Big Creek BBQ has been competing for two years, although Chief Cook Jeff Stith has been cooking barbeque for close to 15 years. Jeff visited friends from a forum at which he spends a lot of time (www.bbq-brethren.com) who were competing at an event and he was instantly hooked on barbeque competitions. Big Creek's first contest was the American Royal in 2005 where they finished 400th out of 475 teams. Two weeks later, they finished middle of the pack in a 30 team event. In 2006, Big Creek BBQ took big steps forward. Highlights included a first place in chicken in an 76 team event, first place in brisket in a 35 team event and a 2nd place in pork in a 35 team event. In eleven competitions in 2006, Big Creek BBQ had five top ten overall finishes. Thus far in 2007, their highlight was finishing 12th out of over 200 teams at the Great American Barbeque in Kansas City over the Memorial Day weekend and capturing their first-ever Reserve Grand Championship at the Blue springs BBQ Blaze-Off.

Jeff is a lifelong Missouri resident and besides barbeque, he enjoys fishing, genealogy and sports. He has served on the local Park Board for the past two and a half years. Jeff's wife Tammy is the other central figure on the team. Tammy builds the turn-in boxes, helps keep the pit temperatures steady, runs boxes to turn in entries and is the rib cook for the team. She also supervises their daughter in her Kids Q competitions. Her favorite part of competitions, however, is the time around 4 AM when it's still dark and quiet. Tammy wakes up and puts on a 42 cup pot of coffee to share with all of Big Creek's neighbors and friends who stop by for a visit and a cup of hot coffee before the work and stress really get going. Tammy is originally from southwest Michigan and has lived in Missouri for over ten years. Big Creek is assisted on a part-time basis by Stan Hays, also of Pleasant Hill, Missouri. Stan is a long-time home barbequer who is learning about competitions and providing a great assistance to Big Creek BBQ in 2007.

Jeff and Tammy's six year old daughter Taylor is herself an accomplished, award-winning cook. Taylor has competed in several Kids Q events and has two grand championships to show for her efforts. In 2006, she was the Kids Q Grand Champion for the 5 to 10 year olds at the Hillbilly BBQ Cook-Off in Laurie, Missouri. This year, she repeated that feat by winning the grand championship at the Missouri Barbeque and Blues Festival in Sedalia, Missouri.

The Stiths compete on the KCBS barbeque circuit together as a family and enjoy the many great people they have gotten to know over the past two years. "We have many friends in barbeque that we've known only a couple of years but yet they're as good of friends as we have anywhere. We feel like we've known many of them forever," says Jeff. "I think we'd be lost without barbeque competitions. There are some really great people out here."