2011 Flies By...

Although we weren't looking forward to starting the 2011 competition season, so many things happened along the way that makes this year as unforgettable as our exciting and successful year in 2010. 

Big Creek BBQ started 2011 in March, cooking in North Kansas City, Missouri and finding it difficult to get motivated to do so.  Twenty-seven contests in 2010, ending on New Year's weekend didn't do much for my enthusiasm in 2011.  Afterall, it had only been two and a half months since we hung it up on the previous season and since then, I was organizing and putting on Smokin' On Big Creek BBQ Competition here in Pleasant Hill.  Cold weather and a lackluster showing during awards didn't give my excitement any boost. 

But then things started to happen.  Cooking only two more contests after North Kansas City, our lives and our perspectives would forever be changed in late May.  On that fateful Sunday evening when reports started coming in that the city of Joplin, Missouri had been devasted by a giant killer tornado, I had no way of knowing that my life, although not in the path of the EF5 twister, was about to be impacted like never before.  The next morning on the way to the office, I spoke with Stan Hays about what we could do to help in Joplin.  That day was the beginning of Operation BBQ Relief, Inc.  The next twelve days saw 120,000 meals served in Joplin to victims, displaced families and first responders.  Stan, Will Cleaver and I saw the possibilities to take what we had organized in Joplin to the nation.  Over 250 volunteers shared the parking lot at 7th and Rangeline with us over these next couple of weeks.  Together with them, we shared hours upon hours of hard but rewarding work, countless tears, lots of hugs and words of encouragement, not only with each other but the entire Joplin community.  The utter devastation was so much more than most of us had ever witnessed and the pictures and visions in our heads will live with us forever.  I lost my job soon after our return.  I won't ever believe that Joplin and being gone serving others was not a major part of that.  Regardless, it was what I was called to do.  Selling mortgages had minimal significance after what we had just done.

Over the course of the summer, we cooked only a handful of contests, a far cry from what we had done the year before.  But it was okay.  I was good with it.  By July when we geared up for the Sam's Club series contests, I was still luke warm about competing and the intense summer heat in Overland Park, Kansas and Fort Worth, Texas didn't do much to help.  But we moved on and qualified for the regional finals, only to fall short of qualifying for the National Championship round in Arkansas by 0.0002 of a point.  Somehow, THAT motivated me!  Our next contest was close to home, two weeks later in Lee's Summit and Big Creek BBQ received top ten category calls in all four categories, including two first place finishes en route to a Grand Championship!  After an unexpected run up to Albert Lea, Minnesota for a contest in late July (finishing 9th overall), we were ready for a month long break before the American Royal Invitational.  But in the meantime, our barbecue world was about to be changed once again, this time in a very exciting way!

On Friday morning, September 2, I settled in to track the drawing for the Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational BBQ.  Shortly thereafter, I was living a dream - due to our win in Demopolis, Alabama the previous December, Big Creek BBQ had been selected to compete in the Jack!!!  Now, eight months after our 2010 season ended, I was finally excited for 2011!  This had been my dream since we first started competing seven years ago.  I feel so fortunate because I realize there are teams who've been doing this a really long time and have never gone to the Jack.  This was special!  To warm up for the contest of a lifetime, we took 29th out of 140 champion teams in the American Royal Invitational in Kansas City and Reserve Grand Champion at Golden City, Missouri.

On Tuesday, October 18, we headed out of Pleasant Hill on our way to Lynchburg, Tennessee.  Arriving around noon on Wednesday, we set out to fully enjoy ourselves.  We toured the distillery, visited Jack's grave site, shopped for souvenirs and had dinners with many barbecue friends in addition to all of the festivities the Jack Daniel's Distillery had planned for the teams.

We were excited about our entries and during awards, we were one of only two or three teams receiving multiple top ten calls (9th in chicken and 10th in pork).  Ribs were 35th and brisket, our strong category for over a year, failed us.  We finished 54th in that category which dropped us to 11th overall.  But this was the Jack and there were 90 of the world's best teams here.  While we were disappointed in the brisket, we could not be disappointed in 11th in our first time cooking the most prestigious barbecue contest in the world!  It was a week of travel, fun and barbecue that Tammy and I will never forget!

The Jack put a wrap on our 2011 competition barbecue season.  I wanted to go cook in Oklahoma the next weekend but the desire quickly faded and I was at least MOSTLY content to stay home and catch up on many things appearing on my to-do list.  In addition to Operation BBQ Relief, I had, over the course of the late summer, gotten in with Dave Baldin at WiredBBQ.com as a marketing director.  Operation BBQ Relief continues to grow (we funded a similar relief effort in Harrisburg, PA after flooding caused by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee displaced many families) and we are encouraged by that.  I've accepted a nomination to run for the Kansas City Barbeque Society's Board of Directors and that's also occupying my time this fall.

The 2011 barbecue season saw us compete in only twelve contests, fifteen fewer than 2010, but as fate would have it, we were no less busy with barbecue.  I personally just had a little different calling in 2011.  And I have found great satisfaction in that.  We look forward to seeing what the year 2012 will bring.

Thoughts on the 2010 BBQ Season

Tired. Surprised. Elated. These are all terms I can use to describe how I feel now that the best season Big Creek BBQ has ever had is in the books! When it all began in March last year, Tammy and I had absolutely no idea just what kind of wild ride was in store for us! The plan was to cook seven or so contests. The final count was 27! There’s really no way to fully understand what to expect when you launch yourself into a year-long endeavor that will take you and your family to many parts of the United States, requiring copious amounts of time, cash, sweat, tears, and yes, even sometimes blood. Yet, my family and I completed a journey that, despite the ups and downs, would be more rewarding than we could have imagined. Along the way, we learned a lot about ourselves, competition barbecue and what it takes to be a champion. Our story is not so unusual that many others don’t experience the same thing each barbecue season. But for our team, it was a season of events and memories to last a lifetime. It was months of valuable lessons learned, first-time adventures and fantastic highs that all come with being involved in a national championship race. It was also a year of meeting many new folks in barbecue that we will always consider friends. I'm not sure we will ever be able to repeat what we did in 2010 but for awhile, we were very fortunate to have experienced what most teams never do - what it feels like to be a legitimate contender on the KCBS circuit. It is a marathon, not a sprint. It will wear a person down and beat them to a pulp but for as tired and worn out as we were, even at the worst, we wouldn't trade it for the world. Many people out there helped us, encouraged us and urged us on towards the 2010 finish line and for that, we are so very grateful. We don't plan to cook so many contests in 2011 (yeah, we said that last year too!) and I hope to spend some time fishing and traveling WITHOUT the smoker being pulled behind the vehicle! Even so, I still look forward to North Kansas City in March! Best of luck for a great 2011 season to all!