. That’s when I ended up in Larry’s living room with local Hydro-Air rep Karen Crawford. After seeing the “For Sale” sign in Larry’s yard, my suspicions were aroused. That feeling was heightened when I saw the large crack in the concrete slab beneath my feet, just as I saw cracks in Larry’s plans to compete against a well-heeled owner with a well-equipped plant. Added to these red flags was Larry’s skepticism that a $15,000 Hydro-Air C-clamp would be as effective as the $50,000 Gang-Nail table that he knew so well. But some of that skepticism faded after Larry drove to Mabank, Texas to watch Tom and Bart Whatley masterfully manipulate a Hydro-Air C-clamp in the shed behind their Dad Otis’s house. Continued next page
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