Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 303: He Never Planned to Be an Auctioneer — Then He Became a World Champion with Kenneth Wilcox

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303: He Never Planned to Be an Auctioneer — Then He Became a World Champion with Kenneth Wilcox · CattleUSA Daily

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Today on the podcast, I am so excited to bring you guys an
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episode with Kenneth Wilcox. Kenneth is a world champion
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auctioneer and just a man that has a story.
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Kenneth is participating in our King of the Ring competition in
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Dodge City here in a few weeks. And Kenneth comes on today to
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just share his story, his life, his insight, everything that has
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led him to the life that he is living now.
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And it is a story of resilience, of faith, of perseverance, of
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not really thinking that this is what his life was going to be.
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And then his life was this way. And Kenneth Story is just
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absolutely fascinating and I had such an A wonderful time talking
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with him today and I'm so excited to bring his story to
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you guys to be able to share it with all of you.
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Before we hop into today's episode with Kenneth, if you're
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watching on YouTube, make sure you hit that subscribe button
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and you like this episode. And if you're watching on any of
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our other podcast platforms, make sure that you take a second
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to go follow the show, rate, interview it, do all the things.
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We really appreciate it here at the team.
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Without further ado, let's go ahead and hear from Kenneth.
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Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
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the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
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updates shaping agriculture today.
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I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
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agriculture, here to keep you informed and connected.
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Now let's dive into today's episode.
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Kenneth, welcome to the podcast. I am so excited to have you on.
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You are our second King of the Ring contestant that we are
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welcoming to the podcast for this spring.
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And I am just so excited to hear more about your story, your
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background, a little bit about your life in the marketing
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world. But if you would just kind of
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take it away and share a little bit more about yourself, your
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history, your life, what kind of what led you to be where you are
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right now in life? Well, honestly, I'd probably be
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one of the very, very few livestock auctioneers or
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auctioneers of any kind for that matter of fact that I never
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wanted to be an auctioneer. You know, I mean, a lot of peak
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kids grow up, you know, to go to sale barn or they go to an
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auction with their dad or grandpa and well, just think
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it's Akina. I worked around the stockyards
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here in Fayetteville from the time I was little bitty guy
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because my dad worked up there, you know, and but and was always
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in in infatuated with the auctions, but not the auction
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part. Well, not so much the auctioneer
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or that, but just being around cattle and and people.
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You know, I'm kind of a people person.
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Anyway, my uncle, he got divorced when I was probably 12
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or 13, and he'd been married ever since he left home.
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And so he did not take care of himself or nothing.
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I kind of moved in with him and cooked for him and helped clean
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around his house and stuff. And he had the infatuation with
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me being an auctioneer. And so he got a gentleman to
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type me up a couple little pieces of paper that said, you
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know, this is how you make a chant.
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Gave me a few filler words and stuff, you know, and I kind of
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started practicing just to entertain my uncle, you know,
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and, and, and of course, when you know people learn, you can
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auctioneer a little bit. Well, the first thing you know,
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they want you to do something for free, you know, a little
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benefit or, or you know, the white elephant sail at church or
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the I'll see. What do they call them nowadays?
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The labor sales at school, We call them slave sales back then,
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but you know where and it was just that just the kids in the
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school bought the other kids, you know, the, the underclassmen
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would buy the upperclassmen and then make them carry their books
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for a day or something like that.
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And so that's kind of how I kind of got started.
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One thing led to another and you know, I just was hanging around
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some little night time car auctions and stuff.
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And matter of fact, I worked at one and, and I was my job there
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was checking in the cars and then helping them get them run.
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And sometimes at the end of the night, they'd have 5 or 6-7 more
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cars that they wanted to try again, you know, reruns and
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maybe I'd go in and sell them. And sometimes, and I've been
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trying to think about this because me not really desiring
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to be an auctioneer or anything, I didn't keep track of dates or
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nothing else. And they were not milestones for
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me. You know, this things that
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happened. And I'll tell you right up
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front, I'm a God sharing believer in Jesus Christ Christ.
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And I don't think anything happens for accident.
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At that time I wasn't smart enough to know what to realize
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it, but things just fell in place.
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Local live stock market not far from where I was selling cars on
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Friday night their auctioneer had an appendicitis attack and
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they needed an auctioneer for Saturday morning and there was
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nobody to be had They had weddings, they had ball games,
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they had sales of their own you know something they were out of
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town and about 10:00 at night they, he got a call the guy that
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run the car auction over there and he said hey said could you
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come? And he said no, he said, well,
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what about that kid that sells the reruns at the end of the
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night? Could we get him?
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So anyway, he chased down my phone number and they call me
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and I went over and sold. And I worked there for about
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four weeks while that boy was getting healed up.
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And then when he got ready to come back, the gentleman's name
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is Jack Adlund that owned that bar.
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And he said, you know, he said you got some ability and some
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talent. He said if you want to hang
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around there, he said, I can't pay you full wages, but I kind
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of pay your gas. You can help Roy, you know, sell
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the sale. It was on Saturday.
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I wasn't real busy. And, you know, I think you give
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me $35 or something to come over, you know, and it took $20
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worth of gas. That left me $15.00 to go to the
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movies or do something with, you know, so I just did it.
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And about 3 or 4 weeks later, Roy just quit.
