User:Donnie Park/Bernie Little

Bernard Leroy "Bernie" Little (October 7 1925 – April 25, 2003) was a American businessman, but most notable of all was that he was the owner of Miss Budweiser, the most successful in Unlimited hydroplane racing history.

His Miss Budweiser team won 134 of the 354 hydroplane races they entered. They won the high points championship 22 years in 40 years of competition, and the Gold Cup 14 times. His first victory came on the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington in 1966 for the Columbia Cup. The winning driver, Bill Brow, won in the Miss Budweiser with a winning speed greater than 98 mph.

Little's team is also known for making an enclosed driver's seat to improve driver safety, after driver Dean Chenoweth was killed in a crash in Kennewick, Washington during qualification for a race in 1982.

His team employed some of the biggest names in their field, including designer Ron Jones, and driver Chip Hanauer who won more Gold Cup races than any other driver, and is second only to Bill Muncey in total races won.

Little has been inducted into the Unlimited Hydroplane Hall of Fame, the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Chenoweth, Hanauer, and another driver for Little, Tom D'Eath, are also in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

Early life
Bernard Leroy Little was born in McComb, Ohio to a grocery store owner, which fell victim to the Great Depression, to make a living between school time, he worked as a paperboy during the morning and evening, he also found time whenever he could to polish cars, shovel snow and caddy at the golf course, sometimes upto 16 hours a day.

At the age of 17, when World War II raged on, he also married Jane Cunningham then enrolled for the U.S. Navy to serve at the Pacific Theatre. In 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, on board the troopship, USS Marathon as a bosun's mate, where it was moored in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, a Japanese suicide submarine struck into the vesselís hull, causing an explosion, Little was one of men to survive.

After the war had ended, he was on board a different ship to help clear naval mine, that had been laid by his own navy forces, for 60 days.

Florida, business and racing
After he returned home and was discharged from the navy, Little and his wife, Jane, settled in Florida. He founded an automobile dealership, he later expanded his interest in aviation, first as a stunt pilot for the "All-Miami Air Show" aerobatics team, later expanding to leasing airports and eventually selling and leasing airplanes helicopters in Florida. That eventually led him to unlimited hydroplane racing in 1962, when he traded in his 38-foot Chris Craft cabin cruiser for his first racing boat, Tempo, a four-seat pleasure craft that he saw at St. Petersburg, which he named it after his association with the bandleader Guy Lombardo.

A year later, turning up himself in his debut race in a long, black chauffeured limousine to the the Dixie Cup Regatta in Guntersville, Alabama with just his black clad driver and two engines in contrast to his rivals, with a van load of spare parts, engines and teams of mechanics, only to later retire with an incorrectly installed crankshaft

Although being made a laughing stock by his rivals, the Bob Schroeder driven craft won popularity nevertheless.

Miss Budweiser
His friendship with the Anheuser-Busch magnate, August Busch III began when Busch chartered a plane from Little for a trip to the Bahamas. As their friendship grew, Little offered Busch a ride on his boat, eventually resulting in a partnership with the Budweiser brand in 1964, when Busch arranged his company to sponsor Little's boat, leading to it to be renamed Miss Budweiser.

Little later acquired the 1959 Gold Cup champion Maverick to bear its corporate colors. Driven by Chuck Hickling, it finished second at Lake Tahoe and had a sucessful season until it was badly damaged when it ripped off a sponson at the San Diego Cup on Mission Bay.

For the 1965 season, Returning to the four-seater MISS BUDWEISER for 1965, Bernie Little's team continued to make its presence felt, while searching for answers. In the mean time, Chuck Hickling steered the Allison-powered craft to a fourth-place in a 13-boat field at Ogden, Utah, in addition to winning a secondary race at Detroit.

1966

The first MISS BUDWEISER to win a major race was actually a last-minute addition to the team. Rushed into service in mid-season to replace a previous MISS BUD that had been destroyed at Washington, D.C., the replacement won the Tri-Cities (Washington) Atomic Cup and the San Diego Cup with Bill Brow at the wheel.

beginning the longest and most successful sponsorship in history.

Bernie, in turn, wants his people to do likewise. He prides himself on his many loyal employees who have been with him for almost 20 years. "I never asked anybody to do anything that I wouldnít do myself. Iíll stand right beside them and mop the floor, do the dishes, wash the car or the airplane or whatever. Weíre all in this together.

"I treat the poorest man on the street just like Iíll treat President Bush. And thatís a fact. Iím a people person. I like people and I like people to like me."

Anyone who succeeds, as Little has, knows the lengthy road one must walk down to enter the winnerís circle. Although in recent years Little and Miss Budweiser have virtually ruled the Unlimited waters, it hasnít always been that way. The King of powerboat racing remembers many a long night trying to bring a balky motor to life -- work which would merely allow the team to make the field, let alone be competitive. In his life, as well as his hydroplane career. Little has acquired the qualities of hard work, aggressiveness and ingenuity that have led many other Americans to achieve greatness.

Little earned his nickname, the "King of Hydros" for his sucesses in hydroplane racing, he was also nicknamed "King of Boats".

Death
Little passed away on the 25th of April, after complications from Pneumonia, he was seventy seven years of age He left behind his wife, Jane; two sons, Bernie Jr. and Joe; daughter, Becky Ham; his sister, Catherine Moore; and four grandchildren.

He was laid to rest at Oak Hill Burial Park, in his hometown of Lakeland.

His son, Bernard, Jr. continue to run the business he inherited from his father.

Awards

 * 1987 – honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, Missouri Valley College
 * 1992 – Unlimited Racing Commission's Historical Award
 * 1992 – Polk County, Fla., Top Manager of the Year Award
 * 1993 – "Hometown Hero", the City of Lakeland Advertising and Publicity Board
 * 1994 – Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
 * 1994 – Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans
 * 1996 – APBA Hall of Champions