Randy Austin
Chief Boiler Inspector, State of Arizona
Ever met a person whose storied life might make for an interesting book?
Arizona Chief Boiler Inspector Randy Austin is such an individual. After all, how many can boast of becoming an entrepreneur at 15, once being AWOL, spending two raucous days (and nights) in a place called Crook, and being chief of two jurisdictions at one time?
And that’s just the beginning.
Arizona is a long way from Wisconsin and the state official’s hometown of Monroe, just north of the Illinois state line.
From an early age, Randy Austin had priorities. And a sense of direction. He once showed up at his mother’s office after trekking nearly 11 blocks in a blustery snowstorm. While not an unusual occurrence, it was for a four-year-old who orchestrated a clean getaway from home and the family babysitter.
Randy may have known where he was headed back then. But no one could have envisioned how the future National Board member, his parents and two siblings, would end up among the mountains of Colorado.
“My dad was taking the family to see the World’s Fair in Seattle. I was in the first grade,” he explains while tugging a closely cropped, gray fu manchu. “We got as far as Denver when the car broke down. While waiting four days to get parts, my dad fell in love with Colorado.” Upon returning to Beloit, Wisconsin (where Randy spent his youth), his father put the Austin home up for sale and moved the family to Littleton, just south of Denver.
The Wisconsin native admits to a fairly uneventful childhood growing up in the Centennial State. Upon turning 15, however, he focused attention on what a lot of teenagers focus on about a year before driving: making money.
Starting a lawn-cutting service, Randy landed a couple of large corporate clients before making enough money to purchase his own lawnmower. But he didn’t stop at mowing equipment. In high school the future state official owned both a 175 Honda motorcycle and an Opal Cadet.
Randy supplemented his income from the lawn business by taking various part-time jobs, including stints as a cheese grater and dishwasher at a taco shop, bus boy at a local steak house, and a sacker and stacker at a local grocery store. “For about a year, I worked all night and went to school during the day,” he relates.
Having graduated from high school in 1974, Randy’s interest in cars prompted him to take a serious look at automotive repair. Later that year, he entered the Navy with an eye toward becoming a diesel mechanic.
The Navy quickly disabused promises made to provide Randy specific mechanic skills. Following basic training, he was told to report to Boiler Technician “A” School. Considering going AWOL (“for about ten minutes”), Randy was convinced by basic training cohorts working on boilers was a good career move.
The Wisconsin native jumped in his 1970 “302” Mustang and headed to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center for his date to attend “A” School. During a snow storm on Highway 76 near the Nebraska state line, Randy and the Mustang were rear-ended by a semi-tractor trailer hauling 80 tons of chicken feed.
“My car was knocked half the distance of a football field,” the National Board member recalls with a wince. “The damage was so extensive I had to climb out the back window.”