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He's, you know, he left. And so there I was and went back
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to regular wages and the guy that was the money man behind
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that sale barn financed A gentleman out at Coldwater, KS
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to buy one. And they asked me to come out
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there and sell for about a month while they tried out some local
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talent. And so I'll sure I'll go do
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that. And well, I never left and I've
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sold it over 30 different lives about stock markets since then,
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including two video auction companies.
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And it was just a career that was borne by the Providence of
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the Lord. You know, he just decided that's
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where I needed to be. And I'm definitely not the
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greatest auctioneer in the world by no means.
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But I've always I've always been really the gentleman that gave
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me that little pieces of paper. We later got together and he did
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a little tutoring on me and first one thing another.
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And I think when I really kind of the the bug bit me that I
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could do this. I went up to January the 2nd
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1976. I do remember that was the first
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time I sold in a public auction. It was a horse auction and I
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went and sold some tack And when I got done, I mean, I got not
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really a standing ovation, but everybody in the building was
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clapping. And, you know, and I must have
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done a pretty good job for what they were used to hearing, you
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know. And so I think that's one of
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the, you know, this could be, you know, something I could do.
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And then I got this, like I said, I got to work in some car,
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little car auctions. And one of them right here in my
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hometown, couple of guys that had a car lot wanted to open up
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a little car auction in a little consignment sale.
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Won the car auction on Tuesday night and consignment sale on
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Thursday nights. And of course, I went to school
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with their kids, you know, so they'd seen me at the at the
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slave sale and they was like, Oh yeah, you company and I was
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cheap, didn't cost much, you know, that's all.
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I just kind of one thing after another, you know, and, and
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I've, I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
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I really have now, you know, I, like I said, sometime this fall
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I think was when I went to Grove, OK, 50 years ago.
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So 50 years of doing this and I've sold his eyes six days a
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week and is down to one at one point in time about what was it
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five years ago? About been about 20 years ago.
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We moved from Amarillo 22 years ago.
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I guess we moved from Amarillo back here to my home to help my
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mom take care of this old farm. And I'm for a short period of
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time there. I didn't have any sales in two
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weeks, I think. And I got back here and some
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people earners over at Bristol, Oklahoma, and they needed an
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auctioneer And so, and I've done a lot of business with them over
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the years out West. So I went over and went to work
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and then, you know, here my career goes again.
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All of a sudden somebody else around here needs an auctioneer.
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And, and this wasn't very long. I was right back to three days a
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week. And I've kind of been right
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there ever since then. Still sell three days a week.
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I work at Holdenville, OK on Mondays, I work at Siloam
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Springs at the Benton County sale barn on Thursdays, and then
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the Poor Boy livestock auction in Wister, OK on Fridays.
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And M extremely blessed. I work for three wonderful
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families that are good people, easy to work for.
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We have good buyers. It's it's a cattle auctioneers
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dream come true. A lot of sale barns are are, you
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know, harder to work and and there's more drama and there's
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more this stuff. It's just it's and of course,
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we're in a time right now that we ain't never been in before,
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you know, market that is so good and and people are honestly just
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almost all facets of our industry are making money for
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change. That's not been that away in the
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50 years I've been in this thing.
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You know, maybe the Cal calf guys getting along, maybe the
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background guys getting along, maybe the feeder cattle people,
9:34
the fat cattle people are getting along, but never has it
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been where we're just all even the Packers.
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I think they're whining a little bit now that they're not making
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some, but you know that it's been pretty good for all of us.
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And so that's, you know, that makes it fun when you go and,
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and you sell some bus. That's the thing that I think
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intrigues me the most about my job is a lot of times when
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you're selling cabs or something at a sale barn that could
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possibly be those be those people's entire year's work.
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You know, when you think about it, I mean that that's and, and
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so when you sell them things and you see them big old smiles on
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their faces and stuff, it's rewarding it, you know, to know
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that you're doing something to help some.
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So that's kind of my story. I've been I left here when I
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went to cold water Kansas there in the, I think that was in the
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January of 78, I believe, when I went up there to fill in for a
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few weeks. And anyway, I wasn't long.
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I moved up to cold water instead of started selling some sales
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around there, medicine Lodge and Texoma, Oklahoma and stuff.
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And, and I just worked in that area a few years and then in
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the, I think it was an 81, I moved back here and went to work
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as a auctioneer field man for a sale barn here at Springdale, AR
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for Harold Sargent. And I did that until February of
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83. And sale Barn and Amarillo
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called and had heard about me and wanted me to come out there
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and go to work. And so I went and tried it and I
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thought, you know, I think that's what I want to do.
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Of course, I was younger and had just started kind of competing
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in the world deal and this be a big feather.
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I mean, at that particular point in time, Amarillo was the
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largest livestock auction in the United States.
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So, you know, that's pretty big feather in your hat, you know,
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and I still had a little bit of an ego back then.
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You know, I've the Lord's pretty much took that away.
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You know, over time, you you lose that, you know, you realize
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that you're just a you're just a you're just a human being.
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You're just what you are, you know, But anyway, I moved out
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there and stayed there 20 years and and I'd honestly, of all the
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places I've been, I liked Amarillo about as good as any of
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them. You know, I mean, as far as the
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climate place to live big enough town.
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You could, you know, see and do about anything you wanted to do,
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but yet still had that country feel.
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And when I first went there, we sell three days a week.
