BBQ
Who's Who

Mickey King

VP Sales & Marketing, Hays Supermarkets · Q Sauce Kings Partner

Active – present

Wynne, Arkansas

Mickey King (Michael J. King) is a fourth-generation leader and co-owner of Hays Supermarkets, serving as Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Born into the Hays family legacy — his father Mike King helped expand the company — Mickey started at Hays at 14, cleaning parking lots and carrying out groceries.

Jeff Marchetta

Supporter, Early Partner & Best Friend

Active 2014 – present

Jeff Marchetta was instrumental in the early days with Lee and Michael. He co-founded Bluff City BBQ Supply with Michael, Pete, and Lee, and became the Quessenberry brothers' partner and best friend.

Lynn Black (Brown)

Early Team Member

Active 2014 – present

Lynn Black was an early team member and part of the extended family during the company's growth. Described as 'our newest clown,' she joined the troupe during the early days and helped navigate the labyrinth of success.

Patrick Wilson

Production Team Member

Active 2014 – present

Patrick Wilson was a team member involved in production and operations. He worked with Matt, Fabian, and Wesley preparing and filling jars during the early production days.

Ryan Mooney

First Production Employee

Active 1980s – 1990s

Ryan Mooney was Lee's best friend and the first production employee. During the early days, he would pull all-nighters on weekends to fill orders alongside the family.

Bart Crawford

Team Member - Sons of Original Pigtails Cooking Team

Active 1980s – 1990s

Bart Crawford was a team member described as one of the 'Sons of Original Pigtails Cooking Team.' He was part of the extended family involved in operations during the early days.

Wesley

Production Team Member

Active 2014 – present

Wesley was a production team member who worked with Matt, Fabian, and Patrick preparing and filling jars. He also contributed to Grill Masters Club VIP orders.

Matthew Wilson

Production Team Member

Active 2014 – present

Matthew Wilson was a production team member involved in preparing and filling jars during the early production days.

Arthur M. Shaver

Plantation Manager — W.M. Smith & Sons from 1908

Birdeye, Arkansas

Arthur M. Shaver was plantation manager for W.M. Smith & Sons from 1908 — cotton and general farm, not the Angus books. He was on the place before there was a single black cow on it.

Ray 'Red' Gill

"Red Gill"

Champion Showman — Blytheville, Arkansas

Blytheville, Arkansas

Ray 'Red' Gill was a champion showman from Blytheville, Arkansas who competed alongside Jim Quessenberry on the 1985 trip to Fanore, County Clare, Ireland. While Jim was cooking for the judges, Red was working the crowd — teaching the Irish how to "call the hogs," the Arkansas Razorbacks' legendary cheer.

Peter Grumbles

Co-Founder, Bluff City BBQ Supply

Peter Grumbles is a co-founder of Bluff City BBQ Supply and one of the people who helped Lee and Michael Quessenberry bring Sauce Beautiful to the national market. He was part of the extended team that built the business infrastructure around Jim's original recipes.

Van Spence

"Uncle Van"

Jonesboro Friend — Co-Owner, Whitedog Records

Jonesboro, Arkansas

Van Spence — Uncle Van to the family — was a Jonesboro friend of Jim Quessenberry and co-owner of Whitedog Records. The archive snapshot of the two of them on a patterned couch, Van in a tiger-print hat and amber glasses, is the same spirit the brand later drew as the Uncle Van character on merch.

Tom B. Smith

Wynne Attorney & Pig Tails Team Spokesman

Wynne, Arkansas

Tom B. Smith was a Wynne attorney and the designated spokesman for the Pig Tails — the early 1980s team that preceded the Arkansas Trav'lers. He was the public-facing voice when the team won their division at the 1984 Memphis in May competition.

Mark Smith

Pig Tails & Arkansas Trav'lers Team Member

Mark Smith was a team member who spanned both eras of Jim's competitive career — the early Pig Tails years and the later Arkansas Trav'lers. His continuity across both teams made him a key part of the institutional knowledge that carried Jim's approach forward.

Chris Burrow

"Rib-bo"

Pig Tails Team Member

Chris Burrow was a team member during the transition from the Pig Tails to the Arkansas Trav'lers — the period in the mid-1980s when Jim's operation was growing from a local competition crew into a nationally competitive team.

Jerry Bradshaw

1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division

Active 1984

Jerry Bradshaw was a member of the 1984 team that took 3rd place in the Whole Hog Division at Memphis in May — one of Jim Quessenberry's earliest major competition results.

