With football season behind us, a new outdoor “sport” is taking Kansas by storm — barbecue.
Having recently joined the Kansas High School BBQ Association (KHSBBQA), Iola High School will have multiple teams competing this year. Iola’s teams will join a growing list of schools in Kansas and Missouri that are participating in the National High School BBQ Association (NHSBBQA).
Doug Kerr, IHS special education teacher, is coach of the barbecue team.
Trying to gauge student interest, Kerr said a survey of IHS students showed an overwhelming positive response.
“This is the third year of competition in Missouri, and I think they have over 200 teams,” Kerr said. Not to be outdone and having participated for longer, Texas has close to 800 teams. The Lone Star state also holds its state championship at the Dallas Cowboys stadium each year.
Iola High School is off to a good start with more than enough members to make a team. “We set up an informative meeting about a month ago and 17 students showed up,” Kerr noted. Each barbecue team is limited to five members, so this would give IHS the opportunity to field several at competition.
Iola is scheduled to participate in two competitions. The first is the March 23 state championship in Wichita. This competition, in conjunction with NHSBBQA, will serve as a qualifier for nationals.
“They will choose a grand champion and reserve champion and then the top 10 will get a bid to the national championships,” Kerr explained. “The nationals will be held in Branson. I told the team that we don’t necessarily have to win at state — we just need to be in the top 10, and then we can tweak our recipes and cook times as needed for nationals.” The school’s second competition will be at the Iola Rotary Club’s BBQ competition in May.
THE TEAMS participate in five categories at state: Ribs, Chicken, Steak, Pork Chops, and Dutch Oven Chili.
“There will be an overall champion and then they’ll have a champion for each of the five meats,” noted Kerr. He added that brisket is not a category since it is usually a 10-hour cook. “The NHSBBQA chose to do steak instead of brisket since it cooks much more quickly,” he said.
The team will need to have three apparatuses for cooking — a smoker, a grill, and a firepit. So far, the school has two grills but no smoker or firepit.
“We’re working on those,” said Kerr. “That’s where some community support might come in. We’re not necessarily asking for funding since this is our first go at it. Maybe someone has a smoker they can donate or let us borrow for the weekend. That would be cool.”
Much like other sports, the IHS teams will have to learn clock management. The state competition starts at 9 a.m. and finishes at 4 p.m. “They can start the fires at 9 a.m., and then at noon the first category is due,” explained Kerr. “And then every hour, on the hour, something is due. Steak and pork chops take like 20 minutes, so it must be planned very well.”
As far as fundraising goes, Kerr hopes the teams can possibly cook barbecue for school faculty members to buy on Fridays. He pointed to the success of Fredonia High School’s student-led coffee shop as a model for such an endeavor.
“There’s not a set barbecue place anywhere near Iola,” he said. “So, it would really be a perfect fundraising opportunity.”