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You know, they're in in Amarillo along with so Monday, Tuesday,
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Wednesday, and then I'd run up to text home on Thursday and
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Dalhart on Friday and then and then for a while there I left.
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I would go down to Haskell, TX on Saturday.
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So I sold five days a week and I don't know what just and I, you
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know, honestly, when I moved back here to Arkansas in 2003,
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my dad had died in 2000 and mom had this old farm and she needed
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some help with it. And I was kind of about half
12:29
burned out in the auction business.
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You know, I've been at it a long time and and I thought, you
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know, I'm just going to move back there and settle down on
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that farm, raise cows. And well, that lasted about two
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weeks. I could see right real quick.
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I was going to have to have some kind of an income or we going to
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get hungry. I had AI had a 5 year old
12:46
daughter and a newborn little baby boy that was going to need
12:50
some attention. So anyway, that's and I kind of
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just dinked around here. Like I said, I picked up a sail
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right quick like, and then I got a couple more, but what really
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kind of lit a fire. And I mean, I almost feel like
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I'm starting over in a way. I was at 2016 when Brian and
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them started the King of the Ring.
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I can't remember, but I saw it pop up on Facebook or something.
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And Rodger, Emmick and I were good friends and he won the year
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after I did, you know, the world championship.
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We had been competed against one another and been, you know, a
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lot. And so I saw that thing and I
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was like, I ain't getting no competition.
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That's past me. I waited two weeks after the
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deadline to enter that thing and I called Brian and I said, hey,
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I said I see you having this contest and I said if there's
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anything I could do, you know, I mean, I come in, see I come hand
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out water, you know, sweep the floor, whatever needs to be
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done. You know, if you just cuz I said
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I love, I love Rodger and I want to support this cuz I know it
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was a dream. He is and I want to support it.
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He said, well, the best way you can support that you just get in
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the contest. I said, Oh no, no, no, I don't
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do that. I haven't been in any kind been
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the competition since 1990, you know.
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But anyway, he insisted and I did.
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And I don't know what clicked or what, but I sit down and that
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auction block up there that day and I had a wonderful time and I
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got to hang around some other old past champions, you know,
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and some new young guys competing, you know, and and I
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haven't missed the king of the ring since then.
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I didn't compete last year. Last year I was a judge and this
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year I just, I can call Mason and I said, you know, what do
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you want me to do? You know, what's my am I
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competitor, am IA judge or do you need an MC?
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Where do you want me? You know, cuz I'm coming.
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So you just will find a place for me.
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He said, why won't you get back in the contest?
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And you know, I mean, you look at the you look at the guys
14:40
that's in this thing this year, you know, and they're all much
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flashier, much more. I'm not a what you'd call a
14:49
competitive type of, I don't have a chant or anything that's
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conducive to competitive auctioneering, you know, and you
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know, I mean, it's like the, it's unless you've been, if
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you're in the livestock industry, unless you've been
15:02
living under a rock for the last five decades, you've already
15:07
seen me. You know me, I worked for
15:09
superior four different times. I've been all over the
15:12
television and, and everybody's living room.
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And so, you know, I'm just, I'm just kind of Wilcox, you know,
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they've all, I mean, I don't know, it's been a couple, three
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years ago. They're the king of the ring.
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I was looking at the judges. I, I was employed by one of them
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had worked for another one had worked with one of them and the
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other two I trained. So, you know, I mean, they've
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seen me 9,000,000 times and it's nothing, you know, but that's
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not the point. It's not the winning, you know,
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it's getting to see everybody And, and like I said, just the
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goal and honor Rodger is worth it all to me.
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You know, I just didn't, you know, cuz I know now if there
15:54
ever was somebody that loved to be in an auctioneer and love
15:58
being a livestock auctioneer that loved it any more than I do
16:02
right now, it was Roderick, you know, and he loved competing.
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He was all about. He would absolutely, he'd be
16:09
like a pig in a slop bucket right now with cuz you know, for
16:13
years there was the the World Livestock Auctioneer
16:16
Championship, there was the International Auctioneer
16:18
Championship and maybe your state had a little contest.
16:22
That was it. Today, if you want to be a
16:25
competitive auctioneer, you can go somewhere just about every
16:28
weekend and get in one. You know, I mean, I'm in one
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this coming Saturday, you know, and just again by default,
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because the guys that are putting it on a really good
16:39
friends of mine and they asked me to come and I win it.
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There's 10 auctioneers in the finals this weekend.
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And I'll tell you what, I hope I finished 10th and don't just get
16:48
voted plum out because the talent level is superb.
16:52
I mean, and you look at the, I can't name them all off top of
16:56
my head, but the guys that are in the king of the ring this
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year, there ain't one of them. If I bought a Sailbond tomorrow
17:01
that I would love that. I would be honored to have work
17:05
in my auction. You know, I mean the talent
17:07
level and this is going to sound really boastful and I don't mean
17:11
it that way. But when I started auctioneering
17:14
there in the in the late 70s and early 80s and even when I
17:19
started going to competitions, I went to my first one in 1980,
17:23
there was a handful of guys that was decent, but there wasn't
17:29
just top to bottom. Like you see, you go to the WLAC
17:32
today and they're going to be 30 guys there in June at that deal.
17:37
And they all deserve to be there.
17:40
They're all good, you know, And when I was auctioneer, I mean,
17:43
I, I, when I went California in 1980, Everton, California to my
17:48
first World Livestock Auctioneer Championship, I thought it was
17:51
wasting my money going out there.
