Forrest Wood is famous for a work ethic and commitment to quality that elevated his Ranger boat creations to legendary status, but it’s his wit and integrity that define him as a person. He has a knack for putting people at ease and for looking at every situation from a unique perspective.
His determination to build the best possible product, despite the odds, is evident in a story about he and his guides building a bridge over a creek near the White River. Wood had accepted the job, and that meant it had to be done. As construction began and Wood started pouring concrete footings for the bridge, old timers began showing up on the creek bank, watching the progress and, like doomsayers, continually reminded Wood there was no way it would ever hold. The first big rain and the creek would get so high it would be washed downstream, they said. It went like that for weeks, even in the final stages of the project. The footings were almost complete, and Wood’s heavy-equipment operator was skeptical. So much so, that he didn’t want to do the work, telling Wood that it was useless. Wood, though, said he “wasn’t ready to listen to that.
“It’s got to work,” Wood told the man “We’ve come too far.”
The equipment operator relented, and Wood led the job of finishing the footings hours before a big storm hit the area. The water got so high from the storm that it flooded out a tractor and a bulldozer. But when the water resided, the footings were still there.
“Those old timers told me that it would never hold,” Wood said. “They might be right. But it’s been 30 years and they (the footings) are still there.”
“You’ve never lived until you’ve gambled and you can’t afford to lose.”
Forrest Wood