At banquet, Crandall serves up vitriol

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 15, 2001

Robert Crandall's fiery, take-no-prisoners style during his rein at American Airlines earned him some of the harshest nicknames in the business: Darth Vader. Bob the Butcher. Fang.

Three years into retirement, Crandall says he mostly "goofs off" these days -- sailing, gardening and learning to play golf at his homes in Dallas, Massachusetts and Florida. But if he's mellowed, it didn't show when he accepted the Tony Jannus Award in Tampa on Thursday.

Crandall told his opening joke and was launching into a scathing critique of the nation's aviation security when he was distracted by waiters clearing dinner dishes off tables at the Tampa International Airport Marriott. He stopped the speech abruptly.

"Would the waiters in the room kind of get out of here?" he ordered. "Nothing is more bothersome than clanking silverware when you're trying to talk to someone. You can finish after I finish."

Waiters scurried off the floor as banquet guests' jaws dropped.

One person in the crowd wasn't surprised. George Elbe, Tampa International's air service development director and the evening's master of ceremonies, worked as an airport manager under Crandall.

In his opening remarks, Elbe told the crowd how Crandall's tirades turned grown men into cowering children. He recalled how Crandall used to go over each airport manager's budget line by line and grill them whenever they spent too much.

"I think everybody out there got an idea of what I was talking about," Elbe said later.

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