Most folks don’t know that Al was raised by his dear Grandma in a rough barrio in South San Antonio.
A true blue Texan, through and through, that’s quite proud of his roots.
But these days, you’re more likely to find him with a congressman representing the USDA on Capitol Hill in a nice fancy suit.
“The Administrator”, in fact, of FSIS; working hard to improve, move the Agency forward, and a big fancy star.
But he’d be the first to tell you that he never expected to get this far.
Now don’t you dare mess with his kids, Brandon, Aaron, and Amanda,
With all of their accomplishments, he is quite proud a Dad, there can be no question of that, hands down.
But you may not have known that years ago he was just “Little Al”, since his Dad was also in USDA, and also quite renowned.
No secret that Al encourages all to strive like he, to be the very best.
That he is a high achiever, there can be no doubt, we can surely attest.
Now if you know Al, you’d say he’s calm, collected and cool.
But he’s probably like that because he’s been there, you see.
He started as an GS-5 USDA slaughter inspector in Dalhart, Texas, in a slaughter plant, just like you and me.
Did he strive to be the best inspector, even back then?
Those of us who’ve known him for thirty-something years, can just about guarantee.
Now Al has done these things for the USDA not because they were easy.
But because some things, at times, had to be done that were tough.
Climbing the career ladder to the top as he did, as everyone knows, is not a simple task, and was surely a “little” rough.
But he did it for the consumer in mind, food safety above all, getting the job done.
Now he’s more humble than I, but surely when he got the top job, probably felt like he hit a great home run!
Another thing you may not know about Al is that he has always been a scrapper, always fighting for the average “Joe”.
His message to the people in the field that are wanting to get ahead, and get promoted
Would be to “Go for it”, and ensure that you make that plan.
Now Al, when it’s all said and done, I hope someday when you are old and gray, that you realize and know,
That we were all quite proud of you, for surely you did the very best for our USDA, and for your fellow man!
Robert Collazo, 8/22/10
