Page 10 - Barbecue News Magazine August 2020
P. 10

bbq life
BBQ PROLFILE:
James Frazee
  T. Michael Garrison
The Flying BBQ Judge mgarrison8@sbcglobal.net
 This month, I will be featuring
a very well known BBQ Judge
who has given back a lot to
BBQ, as well as to several other
organizations throughout his
life. If you have judged a BBQ
contest in the Southeast U.S.,
you undoubtedly have seen
and probably know this
month’s celebrity, James
Frazee. James is a Master Judge
and Life Member in both The
Kansas City BBQ Society and
the Florida BBQ Association.
He is well known for his all-
black attire, including a no-
table black hat, shirt, pants,
boots, and more. I recognize him more for all he has given back to these organizations. He will show up at many contests to see if he can contribute, many times not registered or selected to judge. Frequently a judge has canceled, and he moves right into the open slot. Often he works the turn in tables, the grazing table, judge check-in, and wherever he can contribute to the success of a con- test. Frequently he is a Table Captain, and about half of his con- tests, he has served as a Table Captain. I first met James several years ago when he was my Table Captain in Apopka, FBA’s largest contest. He also cooks with one or two teams a year to stay fo- cused on that side of competition BBQ. Currently, he serves on the KCBS Rules Committee, and due to the COVID – 19 Pandemic,
this committee has been unusually busy. Many procedures have been altered to meet the CDC requirements. Before that, he spent two years as Chair of the FBA Judges Committee. That was undoubtedly a highly visible position.
In his own words, James was “hatched” in an old stone farmhouse near Doylestown, Penn- sylvania. He said his birth was paid for through bartering. He spent some time in New Jersey and later lived on a farm on Long Island near Port Washington, NY. He served his country in the Marine Corps that included three tours in Vietnam. He has some fascinating stories from that period in his life. After his service time, he joined the U.S. Geological Survey, having earned a degree in Forestry from Virginia Tech. They sent him to graduate training out of their Denver office, after which he returned to
Florida. His BBQ roots go back to joining his Father in cooking for Boy Scout’s activities and local parties. He remembers cooking in the New York mountains in minus 12-degree temperatures, but he doesn’t ever remember any cold food complaints. The Boy Scouts would come by and ask for samples, and James would trade them BBQ for logs of Hickory and Oak. He said his truck was always full of wood when he left the site. He continued to give back to the Scouts, and he served as Vice President of Facilities for the Cen- tral Florida Council during the 1990s. His son is an Eagle Scout, and his Grandson is a fourth-generation Scout. His Father repre- sented scouting in India, Italy, and France during Eisenhower’s Presidency. He has cooked many times for scouting events, once feeding 1200 hungry scouts. When James visits his son in North Carolina, they always smoke a whole hog, chicken, ribs, or some form of smoked meats. While working with drilling crews, in the field, he would smoke meats for the crews in return for them doing part of his duties, allowing him time to smoke the meats. He developed a lot of his expertise in BBQ during these years.
While in college, he worked at the New York World’s Fair, where he escorted VIPs to various restaurants. He also worked as a diver with the Lloyd Bridges Sea Hunt and dove on many wrecks. In 1949, he was trained in archery, which led to many years of shoot- ing with the National Archery Association (NAA). He was Field Captain at the 1972 Olympic Trials in Archery, and he was an offi- cial at America’s Archery Championships in Mexico. He organized the American Field Archery Championships in 1972. He worked with Disney during the animated feature Robin Hood. He served on the NAA National Board for many years. Again, always giving back within his activities. He met his wife of 46 years while shoot-
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AUGUST 2020






































































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