#Flashback Friday: The Exchange’s Trucking Hall of Famers

Since 1987, the National Private Truck Council has inducted four members each year into its Hall of Fame, considered one of the most prestigious honors in the trucking industry.

Exchange trucker Bradley Wacks was inducted into the National Private Truck Council’s Driver Hall of Fame in 2018. He has logged more than 3 million miles for the Exchange and is still going.

Four of those drivers worked for the Exchange. In one’s case, the verb is really works for the Exchange. In honor of National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, which ends Sept. 18, here’s a look back at the drivers and their accomplishments.

Edgar Mincy, inducted in 2004. At the time of his induction, Mincy had driven 3.3 million accident-free miles during a 34-year career. He joined the Exchange as a motor vehicle operator in April 1971 at the Tacony Distribution Center in Philadelphia, then volunteered to transfer to the Dan Daniel Distribution Center when Tacony closed in October 1987. Mincy hauled, according to his Hall of Fame bio, “anything from general merchandise, health and beauty aids, hazmat materials, furniture … auto parts and cars.”  Mincy delivered to stores and to all distribution centers, kept an ear out for weather and traffic reports (because he had to drive in all sorts of conditions) and made sure he checked in with his wife, Darlene, every day. Mincy was also named AAFES Driver of the Year for 2003. He has since retired.

Higinio Ortiz, inducted in 2007. Ortiz was the first Exchange driver to pass 4 million miles accident-free during an Exchange career that, at the time of his induction, was closing in on 50 years. Ortiz began his career working retail at the Fort Bliss Main Store in 1958 and became a truck driver two years later. He remained based at Fort Bliss, making deliveries all over the country. During 2006 alone, he drove about 359 miles a day. He was also named AAFES Driver of the Year in 1994. He retired in 2014.

Jose Amor, inducted in 2009. At the time of his induction, Amor—a self-taught driver—had driven 3.3 million miles without an accident or citation. He had worked for the Exchange for 44 years as of 2009 and had been a driver for 36 of those years.  Based at Fort Bliss, he was driving 1,200 to 2,600 miles a week through the Southwest at the time of his induction.  “I always drive defensively, and this attitude helps me to keep a clean and safe driving record,” he said in his Hall of Fame bio. “It is important to always be respectful and courteous to our fellow drivers and to moving or stopped vehicles we encounter.” Fort Bliss Switch Point honored Amor with Jose Amor Day, in which Amor (who was also the Exchange’s 2008 Driver of the Year) received a 2010 White Freightliner Cascadia truck. He retired in 2014.

Bradley Wacks, inducted in 2018. Wacks, who has been driving professionally for 39 years, joined the Exchange in 1987 and is still truckin’. When the Exchange Post wrote about his induction, he had driven 2,868,505 accident- and citation-free miles for the Exchange. He has since passed the 3-million-mile mark. Wacks is the only associate to win the Exchange’s “Driver of the Year” award more than once, and earned four coins from Exchange leadership, two first-place prizes at the Great American Truck Show, 15 Exchange awards and 30 consecutive National Safety Council Safe Driving Awards. “The people at the facilities, they’re like family to me,” Wacks told the Exchange Post. “I’ve watched their kids grow up through pictures that they show me. They’re friends with my wife on Facebook!”

Sources: Exchange Post archives, National Private Truck Council

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