Carl Crim: 1958 Driver of the Year and 1959 National Driver of the Year

Carl Crim was born on March 11, 1915 in Doniphan, Missouri. When he was just a young boy, his family moved from Missouri to Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

While working on the family farm as a teenager, Crim aspired to become a truck driver when he watched trucks go by as he plowed the fields near the highway. After operating a hay carrier during the harvest seasons, Crim graduated from Okmulgee High School and his career ambition began to take shape when he took his first professional driving job in 1933 in Okmulgee.

Throughout the next ten years, Crim would work at a variety of trucking firms. He drove for:

• John Lewis Truck Company (2 years), • Petroleum Transport (4 years), • Hopkins Truck Co. of Ponca City (3 Years) and • Mid-Continent Petroleum of Okmulgee (1 Carl Crim aspired to be a truck driver from the time he was a young teenager year)

And while he always earned high marks and yearly awards for safe driving, Crim soon developed a reputation for often being the first to arrive at scenes of accidents, administering first aid, and sometimes performing heroic acts.

In 1938, Crim was filling a 1,000-gallon underground gasoline storage tank from his truck at the MK&O bus terminal in downtown Tulsa. At one step in the process, he had to remove the cap from the underground tank to gauge capacity. With the cap off, fumes from the tank crept across the concrete floor to the opposite wall. At the same moment, a worker began operating an arc-weld torch at the opposite wall. A spark from the arch-weld torch ignited the gas fumes. Flames swept across the concrete floor toward Crim and the 1000 gallons of gasoline. Reacting instantly, without thought of his safety, Crim smothered the area around the opening to the underground storage tank with a tarpaulin, then, with the flames lapping around his legs, quickly screwed the cap back onto the truck. He then extinguished the flames burning about his legs. Crim received only “slight singes” from the fire. However, were it not for Crim’s quick-thinking, the entire bus station with several dozen waiting passengers might have been blown to pieces had the gas tank exploded.

Another accident happened in October 1940 when a driver of a Mid-Continent truck had an accident and caught fire. Crim was one of the first on the scene and with the help of another

The Breeding’s of Overton County, Tennessee and Carroll County, Arkansas Page 1 passerby, carried Guy Arnold from the burning wreckage and surely kept him from burning to death.

As exciting as his professional life had become, his personal life was proving to be just as fast-paced and interesting. In 1937, he met Steffie Skales who was working in a local café, when Crim decided to ask her out. She was originally hesitant to go out with him because she never wanted marry a truck driver. However, she threw caution to the wind and decided “why not go out with him on a date?” Within, two weeks, Crim had totally swept her off her feet and the young couple decided to get married.

During their marriage, Crim would often sit out on their porch swing and he would sing songs from Johnny Lee Wills to pass the evenings. On other occasions, he would find a more public setting to display his singing talents. In Okmulgee, there was a park with a gazebo located on 8th Street. Whenever Johnnie Lee Wills and his Boys would come into town, Crim would sometimes go up on stage and play harmonica with them. Later on in his life, he Carl Crim led a very fast-paced and exciting life. developed a personal friendship with Merle It seemed that he was always coming up on Haggard and besides being one of his accidents on the road. favorite singers, they would also become drinking buddies.

Because they had no television early in their marriage, the couple often had friends over to the house on weekend to play cards. On Saturday nights, they would sometime visit with their neighbor Earl McClendon’s house where they would watch boxing and then the program featuring Leon McCullough and his string band.

Besides being very friendly and outgoing, Crim had a wonderful sense of humor. Crim, who went by the nicknames “Curly” or “Pee Wee,” made one of his favorite targets his own wife, Steffie, who was naturally a very quiet lady. In retrospect, it seems he was always pulling tricks on her.

On one occasion, Carl went frog gigging which is where you take a long pole and attach a point of an arrow or something where you can poke the frog and pull him back to your boat. Basically, the men would stick the frogs in the water and bring them back and place them in a sack. When preparing the frogs for cooking, Carl would remove the black leader in the legs after he cut the legs from the frog. After one frog hunt, Carl purposely decided not to do this so that when his wife cooked the frog in a frying pan, the frog (much to her surprise) jumped out of the skillet.

Carl’s wife also hated to eat venison and would not eat it. However, after one hunting excursion, Carl tried preparing it in a way so that the meat would not have that wild taste to it. He set out and fixed her a chicken fried steak out of venison and she ate two whole

The Breeding’s of Overton County, Tennessee and Carroll County, Arkansas Page 2 pieces and Carl just looked at his daughters and they’d just grin. After finishing her second helping (along with mashed potatoes and gravy), Carl asked Steffie, “did you like that?” When he told her what he had done, she turned all colors…blue, purple and green.

Carl just didn’t limit his pranks to his wife. He was always pulling jokes on other people as well. At one time, he owned a mongoose cage. Their neighbors, James and Sadie McClendon, lived right across the alley from the Crim’s and on this occasion, Sadie was about eight and a half months pregnant. Carl’s cage had a little lever in the back – kind of like a trap – with a tail. He then told Sadie “that’s my mongoose.” When she bent down low to look at it and got even with it, Carl hit that trigger in the back and that door came open and the tail came out. Because she was so startled, everyone thought she was going to have the baby right there.

World War II affected many families across the country in the early 1940’s and Crim’s was no different. Carl Crim enlisted in the US Army in April 1944 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Carl Crim and a friend with their “catch of the day.”

ARMY SERIAL NUMBER 38695492 Name CARL C CRIM Residence: County, State TULSA, OKLAHOMA Place of Enlistment FT SILL OKLAHOMA Date of Enlistment April 12, 1944 Grade: Code Private Branch: Code No branch assignment Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus Term of Enlistment six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law Source of Army Civil Life Personnel Year of Birth 1915; Missouri Race and Citizenship White, citizen Education 4 years of high school Civilian Occupation Semiskilled chauffeurs and drivers, bus, taxi, truck, and tractor Marital Status Married Component of the Army Selectees (Enlisted Men)

Source: Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946 (Enlistment Records) in the Series: World War II Army Enlistment Records, created 6/1/2002 - 9/30/2002, documenting the period ca. 1938 - 1946.

