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Our Founder
American Red Ball was established by Ward B. Hiner in 1919 ... back when trucks ran on rubber tires and it took real muscle to turn the wheels.
An early entrepreneur, Ward B. Hiner left school after the fourth grade, due to the death of his father. Hiner learned about hard work and responsibility early in life. Soon after his father's death the family farm was lost and hard times followed. As a young man, Hiner moved with his mother, sister and wife to Oklahoma, giving in to the lure of opportunities in the west. While in Oklahoma he was instrumental in establishing the Oklahoma Stock Exchange. Other endeavors were less successful and he moved back to Frankfort, Indiana.
Unfortunately, the future there looked no better, so with $200 in his pocket, Hiner moved to Indianapolis in 1917. He began selling auto insurance for a new company in Indianapolis and became that company's number one producer. It was while selling insurance that he conceived the idea of writing a new form of insurance, cargo coverage for stock haulers. It was a protection policy to be sold to livestock shippers transporting goods from farm communities to market. Ward presented his idea to the president of the company, who enthusiastically authorized coupon books allowing insurance coverage for shipments en route by motor truck. Hiner sold these insured Bills of Lading to the hauler, who in turn sold them to the shippers.
Realizing the potential of this type of business, Hiner soon had trucks of his own. Within six months he had formed the original Red Ball company, with 115 signed truck operators who carried a tin sign on their stock racks, "Red Ball Service." As the business progressed he opened a Red Ball office in the old Morton Hotel on Monument Circle in Indianapolis in 1918. Evenutally, customers requested service for household goods and it was accepted as a return or to fill out the open stock racks with payload.
On May 19, 1919, (his birthday) Hiner formed "Red Ball Transit Company" and opened an office at No. 18 South Capitol Avenue in Indianapolis.
Using his old cabinet making skills from a job building shell casings at a furniture company during the war, he actually built most of the office furniture to equip his new office. In his first Red Ball phone directory advertisements, Ward used advertising copy offering weatherproof moving service for household goods in tarpaulin covered stock racks as an extra service feature.
Part of Hiner's success can be attributed to being in the right place at the right time. As he formed Red Ball Transit Company, the U.S. Motor Truck Company, which had prospered from years of supplying trucks to the military during World War I, experienced a sudden drop in product demand; enter Hiner. A deal was struck allowing him to lease trucks. Early Red Ball trucks carried an emblem stating, "WE USE UNITED STATES MOTOR TRUCKS." The relationship continued for several years, eventually resulting in a merger.
