When collision industry activist Toby Chess received the ABRN Leadership Award he said he was so stunned he was speechless for one of the few times in his life.
"It never crossed my mind that I would get an award of this nature," says Chess. "It floored me. I was speechless, and it's
pretty hard to make me speechless. I never thought I would be in the running for this national award because I take little
steps and do little things. So many other people take big steps and do big things."
Chess received the honor during the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) achievement awards ceremony in Las Vegas Oct. 30.
What others say"Toby is a great asset to our industry," says Ron Ray, executive director of the I-CAR Education Foundation. "He is very deserving
of this award."
"Toby is one in a million," says Jeff Peevy, director of field operations for I-CAR. "He does so much behind the scenes that
nobody knows about. You could go on all day about the little things he does for others."
"I think the world of him," says Tony Harrison, an I-CAR trainer in the central region. "He is one of my heroes."
And then there is Tim Gill, the industrial welding instructor at Lex La-Ray Technical Center in Lexington, Mo. The center
serves about 300 high school students a year from nine high schools. It had been using welders on loan from 1995 through May
2007, when center managers suddenly learned that the welders would no longer be available.
"We were in a tight spot because by the time we learned we were going to lose the welders, our budget had already been submitted
for the next school year," says Gill. "It would have been at least a 12-month wait to replace them, and then we could only
do it by taking $6,000 out of the budget from something else that's desperately needed. You have to make hard choices when
you are operating on a limited school budget."
Chess learned about the predicament and "went into action like only Toby Chess can," Gill says. "He said, 'We will try and
see if we can get you some welders.' And not too many days later, after he contacted his industry associates, we had nine
brand-new welders to put in our nine welding booths.
"Toby never met any of those students and probably never will. He just wanted to make sure these students had the same opportunity
as other students before them. He is one heck of a guy — an icon for the industry."
Lex La-Ray was able to continue its collision repair welding program, much to the benefit of the 25 to 30 students who are
enrolled in the program. Gill estimates that about 300 students have gone through the program in the last 12 years, and the
center has trained 600 students in various welding applications.
"There have been a handful of situations when Toby has spearheaded fundraising efforts," says Ray. "He has a network of people
who are willing and able to help. After March Taylor passed away, Toby started the scholarship and we (the I-CAR Education
Foundation) are managing it on behalf of the family."
Ray said Chess seems to have a soft spot in his heart for causes that involve providing opportunities to young people who
want to study or get started in the collision repair industry.
"He recently got a group of Southern California repairers together to help a school in Gretna, La., that was destroyed by
Hurricane Katrina," Ray says. "Toby spearheaded that fundraising effort."
Harrison says he once again is conducting classes at Gretna Career College. "They lost everything in Katrina, but they were
able to rebuild," he says. "Everything is fine now and Toby is a big reason why they are back up and running."
Harrison and Peevy add that Gretna officials probably don't even know who Toby Chess is.
"Toby doesn't promote himself," Peevy says. "He just does the right things for the right reasons."