17:53
They probably should just mail me that trophy because the
17:56
circles I was in where I was working 4-5 days a week, I was
18:01
leaps and bounds above anybody that was anywhere close to me or
18:06
around me or, you know, and I don't mean that mostly.
18:09
I mean that's just the way it was.
18:11
Livestock auctioneering was the, that you just, that was the
18:15
bottom of the barrel. You know, I mean, there was, I
18:17
tried for years to get in the car auction deal because the
18:20
money was so much better. The work was so much less the
18:22
travel. Now the travel was kind of out
18:25
there, you know, you had travel all over the country, but still
18:28
it paid like 3 and four times what I was making.
18:31
You know, just in the last few years as it's gotten to where
18:35
it's kind of a, you're not ashamed to say I'm alive
18:38
livestock auctioneer. You know, there was a point in
18:40
time that you know, well that he can't do anything else.
18:44
That's reason he's doing that. And truly the guys that were
18:46
doing it, a lot of them are, were big in real estate or farm
18:50
sales in the area and they simply done it for, they'd sell
18:54
the local sale barn to get exposure.
18:56
You know, right here in my hometown when I was a kid
18:59
growing up, the 2 old men that sold here at Fayetteville, that
19:02
was their main gig was they did all the farm sales and they
19:05
wanted to be there for the farmers were any, it was an
19:08
advertisement gig. They didn't care what they got
19:10
paid, you know, so I don't anyway, I don't know.
19:15
That's kind of my story and where I've been and you know, I
19:20
and like I said, since 2016 are going to the king of the ring
19:24
and I just feel like I've started all over.
19:25
You know, if I could get them, I'd sell five days a week again.
19:28
I'd sell my cows and let this farm grow up in weeds And I just
19:33
right, hire somebody to hire somebody to take care of the
19:35
cows. I wouldn't get rid of my cows, I
19:37
don't think, because even though I work in some wonderful options
19:41
for some of the most wonderful people you could ever imagine.
19:44
I mean, Mike Cantrell and Thad Holcomb and Holden Builder, just
19:48
salt to the earth people. And they're just, it's honest
19:51
and it's, you know, I mean, it's and the same way at Siloam
19:54
Springs, I worked for the Vaughn family up there and it's a
19:57
brother and a sister that run the thing.
19:59
And they're good Christian people and they just
20:02
everything's, you know, they just do it right, you know?
20:05
And then I'm working for a young man at Wooster, Oklahoma at the
20:09
Poor Boy Livestock Auction. And when?
20:12
When they call me a friend of mine, the bookkeeper down,
20:15
there's one that called me and wanted me to come down and talk
20:18
to him about selling that sale. And I'm like, yeah, I ain't
20:21
doing. I don't need to, I don't need to
20:23
babysit another young guy starting the livestock market
20:26
up, You know, I mean, I'm too old to be, to be a babysitter,
20:29
you know, I've been there, done that, you know, and I went down,
20:32
met this young man and I, he impressed me so much.
20:36
He was very humble, not arrogant, wasn't coming, trying
20:40
to take over the world. He knew it was going to be a
20:42
hard uphill battle. But you know, and I, I just met
20:47
him and he just, he just wore on me and I took the job and I've
20:51
not regretted it one minute. He's an excellent, he just, he
20:54
wants everything done and done right.
20:56
He don't want no games or no jokes or nothing, you know, and
21:00
just kind of fun to work with. So like I said it, I, if I could
21:05
find two more just like the three I've got, I would, I'd
21:08
sell five days a week and especially if they were close by
21:13
where I could get, I see I've got a four year old grandson
21:17
now. And so that's live.
21:20
He went to his first T-ball practice last night and we're
21:23
all excited about that. And, and he's got a little
21:26
sister that's about 5-6 months old and we just can't wait for
21:29
her to get a little bigger. So, and you're not near old
21:32
enough to know anything about grandchildren And, and I've
21:34
heard it all my life. You don't know what it's about
21:36
till you've been there. And I totally agree because a
21:39
few years ago the only thing I was looking forward to was try
21:42
to get my son graduated from high school.
21:45
And I thought if I can accomplish that, I'm ready to go
21:47
home and meet Jesus because I'm done with this man nonsense.
21:51
But, you know, I got him, got him and going to get him married
21:55
off the 25th of July, which that's another.
21:58
I was when he called me and asked me about that date, the
22:02
King of the Ring was not on my mind.
22:04
Hadn't thought about it, you know, and I was just excited to
22:06
get him married. I didn't know if we'd ever find
22:08
anybody taking, you know, And so I was so excited about that and
22:13
I said, yeah, that July the 25th.
22:16
That'll work, Carlton, That'll be a good deal, you know.
22:18
And then I don't know, it was few months later or something.
22:24
All of a sudden one day it dawned on me that that was the
22:27
last Saturday in July and I was going to have to miss the King
22:30
of the ring. Honestly, I was running.
22:31
I thought what, they get married late in the evening.
22:34
Maybe I could get a plane and I could make it to the King of the
22:37
Ring and I could jump on that plane and come home and go to
22:40
win. I was trying to think because
22:42
the King of the Ring has really, I mean, honestly, I tell Brian
22:45
in this all the time, if they didn't accomplish anything else
22:49
other than satisfying Rogers dream, which I know is is a
22:53
great thing, but they really did.