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Upon joining the military, the Army would run the men through 2-3 week courses on how to be a mechanic in the military. Then they put them in the motor pool and then they started working on them on how to drive the trucks and heavy equipment.

For much the duration of World War II, he would drive trucks for the Army in the southwestern Pacific area, where he hauled tanks, trucks and other heavy equipment from the battlefield. When he wasn’t involved in military combat in the Pacific Theater, on occasion he would step in to the boxing ring which was his way “of getting in trouble.”

After being discharged from the military, he found time in his busy schedule to work on the Alaskan Highway. Carl Crim in the US Army in 1944 The Alaska Highway (also known as the ALCAN Highway) was constructed during World War II for the purpose of connecting the contiguous U.S. to Alaska through Canada.

After working in Alaska and his separation from the service, he returned home to his family in Okmulgee and began work as a driver for two years at H.C. Price of Bartlesville. By June 1947, he switched jobs and started working at Hugh Breeding, Inc., a firm he would serve at for almost the next twenty years. Crim would work for Breeding as a Leased Operator, basically owning his own 46-foot, 5700 gallon tank truck Carl Crim joined Hugh Breeding Inc. in 1947 where he would serve for almost 20 years and leasing it on jobs. He drove out of the company’s Okmulgee terminal and hauled gasoline and other products from the Phillips Petroleum Co. refinery at Okmulgee. He serviced all gasoline stations along the Turner Turnpike and in Salina, , Claremore and Bristow.

Like many other drivers working at Breeding, Carl had relatives who also served at Breeding. Long-time driver, Charles Petross, married Crim’s sister Opal and had been working at Breeding for a few years. In addition, over the years while working at Breeding, he also formed some valued friendships with men like Jack Holland who managed the same Okmulgee terminal that Crim drove out of. Crim would have Jack over to the house for

The Breeding’s of Overton County, Tennessee and Carroll County, Arkansas Page 4 dinner several times. Crim was also particularly fond of Frank Shelton, otherwise known as “Frank the Porter.” Frank was long remembered as someone who cared deeply about all the drivers and he was also helpful, friendly and kind to any of their children who came by to visit.

As for his own family, Carl would sometimes wake his daughter Sue up in the middle of the night and take her along on a haul – and she’d go out on the truck with him. Together, they would never go on many long hauls – just short ones like Stroud and Chandler. At other times, his daughter Anne would go along. Looking back, they remembered often sitting hours in the car waiting for Carl to finish talking with someone in the warehouse.

When Carl would go out on hauls without his family, he would sometime be sure and A familiar sight on area and state highways is the Crim joviality as bring back some gifts. On one he hauls out for Claremore, Salina and other state points from the occasion, he returned home Okmulgee terminal of Hugh Breeding Inc. bringing his daughter a little China Tea Set. Of course, traveling through towns as he did allowed Carl to feed another one his hobbies – pen collecting.

Each time, when Crim would go in to fill up on gas and the cashier asked him to sign a ticket, he’d ask “do you have a pen as I don’t have my pen?” And the clerk would hand him a pen and Crim would say thank you. When the clerk would object, Crim would always say “thank you, I collect these.” Over the course of his career, Crim collected somewhere around 1,700 ballpoint pens with advertising slogans on them – all kept neatly packed away in a foot locker.

After being at Breeding for less than a year, Crim was Carl Crim collected pens from each truck stop he visited, amassing back to his ways of performing a collection of over 1,700 items heroic acts at the scene of major highway accidents. In 1948, he was first on the scene following a head-on collision between two tractor semi-trailer units in West Tulsa. Crim

The Breeding’s of Overton County, Tennessee and Carroll County, Arkansas Page 5 carried a Frisco Transportation Company driver from his flaming vehicle to safety, thereby saving his life.

In 1954, just south of Beggs, Oklahoma, a car skidded off an ice-coated pavement and balanced on a creek bank. Crim came upon the accident and pulled two men from the wreckage. One apparently was not hurt badly, the other seemed to have internal injuries. The man who seemed unhurt later died as a result of the wreck.

On July 25, 1956, Crim had been visiting one of his customers at Claremore. As he reached a point approximately nine miles south of Claremore, a pickup started to pass a late model sedan and ran head-on into a state highway truck. The pickup overturned and a female passenger was seriously injured. Again, Crim was first on the scene as he pulled the injured people from the cars, applied first aid to the injured, sent for the Highway Patrol and ambulance, then assisted in traffic control until the injured people were removed and the highway cleared.

On another occasion Crim removed a man, already dead, from the tangled masses of a crashed car, and applied first aid for twenty minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to revive him. This accident was particularly messy, as Crim and another man who had also stopped to help, helped place the bodies in the body bag. Upon leaving, Crim could find no water - he only had a handkerchief to wipe his hands. As he had just returned to his truck and began driving down the road, he scratched his nose and the blood was all over his face. Crim later said that was one of the worst accidents he had seen.

In March 1958, Carl Crim received the “Driver of the Month” award at a luncheon by the Oklahoma Council of Safety Supervisors and The Associated Motor Carriers of Oklahoma. Crim was selected for the month of February, 1958 on the basis of having driven 26 years and an accumulated mileage of 1,477,581 miles without any type of an accident and maintaining a perfect safety record. The judges of the contest were Chief of Police Roy Bergman, Oklahoma City Council Manager Dan Hollingsworth and Oklahoma Traffic Judge P. James Demopolos.

