Ken Throgmorton carefully places his fingers on a joystick console attached at his waist and calls to his crew.
“I’m going up on it! OK, ready? Say when!” he calls out.
And with the slight maneuver from his hands, a 5-inch pipe of concrete springs to life, pumping material that will become concrete pads in a mechanical room at the new Springfield High School building. Around him, his crew moves quickly to place and smooth the pour.
Ken, who has come to be known as Frog thanks to his last name, has been operating pump trucks with robotic controls since 2008 – and prior to that, he worked pouring floors walls and footings, starting in 1993.
“I saw a young kid with a robotic remote, so I picked it up and learned it,” he recalls. “But I’d say if you’re going to be a decent pump operator, know your concrete and do the concrete pours first.”
O’Shea acquired a pump truck in 2024 and has steadily expanded our concrete services since, under the leadership of Frog and his assistant, Logan Llewelyn – who, much to his delight, has been dubbed Tadpole on the crew.
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