Bobby Caldwell

1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division

Active 1984

Bobby Caldwell was a member of the 1984 team that took 3rd place in the Whole Hog Division at Memphis in May alongside Jim Quessenberry.

Butch Hunter

1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division

Active 1984

Butch Hunter was a member of the 1984 team that took 3rd place in the Whole Hog Division at Memphis in May alongside Jim Quessenberry.

Phil Crawford

1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division

Active 1984

Phil Crawford was a member of the 1984 team that took 3rd place in the Whole Hog Division at Memphis in May alongside Jim Quessenberry.

Roy Crawford

1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division

Active 1984

Roy Crawford was a member of the 1984 team that took 3rd place in the Whole Hog Division at Memphis in May alongside Jim Quessenberry. His son Bart later stood in the modern booth photos with Lee and Michael — same family, next generation on the line.

Bob Stacy

1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division

Active 1984

Bob Stacy was a member of the 1984 team that took 3rd place in the Whole Hog Division at Memphis in May alongside Jim Quessenberry.

Sue Haining

1985 Ireland World Cup Team

Active 1985

Dallas, Texas (formerly Memphis)

Sue Haining was a former Memphian living in Dallas who was part of the 1985 World Cup-winning team in Ireland. Along with Donnie Morris, she represented the extended network of Memphis BBQ transplants who came back for the international trip.

Donnie Morris

1985 Ireland World Cup Team

Active 1985

Dallas, Texas (formerly Memphis)

Donnie Morris was a former Memphian living in Dallas who was part of the 1985 World Cup-winning team in Ireland alongside Sue Haining. Together they represented the loyal Memphis diaspora who made the transatlantic trip to help Jim bring home the title.

Bob & Dot Kelly

1987 Ireland Team — Met Jim at Dale Carnegie

Active 1987

Jonesboro, Arkansas

Bob and Dot Kelly were a couple from Jonesboro, Arkansas, who joined Jim Quessenberry's 1987 international team after Bob met Jim in a Dale Carnegie course. The Dale Carnegie connection is pure Jim — he was always building relationships, and Bob went from classmate to teammate to lifelong friend.

Chuck Walker

Head Chef — 1987 Ireland Team

Active 1987

Morton, Arkansas

Chuck Walker was a Morton, Arkansas native who served as the head chef for the team during their 1987 return to Ireland. While Jim was the pitmaster, Chuck handled the broader kitchen operation — making sure the full menu came together for the international competition.

Jim & Susan Beckham

1987 Ireland Team — Dallas Members

Active 1987

Dallas, Texas

Jim and Susan Beckham were members from Dallas who rounded out the 1987 international team for the return trip to Ireland. They were part of the extended network of BBQ enthusiasts who joined the Quessenberry crew for the transatlantic competition.

Ardie Davis

"Remus Powers, Ph.B."

BBQ Hall of Famer, Author & Lifelong Friend of Jim

Born November 25, 1941

Kansas City, Missouri

Ardie Davis — known in competition circles as Remus Powers, Ph.B. (Doctor of Barbecue Philosophy) — was born in Oklahoma on November 25, 1941. He graduated from Westmar College in 1964 with majors in Sociology and Philosophy. His alter-ego 'Remus' comes from his lifelong love of Uncle Remus stories; 'Powers' honors a mentor from his father's mechanic shop. He is a charter member and board member emeritus of the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS), a certified KCBS Master Judge, and a certified Memphis in May barbecue judge.

Lolis Elie

Journalist & Oral Historian

Lolis Elie is a journalist and oral historian who conducted the Smokestack Lightning interview tapes with Jim Quessenberry for the Southern Foodways Alliance. He donated the cassettes to the Southern Foodways Alliance archives.

Frank Stewart

Journalist & Oral Historian

Frank Stewart is a journalist and oral historian who conducted the Smokestack Lightning interview tapes with Jim Quessenberry alongside Lolis Elie for the Southern Foodways Alliance.

Meathead Goldwyn

"Meathead"

BBQ Hall of Famer, Author & Founder of AmazingRibs.com

Suburban Chicago, Illinois

Meathead Goldwyn's nickname comes from his father, who jokingly called him after the Rob Reiner character in All in the Family. His father owned a butcher shop and worked as a USDA meat inspector — which explains a lot. Goldwyn studied journalism and photography at the University of Florida, later earning an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Carolyn Wells

Co-Founder, Kansas City Barbeque Society

Kansas City, Missouri

Carolyn Wells is the co-founder of the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS), the world's largest organization of BBQ enthusiasts and the body that governs most sanctioned competition BBQ in the United States. She was a close friend of Jim Quessenberry's and featured his recipes in her book Barbecue Greats.

