‘Cue-dos for Blues Hog

Two weeks ago in Quincy, IL, Bill Arnold, creator of Blues Hog Barbeque Sauce (a highly-addictive, sweet/hot “sticks to the meat” concoction), placed 5th (out of 23) in the Smoke on the River BBQ competition, a sanctioned event of the Kansas City Barbeque Society. Bill won the event last year. His personal story is a wild and crazy one. Blues Hog was his hobby until 2002 when he got the ol’ one-two punch--he had just obtained full custody of his 3 toddler daughters when he lost his real job. Instead of looking for safe and secure employment, he decided to go whole hog (sorry) into the sauce business. Things seemed to be working out…he began winning more BBQ competitions and Blues Hog was taking home more medals than any other sauce. On many summer Saturdays you could find Bill at the Clayton Farmer’s Market, stoking his smoker, selling sauce and swapping stories, but in mid-June doctors discovered a lemon-sized--but operable--tumor in his brain. Church members tended his pit during his 2 month convalescence. When asked how he was doing, the reply was always a confident, “oh, he’ll be back.” Smoke on the River was his first competition of the summer. He had just placed “top-10” in 4 categories (he won for Best Pork) and didn’t really know who was interviewing him, just some guy who wanted to speak to “the character who was the Grand Champion last year.” After ten minutes of questions, Arnold finally asked the man where he was from: “Good Morning America,” was the reply. “Don’t miss the show on Wednesday the 24th.” Welcome back, Bill. I’ll be watching...half-tempted to put some of that stuff on my eggs. -- George Mahe