Page 28 - JAN2020 BBQNEWS Digital Issue

flying judge
BBQ PROFILES
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Mike Garrison began his BBQ experience in 1982, several years before KCBS was formed. He was part owner of an engineering firm in Lenexa, Kansas and the City of Lenexa was a long time client. The City Manager approached him and said they were starting a BBQ contest and asked Mike to be a judge. It was full speed ahead from there. Today the Lenexa BarBQ Battle draws around 120 teams and Mike has judged 270 contests to date. He is a KCBS Master Certified BBQ Judge, a Florida BBQ Associ- ation Master Judge, a Steak Cookoff Association Prime Judge, and an American Pie Association judge. Mike is also a long time pilot and Certified Flight Instructor. He approached several of his former flight students to take up BBQ Judging and this evolved into the Flying BBQ Judges. They fly around the country judging competition BBQ and Mike authors an article on their adventures for the KCBS Bull Sheet. Mike has been flying for over 60 years and recently became a Flying Octogenerian with over 13,350 hours of flight experience.
T. Michael
Garrison
The Flying BBQ Judge mgarrison8@sbcglobal.net
The BBQ Family, or community, is a unique group of folks that have formed a bond unlike anything I have seen in my lifetime. They are involved in competition BBQ events around the world. Al- though the cooking teams com- pete to win against all their friends in the community, they will bend over backwards, stop what they are doing, and help you any way they can even though they want to win in their compe- tition with you. The judges
want to contribute to the suc- cess of each contest. Also, the Reps, the Organizers, and all involved contribute in their own way.
One individual that is a stand- out member of this commu-
nity, and has been giving back not only to the BBQ Commu-
nity but to people in need, and members of our local commu- nities that can use a little extra help. Known to many of you,
Rub Bagby, the one person
Team of Swamp Boys BBQ, is a unique individual who has been giving back nearly his whole life. His BBQ life is remarkable, and I wanted to share what he has done and what he has accomplished.
Rub's career as a special education school teacher has lasted for 30 years. Here he worked with under- privileged kids. Both his wife and Rub were teachers on very limited incomes, yet he found the means to help others throughout his life.
In 2003 he was assigned to a team to put together a meal for a fundraiser. He quickly realized the person in charge didn't have a clue what he was doing, so Rub was there to organize this effort. Unknown to him at the time, he would be in charge of this event the following year. He began to try different things in food prepa- ration and learned from the best teacher, trial and error.
He sought out a competition BBQ team, The Dixie Boys, and cooked with them as the lowest team member, the one who washed dishes and cleaned up. He liked it and learned a lot but when he decided to strike out on his own, his wife limited him to $100 per month for BBQ, so he had to save up to be able to enter contests and buy equipment. He entered the PigFest, Florida's top contest, in the backyard division. He won the Grand Championship and got hooked for life.
From then on, it was competition in the Pro category. Rub continued to lose for the next 2-3 years but kept trying. Finally, he started get- ting some calls and eventually earned a Grand Championship in the Pro division. At this point, he took a cooking class, which im- proved his skill set considerably by picking up those tips that can help set a competition team aside from others. He slowly started winning, and by 2008 he made more money
BarbecueNews.com - 28
JANUARY 2020
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