| Willis Boat Works History Project |
Introduction Willis Boat Works was a creative and successful wooden boat builder in Dallas, TX from the 1930s through the early 1960s. Founded by former auto mechanic and gifted craftsman Simmons Connette "Pop" Willis, the company built plywood-on-frame racing and pleasure boats, each of which bore the mark of Pop's skilled hand. This website is dedicated to the documentation of the history of Willis Boat Works...a task that is just beginning. With the friendly and cooperative help of Pop Willis' heirs, we now have a rich collection of family photos showing the business from its beginnings as an auto repair shop, to its heyday as the home of the winningest racing hulls in the business, to the ongoing legacy of Willis boats and model boats today. We've had conversations with S. C. "Connette" Willis, Jr. and with the sons of Pop's second son, Ken "K.O." Willis. Some of their stories appear below. This is a work in progress. Any documented contributions are welcome. Please contact us. A brief, narrative history Pop Willis was born in Tennessee, but moved to Dallas as a young man. While the motivation for this move is lost to memory, we do know that Pop opened an automobile repair shop at 3315 Grand Avenue in Dallas in the 1920s.
That shop, adjacent to the eventual site of Willis Boat Works at 3319 Grand Ave, would later be torn down and be replaced by a motel. Pop was good with his hands, and especially gifted in woodworking. The Willis grandchildren still have examples of wooden bowls that he made on a wood lathe, each one a piece of art. Pop married Daisy Mae, his partner for life (Pop and Daisy Mae pictured below). They had their first son and named him Simmons Connette Willis, Jr. S.C. Jr. went by his middle name, Connette. Connette graduated from Forest Avenue High School in Dallas in 1939. He went on to fly B-24 bombers in WWII. He was first based in Fort Worth in what was then the Army Air Corps (later the U.S. Air Force.) One day Connette decided he would take his B-24 on a little detour over Grand Avenue,where he did a low flyover to the thrill of his dad and the crew at Willis Boat Works, who were all out in the street waving. When asked what the Air Corps thought of his little sortie, Connette replied, "I didn't tell them about it!" Connette would then go to the South Pacific where his bomber was shot down by the Japanese. Fortunately, Connette and his crew of nine were all saved. Connette's hands were severely injured upon impact as he slammed into the instrument panel. At first, surgeons feared they might have to amputate his left hand, but one surgeon in Connette's unit was from the Mayo Clinic and was able to employ the latest techniques to save his hand and restore almost full function. Connette received the Purple Heart for his valor. Returning to Dallas after the war, Connette took a job with Dallas Power and Light (now TXU), spending 45 years "doing whatever they asked me to do," Connette says. As of September of 2009, Connette has long since retired (after an additional 10 years working at Wal-Mart) and is living with daughter Tanya in Arlington, TX. K.O. graduated from Forest Avenue High School in Dallas, and attended upper level classes at Texas University. Honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy as a Fireman 2nd Class, K.O. was awarded a Victory Medal. He attended Radio Broadcasting School and worked as a disk jockey at a radio station in Henderson, TX. He also had a passion for singing which he fulfilled by singing lead in Barbershop Choruses and Quartets. Later, he worked for Acme Visible Records Inc. Ken and his wife Dot had 5 children--4 boys and one girl--14 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren. In addition to his work at Willis Boat Works, K.O. was a Filing Systems Engineer for Acme Visible Records, designing and selling filing systems to such clients and the Dallas Police Department. Still in a sales-related function, K.O. later worked for Sears Roebuck & Co.
According to Connette's recollection, Pop started toying with boat hulls while still in the auto garage business. At first he would by old boats and modify them to make them go faster. Soon he was experimenting with his own hull designs, and before long, demand for his boats grew enough for him to leave the car repair business for good and to build boats full time. The July, 1953 issue of Popular Science has a nice article on Pop and Willis Boat Works.
In the photo above, Pop leans on the Boat Works window sill while dog Jumbo rests in the sun. Jumbo later became famous for a spat with TV star dog Rin Tin Tin, when Rinny was staying at a neighboring motel. "Jumbo whupped Rin Tin Tin's butt," recalls Randy Willis, K.O. and Dot's son . "The TV network tried to sue Pop, because Rin Tin Tin was hurt, but he had invaded Jumbo's territory, so it was Rinny's fault." "Willis Boat Works was known mainly for racing hulls, including small hydroplanes with plywood hulls and light fabric decks made with felt coated with shellac. Randy, who worked briefly with his dad and grandfather in the early 60s, remembers the hydros with particular interest. "They were really fast," Randy recalls. "To drive the smaller ones, you had to lie down in the cockpit, and then really lean out over the foredeck when you started out to get the boats to plane off." Willis Boat Works employed 10 or 12 people and could have as many as six boats under construction at once, as documented by the photo below.
Willis also built pleasure boats, including this 1958 14' outboard runabout, the
This boat bears a close resemblance to one in a '40s vintage photo found in the family archives.
Second, a 1956 Willis 14' racer belongs to Lewis White of the Wooden Boat Association. Currently under restoration, the craft is in solid condition:
The company also built a few cabin cruisers and even a houseboat, which Randy remembers well. "I wish I knew what happened to that boat," Randy says. "Pop did all the pinstriping on the boats by hand," Randy adds. "He would put the plank lines on a plywood deck with white paint on a little roller. They'd be so straight, we couldn't believe he didn't use a ruler."
Willis and Racing But it was through racing that Willis would make a name for himself. Although Pop didn't drive the race boats much (he had skilled drivers and sons to do that for him!), he knew exactly what it took to make a boat go fast. In the photo below, Pop fastens bottom planking on his most popular model, the Willis Comet.
Pop earned a great deal of respect in the speed boat racing world. A Willis would eventually win at Nationals in 1952. Pop became the head official for races at White Rock and other Dallas area lakes in the 50s, and would travel in his red and white Chevy Nomad station wagon on the racing circuit. Willis and competing hydroplanes are pictured on the circuit below.
Pop gave up racing in the early 60s. When Six Flags over Texas first opened in 1961, one of its favorite attractions were the Willis Built La Salle boats.
Members of the Willis family still have fond memories of Pop Willis and his boat racing days. Models of the Comet and other racing boats are still among the family's possessions. Family members also participate in radio controlled model boat racing. When they get together, they share stories about Pop and Connette and K.O., and about all the fun they've had together on the water. It is our hope that this site will become a more complete and comprehensive record of Pop Willis' contribution to boating. Please contact us with any corrections or additions we can make to this site.
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Pop and Daisy Mae's second son was Kenneth, who went by "K.O." While Connette tried his hand at driving his dad's race boats a time or two, it was K.O. who would take to racing, and to the business, and work alongside his father.
only surviving Willis family runabout we know of. (If you know of others, please 
Later in the '60s, Six Flags would ask Pop to build a scale model of a stern-wheel steam boat for eventual full-size construction in the park. Sadly, Pop passed away in 1970, before the model could be completed.