John Markus

TV Producer — The All-Star BBQ Showdown & BBQ Pitmasters

John Markus is the television producer behind The All-Star BBQ Showdown and BBQ Pitmasters — two of the most significant BBQ competition shows ever made. He cast Lee and Michael Quessenberry to represent their father's legacy on The All-Star BBQ Showdown, giving Jim's story a national audience it never had while he was alive.

Bill & Cheryl Jamison

Authors — Smoke & Spice

Bill and Cheryl Alters Jamison are the authors of the definitive barbecue cookbook Smoke & Spice, which remains one of the most important BBQ reference works ever published. They were close family friends of Jim and Donna Quessenberry.

John Shoup

Producer — Great Chefs of Southern Barbecue

John Shoup was the producer of the Great Chefs of Southern Barbecue television special, which aired in 1991 and provided Jim Quessenberry with significant national airtime.

Mike Overall

Journalist — The Jonesboro Sun

Mike Overall was a journalist for The Jonesboro Sun who wrote a 1993 piece contextualizing Jim Quessenberry's "caveman" philosophy of barbecue alongside the work of famous anthropologists and food historians.

Jeff Smith

Reporter — First Sauce Beautiful Launch Coverage

Jeff Smith was the reporter who wrote the "Short Features" article in 1990 documenting the first commercial launch of Sauce Beautiful. His coverage captured the moment Jim Quessenberry's sauce went from a backyard secret to a product on store shelves.

Aaron Franklin

Pitmaster & Owner, Franklin Barbecue — Austin, TX

Austin, Texas

Aaron Franklin opened Franklin Barbecue in 2009 as a roadside trailer on the side of an Austin, Texas interstate with his wife Stacy. Within two years the trailer had become a brick-and-mortar institution with lines stretching around the block before it even opened — sometimes hours long.

C.B. Stubblefield

Pitmaster & BBQ Entrepreneur — Lubbock & Austin, TX

Lubbock & Austin, Texas

C.B. Stubblefield is a Texas pitmaster and BBQ entrepreneur based in Lubbock and Austin. He was named a 2019 Barbecue Hall of Fame semi-finalist by the American Royal — one of nine nominees that year alongside Jim Quessenberry, Aaron Franklin, and Meathead Goldwyn.

Wayne Monk

Pitmaster & Founder, Lexington Barbecue — Lexington, NC

Lexington, North Carolina

Wayne Monk is the founder of Lexington Barbecue in Lexington, North Carolina — one of the most revered whole-hog and pork shoulder BBQ restaurants in the Piedmont tradition. His restaurant, opened in 1962, helped define Lexington-style BBQ: pork shoulders over hickory coals, finished with a tangy red slaw and a vinegar-ketchup dip sauce.

Desiree Robinson

Pitmaster — Memphis, TN

Memphis, Tennessee

Desiree Robinson is a Memphis-based pitmaster who was named a 2019 Barbecue Hall of Fame semi-finalist by the American Royal — one of nine nominees that year alongside Jim Quessenberry, Aaron Franklin, and Meathead Goldwyn.

John "Big Daddy" Bishop

"Big Daddy"

Pitmaster — Tuscaloosa, LA

Tuscaloosa, Louisiana

John "Big Daddy" Bishop is a pitmaster from Tuscaloosa, Louisiana who was named a 2019 Barbecue Hall of Fame semi-finalist by the American Royal — one of nine nominees that year alongside Jim Quessenberry, Aaron Franklin, and Meathead Goldwyn.

Michael Ray Higgins

Pitmaster — Mesquite, TX

Mesquite, Texas

Michael Ray Higgins is a Texas pitmaster from Mesquite who was named a 2019 Barbecue Hall of Fame semi-finalist by the American Royal — one of nine nominees that year alongside Jim Quessenberry, Aaron Franklin, and Meathead Goldwyn.

James Lemons

Pitmaster — Chicago, IL

Chicago, Illinois

James Lemons is a Chicago-based pitmaster who was named a 2019 Barbecue Hall of Fame semi-finalist by the American Royal — one of nine nominees that year alongside Jim Quessenberry, Aaron Franklin, and Meathead Goldwyn.

Ray Lampe

"Dr. BBQ"

Veteran Competitor & BBQ Personality

Ray Lampe — known as "Dr. BBQ" — is one of the most recognized personalities in competitive and televised BBQ. A veteran of the KCBS circuit with hundreds of competition cooks under his belt, he has appeared on numerous food television programs and authored multiple cookbooks.

