Jack White: A True Cowboy

Despite often being described as as being humble, self-effacing and quiet, the industry contributions of this year’s Martin L. King Award winner, Jack White, CR, WLS, certainly didn’t fly under the radar. “Jack entered the cleaning and restoration industry 41 years ago and has been instrumental in mentoring hundreds of grateful tradesmen who view him with admiration and respect,” said Ernie Storrer, this year’s award presenter and last year’s award winner, at the RIA International Convention + Industry Expo held in Phoenix on April 30 through May 2, 2019.

In Jack's Own Words

I started in this industry on Sept. 1, 1977, with Guarantee Systems Carpet Dyeing and Cleaning Co. in Waco, Texas. Waco is my hometown. My girlfriend, Lisa, was working for Guarantee Systems part time and going to high school part time. I had been going to school at a local community college and was also working part time. Guarantee Systems was a franchise company, and the Waco franchise was owned by Don Dwyer. Don also owned 49% of Guarantee Systems corporate and had rights to sell franchisees west of the Mississippi. Lisa convinced me to drop out of college, quit my job and go to work at Guarantee Systems as a routeman for Don in the local Guarantee Systems franchisee. In those days, the line between being a subcontractor and an employee was not very well-defined. So, even though today I would have been considered an employee, in those days, I was considered subcontractor. I had to sell my Trans Am and purchase a white cargo van, purchase my own chemicals, rent equipment, purchase my own insurance, uniforms, gas, etc. I also had to paint my truck with the Guarantee Systems logos, and I could only work for Guarantee Systems. In return, I would be paid straight commission: 40% of any work given to me, 50% of any referral work and 60% on any self-generated business. Lisa and I got married in 1978 and had our first son in 1980 and our second in 1982. I was a routeman from 1977 until 1984. I had to hustle to support a young family. The services we offered were carpet, upholstery and drapery cleaning, pet odor removal, carpet repair, carpet dyeing and water extraction.

In the ’70s, if you were doing restoration, you were probably doing mostly fire restoration. The water damage jobs would go to carpet cleaning companies that had machines that could suck water up out of wet carpet and cushion. It wasn’t until the early ’80s when Lloyd Weaver and then Dri-Eaz started to make equipment specifically for water damage did we start seeing companies pursuing water = damage claims and training on how to dry structures. My first IICRC class was a one-day WDT (Water Damage Technician) class presented by Dri-Eaz. The instructor was Pete Consigli.

In 1981, Don Dwyer reached an agreement with the majority stockholder to get out of Guarantee Systems and start a new company: Rainbow International Carpet Dyeing and Cleaning Company. This gave Don the opportunity to not just sell franchisees west of the Mississippi, but anywhere he wanted. After four years working as a routeman for Guarantee System and almost four years working as a service technician for Rainbow, I was asked to take a position in the corporate office of Rainbow as a franchise coach and trainer. I had a good reputation as someone who knew how to do the work and could train others how to do the same. I also had learned our business systems and had shown that I could support our owners, not only technically, but could also coach someone how to be successful in growing their business.

I always had a niche for the technical side of our business, and once I was away from doing the day-to-day field work, I was able to see what was going on in our industry outside of our franchise network. Others and I were quick to realize that there was better equipment and chemicals available other than what we were manufacturing and were asking our owners to use. This was a tough sell to upper management since equipment and chemicals sales was a nice profit center for Rainbow Corporate. Ultimately, they saw the value of providing the right equipment and products to our owners.

We had joined the Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration (ASCR) (now RIA) in 1981 but had never been active in the association. We started working with Unsmoke in 1981, primarily using their products for pet odor decontamination. This provided an introduction to Cliff Zlotnik, who was quick to point out the value of getting involved with ASCR.

In 1986, Dupont introduced Stainmaster. Not only did the stain-resist coating resist common household food spills, it also resisted our carpet dyes. Although carpet dyeing had been a niche service for Rainbow for years, we quickly realized that we needed to make a change in our service mix and move away from carpet dyeing and convince our network of owners to drop carpet dyeing and start offering restoration services.

The transition from a carpet dyeing and cleaning company has not been easy; we have had a lot of help along the way from Cliff Zlotnik, Pete Consigli, Ernie Storer, Marty King, Chuck Dewald and many other RIA members and IICRC volunteers. After 20 plus years and other then our name Rainbow (which is from our old carpet dyeing days), most people know us as a restoration company and not a carpet dyeing and cleaning company — although we still get a call now or then for vacuum cleaner parts.

In Others' Words

“I had the honor of serving on the RIA Board of Directors with Jack White during some serious challenges to RIA. He distinguished himself in those tough discussions with depth of intellect, leadership, integrity, thoughtfulness and attention to detail. The association owes a debt of gratitude to our 2019 honoree for his significant contribution in getting us all through that era.” —Larry Holder, 2013 Martin L. King Award recipient

“I have known the man being honored this evening from the late 1980s when I first started running into him at industry conventions and educational courses. In the 1990s, we got to know each other better through our shared interests and often collaborated on various industry initiatives in both the not-for-profit sector as well as some important mutually beneficial commercial activities. Over the years, I have always enjoyed working with Jack and came to know, like and trust him as a man of integrity and good judgement. He is an honest broker who does what is right for the situation or decision at hand. Those qualities and the loyalty he demonstrated over the years to RIA and the industry made him the perfect candidate to be one of the ‘Gang of 9.’ I consider him to be one of the “Good Guys.” I have never heard anyone say a bad thing about him.” —Pete Consigli, honorary RIA member

“‘Cowboy Up’ is the phrasal verb of cowboy. In the Urban Dictionary, there are multiple definitions for what it means to Cowboy Up. I like this one the best: ‘Cowboy Up is when you are injured or down and the prospect of doing whatever it is you’re about to try is so bleak that the best you can hope for is to live through it.’

According to Dan Russell, collegiate champion wrestler and pastor, there are 10 attributes of a cowboy:

Live today with courage.
Work hard with what has been placed in your hands.
Finish what you start.
Do what has to be done.
Be rough and tough, but just and evenhanded.
Keep your promises.
Respect the boss.
Have a positive winning attitude when life gets hard.
Speak with action more than words.
Live with humility and faith.

This year’s Martin L. King Award recipient is a True Cowboy, whose personal life and career define what it means to Cowboy Up.” —Cliff Zlotnik, CR, WLS, CMH, honorary RIA member