Page 26 - January 2022 Barbecue News Magazine

this photographer and he explained they were starting a new BBQ magazine call “BBQ World”. After telling him about our group inside the competition BBQ world this guy said he wanted to include an arti- cle in his new magazine about us. We got some professional photographs. The Mayor of Hammond was bussing tables for the judges, you don’t see that very often. At this point Jerry had joined a partner- ship and was part owner of a Cirrus SR- 22T. I had given him the required transition training and that was one of our aircraft adventures to launch us into the future with Jerry providing the flying. I wrote the article for the “BBQ World” magazine and that magazine gave us some wide spread exposure for a group of expe- rienced BBQ judges. Turned out we were the feature article in this first, and unfor- tunately the only issue, of this really nice magazine.
Both Jerry and I were Master KCBS Judges at this point and we had some really great times judging all around the country. In 2009 we judged the Jack Daniels World Championship BBQ in Lynchburg, Ten- nessee. The nearest airport was in Tulla- homa where the history museum for Beechcraft aircraft is housed. That was a great experience. One of our top contests each year was at Mobile, Alabama. They threw a large dinner for everyone involved in this event on Thursday. We toured the Naval History Museum
in Pensacola. Then on Friday evening we judged Seafood and on Saturday we judged BBQ. What a great food weekend. We judged Dillon, Col- orado, where we landed at the highest airport on North America, 9,934 ft above sea level, in Leadville, Colorado.
That was an experience for
sure as I had wanted to land
there for many years. Upon
landing in Mason City, Iowa
we learned this was the air-
port where Buddy Holly and
his band took off in a winter
storm and they all lost their
lives during their crash. They
had appeared that evening in
Clear Lake. Jerry and I toured
the theater and were asked to
sign our names on the walls
of the VIP area. We toured
The Music Man Museum
where the famous song “76 Trombones” originated. This was Jerry’s first contest as a Master Judge so he was asked to read the challenge to the judges. Jerry did a great job but when he got to discussing the meat entries, he added 76 Trombones for the Rib Bones and that went over very well. KCBS Rep Bill Gage was not laughing but everyone thought it was appropriate. We surely left footprints almost every- where where we judged.
We began each season at the Winter Q in Great Bend, Kansas. February was defi- nitely winter in Kansas and we almost al- ways landed on a snow-covered runway. One year both Jerry and I were table cap- tains. Jerry was explaining to his table that the greatest fear a table captain has is dropping the tray of samples for the
judges. Just as he explained this the table captain at the table next to Jerry dropped his tray and scattered all the samples on the floor of the Na- tional Guard Ar- mory. Another great contest was at Pascagoula, Missis- sippi. We arrived the Friday before the contest and proceeded to Me- morial Park, right on the Gulf Coast
of Mississippi. The locals were shuck- ing raw oysters that had been out of the water less than an hour. After eating more than we should have, we proceeded into the tent where they had Jambalaya, Crawfish Pie, and
File Gumbo. After eating more than we should have there we left the tent where some local women were presenting some great crawfish. Jerry had never eaten crawfish but two women took him under their wings and taught him how to eat Crawdaddy’s. The method they used was the old Suck the Head and Pinch the Tails method. The next morning Jerry loudly proclaimed that he would never eat an- other crawfish. During the night an old girlfriend came back in his dreams and gave him an unusually hard time, all night long. To this day he has never eaten an- other Crawfish.
One of our more scenic events was at the Lake of the Ozarks in Camdenton, Mis- souri. We were seated at picnic tables, and I was across the table from Jerry. He was struggling with a stubborn piece of Brisket and could not pull it apart. He struggled for some time and eventually it came apart. One piece came out of his hand, flew across the judging area and landed square in the middle of a trash can. I yelled out three points and we were the only two people in the judging area laugh- ing.
Jerry and I have also taken some cooking classes. Chris Marks from The Good One held some very high quality classes. I took his Rib class and Jerry and I followed that on up with his Butts and Brisket classes. Jerry also took a class from Rod Gray of Pellet Envy fame. I moved from the Kansas City area to Southeast Florida in 2014 and our personal contacts slowed down significantly. Jerry and I talk about once or twice a month and I still consider him one of my closest friends, particularly in the flying and the BBQ world. He is clearly a very prominent member of the BBQ Family and everyone who meets and deals with Jerry always remembers him with a very positive image. He is exactly the type of person we want in our family and someone who we want to deal with in the future.
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26 - BarbecueNews.com
JANUARY 2022