MFMA
Hall of Fame
 Joseph
F. Covington, Sr.
Joseph F. Covington, Sr. was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1930
and attended Catholic schools in Alabama and Texas as
his family moved about in the south seeking stable work. Senior, as
called by his friends,
attended John Carroll High School in Birmingham, where
he met and later married his wife of 52 years, Ruth. Senior and Ruth
were members of
the first graduating class of John Carroll, the only
Catholic high school in Birmingham.
On June 1st, 1948, the morning following
his graduation from high
school, Senior began his career in the flooring business
by joining the workforce at E.P. Cuthrell Flooring
Company in Birmingham. This
was to be a summer job at the time he was hired.
He was later assigned to drive the tractor-trailer
rig hauling Flintkote floor tile from
their New Orleans plant back to Birmingham for installation
by the company.
His work ethic and natural organization
skills did not go unnoticed by the owner, Enos Cuthrell.
He was offered the opportunity to work
for the company permanently and was eventually made
a foreman overseeing the installation of all flooring
installed by the company.
The E.P. Cuthrell Company
installed hundreds of thousands square of feet of 9" x 9" unit-block flooring in housing projects
and military bases across the southeast. As the gymnasium business
grew, Covington and his men specialized in installation of the mastic-applied
maple floor marketed by Robbins, known as "Ironbound". It
is no exaggeration to say that Joe Covington and his workforce installed
millions of square feet of "Ironbound" flooring for Robbins
and Bruce. Robbins was a division of E.L. Bruce Company
during this era and headquartered in Memphis, TN.
The
Robbins Flooring Company was founded by the Abendroth
family of Rhineland, Wisconsin in the early 1920's
and operated the White
Lake, WI and Ishpeming, MI plants to the early 1960's
where it was sold to the E. L. Bruce Company of Memphis,
Tennessee.
In the mid-1960's, Enos Cuthrell sold
his Birmingham-based contracting company to Bruce.
Joe Covington was named
General Manager for the
operation. Operating under the same Cuthrell name,
the company promoted the Robbins brand and installed
maple flooring in hundreds of gymnasiums
throughout the southeast.
In addition to hardwood
flooring, Cuthrell was also a testing ground for
numerous synthetic products then marketed by Robbins,
including SportTred and ProTurf. Joe Covington was
also an active member and supporter of the Wood and
Synthetic Flooring Institute. (WSFI)
During this same era, the E.L. Bruce
Company experienced
an ownership change and in August of 1971, the
Cuthrell Flooring Company was sold to a Birmingham-based
freight
company owned by the Conaway family. Once again,
because of his experience, knowledge and organizational
skills, Joe Covington, Sr. was named as General
Manager of the company. The 1970's witnessed the
Cuthrell
Flooring expanding and diversifying into other
construction-related businesses. Covington eventually
became General Manager
of a consortium of companies and passed the management
of the commercial floor company to his son and
long time employee, Joseph F. Covington, Jr.
In
the winter of 1982, and following a time when prime
interest rate averaged 20%, Conaway and his creditors
closed the flooring company
along with all of the many divisions.
Joe Covington,
Sr. has always preached a philosophy about life summed
up by him saying, "things will work out for the best." In
his darkest hours, he, along with his son, invested
his life savings to give birth to Covington Flooring
Company in 1982.
Oddly enough, the very first job secured
as a new company was to recoat the gym floor of a local
church. This new father
and son team
called on a relationship previously forged with the
pastor. He had faith they could perform, and perform
they did. Over the next twenty
years, Covington Flooring Company grew to be a multi-million
dollar operation and continues to be the dominant
force in commercial flooring
in their trade area. Covington Flooring Company has
received numerous awards by Robbins and other manufacturers.
Joe
Covington, Sr. retired from Covington Flooring Company
in July of 2002. He continues to visit the office every
week and enjoys attending
Robbins and MFMA meetings and mentoring with younger
men and women
following in his footsteps.
As Joe Covington, Sr.
leaves the active workplace, he leaves behind a legacy
of hard work, determination and a belief that "things
really do work out for the best".
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