Many will note the historical significance of July 20th in reference to astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin becoming the first men to walk on the moon in 1969. It was an unprecedented journey that in conclusion, led to one of the most recognizable quotes ever spoken on airwaves. As Neil Armstrong took his first steps, he uttered “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” That one moment in time culminated after years of research, training, and testing.

Satellites Unlimited was founded by the McKinney family in 1994. Eight years later, a former car and door to door cable salesman took a “small step” towards a new career at our Mobile office location. His name was Reginald “Shanka” Bridges and today marks his 20 year anniversary, making him the longest tenured technician in our organization’s history.

Anyone that has ever had the privilege to speak to, or meet Shanka, walks away from that encounter knowing that they’ve met someone truly special. He exudes a fervorous enthusiasm that engages your spirit and leaves you with a self esteem boost. Things that didn’t once seem possible are now a plausible plan of action with a certain clarity. Shanka has always been a driven individual, crediting his drive to the love he has for his circle of family and friends. This is a trait that resonated with our founder Roddy McKinney very early on. You can’t tell Shanka’s SUI story without including the special relationship that they share.

Both coming from a sales background, the two found common ground early on. Their unique ability to connect and inspire others seemingly had them tied to the hip. Shanka admits that he wouldn’t be working here if it wasn’t for the support that Roddy provided to him on many occasions. In moments of organizational restructuring through the years, he was coaxed by many to leave the organization in search of “greener pastures” but Roddy was there to put his arm around him, proceeding to tell him “that they’d be back”. Time and time again, Shanka saw techs come back to the organization that had previously left. When similar moments arose again, Shanka would tell the other technicians, “That old guy knows what he is talking about.” He is a firm believer that if you stay the course, never give up, and continuously seek growth; “it always comes back around.”

Shanka’s nickname was derived from a funny moment when his mother was pregnant around the holidays and they were cooking a holiday ham. His said that his dad exclaimed in a Budweiser induced state that their baby boy was like the “Shanka” ham in the oven. He virtually had been given his nickname before he was ever even born. One of the turning moments in his life was when he lost his father in 2008. The challenge of that moment was a point of daily deflation for him and things were not going well. He was driving in a blank stare one day as a grown man not knowing what to do without his daddy when Roddy called him and asked him to tell him about his dad. When Shanka was done, Roddy told him that that was a great story and that he should write it down. Shanka sent it to Roddy who then shared it with the DISH team at a meeting. The executives were blown away and were left wondering if their kids would share such things when they were long gone.

Shanka has experienced a plethora of success in his SUI career but that mindset was well established before he ever joined us in 2002. As a cable service salesman, Shanka was ranked #1 out of more than 15,000 salesmen in the country. If opened up internationally, he would have ended up as the #1 tech worldwide. HBO and Cinemax were so impressed by this, that they sent him and his bride Kim on an all expenses paid cruise to the Bahamas, complete with spending money. As a side gig, he is still well known in Mobile as a radio personality doing popular commercials for several automotive dealerships in the area.

He is a man who incorporates many of the things he has learned on the job and applies those same principles to his personal life. Many of the safety philosophies we deploy here are mainstays in the Bridges household. Shanka often says, “that it’s your family that drives you to the next job; not your van.” He takes credit for coming up with one of our main Core Values back in 2009 when he was asked to contribute to our company brochure. Shanka specifically referenced adaptability as one of our main values as an organization and attributed much of our growth to that. 

Shanka and his wife Kim will be celebrating 30 years of marriage in September. Through the years at SUI, they have raised three children, LeDarrius (32), Destin (29), and DeyJah (21) who is a senior at UAB, majoring in clinical psychology. His family is his main motivation and there’s nothing he would rather do, than to get the kids over to the house so they can all hang out with one another. Provide him with some groceries to grill, with a call to his kids, and life simply gets no better than that for Shanka. What started as a small career step, has proven to be a life changing event and huge leap for him and his family.