22:55
They rejuvenated me. They got me woke back up because
22:59
I was just kind of, you know, sometimes you just get in a rut,
23:01
you just start doing things. And so, you know, I mean, I even
23:04
got so excited about it, you know, I kind of started paying
23:08
closer attention to my chant and some of the things I was doing,
23:11
trying to just be a little bit better, you know, and so anyway,
23:15
that's always that's always good.
23:17
But so I, when I seen they move this thing up into May, I mean,
23:21
I got so, so excited. I, I told my wife, I said the
23:24
Lord just continues to bless me despite my ignorance and
23:28
stupidness, you know, but anyway, and you know, I, I sent
23:32
both of my kids to auction school up at worldwide Carlton
23:35
went first. And boy, I mean, they did an
23:39
Immaculate job. He, you know, people said, why
23:41
didn't you teach him? I am a horrible teacher,
23:44
absolutely the worst. I just because I really don't
23:47
even I was never taught. So if you've not been taught,
23:51
you don't know how to teach. I just learned mine by doing,
23:54
you know, and watching and picking up things and you don't.
23:57
I mean, I've had the opportunity to work with some absolute
24:00
legends. Ralph Wade, you know, work with
24:02
him at Superior transferred them guys, you know, and, and, and
24:06
just local auctioneers I've worked with.
24:08
I mean, I've worked with some good ones.
24:10
Justin Dodson, he's in the competition out there at the
24:14
King of the Ring. And, you know, there is not a
24:16
finer human being and, and in my opinion, within 200 miles and
24:21
maybe 3400 miles or 500 miles of where we live here, he's
24:27
probably the best livestock auctioneer there is.
24:29
He knows of value and he and he knows people and he and and he's
24:35
honest. He does it and does it right,
24:38
you know, and you just, you got to love him, you know.
24:41
But anyway, so you know, you pick up things from different
24:44
ones that you work with, you know, and, and sometimes you
24:47
work with some and you go and I don't want to do that either,
24:50
you know, and I used to, I told a story one time about it was
24:55
kind of funny. It kind of come back and bit me.
24:57
But I Brian little who's passed away now, but Brian was Brian
25:01
and I work together Tulsa and of all the people that I've worked
25:05
to our hour on an hour off with over the years, man, he was good
25:09
to work with because when you got back up there after your
25:12
hour off, you didn't have to change anything.
25:15
The sale was moving, the sale was going, the buyers were
25:18
bidding. Brian kept things in check and I
25:20
told somebody one time I said, you know, that's every place
25:24
I've ever been. You know, usually I switch on
25:26
and off of somebody. Will I get back up her and
25:28
they've let things kind of wind down and I got to get her wound
25:31
back up, you know, and I said it wasn't that a way for working
25:35
with Brian and they said no, it wasn't for you, but it was for
25:38
Brian. After he got up her behind me,
25:40
he had to get her wound back up because I let her come unwound.
25:43
You know, I tell you is Brian was, you know, it's funny, when
25:47
I went to work there, I don't know how long it was before he
25:50
even kind of, but you know, Brian was not a real outgoing
25:55
type person, you know, and then I thought, well, he don't like
25:57
me, you know, he did. He just he's not one of the kind
26:00
of people that just, you know, shows his affection or your
26:04
stuff immediately, you know, but over the years we got to be
26:07
really, really good friends and and I really miss him.
26:10
I hate it. He he was a fun guy to be
26:12
around. So anyway, OK, you won't ask any
26:16
questions. Kenneth, I could sit back and
26:18
just listen to you all day long. I am having so much fun over
26:22
here just hearing more about your story and everything that
26:25
you've done. So we go from Oklahoma and
26:28
you're there. You're doing all your things.
26:30
What took you from being there to being like, I guess I could,
26:34
I can start competing a little bit.
26:36
I can start having some fun with this.
26:38
And then what took you from there to the world's and
26:41
eventually winning the world's and then just kind of your life
26:44
in between those areas and that you said you kind of you didn't
26:48
even really get the bite until later in your life.
26:51
But what, what took you from being like, yeah, I, I kind of
26:53
like these competitions and I, I think I want to compete in the
26:56
world's. Well, so when I went in and like
26:58
I told you in 1980 when I went to Templeton, CA, I was pretty
27:02
sure that I, because in the circle since I was in, I was by
27:05
far the best. And so I got out there and man,
27:08
it was a eye opening experience. And I wouldn't say I'm a highly
27:13
competitive person, but I don't take the losing real well or I'm
27:18
not a sore loser either, but I just, if I can see where my
27:22
performance could be better than I want it to be better, you
27:25
know, I don't mind. I don't mind losing if I lose to
27:28
somebody. It's just if I did my best, you
27:31
know, then that's OK Getting beats, OK, hey, you know, But
27:36
when you don't have a good performance and you kind of, you
27:39
know, I need to make some adjustments.
27:41
Well, I show up in Templeton, CA first thing.
27:44
Didn't even know what I was getting into.
27:45
So I had to run down to store and buy me a tie and a Sport
27:51
coat because I didn't take either one with men.
27:53
Didn't realize I needed one. The day of the contest, I'm
27:57
sitting over there in a little old building off beside the
28:00
auction barn, sequestered, you know, and I think I was, I think
28:04
I was, I can't remember. I was in the, I was about 8 or
28:08
10 from the end, OK, However many there was that year, I
28:11
don't remember. I'm sitting over listening to
28:13
all these guys, listening to them talk and hearing their
28:16
stories and thinking, oh, I might be out of my league.
