Scott Yeazell (left) and Mr. Heaton (right). Courtesy Triec Electrical Services
The Year is 1962 and the future head of Springfield's Triec Electrical Services, Scott Yeazell, is a dutiful 12-year-old boy. His father, Richard M. Yeazell, started Fidelity Electric, a forefather to Triec, in 1950. Young Scott would spend his summers at Fidelity pushing scaffolds, running drop cord, and doing pretty much anything else needed that was deemed safe and appropriate for a boy his age. That included things like running back to the work truck to get tools, picking up trash, or crawling into tight spaces too small for a full-grown man.
As Scott recalls, “Things were different in those days. Back then we didn’t have battery powered tools and so we had to have extension cords all over the job sites, so the crews could plug in their drills and saws and what have you.”
Battery powered tools didn't become commonplace until the 2000s. Electrically powered hydraulic lifts didn’t exist then either, hence the need for someone to push scaffolds.
Scott says there weren't nearly so many safety regulations back then. OSHA would not be created for another ten years. To stay safe and alive as an electrician, you had to know certain things.
Scott explains, “In the old days when we were working with something hot [with electrical current] you would put your left hand in your pocket so if you got shocked it wouldn’t cross your chest. The dangerous part is, if it goes from your right hand to your left hand, and across your chest, it can stop your heart. If your left hand is in your pocket, it just goes from your right arm to your right leg. It hurts, but it’s not going to kill you.”
As the years passed and Scott entered high school, he was already well on his way to becoming a bona fide electrician. He would finish each summer with new skills and knowledge.
Apprenticeship in the electrician trade typically takes four years. As Scott recalls, “By the time I graduated high school I was pretty much a journeyman electrician. The trade is very mechanical but it’s also very technical.”
A technically-minded person who respects the discipline required to be a craftsman usually does well. Scott was well-disposed to the electrician trade on all fronts. Gaining this hands-on knowledge and experience at Fidelity Electric would later prove indispensable to Triec’s future.
“I knew people who understood the technical aspects of being an electrician, but they just weren’t cut out to be craftsmen. You had to have both,” Scott says emphatically.
Then it was time for Scott to matriculate. Wabash College in Northwestern Indiana was his school of choice. He first majored in physics and took physics courses there specifically to learn the hard science of electromagnetism. Then, though he says he absolutely used every bit of the scientific knowledge gained there, he nevertheless grew uninterested in learning the maths and delving deeper and deeper into the science of electricity. Or rather, as he puts it: “I was in an advanced calculous class in my sophomore year, and I was bored out of my mind. I decided this is not something I want to spend a career doing.”
It was economics that appealed much more to Scott. He felt economic theory was engaging and compelling, and so that would become his major.
“With economics, school turned from drudgery to fun,” recalls Scott.
“I took every economics course they offered in my junior and senior year.”
One of his professors at Wabash was good friends with the renowned economist Milton Friedman.
As Scott remembers, “Friedman was on the president's council of economic advisers during World War II. And he was the one who advised them to start withholding taxes from paychecks. Later, he said it was one of the worst things he ever did, letting the government into people’s paychecks!"
“I had the choice when I graduated; It was either interview with a big company or go into business with my father fulltime.”
Now, Scott was a craftsman and journeyman electrician, who also had a solid grounding (pun intended) in the science of electromagnetism. And he had a passion for economic theory and business development.
Scott Yeazell chose the family business over entering the corporate world. It was a decision he would not regret. Moreover, it would come to have a hugely beneficial impact on the electrical life and commerce of Springfield for generations to come.
Articles telling the Triec story according to those directly involved will appear at Hubspringfield.com every other week for the duration of this series.
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