The “Driver of the Month” program was operated on the basis of nomination from the various carriers for drivers that had an outstanding safety record or accomplished some outstanding heroic deed. A driver was selected each Carl Crim with Don Hollingsworth, Director, month and then became elgible to Oklahoma City Safety Council, Contest Judge participate for the “Driver of the Year” after being named Driver of the Month award in Oklahoma. for Oklahoma in February 1958.

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Chosen as Drivers-of-the-Month for their outstanding records of courtesy and herosim, two transport drivers were presented appropriate certificates and leather gift sets at a luncheon March 21 in the Oklahoma Club, Oklahoma City by the Oklahoma Council of Motor Carrier Safety Supervisors. Taking part in the ceremony are, left to right, Ralph Southard, Safety Director, Chief Freight Lines Co., and Chairman of the Council; Roy Bergman, Chief of Police, Oklahoma City, Contest Judge; Ray Wells, Chief Freight Lines Co., Driver-of-the-Month for January; Carl Crim, Hugh Breeding, Inc., Driver-of the-Month for February; Don Hollingsworth, Director, Oklahoma City Safety Council, Contest Judge; and Jack Holland, Safety Director, Hugh Breeding Inc. P. James Demopolos, Traffic Judge, Oklahoma City, was the third judge for the event.

In November 1958, Carl Crim was named Oklahoma’s Truck Driver of the Year at the 28th annual convention of The Associated Motor Carriers of Oklahoma, Inc. held at the Hotel Tulsa. Selection of the Driver-of-the Year was a well-guarded secret as it was not known by anyone outside the committee of judges who would receive the honor until Municipal Judge Demopolos took the speakers stand during the first general session of the convention to make the award.

Called from among the group of drivers-of-the-month who were convention guests of their employers, Crim was virtually speechless when his name was announced. Crim’s wife accompanied her husband to the speaker’s stand where he received a beautifully worded citation and $50 Savings Bond given by The Associated Motor Carriers of Oklahoma, a handsome trophy given by Transport Insurance Company, Dallas, Texas; and a portable television and pair of fine binoculars given by The Oklahoma Council of Motor Carrier Safety Supervisors. Proof that this was truly ‘Crim’s Day’ was evidenced by the fact that he won a $25 Saving Bond in the door prize drawing.

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When asked of which gift he was most proud Crim said, “Well, I am proud of them all; but if I were to have to designate the one of which I am most proud I guess I would have to say it is the trophy, for it symbolized something that one cannot buy with money.”

The selection committee composed of P. James Demopolos, Judge of the Oklahoma City Municipal Court, Dan Hollingsworth, Director, Oklahoma City Safety Council and Clifford L. Phillips, District Supervisor, Bureau of Motor Carriers, Interstate Commerce Commission were unanimous in their decision that Crim’s record of safe driving, coupled with acts of heroism above and beyond the call of duty entitled him to be named Driver of the Year.

Officials of the state drivers’ association were impressed most by the story of how Crim’s fast-thinking may have saved the life of dozens of persons in a Tulsa bus terminal. This, with his safe-driving record of 1,500,000 miles (equivalent of six trips to the Moon), and other acts of heroism involving automobile accidents, were the prime factors in consideration of Crim for the state driving award.

After winning the State award, Crim was entered in competition for the national “Truck Driver of the Year” award.

Holding the Trophy Awarded by the Oklahoma Council of Motor Carrier Safety Supervisors and The Transport Co., Dallas, Carl C. Crim, driver for Hugh Breeding, Inc., Tulsa, is pictured above with his charming wife at the Annual Convention Safety Award Luncheon where his selection as Oklahoma Driver-of-the-Year was announced.

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On May 21, 1959, Crim received a telegram from the American Trucking Association in Washington DC,. which designated him as the National Truck Driver of the Year. Upon being notified of his award, Crim had only one thought when interviewed by an Okmulgee Times reporter – his responsibility to his job which called for him to load out for Claremore.

Crim was chosen from candidates named by every state encompassing more than 9,000,000 truck drivers in total. Union Telegram notifying Carl Crim that he was He was cited for a long record of selected National Driver of the Year administering first aid assisting at accident scenes and risking his own life to save others. His record showed that he has saved the life of a friend who was drowning, and has administered first aid in at least five other accidents.

Heading the committee of judges for the Driver of the Year competition was John J. Allen, Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation. Other judges included Brig. Gen. E. Herbert Qualls, director of the Bureau of Motor Carriers, Interstate Commerce Commission; Arthur C. Butler, director of the National Highway Users Conference, and Edward F. Jones, staff director Subcommittee on Traffic, Safety of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

Asked about his reaction to the honor, Crim jokingly replied: “What reaction? My wife is having it all.” In a more serious vein, Crim credited his wife and family in his selection. Reading from a letter sent him by J. Robert

Cooper, national president of the American Named ATA Driver of the Year, Carl Crim Trucking Association, Crim found the word which flashes a broad smile as he received the expresses my feelings: “Again my heartiest news from Washington. congratulations and please give my regards to Mrs. Crim who must be a fine wife to have made you into such a great truck driver,” Cooper wrote in the letter.

In the days after winning the award for Driver of the Year, Crim was literally swamped with telephone calls, telegrams, and letters of congratulations. Among the wires received by Crim were ones from US Sen. Robert S. Kerr and Oklahoma Congressmen Ed Edmondson, , and . He and his wife were also given an all-expense paid trip to Washington to receive the award and from there it was on to New York City where they would stay at the famous Waldorf-Astoria. Said Crim, “I don’t know what they

The Breeding’s of Overton County, Tennessee and Carroll County, Arkansas Page 9 have in store for us except that we will spend two days in Washington and then go to New York for a week.”

Sharing the good news with Carl Crim, of his being named ATA Driver of the Year, are Mrs. Crim, left, and their daughter Stella Anne, a freshman in Okmulgee High School.

