Pit & Quarry announces the 2018 Hall of Fame class

By |  November 8, 2017

Pit & Quarry is proud to announce the 2018 class of the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame, which includes Charles S. Luck III of Luck Companies, C. Howard “Ward” Nye of Martin Marietta, William J. Sandbrook of U.S. Concrete and Franklin E. “Frank” Squires of Superior Industries/GreyStone.

The new inductees will be honored in Houston at a black-tie dinner and induction ceremony Tuesday, March 6, 2018. The event will be held in conjunction with AGG1 Aggregates Academy. Details about tickets to the ceremony will be available in the weeks to come.

The 2018 class will join 24 inductees who are already enshrined in the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame. Like their Hall of Fame predecessors, the 2018 class will be represented in the National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum in Leadville, Colorado.

Detailed below in alphabetical order, the inductees were selected by a group of their peers from a pool of nominees submitted by industry experts and you, our readers.

Charles S. Luck III

Charles S. Luck III, Luck Companies/Luck Stone

Charles S. Luck III is a businessman, serviceman and civic leader born and raised in Richmond, Virginia.

He graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1955 and began his career with the family business after serving for two years in the United States Air Force. In 1965, he became president of Luck Stone Corp., leading the company through three decades of expansion, technological advancement and environmental stewardship.

Today, Luck serves as chairman of Luck Companies and continues to participate in the community through various civic and non-profit organizations. Luck was instrumental in raising the environmental standards of the aggregate industry, and he has held leadership positions in many of the industry’s associations, including being past chairman of the National Stone Association and past president of the Virginia Aggregates Association.

His father, Charles Luck Jr., was inducted into the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame in 2013, and his son, Charles Luck IV, serves as company president and CEO.

Ward Nye

C. Howard “Ward” Nye, Martin Marietta

Ward Nye has served as president of Martin Marietta since 2006, as CEO since 2010 and as chairman of the board since 2014.

He worked as COO from 2006 to 2009, and prior to joining Martin Marietta in 2006, Nye served as executive vice president at Hanson Aggregates North America.

He received a bachelor’s degree with honors from Duke University and a law degree from Wake Forest University. In addition to his educational, professional and executive roles, Nye has been a gubernatorial appointee to the North Carolina Mining Commission and is a past chairman of the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association.

Nye has served on numerous other national, state, community and charitable organizations, including the Duke University Alumni Association Board and the Wake Forest University School of Law Alumni Board.

William J. Sandbrook

William J. Sandbrook, U.S. Concrete

William J. Sandbrook has steered tremendous growth at U.S. Concrete since arriving in 2011, taking the company’s price per share from under $2 to $79.35 (as of Nov. 13, 2017).

Upon his arrival, Sandbrook realized the company suffered from a culture of centralized decision-making, thus stripping local management of both responsibility and accountability for results. To overcome that, it was imperative that he listen to employees so he could provide them the tools they needed to thrive and the support for decentralized decision-making.

Sandbrook spent 80 percent of his time on the road his first year at U.S. Concrete, traveling the country to meet with employees at many of the company’s different operations. He re-instituted the principle of accountability, which has been a fundamental part of U.S. Concrete’s improvement efforts. Suddenly, employees were responsible for their own decisions again and were rewarded for their efforts.

In addition, his turnaround efforts involved selling off low-margin businesses the previous regime acquired (precast concrete and concrete block), and refocusing the company in key markets.

Frank Squires

Franklin E. “Frank” Squires, Superior Industries/GreyStone

Marking about 60 years of aggregate industry service, Frank Squires is a leading expert worldwide in the field of washing and classifying technologies.

As an innovator, Squires is credited with five patents as a co-inventor of next-level control systems for single and multiple classifying tank systems. After graduating from Des Moines Technical High School in 1957, Squires began his career as a draftsman for Eagle Iron Works.

Ultimately, his straightforward, solution-oriented style of analyzing aggregate processing operations led to more than four decades of washing and classifying applications, engineering and sales management leadership. Over a 20-year period, Squires was a key player in the success of GreyStone, where he was appointed as its vice president of sales and dealer relations until 2014.
Squires currently serves as aggregate specialist for the Washing & Classifying Division of Superior Industries. Even after 59 years in the industry, Squires still spends a good deal of time on the road and in quarries as the “go-to guy” for the toughest washing and classifying applications.


Other members of the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame include:

Bob Bartlett, National Stone Association
Glen Barton, Caterpillar
Eli Whitney Blake, Blake Rock Crusher Co.
J. Don Brock, Astec Industries Inc.
Emil Deister, Deister Machine Co.
Paul Detwiler Jr., New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co.
Paul Detwiler III, New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co.
Richard J. Feltes, Feltes Sand & Gravel Co.
Bernie Grove, National Stone Association
LeRoy Hagenbuch, Philippi-Hagenbuch
Howard Hall, Iowa Manufacturing/Cedarapids Inc.
Donald M. James, Vulcan Materials Co.
Charles W. Ireland, Vulcan Materials Co.
Chuck Lien, Pete Lien & Sons
Charles Luck Jr., Luck Stone
Samuel Calvin McLanahan, McLanahan Corp.
Paul C. Mellott Jr., Mellott Co.
Bruno Nordberg, Nordberg Manufacturing Co.
Ralph Rogers, Rogers Group
Neil Schmidgall, Superior Industries
Kim Snyder, Eastern Industries Inc.
Arthur Taggart, Columbia and Yale Universities
Mark Towe, Oldcastle Inc.
Stephen P. Zelnak Jr., Martin Marietta Materials Inc.


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