DIME BOX NATIVE INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME

  

A Dime Box native has been inducted into the second ever class of the Entertainer Motorcoach Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee.

Lee Roy Eichler was one of 53 drivers to be part of this year’s induction ceremony.

Eichler was recognized with the honor after having been the tour bus driver for George Strait for the past 42 years, which makes him the longest serving tour bus driver for anyone in the music industry.

According to an article in the Giddings Times, Eichler first met Strait at the Hall of Fame Club in Bryan. He predicted back then that Strait was going to be a big star, and told him that if he ever got a bus, he would live to drive it.

Strait got his first bus not long after his first hit song “Unwound” came out in 1981.

When the man he originally hired to drive the bus couldn’t shift the gears, Eichler got the call.

He was tasked with driving Strait from San Marcos to Houston, and he has been with him ever since.

The now 78-year-old Eichler lives in New Braunfels with his wife, Shannon.

When not on the road, he plays drums for a group known as the B Side Boys.