However, just a few days before he left for Washington, Crim had the closest brush he’d had in his years as a professional driver. He was on Highway 66 near West Bristow, Oklahoma, about 8:30 in the morning when he saw a car coming at him, the left wheel about a foot across the center line. Crim blasted his air horn, but that didn’t help. “First time I was ever scared. To my right was a truck parked on the shoulder. On the opposite side of the road was a truck stop,” Carl said. “And here came this clown charging right between them. My only chance was to hit for the shoulder. I don’t know how, but I made it. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw I cleared that truck by about 2 or 3 inches. Behind me was 5.700 gallons of high test ethyl gas.”

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Jim Bishop Archives: ‘You Must Be Very Proud’

The Best of Class is Carl C. Crim, driver-owner for Hugh Breeding, Inc., Tulsa, American Trucking Associations’ 1959 Driver of the Year. His wife Steffie is his inspiration. The numbers on the side of the truck (above Carl’s cap) indicated the registration numbers of each state where the truck traveled pursuant to the authority. In order to get the subject number put on the side of the truck, each state required the individual annual payment of registration fees, the posting of all insurance coverage, the number of trucks owned and the volume going through the subject state. That's how the State based what to charge the trucking company each year. This was a big expense each year, as was the time the company put in purchasing new annual license plates for each truck that it owned. If a truck crossed the scales in a state without that state being registered and active - the truck would be pulled over and put out of service until everything was put in order and a huge fine was paid.

The truck barreled east on 66. The driver jogged behind the wheel, leaning into the curves on the road. Behind the cab, the big drum of gasoline swayed like a fat hula dancer. The driver was a happy man. In three days, he would leave for Washington, D.C. There, Vice President Richard Nixon would give him a gold medal as the nation’s Driver of the Year.

His name was Carl Crim. He was 43. He was short and bald and patient. Mr. Crim owned his home in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. He owned this five-ton truck too. He was in love with Steffie, his wife. He had two good daughters and one was about to make him a grandpa for the first time.

A happy man. The truck was two miles west of Bristow, Oklahoma. It was an International with a Cummings engine. It purred at him. Mr. Crim would deliver the 3,000 gallons of high test gasoline and drive back home. He had to clean up and be

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ready for that trip to Washington. The Driver of the Year.

He hit the rise and the truck lifted like a feathery ballet dancer. It went over the top and down and the fields sped by the side windows. Carl Crim frowned. He saw a car coming toward him. It was almost a mile away. The car straddled the white line.

There wouldn’t be enough room for the truck on the right side. Crim knew. His three right wheels would be forced off the shoulder. He knew those things without thinking. Well, there were no other cars on the road. Lots of room. Between the Crim truck and the oncoming car, there was nothing but a diner, a quarter of a mile ahead, and a halfmoon parking lot on the right side.

The truck driver watched. He knew from long experience that the drive of that other car would be on his own side of the road long before they approached. Crim had averaged 85,000 miles a year for 27 years. It comes to 2,000,000 miles. He never had an accident with his truck; he never had one with his car. He was always ready to give the other man the right of way. Always. Like now. But there was no room.

The truck barreled on. The other car raced toward it. The car seemed to sway on the white line, as though the driver had trouble keeping it in the wrong place. Carl Crim reached over head for the air blast horn. He gave a mournful wail. The car kept coming.

There was no place to go. In the ditch? The tank of gasoline would pile on top of the cab. Two pieces of metal grinding sparks. Mr. Crim became afraid. It was too late to pull to a stop. The other car would hit him anyway. There wasn’t time to run.

A half mile now. Crim remembered how it was on his father’s farm. He was plowing at the age of 14 and a truck went by in a swirl of dust. “Now,” thought the boy, “what a nice life that would be.” He thought of Steffie and her stamp collection. He thought of Carol Sue and Stella Ann. For a brief second, he even thought of his beloved bird dogs, Sport and Sailor.

The Lonesome Air Horn blasted the morning sky again. Nothing happened. Carl Crim’s blue eyes became smaller than b.b.’s. A mist cooled his bald forehead. At the last moment, he saw that he was a little bit closer to the parking area than the other car. If only the truck would go a little faster. If only he could make that parking section on the right side. If only, when he got there, there was room to swing in and come to a stop without wrecking everything.

His foot jammed the floorboards. The truck hardly shook itself. It seemed to continue at the same rate of speed. He hit the air blast again and again and again. The other car was still straddling the white line. Carl Crim mumbled: “God, please let me get out of this.”

He made the turn into the parking area as the other car went by in a snap of wind. Crim brought his truck to a snorting gasping stop. He leaned out and looked. The other car was back on its own side of the road.

In Washington, Carl Crim looked stiff and dressed up in a collar and a tie. The Vice President shook hands with the man the American Trucking Company calls the safest of them all. The gold pin had a diamond in it.

“You must be very proud,” Mr. Nixon said…..

Source: Olean Times Herald – Sept 30, 1959

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On the morning of June 1, 1959, Crim and his wife left Tulsa’s municipal airport at 4:35 AM and set out for Washington DC. Neither ever had been “East of Chicago” before. Steffie Crim later recalled that she was scared to death as she was afraid of flying. It didn’t help that during part of the flight, the Crim’s ran into some bad weather which made for a choppy ride. But while she was panic-stricken, she was very excited too.

Upon arrival in the nation’s capital, the Crim’s were greeted by John McGill, a public relations man for the American Trucking Association – one of the four escorts who looked after and led the Crim’s on tours while in Washington and New York. Mrs. Crim laughingly noted: “Three of the four escorts went on to New York with us. It took four of them to wear us out. ”

When they arrived at the Statler Hotel, there were a dozen beautiful red roses waiting for them from Colletta Butler and Thelma Williams, two close friends of the Crim’s. The Crim’s fondly recalled the two of them “having breakfast in our room two of the mornings in Washington at the Statler. The hotel personnel were so nice to us.”

