What Do
I Do?
You Name It... I Probably
Tried It
The
Hats I Wear
I have done so many jobs
I am sure I have left some of them out. At 6 years old I started as a Yard Cutter, Theatre Usher, Program Seller, Travis
County Deputy and Cop far away from here, IRS at the very bottom to midway to the top before President Carter froze hiring
and screwed me. Thank you Mr. President because I would be doing something else and not THIS.
I worked for a friend
in the Janitorial business, worked at and operated Gas Stations (5), Fast Food Restaurants (7), owned part of a cafe on Manor
Road with some taxi drivers and helped countless friends become independent owners of their own cabs and limousines.
I have even helped people that I do not necessarily personally like. Why would I do that? I help them because I
can and it will cost me more energy not to help them in the long run. I look THAT far down a road whereas most people
stop looking at arm’s-length. I am different...
Limousines: Austin Private Car. At first I wanted to name it Bascomb's but nobody I spoke to understood WHY but me. FYI Bascomb was Richie Rich's
chauffeur and I loved reading those comics as a kid. Maybe it's the real reason why I am so eccentric? Do I need
an excuse?
Cab companies? My first
one is the last one even though we changed the name: Harlem Cab Company. Then I helped a friend I met in Bryan, TX because his radio frequency was overlapping ours. I loaned him some money
to up fit his small fleet of Yellow Cabs and eventually "bought" it from him. His name was Ray. Bryan was too
far away and too much like Austin in the 1960s for me to stay. I sold it. Then I started Texas Metro Yellow Cab in Round Rock.
It didn't work because I didn't understand that Round Rock was too much like Bryan. Different place but same problem.
Then I waited and started trying again a few years ago but realized that the people I had for management up there... I could
not trust them. So I didn't do it. Third time's the charm they say but I am out whenever I get out. Who knows?
Who would've thought Roy's would sell to anybody? It was their legacy for God's sake. I am still in shock.
Austin Cab Company VP and GM is a hat I am proud to wear. I started as an owner/operator in 1975 and lead the group to purchase it in 1984. Now
every time you see an Austin Cab you see a little piece of my family, my friends and me. We rebuilt Austin
Cab from Harlem Cab out of the respect we nurtured for the founder (the late Mr. George Knox) and keepers like Odis
Axel. Nor can I fail to mention the impact the late Reverend Algie Lee Collins, James Norwood, Earl Alexander and
Hamp Hill had on me either. We were truly all true friends.