Hayward 'The Rib Doctor' Harris, Jr.

"The Rib Doctor"

Seasoned BBQ Competitor

Hayward Harris Jr. — known as "The Rib Doctor" — is a seasoned BBQ competitor who appeared on The All-Star BBQ Showdown alongside Ray Lampe and the Quessenberry brothers. He represents the deep tradition of African-American pitmasters who built Southern BBQ culture from the ground up.

Tuffy Stone

Competition Pitmaster & BBQ Hall of Fame Voter

Tuffy Stone is a contemporary barbecue legend and one of the most decorated competition pitmasters in the country. A classically trained chef turned competition BBQ champion, Stone runs Cool Smoke and has appeared on numerous BBQ television shows.

Moe Cason

"Big Moe"

Competition Pitmaster & BBQ Personality

Moe Cason, known as "Big Moe," is a well-known competition pitmaster and BBQ personality who has appeared on BBQ Pitmasters and numerous other shows. He's one of the most recognizable faces in competition barbecue.

Billy Bones

"Billy Wall"

World Champion Pitmaster & Ireland Teammate

Billy Bones (real name Billy Wall) was a world-champion pitmaster and friend of Jim Quessenberry. He traveled with Jim and Silky Sullivan to the International Barbecue Cup in Ireland, competing alongside the Arkansas Trav'ler on the world stage.

Rich Davis

Creator of KC Masterpiece

Rich Davis is the creator of KC Masterpiece, one of the most commercially successful barbecue sauces in American history. A child psychiatrist turned sauce entrepreneur, Davis proved that a great sauce could cross over from the competition circuit to every grocery store shelf in America.

John Willingham

Legendary Pitmaster & Ireland Competitor

John Willingham was a legendary pitmaster whose team competed against Jim Quessenberry in the beef division at the 1985 International Barbecue Cookout on Galway Bay in Ireland.

Ed Mitchell

North Carolina Whole-Hog Legend

Ed Mitchell is a North Carolina whole-hog barbecue legend who became one of the most important voices in preserving traditional wood-pit cooking. His whole-hog approach — cooking the entire animal over hardwood coals — is as close to Jim Quessenberry's philosophy as you can get on the Eastern seaboard.

Charlie Vergos

Founder, Charles Vergos' Rendezvous — Pioneer of Memphis Dry-Rub Ribs

June 24, 1925 – March 27, 2010

Memphis, Tennessee

Charlie Vergos was born in Memphis on June 24, 1925 to Greek immigrant parents and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. In 1948 — the same year Jim Quessenberry was born — he founded Charles Vergos' Rendezvous in a basement on Monroe Avenue in downtown Memphis.

Melissa Cookston

"The Winningest Woman in Barbecue" — 7x World BBQ Champion

Born 1968

Hernando, Mississippi

Melissa Cookston was born in Ruleville, Mississippi in 1968 and grew up in Greenville and Pontotoc. She started cooking barbecue competitively in 1996, and by 2007 she and her husband Pete had quit their day jobs entirely to tour contests full-time.

Mike Mills

"The Legend" — 3x Memphis in May Grand World Champion

1941 – December 29, 2020

Murphysboro, Illinois

Mike Mills — universally known in the BBQ world as 'The Legend' — was a three-time Grand World Champion at Memphis in May, one of the most demanding BBQ competitions on earth. He founded 17th Street Barbecue in Murphysboro, Illinois out of a century-old building and turned it into a nationally acclaimed institution.

Thomas "Silky" Sullivan

"Silky"

Memphis Bar Legend, Entrepreneur & Jim's Partner-in-Crime

1942 – 2013

Memphis, Tennessee

Thomas "Silky" Sullivan was a legendary Memphis restaurateur, entrepreneur, and a central figure in the Jim Quessenberry story. Described as a "bigger than life" ambassador for Memphis, he was a close friend and partner-in-crime to Jim, forming part of a colorful trio that included champion showman Ray "Red" Gill.

Chris Lilly

World-Champion Pitmaster & Co-Host, The All-Star BBQ Showdown

Decatur, Alabama

Chris Lilly is a world-champion pitmaster and co-owner of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama — one of the most decorated competition BBQ teams in history. He has won multiple World Championships at Memphis in May and served as co-host of The All-Star BBQ Showdown.