There was a steady stream of activities going for the Crim’s from the moment they arrived until they departed. The list of places they visited ranged from the Capitol Building, the Library of Congress, Mount Vernon, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Smithsonian Institute, and the Washington Cathedral. They took a personal tour through the FBI Building in Washington and met J. Edgar Hoover.

The Crim’s paid a visit to the the legislative branch of the federal government, and while there, Carl Crim and his wife Steffie with Oklahoma congressman Ed FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover Edmondson brought up Crim’s name for being the country’s top driver and it was recorded in the Congressional Record of Wednesday, June 10, 1959, on page A4978. Mrs. Crim remarked: “Ed Edmondson took us to Senator Kerr’s and and Senator Monroney’s new offices in the new Senate building and we got to meet both of them too.” Later, Crim was the guest of honor at a reception to be attended by house and senate members.

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Driver of the Year Saluted: Extension of Remarks of Honorable Ed Edmondson in the US House of Representatives

Mr, Edmondson. Mr. Speaker, no thinking American will question the statement that one of the greatest needs in our country at the present moment is safer and more careful driving on our highways. The staggering total of highway facilities over the past Memorial Day weekend, far surpassing estimates and setting a new high in this tragic waste of lives, certainly indicates the need for careful driving and courtesy on the road.

It was with a great deal of pleasure and price that this past week I met a man named Carl C. Crim. It was a great pleasure because Mr. Crim has just been named by the American Trucking Associations as the trucking industry’s Driver of the Year for 1959, and there was also great price because he is from home State of Oklahoma. Oklahoma Representative Ed Edmondson served in The honored truck driver is from Okmulgee, Oklahoma the U.S. House of and drives a tank truck for the Hugh Breeding, Inc., a Representatives from petroleum common and contract carrier with 1953 to 1973 headquarters in Tulsa. He was chosen Driver of the Year from the more than 7 ½ million truck drivers in the Nation, high praise for his qualifications.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make mention of the excellent safe driving record of Carl Crim and of several incidents in which he literally risked his life to assist other motorists involved in highway accidents.

Mr. Crim has a 26-year record of accident-free driving, coupled with a long record of administering first aid and assisting at accident scenes, both on and off the highway. He has driven over 1 ½ million miles during this time, in all types of weather and conditions, without a single mishap. In July 1958, Mr. Crim was the first to arrive at the scene of an automobile accident near Claremore, Oklahoma. He was successful in removing the occupants of one of the vehicles involved in the head-on collision, applied first aid, and helped in handling traffic until assistance arrived and the highway was cleared.

A number of years ago in Tulsa, Mr. Crim prevented a certain gasoline explosion which would have taken countless lives had it not been for the quick thinking and heroic action of this truckdriver. While making his usual delivery at a bus terminal in downtown Tulsa to fill a 1,000 gallon capacity gasoline storage tank, Mr. Crim had removed the cap from the tank to determine the capacity. At this time, a worker in the terminal began using an arc-weld torch on the opposite wall of the building. With the cap of the tank off, fumes began spreading across the are toward the worker. A spark from the torch ignited the fumes and sent a blanket of flames toward the storage tank and Mr. Crim. Quickly covering the area around the opening with a tarpaulin, he managed to screw the cap back on the tank opening – all this while flames were buring around his legs. While the driver suffered only slight singes about his legs, authorities said the entire bus station with several dozen waiting passengers might have been blown to bits except for the driver’s alertness and heroic efforts. These are but two of the many such instances in which Mr. Crim has lived up to and been an outstanding example of the gentlemen of the highway.

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Named Driver of the Year for Oklahoma, Mr. Crim was selected by a group of judges consisting of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation, John J. Allen; Brig. Gen. E. Herbert Qualls, Director of the Bureau of Motor Carriers of the Interstate Commerce Commission; Arthur C. Butler, director of the National Highway Users Conference; and Edward P. Jones, staff director, Subcommittee on Traffic Safety of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Mr. Crim’s record of exploits and his outstanding safe-driving record were selected as the most outstanding of all the entries in the driver competition.

He has been in the employ of Hugh Breeding Inc., since 1947. Prior to that he drove for other trucking firms in his native State. An Army veteran, Mr. Crim spent 2 years with the Army Engineers in the Pacific theatre during World War II driving heavy Army vehicles.

Mr. and Mrs. Crim have two teenage daughters and live at 900 North Griffin, in Okmulgee. As a reward for his selection as Driver of the Year, Mr. and Mrs. Crim were invited to Washington for a week of sightseeing and many radio, television and newspaper interviews; then to New York City for a week of similar activities.

It is a great honor for me to he met with such a fine citizen of my home State of Oklahoma, for Carl C. Crim is a truly outstanding example of the competent and courteous driver whom all drivers might imitate.

Source: Congressional Record June 10 1959

On Wednesday, June 3, Crim and his wife got the opportunity to meet Vice President Richard Nixon. Carl Crim looked stiff and dressed up in a collar and a tie. The Crim’s were led into Nixon’s inner sanctum by ATA General Manager Ray G. Atherton. The Vice President then shook hands with Crim and then awarded him with a diamond pin for being America’s Truck Driver of the Year. The gold pin had a diamond in it and was symbolic of the award which is sponsored by the American Trucking Association. Nixon then congratulated Crim on his safety record and commented “that’s better than I. You must be very proud.”

