Brandon Neely heard his first auctioneer as a young child and was so enthralled, he determined then and there that's what he wanted to do for a living.
So he began auctioning off his toys on the family's livestock farm in Alabama, using his cousins as would-be buyers.
With years of play-auctioneering behind him, he got his first paying job as an auctioneer at the young age of 15. By his late teens, he was impressing other professionals and, at 19, he qualified for his first world championship in auctioneering.
Now, at age 28, Neely is the reigning World Livestock Auctioneer world champion, winning the title June 13 in Waco, Texas. The contest is sponsored by the Livestock Marketing Association.
"My biggest dream has always been to be a livestock champion auctioneer," says Neely, who lives in Southside, Ala., near Gadsden. "It's a dream come true for any livestock auctioneer to be crowned. There's only been 52 world champions in history, so it makes you feel like you've accomplished your goals in life."
And, since you can only win it once, Neely has set his sights on a new goal.
"I'd like to win the world auto auctioneer championship," he says. (Yes, there is one.)
This was Neely's ninth year of competing in the livestock contest. He's won regional championships before and, in 2007, won the Audrey K. Banks Rookie of the Year honors from the Livestock Marketing Association. He says those eight previous visits to the competitions helped him get better.
"You learn what to do and what not to do," he says. "You have to learn things like basic presentation and bid-catching ability, and to be able to feel the flow of the crowd."
It's easy to imagine that an auctioneer talks in a staccato-style all the time but, in Neely's case at least, he is friendly and to-the-point, listening to each question and giving it some thought before answering.
One of the people Neely impressed early on was Lee Morris, himself a professional auctioneer and co-owner of Morris Brothers Stockyard, which he owns with his wife, LeeAnn, in Pikeville, Tenn.
"The first time I saw him, he was just a kid, but I told somebody that he would become one of the best ever," says Morris. "I never knew he'd be a world champion, though. That's hard to do."
Morris was so struck by Neely's skills, after opening Morris Brothers four years ago, he went after him to be a regular auctioneer at the stockyard. Morris Brothers was Neely's sponsor for the world championship.
But wanting it and making it happen are different things. Being able to talk fast is just one of the arrows a good auctioneer needs in a quiver. Competitors are judged on things like clarity, voice quality, speed and knowledge of the product they're selling. So you not only have to be able to say the words quickly and clearly, you must know the difference between an angus and a brangus or a California red and a Cameroon sheep, as well as the condition of the current livestock market.
"You have to have cattle savviness and know what cattle are and what they are worth, and he has to be honest," Morris says. "People have to see it in you and believe you. He is dealing with professional buyers and they will know it right away if you are not honest."
You also must keep an eye out across the entire room in order to catch the subtle bids thrown by the professional buyers in attendance.
"It's like any employee," Morris says. "Some show up and do little and some show up and do it all. That's what separates Brandon."
Having a world champion caller is good for business, Morris says, but more importantly, it's good for customers who come to his stockyard to buy and sell livestock.
"I think he's a marketable tool for us, but it ought to be a seller's grace to be sold by a great auctioneer," Morris says. "A good auctioneer in a very demanding cattle market pushes the issues and continues to drive the sale.
"When we hired him, we did it for them, not for us. We saw the opportunity to get him to push it over the top."
Neely does auction work around the region every day of the week and is in Pikeville one day a week. While there are schools that teach auctioneering, he says the key for him was finding a mentor or two who taught him the basics, then just going out and doing it.
"You need time in the box. You learn by doing," he says. "I taught myself to auctioneer, but I listened to a lot of different auctioneers, and then built my own style.
"I love doing it."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.