Chris Schlesinger

Founder, East Coast Grill — Cambridge, MA

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Chris Schlesinger is the founder of the East Coast Grill in Cambridge, Massachusetts and co-author of The Thrill of the Grill (1990), one of the most influential American grilling books ever written. He spent a night at Memphis in May learning the "low and slow" technique directly from Jim Quessenberry — a fact that says a great deal about Jim's reputation among serious cooks.

Ray Robinson

Founder — Cozy Corner, Memphis

Ray Robinson was the founder of Cozy Corner in Memphis, a no-frills barbecue joint that became legendary for its Cornish game hens and BBQ bologna. Jim Quessenberry expressed great respect for Robinson's unique style.

Amy Mills

BBQ Author & Legacy Carrier — 17th Street Barbecue

Amy Mills is the daughter of legendary pitmaster Mike Mills and a primary architect of modern barbecue culture. She co-authored Peace, Love, and Barbecue with her father, helping document the stories and techniques of the greatest pitmasters of the 20th century.

Helen Turner

Pitmaster — Helen's Bar-B-Q, Brownsville, TN

Helen Turner is the pitmaster of Helen's Bar-B-Q in Brownsville, Tennessee — one of the last true practitioners of traditional wood-pit barbecue in the South. She cooks over hickory and pecan in a cinder-block pit, the same way it's been done for generations.

Danielle Bennett

"Diva Q"

Competition Pitmaster & Global BBQ Ambassador

Danielle Bennett, known as "Diva Q," is a major contemporary figure in competition barbecue who brought BBQ mastery to a global audience. A champion pitmaster, author, and media personality, she has won competitions across North America and beyond.

Johnny Surgeoner

Local Sauce Maker — Wynne, Arkansas

Wynne, Arkansas

Johnny Surgeoner was a local sauce maker in Wynne, Arkansas whose mustard-and-molasses recipe died with him — his formula never written down, never passed on. Jim Quessenberry knew Surgeoner and watched that knowledge disappear.

Dave Block

Local Character — Birdeye, Arkansas

Birdeye, Arkansas

Dave Block was an elderly Black man from Jim's childhood in Birdeye, Arkansas who made a mysterious goat gland stew he called "salulin." Jim remembered him the way you remember someone who made food unlike anything you've ever tasted anywhere else — with reverence and a little wonder.

Kelly Thomas

"The Godfather"

Storyteller — Harrisburg, Arkansas

Harrisburg, Arkansas

Kelly Thomas — known as "The Godfather" — is a storyteller from Harrisburg, Arkansas who helped Michael Quessenberry reconstruct his father's history at the Poinsett County Fair. When the details of Jim's earlier years were fuzzy, Kelly filled in the gaps from memory — the kind of living oral history that small-town Arkansas still carries.

Bill Clinton

42nd President of the United States

Hope & Little Rock, Arkansas

Bill Clinton grew up in Hope and Hot Springs, Arkansas, served as Governor of Arkansas, and was elected the 42nd President of the United States in 1992. Jim Quessenberry was a "ground floor" supporter — he cooked for Clinton's early political fundraisers back when Bill was still building his base in Arkansas.

B.B. King

Blues Legend — Indianola, Mississippi

September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015

Indianola, Mississippi / Memphis, Tennessee

Riley B. "B.B." King grew up in the Mississippi Delta — the same world of flatlands, sharecropping, and Saturday-night roadhouses that shaped Jim Quessenberry's early life just across the river in Arkansas. Jim remembered B.B. King playing guitar on front porches in Coldwater and Twist, drawing workers out of the fields to listen.

Sonny Liston

World Heavyweight Boxing Champion — St. Francis County, Arkansas

c. May 8, 1930 – December 30, 1970

St. Francis County, Arkansas / St. Louis & Philadelphia

Charles L. "Sonny" Liston was born in St. Francis County, Arkansas — the same Delta country Jim Quessenberry grew up in — one of 25 children of a sharecropper. He became the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion in 1962 by destroying Floyd Patterson in the first round, and held the title until his two controversial losses to Cassius Clay in 1964 and 1965.

Conway Twitty

Country Music Legend — Helena, Arkansas

September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993

Helena, Arkansas

Harold Lloyd Jenkins — known worldwide as Conway Twitty — was born in Friars Point, Mississippi and raised in Helena, Arkansas, the heart of Delta country. He became one of the most successful country music artists of all time, with more #1 hits on the Billboard country charts than any other artist in history at the time of his death.

