HBD/Thermoid’s Jerome Crabtree is pictured with incoming Scott County Chamber of Commerce President Sheneka Burchfield, after HBD was honored as the Chamber’s Industry of the Year.
HBD/Thermoid was honored Thursday at the Scott County Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting as the Chamber’s Industry of the Year.
“Thermoid has represented excellence in quality since 1883 and has delivered innovative solutions for the most challenging environments across air, land, sea and space,” said incoming Chamber of Commerce President Sheneka Burchfield in presenting the award. “Thermoid produces one of the broadest lines of industrial rubber products available anywhere in the world.”
Burchfield pointed out that when the Titanic shipwreck was found, it was a Thermoid hose — made at the Oneida plant — that was used on the submarine, and that Thermoid hoses made in Oneida have been used to carry fiber optic cable across the ocean floor since the early 1990s. Those hoses are manufactured in Tennessee orange color.
Additionally, Thermoid products made in Oneida have been involved in the exploration, production and spill cleanups within the gas and oil industry.
Wayne King, owner of Baby J’s Pizza, is pictured with incoming Chamber president Sheneka Burchfield.
In addition, Baby J’s Pizza was honored at the Annual Meeting as the Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year.
“The pizza business comes naturally to the King family, with the three siblings having so many years invested in making and selling pizzas to Scott Countians,” said Myke Baird of United Cumberland Bank in presenting the award. “And as you listen to Wayne King talk about the pizza business, you soon realize that it’s family, along with customer service, that guides his operating principles.”
The name “Baby J’s” is actually derived from family. Five of King’s seven grandchildren have names that start with J: James, Jase, Jazz, Jaden and the late Jesse Wayne, who was named after his grandfather and died tragically and unexpectedly at the age of just eight weeks.
King is a Baptist pastor and a former county mayor candidate, and a long-time fixture on the business scene in Scott County. He also serves as a director of the Chamber of Commerce.
King said he started Baby J’s to provide employment and to provide opportunity to give back to the community.
“Community is important to us. Without the support of each other, communities fall apart,” King said. “And when they fall apart, lives deteriorate.”