Aug 4

Aug 4 The face of a legend in a world with a dying art

Have you ever heard 10-year-old children say when asked in school what they want to be when they grow up the word Auctioneer? Probably not, but that wasn’t the attitude of Chris O. McMahan a native of Davidson County when he was growing up as a farm boy.

Photo of Chris McMahan while auctioneering

“Well I wanted to be an auctioneer and everything ever since I was 10 years old, and you had to have a certain age limit before you was qualified to attend the college at Mendenhall School of Auctioneering to get your degree. The way I really got my speed built up was, me and my cousins would put my daddy and my grandfather’s cows in the barn and feed them and everything and shut the gates, and a lot of people got a laugh out of it, but I was 10 years old and I’d get a stick and I’d sit up on a tractor hood and they’d let a few cows out and I’d use the stick as a microphone. (Chris chuckles) And that’s how I built my speed up and my cousins would holler “yeah” that would be considered as a bid, then a cow would beller and that would be a bid. Then to get my speed very rapid, they took the baby calves and took them away from where the cows was, and the cows started having a fit bellering and I kept up with the cows that was bellering and that’s how I built my rhythm and my speed.”

Chris is the fourth generation to live on the McMahan’s farm, where he boasts of 82 years of raising cattle on their property. He made auctioneer history when in 1985, he graduated with 101 hours of auctioneering school at the age of 16. He told Davidson Local the conversations he was having after the news broke out.

“I was asked to come up on the stage and then they told me: “You have accomplished something in life that’s never been done.” I said what’s that? They said, “You are the first teenage auctioneer in the history of the United States or the world, whichever way you want to put it” and I didn’t go to auctioneering school thinking to be the world’s first, I just went thinking I wanted to be an auctioneer since I was 10 years old. Newspapers started coming after me, TV cameras started coming and one of the gentlemen that I worked with Dan Williams, he was the 1982-83 World Champion Livestock Auctioneer, and I asked him one day I said: Mr. Williams, why is these people coming after me wanted pictures and autographs? He said, “Because you’re the youngest that has ever been done in this profession in history”. I said if I had known that I’d never done it!” As he laughed, he finished his story by telling me how it all came crashing down on him.

Chris holding his 1985 diploma and awards from Mendenhall School of Auctioneering

Chris admits to loosing his ability to do his favorite thing due to Glaucoma, which is a group of eye conditions that can cause blindness. The nerve connecting the eye to the brain is damaged, usually due to high eye pressure. When asked if he knew anyone younger than him in the business, his reply was no and that all the people he still stays in contact with are older than him. He still keeps in contact with his instructors but says all the schools including Mendenhall School of Auctioneering are closed and have been so for a while now. His passion shown through as he spoke on his fond memories as an auctioneer. Although he is a resident of Davidson County he traveled and worked in the entire state of North Carolina until he retired.