By VICKI BROWN
vbrown@lowcountry.com
Jimmy Blocker developed a love for auctions when he was 11 years old. Now, at 83, he still continues to do what he loves.
“I got the ‘bug’ when I was a kid, catching a ride with farmers from Hendersonville or catching the Greyhound bus near there in the early 50s and riding it to my uncle’s stockyard next to where Benton’s Feed and Seed stands on Highway 15,” said Blocker. The former stockyard is now where Silver Hill subdivision stands.
“My uncle really needed the help, and back then, all I had to do is stand by the side of the road and flag down the Greyhound bus, climb aboard, give them some change for a ride into town,” he said.
In those days, Blocker said he learned a lot about cattle and horses. He grew to love working with livestock and even stopped going to school on Thursdays, since Walterboro businesses shut down on that day, and so he helped in the stockyard.
He watched the auctioneers on those days and knew that was what he wanted to do.
Blocker went to school to learn auctioneering in 1965. Since then, he has taught auctioneering to others and takes continuing education classes to keep up with his career. He worked with legislators in creating laws strictly to control the auction process. “Sometimes people would take your money and run,” he said. There is still a problem with people who buy something and won’t pay for it. That’s the biggest thing we have to worry about. Auctioneering is a contractional job; I have to pay the auction house the money recorded or I lose my license,” said Blocker, and his license is important to him. “I was chairman of the auction commission for about 20 years, and I have served under five different governors in this state over the years,” he added. “But I have let that part go to someone else.”
He sold furniture for a while, working as an auctioneer in Charleston. When Skeet Condor retired after serving as auctioneer in Walterboro, he recommended Blocker as a replacement. Blocker began doing that and also worked in Orangeburg. He had a fertilizer dealership for 19 years and even sold real estate, but gave it all up to be an auctioneer and own his own auction business on Charleston Highway called JGB Auctions; he started the business when his usual leased auction space owned by Sweat Machinery was sold.
Machinery, tractors, trucks, tools and lawn equipment make up his auction sales in the area, but he still works cattle in Orangeburg. His wife, Lou, helps with the bookkeeping and he has other personnel who help. For his own business, he advertises his auctions somewhat, but most people know him and contact him when they are ready to sell. “That makes me feel good. They trust me and call me asking me to sell their equipment and send the proceeds.”
He said he remembers when he was auctioneering in days past that people knew his style and he knew theirs. The sales were fast and predictable. Once in a while he would have some buyers who would get in fights, but for the most part, it has been rewarding for him.
“Cattle are easy and quick in auctions. I can sell almost three cows in a minute in Orangeburg. Walterboro’s stockyard closed almost 15 years ago…the cattle just weren’t there. Farmers aren’t dealing with them anymore. I used to sell 900 cows a week because of the local plantations and farmers, but not anymore,” said Blocker. “The few cattle that are auctioned are sold for beef or dairy and the calves are usually sold in the spring to fatten up for the summer. In the fall they are sold again for beef because the grass dies and there is no grazing land. The horse market is also just about gone, too.” He recalls when horse dealers used to come to auctions from Texas.
“Auctioneering is not what it used to be. Today, a lot of it is done online. Even live auctions have people watching online and bidding. Then there are some sites that have no live auctioneers at all…I don’t like them, I’m old school,” he said. “In the old days, I used to call people’s names, but now you get a number. But I still try to sell something every minute. The most expensive thing I ever sold was a dredge for $1.4 million, and I once auctioned some real estate for four million,” said Blocker.
Even though auctioneering has changed somewhat, he says that kids should get into auctioneering. “It has been good to me. I enjoy the people I work with, and it is always interesting,” said Blocker. “I love what I do, and I don’t call it work.”
