Portable Sanitation Association International

Page 10 PSAI Industry Retrospective - the 80s Another portable sanitation product offering made its Olympic debut, the portable hand wash sink. At a follow-up planning meeting, Barry proposed a portable sink to the Olympic Organizing Committee. He had a prototype of the "AG-100" and the "AG-150." e AG-100 (named for the Andy Gump Company) was an existing manufactured plastic camping sink resting on top of a plastic 55 gallon barrel which would hold the used water as well as serve as a trash receptacle. e AG-150 would feature "all of the amenities of the AG-100 with the addition of a plastic household paper towel holder." Aer the meeting, but before Barry got back to the office, the Olympics had already called and ordered 100 of these from Barry's father and company founder, Andy Gump. When Barry returned, Andy asked Barry, "What is the AG-100 and AG-150? I founded the company and I have no idea what these are. e Olympics, however, just ordered 100 of them so you better start making some of whatever they are real quick!" After a very successful and profitable Olympics for the City of Los Angeles, Barry concluded that "it was important to work with PSA Member companies since we all share common values and standards concerning service and quality. We were fair in our pricing but we had to make money and we did. And finally, on a personal level, the 1984 Olympics put the Andy Gump Company on the map." THE SOUTHEASTERN PORTABLE SANITATION ASSOCIATION Working together on a regional basis was an idea that was not unique in the Los Angeles Area. On February 1, 1982, the Carolina Portable Sanitation Association was created due in large part due to Ned Carpenter, then of Porta-Jon of the Piedmont in Gastonia, NC. According to Ned, "we were looking to start a local organization that would concentrate on local and regional issues but have a social component as well." e first meeting was at the Holiday Inn in Fort Mill, South Carolina and membership began to grow. Composed of members from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, this organization quickly changed its name to the "Southeastern Portable Sanitation Association" or "SPSA" for short. Portable sanitation pioneer and PolyPortables founder, Ed Craon, is credited for this name change and was an early supporter of this organization. Two meetings, one in the spring, held aer the PSAI Nuts and Bolts, and one in the fall, aer the PSAI Convention were held each year. On many occasions, information presented at the PSAI Meetings was presented here for the benefit of those who could not travel to the PSAI functions could still benefit from the information that was presented. Early Executive Directors of the SPSA were Toni Sylvester and Charlie Hannah. e organization grew and flourished for over 25 years. Meetings were held in locations such as Greenville, Charleston and Myrtle Beach in SC; Raleigh, Highlands, and Charlotte in NC; Roanoke, VA; Athens, Marietta and Savannah in GA; and Pensacola, FL. A typical meeting was a group dinner on Friday nights and meetings on Saturday morning with dismissal aer lunch on Saturday. Attendance averaged around 40-50 people. e "small little social group" that Ned and others envisioned produced four PSAI Presidents (Ned Carpenter, Flay Anthony, Larry Cashwell, Jeff Wigley) and one future President (current Vice-President, Ron Crosier) and two Andy Gump Award Winners (Ned Carpenter and Flay Anthony).

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