Nixon, who generally limited such “meet and greets” to five minutes or so, joked and questioned the Crim’s for more than 15 minutes. He wanted to know all about the life of a truck driver. In response to questions by Nixon, Crim said he drank coffee and chewed gum to keep awake when driving nights, and that he had seen considerable improvements in his industry. Nixon asked Mrs. Crim about the children – her two daughters – and wanted to know what was her favorite recipe for rhubarb pie. Mrs. Crim told Nixon she has no regrets that her husband is in the trucking business. The answers came. Nervousness evaporated and a pleasant time was had by all.

Carl also had the presence of mind to use the opportunity to enlarge his collection of ball- point advertising pens. Carl wangled one from an aide of President Eisenhower during their tour of the White House. Then when he met Nixon, Carl took occasion to remark that he had met a friend of the Vice President and the friend had popped with a nice pen. Mr. Nixon commented that he wouldn’t be outdone and reached into a desk drawer for one of his pens. Carl was continuing to explain that he liked these pens with advertising on them. The Vice President paused, smiled and pointing to his own name on the pen he was handing to Carl, remarked that he guessed you can call that advertising!

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Vice President Richard M. Nixon congratulates Carl C. Crim on winning the National Driver of the Year. Visiting the vice president with Mr. Crim were his wife, Steffie, and (at left) Ray G. Atherton, General Manager of the American Trucking associations, sponsors of the annual driver competition.

After leaving Washington, the Crim’s traveled on to New York for the second part of their trip sponsored by the American Trucking Association. They experienced only the best, staying at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. A party honoring the Crim’s was also given them by the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and each morning they enjoyed breakfast in bed in that swanky suite in the tower of the Waldorf Astoria, the sanctum usually reserved for dignitaries. “Everything was ‘on the house’ and we could have anything we wanted,” Mrs. Crim beamed. “We were on the same elevator with Louella Parsons one time in the Waldorf. Also in the Waldorf I got to see the Royal Suite where Queen Elizabeth stays when she comes to the .”

Carl also appeared on several national television and radio programs and was interviewed by a number of nationally known writers. Crim’s wife wearily remembered: “My husband had radio broadcasts at all hours. He even had one at 2:30 in the morning. I lost track of the broadcasts he was on.” Later, Carl estimated he was on about 15 shows.

A favorite question that reporters asked was what the best truck stops along his route. “That,” he said, “would be 900 Griffin – the best truck stop in the world.” 900 Griffin at Okmulgee, Oklahoma, has a marker in front, reading: “Mr. and Mrs. Carl C. Crim.”

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The Crim’s were also supposed to appear on television during the Ed Sullivan Show. Said Steffie Crim: “we went to Ed Sullivan’s show and were supposed to be introduced by him but a comedian ran over his allotted time right at the end of the show and there wasn’t enough time left. But we were all close to Sullivan as from here to that chair,” she said, pointing to a sofa about 12 feet away.

In New York, the list of places they visited ranged from Gimbels, Macy’s and Saks – famous New York department stores – and included such places as the Empire State Building, UN Building, Wall Street, Greenwich Village, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, and Times Square. The Crim’s attended church services at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York and also ate at Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant. “He [Dempsey] was on Carl Crim and his wife at Jack Dempsey’s restaurant in New York. Crim was a big boxing fan but unfortunately they did not get the chance to meet the ex- vacation at the time Champion. and we didn’t get to meet him,” commented Crim’s wife. Mrs. Crim had more than 10 menus from top dining clubs and restaurants at which they ate during the two weeks.

During their visit to Yankee Stadium, Crim was in for a real treat as he met fellow Oklahoman Mickey Mantle who personally autographed two baseballs for Crim. “Besides meeting Mickey Mantle, Carl met Julius LaRosa and Russ Morgan, well-known singers and we both saw Celeste Holm, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald,” Crim’s wife related.

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On the trip through New York, Crim got the opportunity to visit Yankee Stadium and meet Mickey Mantle who autographed two baseballs for him

To conclude their New York part of their trip, the family went on to New Haven, Connecticut, to see their daughter and son-in-law, who was going to college at Yale at the time.

Up on returning home on June 14, 1959 the Crim’s had spent two expense-paid weeks in Washington and New York visiting over 25 famed buildings and sites, meeting Richard M. Nixon, vice president of the United States and rubbing elbows with other famous people. Steffie Crim said as a wide grin automatically popped Carl Crim and his wife visiting with their daughter and son-in- law at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City onto her face: “It was all wonderful. That’s all I can say. I never dreamed it would happen.”

Looking back, she liked Washington better than New York. “We found the hospitality real nice in the East. It’s hard to say which part of the trip I liked best, but I can say that I

The Breeding’s of Overton County, Tennessee and Carroll County, Arkansas Page 18 really like Washington better than New York because it is not so congested and really it’s prettier.

Okmulgeeans honored Carl Crim when the Oklahoma’s Gov. J. Howard Edmondson originally city observed a day in the fellow resident’s planned to join residents of the Okmulgee area in paying honor. Highlighting the day-long special tribute to Carl Crim when the city and Pow Wow observance, a special program was held on association saluted the city man on Carl Crim day in the Council House square. conjunction with his selection as National Truck Driver of the Year. Edmonson, however, had a scheduling conflict and had to back out at the last minute.

If the awards and recognition had ended with the two week jaunt to the East Coast, it would have been a very satisfying and fulfilling end to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. However, special recognition was soon accorded to Crim on July 3, 1959 as Okmulgee observed “Carl Crim Day” in conjunction with the seventh annual Pioneer Pow Wow celebration. Making the observance Carl Crim, National Driver of the Year, hauled a “dry run” with Mrs. Crim during the Opening Session in the city’s seventh annual Pow Wow official, Mayor T.P. celebration parade.

