The late Jennings Osborne -- the big-hearted philanthropist who made a name for himself with his big Christmas lights displays and enormous barbecue chow-downs in Arkansas and beyond -- must be smiling down on Buddy Rhoads and his wife, Dena deBin.
The Roland couple now have "Big Frank," the giant, trailer-mounted Arkansas Razorback-shaped grill once owned by Osborne.
Named for venerated University of Arkansas football coach-turned-athletic-director Frank Broyles, Big Frank is now the centerpiece of Woo Pig Q-ee, a charity barbecue team whose motto is "Feed the need."
"We'll do that anywhere, anyhow, for just about anybody, on one condition. All proceeds have to go to charity," says deBin, who's in the process of changing her surname to Rhoads.
Rhoads is a Jack Daniel's world grand champion barbecue winner who has cooked with those featured on the reality TV competition show BBQ Pitmasters.
"One of the things we talked about was how could we use that to further what we cared about," deBin says.
Osborne died in 2011. The following year, the Roland couple obtained Big Frank at an auction and came up with the idea to combine Rhoads' barbecue background, Osborne's charitable legacy, both men's love for the Razorbacks, and the values passed down by the couple's fathers (the late Charles "Pod" Buie and Harold Rhoads), who both believed strongly in going beyond comfort zones to help those in need.
"When I saw Frank" -- the barbecue grill, he means -- "I was like, 'Yeah, this is something ... we can do. We can build on what Mr. Osborne had done with Frank, and Frank's notoriety,'" Rhoads says. "By no means can we do it at the scale that [Osborne] did." But they wanted to do as much as they possibly could "and use Frank as the conduit."
So they formed the Woo Pig Q-ee team. In addition to competing every once in a while, Woo Pig Q-ee carries out its primary mission by tailgating and catering for charity.
"We do everything at cost," Rhoads says. "Any money that comes in above cost goes to charity. And our primary goal is to keep all of that money local. We want to support local charities."
HITTING THE ROAD
The farthest Big Frank has traveled is Lynchburg, Tenn., for the Jack Daniel's Winners Circle competition in October. Other events include Bikes Blues & BBQ in Fayetteville; Buzz-B-Que in North Little Rock; and most recently, Smokelawn, held on the infield at Hot Springs' Oaklawn Park. Big Frank is put to work about 10 months out of the year -- springtime is usually "crazy busy," deBin says.
The team's current charity partner is Rock of Hope (therockofhope.wordpress.com), which aims to get the homeless into residential living. Big Frank, Rhoads, deBin and charity organizers are planning a signature fundraiser for September in the River Market District, while Woo Pig Q-ee is gearing up for a couple of smaller events this summer.
Rhoads says he didn't exactly fire Big Frank up right after buying him.
"There were quite a few challenges," he says. "One being, Frank had been modified to not be a smoker. ... Somewhere along the way the [side] doors to the smoker had been welded shut, and all of the frame of Frank had been built around the grill." So with the help of a couple of friends, Big Frank was reopened and converted back to a smoker.
Another challenge came in that "I'd never cooked on something that large," Rhoads says. "You have to burn a lot of wood to get that thing hot." About 225 pounds of meat is the most he has cooked on Frank at one time. "Just to give you an idea of how large that thing is, I think it was only a third of the way full."
But he expects Big Frank will be filled to capacity during the September Rock of Hope event. There, as with previous events, the grill's appearance is sure to be as much an attraction as the sweet meat it yields.
STAR ATTRACTION
"People line up, just about everywhere we take Frank, to have their photo made in front of him," deBin says. Rhoads adds that the team usually gets the most coveted spots at barbecue contests because organizers want the grill to be seen from the entry point of the venue.
At Razorbacks football games -- where Woo Pig Q-ee tailgates, also for charity -- "people are so accustomed to seeing Frank," deBin says. "Osborne used to go to the games and he would cook all these turkey legs on Frank, and hand them out. ... I think it's a good reminder to people when they see it at the games. People come up and talk to you and always bring up Osborne as well."
So what does one need to do to sign Rhoads and deBin on for a fundraiser? "You come to us [via the Woo Pig Q-ee Facebook page or woopigqee.com], give us a head count and we work out a menu for you [and] give you an estimated cost," Rhoads says. "We keep receipts of everything that we spend and then we negotiate how much in addition to that needs to be donated to a charity."
For larger events with long cooking times, the team, which uses other grills as well, will usually take food that has been prepared beforehand and just reheat it on Big Frank.
The couple's love for their work and their work station shows in their references to Frank as "him," not "it."
"We'll never give him up. He's part of the family now," deBin says.
High Profile on 06/22/2014