Johnny Cash

The Man in Black — Kingsland, Arkansas

February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003

Kingsland, Arkansas

J.R. Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas and grew up in Dyess — an Arkansas Delta farming community just a few miles from the world Jim Quessenberry knew. He became Johnny Cash, one of the most influential musicians in American history: "The Man in Black," a voice that carried the weight of rural Arkansas into every jukebox in the country.

Gary Hart

U.S. Senator & 1988 Presidential Candidate

Gary Hart was a U.S. Senator from Colorado and a leading Democratic presidential candidate in 1988 before his campaign was derailed by a tabloid scandal involving a woman named Donna Rice. He became the subject of one of Jim Quessenberry's most famous self-deprecating jokes about his own reputation — a punchline Jim delivered at his own expense that the people who knew him best found hilarious.

Wayne Martin

NFL Player — New Orleans Saints

Arkansas

Wayne Martin was a defensive lineman for the New Orleans Saints and a well-known figure in Jim Quessenberry's local community in Northeast Arkansas. Jim remembered him as a "nice guy" — the kind of offhand compliment that, from Jim, meant something.

Shorty Owens

Owner — Pluck A Duck Lodge, Beedeville, AR

Beedeville, Arkansas

Shorty Owens was the owner and guide of the Pluck A Duck Lodge in Beedeville, Arkansas, where Jim Quessenberry cooked during the winter duck-hunting season. The lodge was one of those places where Jim's cooking crossed from competition into the everyday — feeding hunters who came for the ducks but stayed for the BBQ.

Peggy Bunker

Co-Host — The All-Star BBQ Showdown

Peggy Bunker was the co-host of The All-Star BBQ Showdown alongside Chris Lilly. She was the "polished professional" on screen during Michael and Lee Quessenberry's televised cook — providing the contrast to the brothers' natural chaos and charm.

Jim Sanderson

Lawyer & 1993 Inaugural Crew

Bolivar, Tennessee

Jim Sanderson was a Bolivar, Tennessee lawyer who was part of the 1993 "Inaugural Crew" that traveled to Washington, D.C. with Jim Quessenberry and Silky Sullivan for the Clinton inauguration. He was among the entourage who wore tuxedos with coonskin caps to the inaugural balls.

Louis Jack Berger

Owner — Pancho's Restaurants & 1993 Inaugural Crew

Memphis, Tennessee

Louis Jack Berger was the owner of the Pancho's restaurant chain and another member of the 1993 Washington, D.C. entourage that attended President Clinton's inaugural festivities with Jim and Silky Sullivan.

Paul McIlhenny

CEO — Tabasco / McIlhenny Company

Avery Island, Louisiana

Paul McIlhenny was the CEO of the McIlhenny Company, makers of Tabasco hot sauce — one of the most iconic condiment brands in the world. He personally negotiated with Jim Quessenberry to carry Sauce Beautiful in the Tabasco Country Store catalog.

Leonard King

Son of B.B. King

Wynne, Arkansas

Leonard King is the son of blues legend B.B. King and a lifelong acquaintance of Jim Quessenberry in Wynne, Arkansas. The King and Quessenberry families moved in overlapping circles in the small-town Delta world where everybody knew everybody.

Lucille

B.B. King's Girlfriend — Namesake of the Guitar

Parkin, Arkansas

Lucille was B.B. King's girlfriend who lived in Parkin, Arkansas — and the woman for whom the most famous guitar in blues history was named. The story goes that B.B. nearly died in a juke-joint fire in Twist, Arkansas, when he ran back into the burning building to save his guitar. Two men had started the fire fighting over a woman named Lucille.

Charlie Rich

"The Silver Fox"

Country Music Legend — Colt, Arkansas

1932 – 1995

Colt, Arkansas

Charlie Rich, known as "The Silver Fox," was a famous country singer from Colt, Arkansas — just down the road from Jim Quessenberry's world. His hits "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl" made him one of the biggest country stars of the 1970s.

Guy Pacaud

"Chef Paco"

French Chef & 1990 Memphis in May Collaborator

Guy Pacaud, known as "Chef Paco," was a chef from a French bistro who helped Jim Quessenberry choreograph a French terrace setting for their Memphis in May entry in 1990. The collaboration fused French culinary aesthetics with Arkansas pit barbecue — a combination that only Jim could have pulled off without it looking ridiculous.

Sandy

Jim's Assistant — Pit Operations

Sandy is mentioned in archival audio as Jim's assistant who helped him cut hickory wood for the pits. In the Smokestack Lightning tapes, Jim refers to Sandy as his "girl" who helped keep the wood supply going during long cooks.