AKRON, Ohio, April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Like the professional truck drivers who are honored with the Goodyear North America Highway Hero Award, the nation's largest tire company also has logged a lot of miles on its way to marking 25 years of program sponsorship. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050204/GTLOGO ) The Highway Hero program is considered by many in the trucking industry to represent the highest honor a truck driver can achieve. The award is presented annually to a professional trucker who exhibits selflessness and courage in helping others. Back in 1983, Goodyear began its sponsorship of the Highway Hero program with Ronnie Stapleton, of Beckley, W.Va., taking home the first prize. The truck tire company assumed responsibility for the program from "Heavy Duty Trucking" magazine, which started the award a couple years prior. Stapleton was recognized for using his bare hands to tear off the back door of a burning car, and then breaking the back seat in two as he extricated two unconscious occupants. At that time, Stapleton - who also was a preacher - was hauling explosives in his DuPont truck. Two years later, Highway Hero winner Curt Jones, from Oneonta, Ala., was cited as the first trucker to emblazon his rig with huge posters of missing children, to point out the plight of runaways. He also organized 10 truck convoys to call attention to the need for more awareness of missing children, and began a program of visiting schools to urge youngsters to seek counseling instead of running from problems. In 1992, a husband-and-wife Stidham Trucking Inc. driving team worked together to save a life, convict a felon and capture the Highway Hero Award. Connie Cooper and Patrick Fee, of Cottonwood, Calif., saved a woman from certain death when they pulled her from the center lane of an interstate highway where she had been thrown after being attacked. The duo dodged traffic to pull the woman to safety. Officials speculated her attacker threw her into the roadway so that she would be run over. Later, courtroom testimony, based on the victim's conversations with Cooper, led to the arrest, conviction and imprisonment of the suspect. The work by this team of married truck drivers led to Cooper's claim as the first female recipient of the Goodyear Highway Hero Award. The 1993 Highway Hero, Boyd Applegate of San Diego, gave judges multiple reasons to choose him as a "hero." In just over two months, the Green Valley Transportation driver participated in life-saving efforts at two separate accident scenes. First, Applegate climbed into a steep, rocky ravine in the middle of the night and rescued a driver, thrown clear of his vehicle and hidden among rocks in the ravine. Just weeks later, Applegate cleared the breathing passage of a Los Angeles patrolman whose face had been crushed in a car accident. Goodyear began sponsoring the Highway Hero program in 1983 in order to promote a positive image of truck drivers. "It's all about the drivers," said Donn Kramer, director of Goodyear commercial tire marketing. "It's all about what they do in their jobs and their actions that go above and beyond the call of duty. It has everything to do with who they are as people." Present and past winners include: 2007: Richard Filiczkowski, of Bountiful, Utah (C.R. England), saved an 8-year-old girl from a car sinking in a pond near the interstate. 2006: Edward Regener, of Parris, Calif. (FedEx Freight), escaped a fire in his truck and jumped into another to save two men trapped in their burning car. 2005: Douglas Crawford, of Ashford, Ala. (Saia Freight Lines Inc.), saved a fellow truck driver whose cab was engulfed in flames after a collision with another 18-wheeler. 2004: Rick Dent, of Diana, Texas (Groendyke Transport Inc.), saved a man and his two children after their car swerved to miss a deer in the road and landed in a water-filled ditch. 2003: Derrick Harris, of Hopewell, Va. (Schneider National Carriers), saved a person who was deliberately set on fire, and then he helped police locate and arrest the person charged with the heinous crime. 2002: Charles Ingram, of Jackson, Ga. (FedEx Ground), used a hammer to break out windows of a burning vehicle and pulled two occupants to safety. 2001: Larry "Scott" Travis, of Albuquerque, N.M. (Covenant Transportation), suffered burns as he pulled a woman from her burning SUV, which exploded seconds later. 