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Gilmer issued a proclamation honoring Crim and setting the day. “Seldom does a city have the favorable publicity such as was received by Okmulgee when her citizen, Carl C. Crim was made National Truck Driver of the year by the American Trucking association. In recognition of the honor bestowed upon our fellow citizen and to give his townspeople an opportunity to have a part in the national recognition being paid Carl C. Crim, I, as mayor of Okmulgee, do designate and set aside Friday, July 3, as Carl C. Crim Day and urge all citizens to take part in ceremonies which are being prepared to properly honor the Crim family.”

In recognition of his honor and the day being held for him, Governor J. Howard Edmondson sent Crim a telegram from Oklahoma City. It had been hoped earlier that Edmondson might be able to attend the event. “I extend my sincere congratulations to you on the occasion of Carl Crim Day in Okmulgee,” the governor’s wire read. “Oklahoma is indeed proud of your great accomplishment and for the national honors that have been given to you as National Driver of the Year. Your state is proud of you and I am sorry that my schedule does not permit me to be in Okmulgee for this great occasion.”

Okmulgee’s Seventh Annual Pioneer Pow Wow celebration featured something to whet the appetites of everyone from the toddlers to the elderly senior citizens. Along with honoring Crim, there were turtle races, talent shows, entertainment at the Pioneer Palace and on the third night, a rodeo. Taking a “busman’s holiday,” Crim appeared on Wednesday, July 1 for the opening day parade driving his truck, but Friday was the truly big day for him. Deeply touched by the honor paid him by Okmulgee citizens, Carl Crim was a bit speechless after being On Friday July 3, 1959 as part of the day-long activities, presented a set of matched luggage Mayor Gilmer and Earl McClendon, Chamber of and watch in ceremonies conducted Commerce president, presided at a special program at 2 in front of the Council House. PM on the Council House square. Among the persons present in the audience was Jack Holland, an official of the Hugh Breeding Inc. McClendon served as master of ceremonies and presented Crim the matched set of luggage. With Crim on the stage was his wife, Steffie.

Mayor T.P. Gilmer presented Crim the watch which was engraved with an inscription saying it was from his fellow citizens on the day honoring him. Prior to making the presentation, Mayor Gilmer conferred an honorary police commission on Crim. He pointed out that the commission is “without authority, expense account, pay, badge or gun.” After presenting Crim the watch, Mayor Gilmer jokingly remarked, “I’ll give you $25 for it right now.” “Mayor,” Crim quipped back, “you couldn’t buy this watch for $25,000. In fact it’s not for sale at any price.”

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“Thank you and God bless all of you,” Crim humbly stated by way of acknowledging the honor bestowed on him. Fellow citizens gathered around the Council House square and besieged Crim to shake his hand and express their personal tributes. “This is the greatest day of my life,“ he said after stepping from the improvised platform.

Crim had an even greater thrill after the program was over when several youngsters approached the stand and asked if they might have his autograph. One youngster who has met Crim prior to the program was Carl Crim took time out to sign autographs for the kids showing off his autograph book. who gathered around the improvised platform during the “I’ve got Peter Breck’s autograph special program to honor him and his family as a special here,” he said “and Carl Crim’s event of the Pow Wow Celebration. here.” (Note: Breck played the gambler and gunfighter on the ABC series Maverick)

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Numerous businesses took advertisements out in the Okmulgee Times to congratulate Crim on his National Driver of the Year Award

A couple of months later on September 4, 1959, Carl and his wife made the trek to Oklahoma City where he was honored with a testimonial luncheon at the Biltmore Hotel. J. Robert Cooper, president of ATA, was on hand to deliver the principal address for the occasion. The huge four-foot high National Driver of the Year trophy was displayed after the presentation by president Cooper. It soon became the permanent property of Crim.

C. Austin Sutherland (left), Managing ATA President J. Robert Cooper presents the huge Trailmobile Director of the National Tank Truck trophy to Carl C. Crim of Okmulgee on his selection as Carriers, congratulates the ATA Driver National Driver of the Year, of the Year on his award. the top ATA award.

About 100 gathered at the luncheon and marked the climax of an exciting tour of the United States which Crim completed on behalf of ATA, and the sponsoring firm was Trailmobile, Inc. Attending were many important dignitaries from the Associated Motor Carriers of Oklahoma, including president R. E. Hagan, who presided over the luncheon.

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Cooper praised the poise and enthusiasm of both Carl and Steffie, who completed their tiresome tour with the ATA press relations chief Bernard Goodrich. Cooper said it was drivers like Crim “who are the trucking industry’s not so secret weapon in fulfilling our industry’s responsibility to improve the national highway safety situation.”

Climaxing the affair was the presentation of a new electric range to Steffie Crim by Rufus B. Jones, assistant to the president of Trailmobile. The surprise award was made for the fine attitude and support given by Mrs. Crim during the buildup of Crim’s outstanding record. For many years thereafter, Steffie Crim was so proud of that range.

Over the remainder of 1959, Crim received much notoriety for winning the National Driver of the Year Award. He was featured on the cover of It was big surprise during the AMCO- Petroleum and Chemical Transporter Magazine Trailmobile luncheon for Carl C. Crim when and he was featured in several advertisements; Mrs. Crim was called forward by one for Autocar and in another with International Trailmobile’s Popular Rufus Jones, who presented her with a new electric range. Harvester where he shared space with the 1959 AL Cy Young Award winner, Early Wynn.

Many reporters who interviewed Crim wanted to know what attributes went into making a great driver. Crim would often stress, “A lot of it depends on your wife’s attitude in the morning. If she fixes you a good breakfast and doesn’t give you any arguments, you’re more likely to stay alert on the road. And you have to be alert. I give a lot of the credit for my driving record to my wife. She gets up and fixes me a good breakfast….and that’s something, for I begin work at about four in the morning. She never starts out with an argument.”

Following the rules was a fetish with him and he never paid a fine for speeding, in his tractor-trailer unit or in his own car. Crim believed that at least half of all highway crashes were due to emotionally upset drivers. “It doesn’t matter whether you drive a truck or a car. Leave your problems behind you once you put your foot on the gas.”

