Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland of well-known hunting outfitters Mossy Oak has been a long time fan of Ram Trucks, and more recently, Ram Trucks CEO Fred Diaz. Cuz had the opportunity to treat Diaz and a few of the Ram guys to a turkey hunting trip. The following is an excerpt from his personal account of the outing:
“I’ve been hosting hunting camps for Mossy Oak for over 20 years because after all, there’s no better setting to get to know someone in than hunting camp. This spring, turkey camp was certainly different than those of the past as two Mossy Oak field producers and I were about to spend a quick 36 hours with Fred Diaz, CEO of Ram Trucks and a new hero of mine. Since ‘hero’ is a strong term, let me elaborate.
First, I have had four Ram trucks over the years and have always been a fan of the Ram brand. For anyone that ever wondered; no, they have never asked me to endorse the trucks or paid me anything even though I keep mine in front of thousands of TV viewers each week on our Mossy Oak television productions. I just love the trucks and depend on mine heavily – more so than the average truck buyer, I suspect. My current 2007 Ram Mega Cab has 158,000 miles behind it, much of it from hauling ATV’s on unpaved roads and such. As far as my relationship with Fred Diaz goes, I was lucky enough to meet him on a visit to Ram in Detroit and during our visit he talked to us about Ram trucks. He talked to us about what they are doing to address the true sportsman in the country how to meet their needs and budgets, but more than that he talked about the people that are behind Ram. I could see the passion in his eyes when he talked about the people that build them, sell them, market them, and work on them and it was clear that the TEAM at Ram is on a mission. People like Fred Diaz who pass along the praise and give props to the people that make it happen fire me up, so you can understand why this particular turkey camp was more important than most. As impressed as I was with Fred and his team, I wanted him to be equally impressed with the Mossy Oak crew. Problem was we didn’t have much time – only about a day and a half.”
To read the rest of Cuz’s story, check out it at Mossy Oak’s Perspectives.
