FREDERICK FERGUS ALFORD, SR.
1899–1964
“Frederick Fergus Alford, 1899–1964” was published in AAFA
ACTION, June 1992, pp. 25-26.
From The National Cyclopedia of American Biography,
Volume 52
Frederick Fergus Alford, business executive, was born in
Wills Point, Texas, June 11, 1899, son of Albert N. and Thaddie (Cogswell)
Alford. After he completed his preliminary education in the public schools in
Wills Point, Fred F. Alford attended Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College
for two years and the University of Texas for a year and a half. He began his
career as an accountant with the auditing firm of Ernst & Ernst in Dallas.
In 1937, he acquired the facilities of the Merchants Cold
Storage Co., Dallas, a firm which was heavily in debt, and founded his own
business, the Fred F. Alford Refrigeration Co., of which he was president until
the end of his life. Under his leadership, the plant became the largest
mechanized refrigerated warehouse complex in the world, and the company was
reincorparated as Alford Refrigerated Warehouses, Inc. The facilities in Dallas
were expanded to include buildings containing 12 million cubic feet of
refrigerated space and 10 million cubic feet of air-conditioned space, located
on a thirty-eight acre tract of land. In 1959, an additional plant was built in
Corpus Christi, Texas.
Alford made a number of innovations in the operation and
management of a refrigerated warehousing business. The highly mechanized
warehouses were built according to his own unorthodox ideas of refrigeration,
insulation, and materials handling. Alford employed special dehumidifiers and
other devices and was the first in his industry to use battery-operated fork
lift trucks. Although his company was the largest of its kind, handling about a
billion pounds of merchandise a year, the high degree of automation enabled it
to operate with only 200 employees and an output per man-hour that was three
times industry average.
Alford became known as a leader in liberal programs of
employee benefits, including unlimited medical expense coverage for workers and
their families, with all expenses paid directly from company funds. The Alford
Credit Union, a company sponsored investment plan offering employees an
opportunity to earn up to 22 percent on their savings, was chartered by the
state of Texas in 1947 with a capital of $50; by 1964, share holdings had
reached $300,000. College scholarships were also offered to deserving children
of workers. Alford credited the employee benefit program for the low rates of
employee turnover, absenteeism, accidents, and pilferage.
Alford's chief hobby was skeet shooting, which began only in
the 1940's after many years of bird hunting. He won numerous trophies in skeet
competitions; in 1953 he was named to the men's All-American Skeet Team and in
1954 placed fourth in the Pan-American Olympics. With his son, he won
father-and-son world championships in 1951 and 1953. He and his wife set a
world record in 1953 in husband-and-wife skeet shooting with 497 out of 500
targets and in the same year set a record of 299 out of 300 shots. At his
death, they still held the record for the longest husband-wife run without a
miss, 358 targets. As president of the Dallas Gun Club, Alford helped to
reactivate and expand the annual Pan-American International Skeet Championships
there.
He was married in Washington, DC, May 31, 1930, to Olita
McCoy and had a son, Frederick Fergus Alford, Jr. Frederick F. Alford, Sr. died
October 14, 1964.
**********************************
Note from Karl Heink, AAFA #0458, great-grandnephew of
Frederick: The Alford Refrigerated Warehouses still are business in Dallas and
Frederick Alford, Jr. recently stepped down from President. Now his daughter,
Bertha "B.W" Alford is the new President of the company. If any of
our members in Texas have had contact with this family, I would love to hear
from you.
See his obituary and the obituaries of his wife, Olita McCoy Alford, and his son Frederick Fergus
Alford Jr. in Texas
Obituaries.
