May 2020 Vol. 75 No. 5
Features
Tagliapietra Inducted into PCCA Hall of Fame
The closing party at the PCCA convention not only celebrated the association’s milestone 75th anniversary, but also a longtime member who helped make PCCA what it is today, by inducting Ron Tagliapietra into the PCCA Hall of Fame.
“The work ethic and character of individual PCCA members is why this association and this industry have been so successful for so many years,” PCCA’s Tim Wagner said. “Tonight, we honor one those individuals, Ron Tagliapietra. ‘Tag’ exemplifies the qualities of a PCCA Hall of Famer in so many ways.”
Wagner recounted how Tag started in the industry as a laborer turning a cable reel on the first Michels plow crew in 1964. Then he volunteered to go to Vietnam when drafted in 1965, served as a commanding officer during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and returned home as a decorated First Lieutenant.
He served on the PCCA Board of Directors for 11 years and held two terms as president, in 2009 and 2010. He helped the association survive during some very lean years and was instrumental in creating the PCCA Auction, even donating the first-ever auction item: four Green Bay Packers tickets and a tray of his wife Bonnie’s brownies!
Tagliapietra accepted his award with much emotion and class. “As I looked at the list of people that have been previously selected to the PCCA Hall of Fame, I am honored and humbled to be included into this elite group,” he said. “What Bonnie and I miss the most are the PCCA conventions, which we attended for 22 years.
“We will never forget all the great conventions and the fantastic times we had, but most of all it’s the friends and the networking that are missed the most. The relationships that I have developed in the industry the past 54 years with customers, engineers and fellow contractors will never be forgotten.
“In one of Vince Lombardi’s first speeches to the Packers, he stated that he wanted his players to concentrate on three things: 1) God, 2) family and 3) the Green Bay Packers. If you ask my family, I think they would make the list out as: 1) God 2) Family 3) Michels. And if you would ask the Packers players and my family, I think they would all say that, at times, number 3 was number 1,” Tagliapietra observed.
He thanked the PCCA board and staff and the many people he worked with over the years, noting the joy he received in mentoring so many young people “I would like to be remembered as being a mentor to hundreds of employees throughout my career, encouraging and helping that laborer to become an operator, and the operator to become a foreman, all the way up the line from foreman, project manager, to vice president,” Tagliapietra said.
But his biggest thanks were for those closest to him. “I would also like to thank my family; God only knows the sacrifices they made throughout my career,” he said. “So please remember two things: always keep your family ahead of your job and work on building good relationships.” •
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