Inquiries from reporters and members of the media should contact NUCA Director of Communications, Mr. Robert Baylor, via e-mail at or by phone at 703-890-7807.

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Founded in 1964, NUCA represents nearly 1,700 utility and excavation contractors, manufacturers, and suppliers who provide the materials and workforce to build and maintain our nation’s network of water, sewer, gas, telecommunications, and electric infrastructure.

NUCA is a 501(c)6 trade and professional association.

NUCA's #ThrowbackThursday
From "40 Years of NUCA" (2004), p. 13.

The Snappy 'We Dig America" Slogan
Caught On Quickly At NUCA

At the 1971 convention, following a rousing patriotic number by singer/dancer Jeanne Steel, humorist Don Rick came out on stage and uttered the famous words, "You guys really dig America!" And thus was born the "spirit" of NUCA that has lived on for more than [50] years.

This slogan has sold tens of thousands of bumper stickers, lapel pins, equipment decals, hard hat stickers, and other items during a campaign that began in 1973 and ended during the 1976 bicentennial year. It remains a popular slogan to this day, and is our well-known calling card in Washington, D.C. Everday citizens even requested "We Dig America" bumper stickers to show pride during our current war on terrorism.

The slogan became part of the NUCA logo in the late 1970s, and later became the title of a NUCA Award of Excellence, which is given annually to a nonmember who has made a significant contribution to the industry and/or association.

According to 1973 NUCA President Fred Compagni, this slogan "signifies the contributions of NUCA's members to the nation's ecology and economy, and reaffirms a utility contractor's faith in and support of our country's democratic form of government, political system, and institutions of leadership."

The slogan became so popular that it even appeared in the much-loved "All in a Day's Work" column in Reader's Digest (late 1970s): "At the National Utility Contractors Association, in Washington, D.C., the telephone is answered by a charming voice saying, 'National Utility Contractors--we dig America.'"