Page 11 - Volume 13 Number 5

Steverson kept his father’s Rockwell Commander 114, which he has many happy memories of flying with his dad, and still flies it regularly.
competing by flying myself to and from the rodeos or bull ridings. I would get two other bull riders to jump in and off we go.”
He met his wife Joann Whitman Steverson in 1996 through her brother, professional bull rider Spud Whitman. He proposed to her on the beacon tower at Prentiss Jefferson Davis Airport and they married in 1998 as he continued to rodeo and work for Circle S when he was home.
He rode bulls professionally from 1993 to 2005. He made the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas five times and once held the record for highest marked score in the PBR. He scored 96 points at Nashville on a bull named Zandy, a record that was later beaten by a half-point by several other riders.
Throughout his bull riding career, his mom and employees at Circle S had managed the business through ups and downs. He credits the strong will and determination of his mother to keeping the company running. In 2000, after several general managers at the business and various injuries riding bulls, Lonnie felt it was time he partner with his mom and become manager of operations. Jill remains president and Lonnie is vice president and operations manager.
“The company survived after my father died because of my mother and the amazing employees we’ve been blessed with,” Lonnie said. “Our business has always been pretty solid, however we landed a couple of accounts that had us growing from about $3.5-4 million in sales in 2004 to $11 million in sales in 2009, and that’s where the company has stayed for around the last 10 years.”
Most of the company’s work is in the southeast, though some specialty work of hydro-blast cleaning asphalt hot mix silos sometimes takes them all over the U.S.
From the Commander to the C90
Lonnie, who turns 45 this month, has been flying his dad’s Rockwell Commander 114 since 1994, first flying himself to rodeos and for fun and then flying business trips and vacations with his family. His first daughter Cali was born in 2002 and a second daughter Kenzi in 2004.
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KING AIR MAGAZINE • 9