I just read that the greatest ballplayer I ever saw retired today. Nobody who saw Ken Griffey, Jr. in his prime Kingdome years will ever forget his huge talent and the fact that he saved the Ms from becoming the Tampa Bay Ms in the early ‘90s. The baseball fans in this town can’t say “thank you” enough to Junior, and in five summers he will receive the recognition he richly deserves, and will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thinking about Ken Griffey Jr.’s influence on our town also made me reflect on the fact that this Friday, the UW Construction Industry Hall of Fame inducts its 12th set of honorees. Growing up with parents who were a mechanical contractor and a commercial real estate broker meant that dinner table discussions often included the names of many of the members of the Construction Hall. And as I’ve spent time in the Seattle construction industry, I was lucky enough to know many of those now inducted. Some I had known a long time because of my dad’s business (Pete Botting), two were my much-admired bosses at Sellen Construction in the ‘80s (Bill Scott and Bob Barrett), some were outstanding general contractors for whom I was a subcontractor in the ‘90s (Jeff Foushee, Bob Bayley, Chris Clark and Jack Rafn), and one is now my learned law partner (Sam Baker). Just like watching anybody who’s great at his/her craft, it has been pleasure to have seen each of them honored by our industry for all they have meant to it over the years.

I was excited to learn that Jon Runstand, Gene Colin and Ed Kommers are going into the Construction Hall this year. Jon’s leadership of Wright Runstad allowed it to develop some truly landmark projects in our region (think: 1201 Third Avenue, which was a gem among a great group of late ‘80s downtown office projects, including the City Centre Building, Two Union Square and Gateway Tower). Gene’s legacy as a contractor is about far more than being successful as the boss at Ferguson Construction, it includes a long history of giving back to the industry and community (think: the Gene J. Colin Education building at South Seattle Community College’s Duwamish Center, named in honor of his long service to the college) . And Ed’s storied career as a mechanical contractor might even be outweighed now by his service to that industry, in a way that reaches well beyond his current role as Executive Director of the Mechanical Contractors Association of Western Washington (think: membership on the Washington Department of General Administration Capital Projects Advisory Review Board).

Many of us who started our construction careers in the ‘80s have had a chance to work with, for or around each of the 2010 inductees. And more than that, just as we did from those past inductees who influenced our younger careers, those of my era have also learned a lot from Hall of Famers Jon, Ed and Gene about leadership, community and giving back. And so, just like those of us who love baseball say thanks today to Junior for all he has meant to Seattle, those of us who owe our livelihoods to the Seattle construction industry will say thanks to our own Hall of Famers on Friday, and will enthusiastically welcome the influential and deserving Jon, Gene and Ed into that great group.

This entry was posted by Todd on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 5:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.