Masonry marvels
Building a winning wall
OWENTON
Sitting in a gleaming red Ford F-250 4×4 Super Duty truck, waving and smiling exuberantly, Cole Stamper and Jeff Becker—both consumer- members of Owen Electric—celebrated their win at the Spec Mix Bricklayer 500 World Championship.
The event is considered the top attraction for the World of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas. Teams of bricklayers and mason tenders from all over the nation race for one hour to build a brick wall identical to a model. After the walls are laid, judges measure and evaluate them on nine quality standards. If there are errors, bricks are deducted from an entry’s overall count. The team with the highest adjusted brick count after judging wins the prizes.
Cole, a brick mason, and Jeff, a mason tender, won this year’s world championship with a brick count of 760—with zero quality deductions.
“It’s amazing, man,” Cole says of the win. “To put a lot of work into something and see a goal achieved is great.”
Both men are employed by Mason Structure of Lexington. “We work well together,” says Jeff, of Dry Ridge. “When you work with someone long enough, you know what they are going to do before they do it.”
Cole has been laying brick for 22 years, a job he says offers “good pay with lots of opportunities for work”
Co-workers Cole and Jeff claim the title, “World’s Best Bricklayer,” and take home a new Ford F-250 4×4 truck, along with more than $10,000 in additional cash and prizes.
To reach the Las Vegas Championship, Cole and Jeff competed in the Ohio Regional qualifier, laying the highest brick count of any other qualifying team. It was one of 20 regional competitions held across North America, as hundreds of masons competed to qualify for a spot on the championship roster.
The mason tender, in this case, Jeff, had to stack the bricks as they were to be laid and deliver the concrete. Cole then picked up each brick and built the wall to match the floor model. He had to make sure every brick was straight and every curve exactly where it should be.
That kind of cooperation won the men first place along with that red truck, $5,000 in cash, $10,000 in tools and other prizes as well as the title of World’s Best Bricklayer.
The pair are planning to defend their title in January at the next world championship. No team has ever won back-to-back championships. They intend to not only win, but to knock down that wall as well.
DEBRA GIBSON ISAACS writes about how co-op members and staff contribute to their communities.
