What team is cooking the offspring of a multi-million dollar hog?
 One Rib Short of a Slab
By Carlene Phelps
thesquealer@nationalbbqfestival.com
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Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com
Hereford Swine |
Every good barbecue cook knows for a fact that good barbecue begins with a piece of good meat. And, there is almost no price too high when it comes to obtaining the right brisket, rack of ribs, shoulder or Boston butt, chicken parts or a whole hog. And, there is at least one very famous pig’s offspring that continued to be cooked with great success in 2011 by Pat Burke and his famous Tower Rock Bar-B-Que Team from Murphysboro, IL. It’s from the existing offspring of King Neptune (the pig), born way back in 1942. However, let me share the rest of this story with all of you barbecue enthusiasts.
According to information found on Wikipedia, King Neptune was born in a litter of 12 on the Sherman Boner farm near West Frankfort, Illinois. Originally named Parker Neptune, in honor of his father Parker Sensation, he was raised by Boner’s daughter, Patty, as a 4-H project. Neptune was donated by Sherman Boner on December 5, 1942 and originally intended to be served at a fundraising pig roast until the local navy recruiter had another idea. Neptune was a Hereford swine, a breed characterized as mostly red, with a white face, ears and at least two white feet, similar to that of the Hereford breed of cattle.
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Photo courtesy of Pat Burke
Tower Rock Bar-B-Que Team, Murphysboro, IL. |
Navy recruiter Don C. Lingle, originally of Anna, Illinois working at the Marion, Illinois office, decided to auction the pig to raise war bonds. Lingle and auctioneer L. Oard Sitter traveled throughout southern Illinois auctioning Neptune for bonds for the battleship Illinois that was under construction. Eventually, the individual parts of the pig were auctioned; his squeal was auctioned for $25 on at least one occasion. After each auction, King Neptune was returned to be auctioned again later. High demand for appearances by Neptune led them to travel the rest of Illinois raising funds. The mostly red, with white features, Hereford was often displayed covered with a blue Navy blanket and wearing a crown and silver earrings.
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Photo courtesy of Pat Burke
Pat Burke’s great-grandbaby loves Papa’s barbecue! |
On March 6, 1943, Illinois Governor Dwight H. Green purchased King Neptune for $1 million on behalf of the state of Illinois. At the same auction, one of Neptune’s bristles was sold for $500. On one occasion in early 1945, a check was written to King Neptune for his upkeep. The bank asked Lingle to obtain the pig’s endorsement to cash the checks. Lingle was promoted to Chief Petty Officer as a result of his fund raising efforts with Neptune. Most of the hog’s appearances were sponsored by local Elks clubs and King Neptune was a life member of the chapters at Marion, Illinois, Freeport, Illinois and Harrisburg, Illinois. Over the course of King Neptune’s fundraising career, he, Lingle and Sitter helped raise $19 million in war bonds, equivalent to about $200 million in 2007 adjusted dollars. In 1946, King Neptune was to be sent to the Chicago Stockyards, however Lingle regained ownership of the pig and placed it on a local farm where it spent the rest of its life.
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Photo courtesy of Pat Burke
Pat Burke won a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 from the Memphis Barbecue Network. |
King Neptune died of pneumonia on Ernest Goddard’s farm near Anna, Illinois on May 14, 1950, two days prior to his 8th birthday. He was buried with military honors about six miles east of Anna, off Illinois route 146 at a location that became locally known as King Neptune Park. In 1956, Lingle planned to donate an additional 10 acres of land around the property for use as a Naval Reserve National Park. However, that plan never materialized, and in 1958 the construction of Interstate 57 forced King Neptune’s grave to be temporarily relocated. In 1963, a new location was selected less than a mile east of the I-57 / IL-146 interchange. In the late 1980s, after the previous monument was heavily vandalized, the state of Illinois placed a second monument commemorating King Neptune at the nearby northbound I-57 rest area so we can visit.
His original tombstone said: King Neptune (1941-1950), Buried here - King Neptune, famous Navy mascot pig auctioned for $19,000,000.00 in war bonds 1942-1946 to help make a free world. His birth year was mistakenly listed as 1941 on the first monument, but that was corrected to 1942 on the monument at the I-57 rest area.
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Photo courtesy of Pat Burke
The monument can still be seen at the Roadside Park in Illinois. |
This is by no means the final word on how the offspring of this famous pig has been preserved and is now being supplied to the Tower Rock Bar-B-Que Team as they entered their last two competitions of the year and walked away with Grand Championships both times. We actually called Chief Team Cook Pat Burke to ask about the method he used to locate the offspring of this famous pig. However, he was unwilling to divulge any of this information. What we do know is this must be one great swine lineage. We did find out in some of our other research that his last cook-off of 2011 in his hometown of Murphysboro, IL was his 183rd Grand Championship and his 253rd competition entered since December of 1989. Most of our readers recognize Pat as part of the former Apple City Barbeque Team who won their first Memphis in May competition in 1991. He finished his 25th year as a team into the MIM event and still has a display of the armbands to prove it. There was a photo of the collection in the National Barbecue News following his 15th year! What a record - what a great BBQ cook! Congratulations, Pat Burke!
The search continues by top teams as they search for the best of the best chicken, pork and beef before it ever hits the grills across America. We’ll let you competition cooks know if anyone is able to locate the processor of this “new” award-winning swine.
Happy New Year! |
