Members of the team from Williams’ Ohio River Supply Hub who called themselves The Butt Rubbing Maniacs took first place with both their beef brisket and pulled pork in the Elite Blind Taste Test category at Williams’ annual barbecue cook-off that benefits the United Way.
Photos and story by Rick Hiduk
(Originally published in the Susquehanna County Independent)
Broad smiles and laughter lit up faces of participants and guests at this year’s barbecue cook-off coordinated by Williams Companies while strains of classic rock hits and the smell of smoked meat filled the air. While the cooks at the annual event held last Friday at LazyBrook Park in Tunkhannock take their offerings seriously, all agreed that the camaraderie and good will that generates thousands of dollars for the United Way organizations in Susquehanna and Wyoming counties in Pennsylvania and Broome County in New York is the reason they keep coming back.
“Everybody here is a winner. That’s how I look at it,” said Hague Equipment Company service technician Dave Gaskill as he took a break from a large mobile smoker and wiped sweat from his brow. “It’s always nice to take home that plaque, but it’s the cause that counts.” Hague was also a key sponsor of the event, along with Flynn Energy, Cleveland Brothers, and Admar Equipment and Supplies.
As more than a dozen teams prepared to dish out copious amounts of beef brisket, pulled pork, and barbecued ribs, Susquehanna County United Way regional manager Tom Follert offered welcoming remarks and shared with attendees how much the barbecue means to the organization in terms of progressive programs and the number of people helped. “We support a lot of local agencies that do a lot of important things for the community,” Follert related. “Our focus is helping children live well.”
Examples he cited included the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which provides free books to county youths through the age of five. At birth, a child can be registered for the program, which nets them a new book through the mail every month through their fifth birthday. “It costs $30 per child per year, and we cover that cost,” Follert explained. “We have 960 kids signed up.”
Next, he described the See to See Program. “We bring eye doctors into the school and give a free eye exam to those who fail their vision exam with their school nurses,” Follert noted. “If they need glasses, we pay for the glasses. The parents never experience any out-of-pocket costs.”
Follert was particularly proud of Real Men Read, an initiative that sends men from the community into kindergarten classes in every school in the county once per month throughout the school year. “We read them a book and show a positive male role model to show them that reading is important to everybody, including men,” Follert stated.
Williams environment specialist and event emcee Nick Lee followed up Follert’s remarks with his own experience with the Real Men Read program. “Men from different companies and different walks of life go into the elementary schools and read to the kids,” Lee offered. “And each student gets a copy of that book to take home. It was a lot of fun.” Lee read “The Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow” – a humorous story written by Lucille Colandro and illustrated by Jared Lee – at Blue Ridge Elementary School.
Of the key sponsors, Hague and Cleveland Brothers have taken home many awards over the years and fared well again on Sept. 13. Flynn Energy account representative Jess Scranton laughed off his team’s lack of a win thus far. “It’s just fun. And I’m not wearing my steel-toed boots out on a well pad somewhere,” he stated.
Williams had at least three large teams entered in the competition, representing a wide swath of the country and various departments. Jason Rau, supervisor of Williams’ Mechanical Integrity division, which oversees the company’s assets at their facilities to ensure that they are reliable and safe, referred to the barbecue as a team-building event. “It’s a great opportunity to get everyone together and work outside of our normal daily jobs, to spend time with each other, collaborate and have a good time and support the United Way,” said Rau.
Garrett O’Neil, a tech services manager for Williams’ Ohio River Supply Hub, spoke for a team called The Butt Rubbing Maniacs that was there from West Virginia and Ohio for a fourth year, garnering a Elite Judge award for their pulled pork in 2023. “We get to network, not only with each other, but also with our counterparts in the Susquehanna Supply Hub who we don’t see very often,” O’Neil stated.
After numerous raffle prizes were awarded in the mid afternoon sun, the much-anticipated announcements of the winners brought cheers from everyone in attendance. There were primarily three ways to win: tasters placing chips in cups at the respective tables, donating cash to their favorite teams, and by a panel of judges who were unaware of which teams produced the savory meats they tried.
The Elite Blind Taste Test award for brisket went to Williams’ Butt Rubbing Maniacs, who also took the pulled pork award. The Elite award for ribs went to Proconex.
Those collecting the most chips for brisket, pulled port and ribs, respectively, were Cactus Wellhead, Hague Equipment, and Ariel Corp. Winners of the Peoples’ Choice award for the most donations taken in was Cleveland Brothers, collecting $768, which Williams matched for the United Way.
Finally, a combined tally of chips and cash gave DistributionNOW a surprise Grand Champion win. DNOW had also come in second with their pulled pork in the chips category.
Pushing beef brisket, pulled pork and ribs to the front lines from the Hague Equipment Company smoker were (front, left) Amber Brown, Linda Gaskill, (back) Steve Brown and Dave Gaskill. Pulled pork was their big winner of the day, garnering second place in the Elite Blind Taste Test category for their pulled pork and first in the amount of chips collected from tasters.