28:19
So I'll go around behind the auction barn to get ready to
28:21
come up and compete. And we'll say I think I was
28:24
contestant 58 and Ralph Waite, not Ralph Wade, but Ralph Waite
28:29
from up Atlanta, Paul, Oklahoma, and he was a pretty top
28:32
competitor on about that time of he was right behind me and I
28:34
knew Ralph, his son, and I'd sold some pig sails together and
28:38
stuff. And I was standing there and the
28:42
judges had gone as far as they could go.
28:45
What I'm had to go to the bathroom.
28:46
So they had to stop the thing. And while they stopped the
28:49
competition while this guy went to the bathroom, they brought a
28:51
kid up out of the back back there.
28:55
And I don't know, he's 10/11/12, thirteen years old.
28:58
I don't know how old he was, but just a kid that was pushing
29:02
cattle up and had him come up cell for a little bit while they
29:06
were while the judges went to bathroom.
29:08
This kid got up her and I mean tell you what, he this, he's
29:11
better than me and his names Max Alvera.
29:13
He went on to win the world championship several years
29:16
later. So I'll turn around.
29:18
Look at Ralph. I said I'm out here.
29:20
I ain't got no business being here.
29:22
I'm going home. No, he said just get in there.
29:25
He said they, they can't eat you.
29:27
If they did, they couldn't pass you.
29:28
Don't worry about it. Anyway, I went, sold my 456
29:32
drafts, whatever, and left and of course went towards banquet
29:35
stuff that night and all that and I got on that plane, flew
29:39
back to Kansas. I was living in, I was living in
29:42
Coldwater, KS at that time. I just, you got to fix some
29:46
things, you know, So of course we didn't have the YouTube and
29:50
all that stuff we got now, but I got me.
29:52
So I bought some tapes of past contests and stuff and listen to
29:56
some of those guys and, and I got me a tape recorder and I'd
29:59
record it and, and I tell people this all the time.
30:02
If you want to learn to be an aux deer, don't call me for
30:05
advice. Record yourself and listen to it
30:08
back. You are your own best critic,
30:11
you know, get you some tapes of some other aux deers.
30:13
Listen to them, then tape yourself and you go over that
30:17
you judge yourself because you will be way more critical than
30:20
I'll be. But anyway, I just started
30:22
practicing and then and in 81 I thought, well, I'll go again,
30:26
you know, just to see. And of course they always have
30:29
it around Father's Day and, and my dad had asked me a ton of
30:33
questions about the deal in California.
30:35
So I, me and him load up and we go to Minneapolis, St.
30:38
Paul, MN to the contest. And I don't know, I was the
30:42
21st, 2nd, 3rd contestant out of 100 and something I didn't win
30:47
anything. I think I I sold two drafts of
30:49
cattle and I was on the block about just under a minute.
30:54
But my dad was intrigued. He really loved it.
30:57
He enjoyed it. So this became a Father's Day
31:00
deal from then on. And so in 82 we go to Regina, SK
31:05
Canada and they made the fatal mistake of letting me have third
31:08
place in that contest. And I did have a really good go
31:12
that year and did good. And you know, then once you
31:16
know, you get that close think well.
31:18
And so I just kept going and going and going.
31:20
And then in 88 they had it. They had it in my home barn in
31:26
umbrella. And so I didn't compete that
31:28
year, but I've been every year up until then.
31:30
But I chose not back then it was OK to compete in your home barn,
31:34
but I didn't do it. And I thought, because, boy,
31:37
what if I'd win that thing? And then there'd always be that
31:39
little asterisk, you know? Well, he was at his home barn
31:41
and I didn't want that. So I was just a host And but
31:45
then I the bug, it really bit me.
31:47
I wanted to win this thing, you know, and so that the next year
31:51
was focused on nothing but the WLAC in June and I went on a
31:55
diet. I lost some weight, started
31:57
running to build my air back up. I taped nearly every auction or
32:00
some part of it and listened and stuff, you know, and back.
32:04
And but this time we had to the manage a video.
32:07
And I had guys come in and video me, you know, and I would watch
32:10
those and look at that. And I mean, I worked at it.
32:13
And I went to Lexington, KY in 1989 and I put on a performance
32:20
that was above and beyond anything you've ever seen.
32:24
They had a couple of levers on either side of that microphone
32:29
that you had to open and shut the gates.
32:31
And I don't know why, but they just fit me to a tee.
32:34
And I mean, I got along like a champion.
32:38
And so the night of the awards banquet, I'm standing there and
32:41
honestly, they called me for 2nd place and a lot of people would
32:45
have been excited and I was almost to the point of mad.
32:48
I mean, I walked up and got my trophy, come back over and got
32:51
in line and I was swole up like a poison dog.
32:55
Now I was not liking it. And because I'm looking up and
32:58
down that line of them, I think it back in them days or 15
33:02
finalists or whatever, but I'm like, I can't, I don't know.
33:06
I just don't know. I can't do it no better than
33:08
that, you know. And then they called them Paul
33:10
Bear for nothing. Eagan, MN and Paul and I've been
33:13
friend for years. And I was like, well, OK,
33:15
because they just see they instigated the interview thing
33:19
or instated it in 88 was the first year of it.