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Carl Crim was featured on the cover of the July Carl Crim was the star of advertising campaign by 1959 issue of Petroleum and Chemical The White Motor Company entitled Transporter “Cab for a King.”

Crim suggested these six rules for safe driving:

1) Be in good spirits. Leave your quarrels behind you. 2) Don’t drive for more than two hours without a coffee break or a stretch. 3) Stay within all speed limits 4) Obey all orders of highway patrols. The police are there for your protection. 5) Know your equipment. Check your tires and brakes and be able to judge distances. 6) Be courteous. Give the right of way to others.

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Carl Crim operated an International Harvester RD-205 for Hugh Breeding Inc.

As many admirers that Crim won for earning the National Driver of the Year award, it is important to note that there were a few detractors. During this time, Crim leased two gas tankers to Breeding and one of his main customers was Phillips Petroleum in Okmulgee. Price wars and union strife were prevalent and Crim sometimes had to cross the picket line to make his deliveries. Because picketers carried knives and guns, Crim was forced to carry his own gun when he got in his truck. Looking back, it really scared Carl because he never really knew what he was going to walk into. On one occasion shortly after winning the national award, Crim received a letter written to him by an “anonymous person.”

Letter to Carl Crim

I am real proud of the pictures since you are all one of the scab truck drivers that crossed the Phillips employees picket line in a strike that isn’t settled yet. But I am sure it would be if you scab drivers had stayed out. So this is the reason I think you should be real proud. Everyone knows you crossed the picket line so your picture can spread all over the paper didn’t mean much. People looked at it and said another scab driver.

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Carl Crim at the Phillips 66 Petroleum Company Refinery in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. There were times he had to encounter hostile picket environments.

A Reply from Carl Crim

An answer to an anonymous writer who had the guts to write a nasty letter but not the conviction of his or her belief to sign his or her name. I’m very proud of these pictures, this spread, this newspaper and the recognition given to me when I was selected driver of the year for the United States of America.

Yes I crossed the Phillips employee picket line. This I did not want to do. Don’t forget I honored the picket line for over a month. I had a job and an investment to protect. There are over 1 million truck drivers today many of whom would like to have my job. I am very sorry to have had to have done this but under the circumstances I’m sure you would have done the same thing. I do not feel that I am any more of a scab that a union man who takes a new union job a similar fellow might have had that is not fortunate enough to have belonged to a union. I do not belong to a union so I do not see where you could rightfully call me a scab. I was not selected for this honor for crossing the picket line.

To my anonymous one, from the numerous telegrams, letters, phone calls, and personal congratulations, I feel there are enough of the more prominent people

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including some of your fellow workers who are proud of the national recognition brought to the state of Oklahoma and the community in which you and I both lived to offset anything I might have to say. If you care to discuss this matter further I would be happy to do so.

Carl C. Crim

After a hectic year, life somewhat returned to normal for Crim and his family after 1959. Eventually, Carl bought his TV and loved watching his boxing shows and listening to his country music. Hunting and fishing were his special hobbies and they eventually led him to make trips to Canada and Alaska. On one hunting trip to Canada, he happened to catch a deer in his boat. It seems that somebody had shot the deer and it had ended up jumping into the water and was swimming and Crim pulled the deer up out of the water and into the Carl’s favorite hobbies were hunting and fishing. His passion for them boat. On another fishing took him to trips to Canada and Alaska expedition, he caught and brought back to his daughter Anne an albino mud puppy – a salamander - which is very rare. It seemed he was always bringing back something unusual.

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Carl loved his bird dogs, Sport and Sailor. He built a dog house for them with all the luxuries – complete with air conditioning and heat.

Crim also liked to spend time with his beloved bird dogs, Sport and Sailor. At their house in Okmulgee, Carl built a duplex dog house and also dug out a basement for them. The house had every luxury. He even had a fan in there for them and it was air conditioned – and it also had a heat lamp for when it got cold.

At one point, he and his friends had gone hunting and his dog Sport had the birds on a point. Carl had those dogs trained to such a degree that they would not move until he told them. He could literally walk over and put his hands under the dog’s torso, carry him to another area and put their back to the covey of the quail. Upon issuing the command, the dogs would turn around and flush the birds out.

He was also quite the inventor in his spare time. He would make all of his own tools by taking things that were available to him. The house he started off with was a small two bedroom, one bath home. Over the years, Carl redesigned and remodeled the house. At one point, Crim decided he was going to grow hair to combat his baldness. Each night, he would massage oils in but he could never grow hair. Simply put, he figured out what he wanted and he set out to do it.

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Carl Crim and his wife in front of his favorite truck stop – 900 North Griffin in Okmulgee. He remodeled and added on to the house numerous times over the years

Around 1964, Hugh Breeding Inc. closed their terminal in Okmulgee and Crim started working for Transport Insurance. They ran a Vascar Enforcement Program where they would track the truckers in a safety insurance program. Crim functioned in a role similar to a safety inspector.

In 1968, the Crim’s would leave Okmulgee and move to Tulsa. He would continue working for quite few more years, eventually accumulating over three million accident-free miles.

Crim would passed away in 1978 at a Tulsa hospital following a lengthy illness. At the time of his death, he was 62 years old. He was interred at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa.

Carl was a member of the St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Tulsa. He had converted to the Catholic Faith and was confirmed on May 8, 1959 by Bishop Victor J. Reed. For many years, he was a member of St. Anthony’s parish in Okmulgee.

Crim’s wife Steffie would later move from Tulsa to Mabank, Texas in 1993. Each Memorial Day, her daughter Sue would take Steffie up to the cemetery to see Carl’s grave. Steffie Stella Crim would pass away on December 25, 2011.

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