2000: David Zorn, of Forest Park, Ga. (Consolidated Freightways), saw a police officer attacked alongside the highway, and carrying a large flashlight, pursued the suspect and caught and held him until police arrived. 1999: Terry Harvey, of Salt Lick, Ky. (American Freightways Inc.), and Floyd Anthony Miller, of Irvine, Ky. (Kentucky Petroleum Supply), teamed to save two motorists from a fiery two-car accident. 1998: Wayne Carpenter, of Paragould, Ky. (M.S. Carriers Inc.), saw a fiery collision between a car and truck, and he pulled the unconscious and critically injured driver of the car from the flames. 1997: Thomas Lawson, of Lithonia, Ga. (ABF Freight Systems), pulled a man from a burning vehicle moments before it exploded. 1996: Jeff May, of Guilford, Conn., and Clint LeFabvre, of Moultonborough, N.H. (United Parcel Service), pulled a critically injured man from his car moments before the vehicle's gas tank exploded. They also helped a second victim climb to the ground after his car went airborne and landed in a tree, 20 feet in the air. 1995: Rob Lomanno, of Malden, Mass., and Chris Kendall, of Nashua, N.H. (Clark & Reid Executive Movers), pried the doors off a burning sport-utility vehicle to pull a critically injured woman and her three children to safety. 1994: Todd Forbush Sr., of Elyria, Ohio (United Parcel Service), saved a woman whose burning pickup truck struck Forbush's truck at least three times. 1993: Boyd Applegate, of San Diego (Green Valley Transportation), climbed into a steep, rocky ravine in the middle of the night and rescued a driver, who was thrown from his vehicle and landed among some rocks on the opposite side of the ravine. Weeks later, Applegate cleared the breathing passage of a Los Angeles patrolman whose face was crushed in a car accident that also injured his wife. 1992: Connie Cooper and Patrick Fee, of Cottonwood, Calif. (Stidham Trucking Inc.), saved a woman from certain death when they pulled her from the center of the interstate under an overpass where she had been thrown after being attacked. Courtroom testimony based on the woman's conversations with Cooper led to the arrest and conviction of a suspect. 1991: Phillip Houck, of Tupelo, Okla. (PAM Transport Inc.), saw a station wagon strike the rear of a parked flatbed trailer and burst into flame. The driver was decapitated, but Houck used a fire extinguisher, a pipe and his hands to smash the windows and to pull three children to safety. 1990: Kenneth Bass, of Milton, Fla. (Triple B Services), saved a man from drowning by making repeated attempts to pull him from a submerged car. 1989: Rickey Fadden, of Lexington, Ohio (Artesian Transportation), rescued two people by climbing into a smoking, overturned car as it teetered on the edge of a ravine. 1988: Tommy Smith, of Paragould, Ark. (M.S. Carriers), twice entered a burning car to rescue a couple pinned in the wreckage. 1987: Robert Williams, of Fort Smith, Ark., climbed into a burning vehicle and cut the driver's seat belt before the car exploded. 1986: James Warren, of Hixson, Tenn., rescued a 13-year-old mentally handicapped child from a burning vehicle, dislodging a jammed door to reach him. 1985: Curt Jones, of Montezuma, Iowa, emblazoned his tractor-trailer rig with posters of missing children to highlight the plight of runaways. He also organized truck convoys to call attention to the problem and started a program that visited schools, urging students to seek counseling instead of running from problems. 1984: Dennis Myers, of Leipsic, Ohio (Ranger Nationwide), rescued a crash victim seconds before the vehicle exploded. 1983: Ronnie Stapleton, Beckley, W.Va. (DuPont), used his bare hands to remove the back door of a burning car and to break the back seat in half so that he saved two unconscious victims. For more on Goodyear's Highway Hero program and to nominate a truck driver for the 26th anniversary of the award, go to http://www.goodyear.com/truck/news/hero.html . http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050204/GTLOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company CONTACT: Dave Wilkins of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, +1-330-796-3758, Web site: http://www.goodyear.com/ http://www.goodyear.com/truck/news/hero.html

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