JACK EASLEY MAY HAVE LEFT TEACHING, BUT HE NEVER QUIT BEING A TEACHER.
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He is a soft spoken, mountain of a man that you wouldn’t want to cross or disappoint. “I taught physical education and coached football and baseball at the Breckinridge Job Corp Center—it was a vocational school. The juvenile courts would send kids there from all over the country, but mostly they were from the Northeast—New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia.
“They were not bad kids. They came from bad places with no structure or positive role models. We took them out of that environment and gave them structure and taught them a useful trade. Things like auto mechanics, welding, carpentry and landscaping. It was rewarding work.” (Image 69)
Image 69: Marion Bar-B-Q 728 S Main Street • Marion, KY 4206 • (270)965-3318
Marion, Kentucky is not just a different environment, it is another world: clean air, small-town Amish country in the western part of the state not far from the banks of the Ohio River.
“My wife and I are from here. It is the kind of place where people look out for each other. If you get into any sort of trouble, people will help you out.”
This from a man who always answered the bell as a volunteer fireman for twenty years.
“I don’t get around as well as I used to. I had both knees replaced in ’02 and my left has been replaced twice. These are residual effects from high school football injuries. They don’t keep me from playing golf every Wednesday with my group.”
Jack coached football at the local high school where they were Class A State Champs in 1985. “When my son entered, I quit. I don’t think it’s right to coach your own.”
Jack runs a small, efficient operation. Most of his business is take-out, but Jack built a screened-in covered dining area if you want to make it a picnic. He’s helped by his wife Judy and their son, Mark. She recently retired from teaching first and second grades in Marion for thirty-three years.
Being on the edge of the barbecue belt, they get a lot of questions, like “What is barbecue?” Jack felt he didn’t have the time to adequately answer the question, so he wrote a small booklet explaining it, along with recipes and instructions on how to build your own pit. Like I said, he never quit teaching.
JACK (THAT USED TO BE BY THE TRACKS) EASLEY’S TOMATO-BASED BARBECUE SAUCE
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Mix all ingredients together and heat to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Remove from heat and cool. Stored in the refrigerator, can last several months. Makes about a quart.