33:22
So I had not experienced the interview part yet and until
33:26
that year. And so and I thought, well, that
33:28
Paul, you know, he had a good go.
33:31
He's a good ultra deer. And then I'm sure that
33:33
interview, you know, and so I was, I was kind of OK with it
33:36
being as it was Paul. But honestly, I wasn't going
33:39
back. I was done.
33:40
But they had it in California the next year.
33:42
And I had an aunt that lived out in Sacramento and I don't want
33:45
to be cool to go see her and then run up the coast and go to
33:48
contest. So that's what I did, but I went
33:50
with no intentions of winning. I went to see everybody.
33:54
My competing was over. It's done.
33:56
I gave them all I had last year and it it didn't work.
33:59
So I ain't got anything else in the tank, you know, that won't
34:02
cut it. I I can't bring anything else.
34:04
And I went out there and just had a really nice goal.
34:07
My first goal really wasn't all that good.
34:09
And I think I made it in the finals probably on name
34:12
recognition only. But I got in the in the finals.
34:15
I had a nice go and I really did good in that interview.
34:18
I mean did real good and I think that's what kind of put me over
34:22
the top And and so and the year I won, we didn't do a whole, you
34:26
know, back the end. You didn't do a whole lot of
34:28
traveling. I went to Lancaster, PA and sold
34:32
for five days back there. They had something everyday fat
34:35
kettle, calves and horses and just everything, you know,
34:40
different something different everyday.
34:41
And, and then I went to the Pork Producers convention in Toledo,
34:46
OH and I went to the one of the, I don't know if it's NCBA or the
34:50
Texas Southwestern. One was in Corpus Christi and
34:53
one was in Houston. So I can't remember which one
34:55
was which, but that was the only advance of traveling that I did.
34:59
And then from that I just kind of went on about my business,
35:03
working my sales, like I said, had a little bit of that ego
35:06
problem. Pretty soon I got to thinking I
35:08
was, you know, now I'm a world champion, I'm better than
35:11
everybody else. And that didn't work out too
35:13
good. But it most generally happens to
35:17
all of us. If you go back and get all the
35:19
past world champions and look through them, there's a lot of
35:22
them that's not done well. We're not been successful after
35:26
the fact because to be successful in this business you
35:29
still got to have a certain amount of humility and people
35:33
skills and when you get to thinking you're better than
35:35
everybody else, it don't work out very good.
35:38
Yeah, that's, that isn't the truth.
35:40
I just can see your passion and the way that this industry has
35:45
continued to shape you throughout your career and your
35:47
life and just the hand that God has had and all of that as well
35:52
is just so beautiful to see. And it's one of those stories
35:56
that you look at and you're like, this was perfectly put
36:00
together by God himself because no one else.
36:03
You couldn't have made this up otherwise.
36:06
No, and you know, honestly, I'm trying to think and I, I've
36:09
applied for a couple of jobs in the last few years that and I
36:14
don't think I got any of the ones out.
36:16
But up until just a few years ago, you know, there's been some
36:20
job opportunities that have come up that I've called and said,
36:22
Hey, I'd, I'd be interested, you know, type.
36:25
But up until that, I went through my whole career and I
36:28
never, I never asked nobody for a job.
36:31
There's somebody calling my phone, you know, and just, you
36:35
know it. So, yeah, it was definitely
36:37
nothing that I planned or promoted or like I said, I never
36:40
even dreamed of being a catalogs near.
36:42
And and now I don't know where I would have been without it.
36:45
You know, I was going to with them when I went to work over
36:48
Grove. OK, I was going to the
36:49
University of Arkansas up here and just barely making passing
36:53
grades, trying to get a agricultural engineering job.
36:56
And I never will forget that. We had one of them career day
37:00
things and somebody come in and talk to us.
37:02
And I was in my second semester. Well, if you'd graduate in the
37:05
top 10% of your class and we could probably get you a job,
37:09
you know, start that. I don't even remember now X
37:12
number of dollars a year and I'm thinking, man, I ain't going to
37:14
graduate and top 10% of my class to start with.
37:17
Secondly, I can already make more than that just selling a
37:20
few little old car sales and and a livestock auction a week, you
37:24
know, and so I just quit school. I was like, I was going to go do
37:28
this, you know, and it just it's been been very good.
37:33
I don't know it, like I said, I, I, I probably, I've always
37:37
enjoyed it, but I enjoy it more now than I ever have.
37:41
And maybe that's just 'cause I'm getting old, you know, we have a
37:44
tendency to appreciate things when we're older.
37:47
I tell my son all the time he is an excellent auctioneer.
37:50
He could not sell anything for two or three years at a time and
37:54
just go do it. Did a little benefit auction
37:56
last year down here. I bet he hadn't sold in two
37:59
years and you would have thought he did it every day of his life.
38:02
He has zero interest in it. He does not want have any part
38:05
of it and I tell him all the time you do not know the people
38:08
running around out there that would absolutely cut an arm off
38:11
for several leg just to have the opportunities that you could
38:15
have. You know, just following me
38:16
around, you know, and I've tried to get him into it, but he just
38:20
am so but you know what, there again, it's the Lord will put
38:24
you where he needs you. And I think the thing that so
38:27
here a few months back, and this is kind of off of Kenneth, but
38:30
on the Carlton and but just the way it goes sometimes.
