A bit of Hollywood descended on Reno Monday during the 23rd Annual STN EXPO.
First, Lt. Joe Kenda, the “Homicide Hunter,” was a big hit with attendees as he delivered a trademark, no-nonsense talk peppered with his dry sense of humor with his keynote speech on his career in law enforcement and his unique transition to special needs school bus driver then to reality television star.
Despite a commercial shoot awaiting him in Los Angeles to promote the return of “Homicide Hunter” for its sixth season, starting Aug. 24, Kenda graciously remained in Reno Monday following the general session to meet attendees, sign autographs and pose for photographs.
Later, Jim “The Rookie” Morris shared the story behind the 2002 film starring Dennis Quaid that chronicled how and why Morris tried out for Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays as a 35 year old, making the team and in doing so fulfilling a promise he made to the Texas high school team he coached at the time. Morris, it turns out, also drove his team to and from games and tournaments via school bus. And as a youngster, he was bullied on one.
By the end of his keynote, sponsored by Blue Bird Corporation, Hendrickson and ROUSH CleanTech, the attendees gave him a standing ovation for his message of integrity and how to be a dream maker rather than a dream killer.
Both men elicited plenty of laughter from the audiences of 500 attendees each in the Grand Sierra Resort’s Reno Ballroom, Morris with his self-deprecating stylings framed with a slight Texan drawl and Kenda with his blunt and laconic drollness that was honed by a quarter of a century on the police force.
The school bus industry is not the most glittery profession in the world. But it is a most honorable profession and one deserving of two big names like Kenda and Morris to remind it of such. While seemingly baseball and reality TV have little to do with transporting students to and from school each day, both speakers easily connected with attendees by demonstrating admiration for the industry. Morris comes from an educational background as a science teacher, and he bragged about once being able to successfully parallel park his flat-nose, transit-style bus from his time as a baseball coach driving his team to games. Kenda, on the other hand, shared anecdotes of how he would help local law enforcement catch drivers who illegally pass school buses.
In answering an attendee’s question toward the end of his keynote, Kenda said he utilized his nearly photographic memory that he honed after decades of interrogating suspects. On at least one occasion it allowed him to later identify the offending motorist and recount astounding details to police officers.
