BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) - Nearing 90 years old, Buddy Light still moves well.
The Monroe County man still takes care of cattle and the land on which he was born, but what hasn’t slowed a bit is his mouth.
Wearing his staple white straw hat, Light’s mouth jumps, dives and vibrates as he demonstrates what he has done for over eight decades, the auctioneer’s call.
Light’s father was a farmer and an auctioneer himself and taught his son the tricks of the trade through repetition and practice.
“I started with my father,” Light said. “He was a graduate of the Missouri Auction School. I started out with him when I was probably 7 or 8 years old.”
Those early memories with his father are some of Light’s fondest, and he laughs about how different those days were.
“Back in those days you didn’t talk about dollar bids; you talked about a nickel and dime bids,” Light said with his trademark smile.
Life was tough during the Depression, and Light’s father would use his auctioneer skills to make a few extra dollars for his family.
In 1937, when the young Light wasn’t yet 10 years old, his father put him up on the auctioneer’s block during a sale they were having for a cousin for the first time.
“They had an old Model T Ford that they rolled out and all four tires were flat,” Light said. “The bid on that finally ended up as only $14 for that Model T car.”
Though excited to be on the auction block, inside Light was disappointed.
The young man wanted his father to buy the car because the family had only a horse and wagon to get around, but Light said his father didn’t have the money.
“He was probably doing that auction maybe for like $1.50 or $2,” Light said.
Light continued to participate in auctions with his father until his father got sick and passed away when Light was 16 years old.
The young Monroe County man stopped doing auctions until a neighbor said he would be a fool if he didn’t, so he began auctioning at local pie suppers and other sales for local people.
“You couldn’t depend on that, it wasn’t anything regular, so I got a job driving a truck, then did construction work and different things around in the community,” Light said.
In 1949, Light went to Pittsburgh to work for Dravo, the company which built the Bluestone Dam, though his time in Pittsburgh was shortened after being called into the service in 1950.
The young man served in Korea, before leaving the service in 1952 and coming home.
The 1950s saw Light not participate in many auctions, but he began working at the Beckley Livestock Auction in 1961 and would do so for 26 years.
He would also go to work at the Caldwell and Alderson livestock auctions, along with working with the state Department of Agriculture auctioning 4H items.
After leaving the Beckley auction, Light picked up more independent sales and estate sales.
“That was always kind of a sad time because you’re selling somebody’s estate,” Light said, adding that he often personally knew the people whose estate he was auctioning off.
Through it all, Light never lost his love for auctions and said that he still enjoys going to auctions just to watch.
When asked what was most difficult about auctioneering, Light said keeping the crowd interested.
“You’ve got to keep the momentum going. If you don’t, you start selling too slow or something and everybody starts talking and you just lose the crowd,” the auctioneer said.
While the most difficult part of the job, Light said keeping the crowd going is his favorite, with auctions often going late into the evening or in some cases overnight.
According to Light, livestock auctions were always the most difficult with seasoned buyers trying to get the lowest price possible.
While enjoying the sport of auctioning, Light said the most rewarding part of his career is running into people he sold items or livestock to, or to their young children they brought along who are now middle-age adults themselves.
It is because of one of those run-ins that Light can name the exact date he auctioned off the Model T car.
Later on in life, Light ran into a man who had been at that auction that day, a man who had bought a washstand and a porch swing from the young Light on what was his wedding day.
Years later, Light would be the auctioneer for the man’s family after the man and his wife had passed away.
Being that the washstand used to be in the family, Light bent one of his principles and placed a bid on the washstand himself.
In 1937, the washstand went for $1.50 and, when the gavel fell much later on, it went for $330, though Light wasn’t the purchaser.
After bidding up to what he thought was a fair price, Light stopped even though the item for sale was sentimental to him.
Bending a principle of bidding at an auction he was working, Light wouldn’t bend the principle of fairness.
“It’s just so easy to be dishonest and sometimes it’s pretty tempting,” Light said, adding that he isn’t a perfect person. “I’ve made plenty of mistakes but I try to be honest.”
As for selling the same item twice, Light said it has happened to him often.
“Sometimes it brings more and sometimes it brings less. You never know,” Light said.
Auctioning over 80 years, Light has seen many changes. The largest of those is the meaning of a deal.
“When I started, you shook hands. That was a contract,” Light said. “That handshake at that time was better than most contracts that you signed today.”
In a deterrence to bad auctioneering practices, the state has applied many laws over the past four decades.
Auctioneers must be licensed by the state and must take courses in continuing education.
Earlier this year, Light and other longtime auctioneers were celebrated by the state Department of Agriculture at a ceremony at the state fairgrounds.
Light was honored for being in the auctioneering business for over 80 years and with the fact that he had retired from the business by not pursuing a license this year.
Light’s license had expired because he failed to take the continuing education courses necessary to reapply.
The Monroe County auctioneer had to travel to Charleston or beyond to do so and simply missed out on the dates.
At one time the state offered the courses in Roncerverte, but those classes were on Sundays and Light felt guilty about missing church.
Nearing 90 years old, Light has learned that he may be able to complete the courses online and is planning to do so.
“Not that I need them, or that I plan to have more sales, but I just like to have my license,” Light said. “I’m going to apply for them.”
Though a fine auctioneer, Light isn’t worried about the future of the profession.
During the ceremony from the state recognizing his work and the work of a few other auctioneers, Light said he was blown away by what the other auctioneers said about him, adding that he believed the praise was directed at the wrong person.
Another one of the auctioneers honored, Kermit Morgan, has a family full of auctioneers who Light said were fine auctioneers.
“They have a grandson by the name of Ben, who is about 20 years old and the best young auctioneer I ever heard and a fine young man with it,” Light said.
The Monroe auctioneer said he believed that he didn’t desire the praise that he had received, but added that it has made him feel great.
When asked if he had any advice for young people involving handling business, Light’s answer was about as close to an example of what Buddy Light is about as you can get.
“I’d tell them to be honest and fair and square with other people,” Light said. “That’ll stay with you longer than anything else.”
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Information from: The Register-Herald, http://www.register-herald.com
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