38:34
Well, actually, so he'll be there a year sometime this
38:36
month. He's a jailer at the worst in
38:39
county jail and absolutely loves every minute of it.
38:43
And who would wait None of us When he called me and told me
38:46
that he was going to apply actually applied for a job at
38:49
the JDC juvenile deal. He said, and I just want to do
38:52
something. He tried to get on with the fire
38:53
department and they wouldn't hire him and he's a welder
38:56
betrayed. You know anything Weld good too
38:59
and but you know death and he just bounced from one welding
39:02
shop to the other and nothing was really fitting, you know,
39:05
and and so this deal come up and he there at the JDC and he was
39:11
going to apply there and they were willing to hire him and
39:14
friend of mine works over to big jail.
39:16
He called me wanting to know about a bull and I was telling
39:18
him all about that and he told me what he was doing and I said,
39:21
hey, I said, put in a word for old Carlton over there.
39:23
He at the JDC he's looking to get a job.
39:26
He said I won't do it. He said I'll hire him over here.
39:29
And he, he did. And the kid loves it, absolutely
39:31
loves it. He's not missed a day's work
39:33
unless he's been deathly sick, you know, So maybe that's where
39:37
the Lord wants him. That's and, and he's good at it.
39:39
He's got good people skills. He could, like I said, he could
39:42
be a tremendous auctioneer, but he just don't, you know, it
39:47
doesn't intrigue him that much, you know, So who knows?
39:51
Who knows? Wow, Well, this has, I could sit
39:55
here Kenneth, and I think I could just listen to you talk
39:57
all day long and your story and I am sure that with every sub
40:02
sect of your life, you have magnitudes of stories.
40:06
I always joke when I'm sitting down with my dad or some other
40:09
people like that. I'm like, I just need to start
40:12
hitting record and we just need to start my book because this is
40:16
like the life that I'm sure that you have lived and just the
40:19
stories you have to tell are. Just absolutely wonderful and
40:23
have such a message behind them of God's faithfulness and of
40:29
just perseverance and of every other thing that you just exhume
40:34
as an individual. So thank you for your story and
40:38
your openness and your honesty and coming on today to share all
40:41
of it. Well, you know, there'll be
40:43
people watching this that maybe haven't seen or known me in the
40:47
last 20 years or 25 years, stuff like that.
40:51
Actually be 25 years November the 2nd when I put the bottle
40:56
down and quit drinking and got my life back on track and put
40:59
Jesus as my focus instead of that whiskey and, and they'll
41:02
look at this and go and think is that, that the Kenneth Wilcox I
41:06
know. And so, you know, I haven't all
41:08
and like I told you, I battled the the ego thing thereafter
41:12
winning the world. And then I went through a
41:14
divorce, you know, and then get the drink and got worse and and
41:18
stuff. But, you know, still, you know,
41:20
like you say, you look back on it and the stories you, you
41:23
know, I can think, I know the Lord had his hand on me the
41:27
whole time, even though I wasn't complying, you know, when still
41:32
it was there. And so I think that's one of the
41:35
reasons now that that I'm so passionate and excited about
41:39
what I do is I look at the gift that I've been given, you know,
41:44
the the reprieve, the chance to to do better, you know, and to
41:48
share with people and then try to encourage people, you know,
41:52
and just just I like people, you know, I mean, it's so funny.
41:56
I've got a daughter that she cannot stand to be in a crowd.
42:00
I mean, at first, more than four people, there's too many people.
42:03
You know, we'll have little church gatherings and she'll
42:05
say, well, who all is coming? You know, we have a little deal
42:08
at the house or something, you know, who all is coming.
42:10
And if it's going to get too crowded, you can bank on it.
42:13
She's not going to make it, you know, But yeah, she's precious
42:17
and she's a pretty decent little auctioneer herself.
42:19
Her not liking crowds and people kind of hinders her a little
42:23
bit. I don't know how much time you
42:24
got. We're probably overtime.
42:27
We should probably get to wrapping it up today, but I have
42:30
just so enjoyed hearing your story and just everything that
42:34
you've had to share today, Kenneth, and just your openness
42:37
and willingness to share all of the parts of your story.
42:40
I, I am so grateful for it and very excited for King of the
42:43
Ring once again. It was great to have you as a
42:45
judge last year, but I cannot wait to see you on the auction
42:49
block this year and get to experience that.
42:52
I'm going to tell them guys, you know, I know that there are nine
42:56
of them are that are better than I am.
42:58
I don't make any difference. They better be peeking over
43:00
their shoulder because I'm coming after them.
43:02
Darn straight. I love it.
43:05
I love some good, healthy competition.
43:07
We are here for it, whether it's on the golf course or on the
43:10
auction block the next day. We're going to have some good
43:12
healthy competition, I tell you. Yes, yes.
43:15
Well, I love it. Well, Kenneth, as always, thank
43:17
you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it here at
43:20
the Cattle USA team. And to all of our listeners, we
43:23
will see you all next time on another episode of the Cattle
43:26
USA Daily Podcast. Make sure you check out our
43:28
Facebook. We have all of the information
43:30
for King of the Ring coming up. We've got some show notes down
43:33
below where you can find more information on it.
43:35
Come join us in Dodge City in May or join us online and you'll
43:38
be able to watch Kenneth and all of the competition that we are
43:42
going to be having that day. We'll see you all next time.
43:44
Have a good one.