Van Spence — “Uncle Van,” co-owner of Whitedog Records, Jonesboro.
"Uncle Van"
Jonesboro Friend — Co-Owner, Whitedog Records
The man on the couch in the tiger-print hat.
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.
He belongs in the who’s who because the Jonesboro circle was never just the pit. It was records, jokes, and the people who sat down when Jim said pull up a chair.
VP Sales & Marketing, Hays Supermarkets · Q Sauce Kings Partner
Supporter, Early Partner & Best Friend
Early Team Member
Production Team Member
First Production Employee
Team Member - Sons of Original Pigtails Cooking Team
Production Team Member
Production Team Member
Plantation Manager — W.M. Smith & Sons from 1908
Champion Showman — Blytheville, Arkansas
Co-Founder, Bluff City BBQ Supply
Wynne Attorney & Pig Tails Team Spokesman
Pig Tails & Arkansas Trav'lers Team Member
Pig Tails Team Member
1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division
1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division
1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division
1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division
1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division
1984 Memphis in May Team — Whole Hog Division
1985 Ireland World Cup Team
1985 Ireland World Cup Team
1987 Ireland Team — Met Jim at Dale Carnegie
Head Chef — 1987 Ireland Team
1987 Ireland Team — Dallas Members
2× World Champion 
Irish Cup World Champion 1985 Irish Cup World Champion 1987 
BBQ Hall of Fame Semi-Finalist 2019 
Arkansas Trav'ler Cooking Team 
Memphis in May 1978–1994