On January 5, 2019, Kottke Trucking held its Fifth Annual Duane and Connie Kottke Distinguished Driver of the Year Banquet at Jackpot Junction Casino and Hotel in Morton, Minnesota. At the event, the Fifth Annual Duane and Connie Kottke Distinguished Driver of the Year Award was presented to John Flathau.
Flathau has been with Kottke Trucking since 2007 and has been in the trucking industry for three decades. Flathau was named the 2018 Third Quarter Jim Doering Award of Excellence recipient which qualified him for the Duane and Connie Kottke Distinguished Driver of the Year Award.
Kottke Trucking’s statement on Flathau:
John Wooden once said, ‘The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.’ And that makes a great driver. A driver’s boss isn’t standing over his shoulder for 40 hours a week. A great driver is great when no one is watching and that describes John Flathau.
At Kottke Trucking, we have set our sights on being a company that stands for family values, teamwork, integrity, doing things the right way and dependability. John is all of these things, he does them all well and is a role model to other drivers and everyone in our Kottke Trucking family.
When we think of a family man, who does his work the right way with honesty, we think of John.
Kottke Trucking’s Driver Board created the idea of the Duane and Connie Kottke Distinguished Driver of the Year and it was carried out by our staff. The Driver of the Year award is named after our second-generation visionaries: Duane and Connie Kottke. Their ability to build the foundation that our company stands on today, does not go without notice and is felt every day.
Flathau’s fellow nominees for the award come from the three other Jim Doering Award of Excellence winners: First Quarter winner Mike Doty, Second Quarter winner Les Richling and Fourth Quarter winner Glenn Anderson. The award is named after Kottke Trucking’s first long-time driver and nearly 40-year employee Jim Doering.
Previous winners of the Duane and Connie Kottke Distinguished Driver of the Year are Tom Erickson, Ricky Pautzke, Jeff Bass and Carlo Garcia.
The Fifth Annual Duane and Connie Kottke Distinguished Driver of the Year John Flathau.
From left to right: Kurt Kottke, Kory Kottke, John Flathau and Kyle Kottke.
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