Gary Sperling died on the job, which surprised no one.
A tow-truck driver for more than 30 years, he built his one-man, one truck operation into a thriving business with nearly a dozen wreckers and a repair shop.
“He was always there,” said friend Max Asher, a mechanic for the city of Cape Girardeau who has periodically worked for Sperling over the last 25 years. “If that phone rang, that phone got answered.”
Friends and family are still in shock that Sperling, 58, died so suddenly.
After collapsing at Sperling’s Garage and Wrecker Service in Cape Girardeau, he was pronounced dead at Saint Francis Medical Center.
John Owen worked for Sperling for nine years and said his boss was a compassionate man and a hard worker, often arriving at 5 a.m. and staying long after others had gone home. Sperling’s reputation was “absolutely built on his dedication to the work,” Owen said.
Early Thursday morning, Owen, Asher and dozens of fellow tow truck drivers paid tribute with a procession of one- and two-ton wreckers.
Rick Wieser, a funeral director at Ford and Sons Funeral home, said flashing lights and a long line of official vehicles are typical when a firefighter or law enforcement official dies — and he has lost count of the number of funerals involving scores of motorcyclists. But tow trucks?
“This is not common,” he said. Sperling’s funeral tribute is the first he’d ever encountered with tow trucks.
Asher took the wheel of Sperling’s favorite tow truck, a 1997 Super Duty Ford, following the line of cars trailing the hearse. He led 28 more trucks, which made a half-mile long line along the route from the funeral home to services at Zion Lutheran Church in Gordonville. Police stopped traffic at key intersections; on secondary roads, dozens of cars traveling in the opposite direction moved to the shoulder, respectfully waiting to resume travel after the procession passed.
A middle-aged man stood at the end of the driveway to 5579 Highway 25, baseball cap in hand and hand over heart, watching the hearse, cars and trucks pass by in the drizzling rain.
Sperling’s brother-in-law Barry Davis, who came from Tustin, Calif., for the funeral, said he’d never seen anything like the procession or the reaction from others.
“The Tow truck business can be cutthroat at times,” he said. “But when something like this happens, they come together.”
Sheree Sperling worked by her husband’s side for their entire 33-year marriage.
She stood holding hands with the couple’s son, Jason, at the church.
“I thank my drivers and all the other drivers so much,” she said. “This was a great tribute to Gary. He was a good man.”
Such tributes have been going on for more than 20 years, according to Cheryl Mish, director of the International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum in Chattanooga, Tenn. The museum hosts a Wall of the Fallen to recognize drivers who die in the line of duty.
John Stuppy, owner of a Ste. Genevieve, Mo., towing service, and Junior Sinn, of Junior Sinn Auto Parts in Cape Girardeau, organized the tribute. Stuppy expects Sperling’s name will be added to the Wall of the Fallen. Mish said families must fill out a nomination form at no cost.
Sinn, who has known Sperling since they were teens, said Sperling “was a very fine person.”
Tags: International towing, Tow trucks, Tow trucks for sale
A 54-year-old employee of a Pontiac car repair shop apparently decapitated himself early Thursday using a cable and the thrust of his Tow Truck.
Authorities in Livingston County released few details of the death and declined to identify the man pending notification of relatives. The man’s employer called the death outside the shop a suicide.
The man, who had worked at S&R Route 66 Auto Center on the western edge of Pontiac for about four years, appears to have tied a cable to a sign in front of the business and the other end around his neck.
Then, at about 4:30 a.m., he got inside his Tow Truck and popped the clutch.
Jeff Semmens, the owner of S&R, said the man usually kept the Tow Truck at his house, but had been sick the last few days and left it at the shop.
“He was a pretty good guy,” Semmens said. “It really freaks me out — I can’t think of why he’d want to do this.”
Semmens had not arrived at the shop by the time police had already found the decapitated body. He said he usually gets to work around 5 a.m.
A bystander in the area called 911 at 4:27 a.m. to report a Tow Truck driving erratically through the S&R and neighboring parking lots along a commercial area off Illinois 116 near its junction with old Route 66.
The truck careened through the S&R parking lot and adjacent Superior Gyros parking lot eastward, then struck a sign and crossed old Route 66. It went down an embankment and came to rest behind a business on the other side of the road.
When police arrived, they found the man’s head in the S&R parking lot and his body inside the truck.
Tags: Tow trucks, Tow trucks for sale
Tow truck drivers are much needed not only within the trucking industry but also in many other areas of employment. A tow truck is a vehicle used to carry disabled motor vehicles of the road after a breakdown or collision. They are also used to impound vehicles which are illegally parked on public roads or private property. Tow trucks are at times called wreckers and there are 3 commonly used types of tow trucks.A hook and chain tow truck is one commonly used when hauling vehicles away after accidents. This tow truck is also known as a sling because a chain is looped around the vehicles body or axle. The reason it is not used as much for breakdowns is because it may damage the bumper of the car it is towing although it is often used for cars with steel bumpers or if it is missing one or two of the front or back tires.
The wheel –lift is basically an upgraded version of the above mentioned tow truck. It has a large metal yoke that can be fitted under the rear or front tires to cradle them. In order for the car to be pulled it is hoisted clear of the ground by a hydraulic hoist. The tow truck most seen it probably the flatbed also known as a rollback. The back of this type tow truck has a bed that can be inclined and lowered to the ground allowing a car to get on it by its own power or be dragged onto it by a winch.
Tow truck drivers are often employed by private businesses although there are many tow truck drivers who are working for other institutions like the road authority who controls certain stretches of highways. There are also other businesses that do employ tow truck drivers for the sole purpose of towing their own vehicles. For example, the various bus companies, police and fire department, all of these own and operate large fleets of vehicles and therefore own their own tow trucks driven by their drivers.
As far as a special license for driving a tow truck, there is none but you do need to have current valid license without any restrictions on it plus a clean record. What you need in addition to become a tow truck driver is a certificate from the TTA. In order to be approved there are several criteria that has to be met. These can vary some from state to state but as long as you can meet the requirements there are nothing standing in your way when applying for a tow truck job.
Tags: Tow truck drivers, Tow trucks for sale
