Clay Moyle turned his childhood love of sports into a lifelong passion
By Hilary Reeves
Clay Moyle remembers walking home with his parents after his first day of Kindergarten. It was about a mile between his house and the school, he said, and they carefully showed him the way. The next day, he was on his own.
“Seattle was different then,” he said. “Kids were allowed to roam miles away from home at a very young age, and we had a ball.”
Moyle is the Director of Continuous Process Improvement at Carlile’s Tacoma hub. He was born in Seattle, but spent his teenage years on Bainbridge Island, 30 minutes across the water from downtown Seattle. His father, he said, was a “sports fanatic.”
“As a kid, I played all the sports. I would have loved to grow up and be good enough to play professional sports. That obviously wasn’t the case, but I did go on to play a couple years of college basketball, and I continue to play on a recreational basis whenever I’m healthy enough to do so.”
Moyle graduated from Western Washington University, located some three hours north of Seattle in Bellingham near the Canadian border, in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He joined Airborne Freight as an international freight bill auditor and spent the next four years working in customer service in the company’s Seattle airport terminal.
After Airborne Freight, he spent the next 20 years working for Lynden Air Freight, initially managing its Communications Center coordinating freight movement and eventually filling various director roles in operations as well as a seven-year stint as the company’s Director of Quality. He spent the following 12 years in Lynden’s Information Technology department as an Internal Business Consultant, managing projects and working on various process improvement initiatives.
Moyle’s initial impressions of Carlile came as a result of an interview with CFO Paul Millwood, then a panel job interview with the senior leadership group.
“Near the end of the interview, I got a kick out of one of the balding leaders thanking me for coming to the interview with the ‘Carlile haircut’ in observance of my shaved head,” he laughed.
Moyle said the thing he most enjoys about his current position at Carlile is the opportunity to work with people throughout the company.
“I can touch all parts of the business, and share knowledge, concepts, and tools that can be used to improve efficiencies, improve our products and services, and generally help us enjoy greater success,” he said. “In my experience, the greatest challenge is getting everyone on the same page, and reaching consensus on the objective and the plan to accomplish it. I believe the key is to give everyone an opportunity to participate and provide their input.”
Moyle said his 39 years in the transportation industry wasn’t planned.
“I basically accepted the first opportunity that came along after college because I needed a job and one thing has led to another,” he said. But other than a childhood dream of growing to a height of 6’5” with a little more speed and jumping ability and having been able to play professional basketball, there’s little he would change about his life. He’s most proud of his wife, Margaret, his two children, and the three books he’s written.
“I’m also proud of the fact that despite being 61 and having two artificial hips, I’ve been able to continue competing in basketball at a relatively high level against much younger men for as long as I have,” he said. “I’ve done an awful lot of rehab during the last 13 years as a result of two hip replacements, three knee surgeries, lower back surgery, and a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. I’m currently rehabbing from a torn PCL. Hopefully, I’ll be able to play a few more years after recovering.”
Moyle has written three biographies about professional boxers: “Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion,” “Billy Miske: The St. Paul Thunderbolt,” and “Tony Zale: The Man of Steel.” The first two books have been optioned for possible movies.
“I’d be thrilled if that actually happened with either,” he said.
Moyle’s developed a reputation as a boxing historian over the years and is an elector of boxers under consideration in the “Old Timer” category for the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
“I’ve attended their annual induction weekend ceremonies on a number of occasions and had an opportunity to meet many great champions over the years,” he said.
He intends to eventually sell off his substantial collection of boxing books and memorabilia via his website: www.prizefightingbooks.com.
“When I retire one day, I’d like to devote a lot more time to writing. I’d love to be able to find the time to do more of that.”
