BOWIE, Md. (Aug. 25, 2015) — The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has named five tire industry leaders as its 2015 inductees to the Tire Industry Hall of Fame.
The winners are:
- The late Ross Fischer, owner of McCord Auto Supply, who developed a wheel application for Goodyear flotation tires that allowed them to be used in agriculture;
- Herman “Hy” Freeman, retired technical services and training manager at Rema Tip Top North America, who helped establish industrywide standards for permanent tire repair;
- Paul Hyatt, chairman of Superior Tire and Auto and a past president of both TIA and the Tire Dealers Association of Canada; and
- Raghupati Singhania, chairman and managing director of JK Tyres & Industries Ltd. and a leading official in several Indian tire and rubber industry associations.
- Bucky Stein, founder of Target Tire, was born in 1925 to a father who had a one-man tire repair shop. Mr. Stein, who went into business with his dad after World War II, founded Target Tire in 1963 in Jacksonville, N.C., and started his own tire brand, Avalon, in 1970. He sold Target Tire in 2004 and the last of the company's retail stores was sold in 2011.
In addition, TIA announced two winners of its Ed Wagner Leadership Award:
- Tom Klinge, managing director and co-founder of the Klinge Group, an Australia-based global leader in tire management control software and maintenance system services; and
- Kevin Rohlwing, TIA senior vice president of training and developer of TIA training programs in automotive, commercial, earthmover, farm and industrial tires.
TIA said all the winners will be honored at the Tire Industry Honors Award ceremony at the Tropicana Las Vegas Nov. 2 during the Specialty Equipment Market Association trade show.