TowBoatUS Lake Texoma Named Tower Of The Year

Because it’s one of our nation’s largest reservoirs – 89,000 acres stretched across two states and three counties and speckled with 19 marinas and 7,000 wet slips – there’s a good chance that more than a few of the nearly 6 million annual visitors to Lake Texoma will require on-water assistance. TowBoatU.S. Lake Texoma has been responding to those requests on the Texas-Oklahoma border for the last 15 years.

Owners Michael Tucker and Chris Gumm accepted the coveted Tower of the Year award at the annual TowBoatU.S. Conference held in January. Their port was selected from more than 130 independently owned TowBoatU.S. towing companies running some 325-plus ports across the United States and British Columbia, Canada. Tucker and Gumm purchased the well-established port in June 2022 from Gumm’s in-laws, Joe and Roxan Winner, and have continued growing the business.

In addition to assisting recreational boaters for common issues like engine failure, jump-starts, occasional soft groundings on the area’s unmarked sandbars, and what the pair jokingly refers to as “lack of combustion due to fuel starvation,” aka, running out of fuel, the TowBoatU.S. Lake Texoma team is a vital part of the community when it comes to emergency response. “There isn’t one single first-responder presence on the lake,” says Tucker. “We have strong relationships with every agency on the lake and share information and assets whenever there is any need for life-saving response. As we are BOSAR [Boat Operator Search and Rescue]-trained, we assist with search-and-rescue cases, vessel and marina fires, and any time there is someone in distress.”

“The captains and staff at TowBoatU.S. Lake Texoma always go above and beyond,” says BoatU.S. towing services manager Chris Dolan. “Their professionalism is top-notch. They put a big emphasis on preparedness by not only having a rigorous schedule of staff training for all team members but also partnering with local first responders to complete joint training exercises.”

The TowBoatU.S. Lake Texoma team is comprised of firefighters, paramedics, and divers, all of whom love the water. “When that dispatch phone rings, we have a pretty good idea that whoever is on the line is not having a good day,” says Tucker. “Being able to immediately start providing some calm reassurance that we are here to help and take a bad situation and create the best possible outcome is very rewarding.”

When determining the Tower of the Year, BoatU.S. considers a local company’s towing membership sales, dispatch response rate, and service ratings from customer surveys, among other data. Last year TowBoatU.S. Lake Texoma captains received an incredible 100% “excellent” feedback rating from boaters who were provided routine assistance.

“No matter which metric we reviewed, this company was at the top in every category,” says Dolan.

When asked what winning the award means to him, Gumm says, “Words cannot describe how grateful I am. We are dedicated to our community, and this achievement reinforces that we’re going in the right direction. It has given me more motivation to keep finding ways to better ourselves for our members.”

Tucker adds, “We chose this lifestyle, and that comes with never-ending dedication to the cause. Sleepless nights, walking out on dinner, missing birthdays and soccer games. It’s a charge we accept. There are so many deserving towing companies, so to be recognized for what we do in our little corner of the country means a lot to us.”

But the TowBoatU.S. Lake Texoma team certainly doesn’t begrudge the commitment.

“We have what we believe is the coolest job in the world,” says Tucker. “Where else do you get to drive awesome boats, play with cool toys, help people out, and have the opportunity to grow and do more? It’s incredibly fulfilling.”