The Tire Industry Association spent the evening honoring some of the tire industry’s most accomplished members during its Tire Industry Honors Awards Ceremony at the Tropicana Las Vegas.

 

Kicking off the awards portion of the evening, Eddie Jones, director of sales for Michelin North America, named the recipients of the Michelin Scholarship – which helps students pursue an education at a technical or vocational school. This year’s recipients were Trey Benton, Devin Corrigan and Ashlyn Hebdon.

 

 

TIA also welcomed the newest members of the 2016 Tire Industry Hall of Fame during the event. The 2016 honorees included Dan Brown, retired executive vice president and president of Tire Pros, American Tire Distributors; Richard “Dick” Gust, president of national account sales and director of government affairs at Liberty Tire Recycling; Fredrick Kovac, late vice president of tire technology at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.; and Charles “Husky” Sherkin, late president of United Tire & Rubber Co.

 

Richard “Dick” Gust has nearly 40 years’ experience in the tire and rubber industry and is well known for his pursuit to find solutions to the nation’s scrap tire problem. As president of national account sales and director of government affairs for Liberty Tire Recycling, Gust expanded scrap tire collections and began serving the collection and recycling needs of major accounts in all 50 states.

 

Harvey Kovac, brother of the late Fred Kovac, accepted the honor on behalf of his brother. Kovac worked at Goodyear from 1956 to 1995 and was responsible for a number of significant tire successes including the belted-bias tire construction process and an all-season tire. In 1978 Kovac helped transform an old Akron, Ohio, tire plant into a Goodyear tech center, and in the early 1980s, he helped develop Goodyear’s Aquatred. Kovac died in 1996.

 

Additionally, Tire Review honored Lex Brodie’s Tire, Brake & Service with the 2016 Top Shop Award.