With an adjusted count of 742 brick laid in one hour, the team of tender Ben Bost (left) and mason Wriston McGee of McGee Brothers Company won the October Carolina Qualifier for the upcoming 2023 Las Vegas SPEC MIX Bricklayer 500 World Championship. Wriston will be making a return trip to Las Vegas having also qualified in 2021. The regional qualifier was part of the Sixth Annual Masonry Education Day at Stalite’s Ben Ketchie Park in Gold Hill. Some five hundred students from across North Carolina participated in hands-on exhibits and competitions, met potential employers, and enjoyed a hotdog lunch provided by Johnson Concrete Products. In the qualifier, the team of Keith Helms with tender Scott Helms won “Top Craftsman” recognition. Second place went to the team of Grant Helms with tender Anderson Pruett followed by Cody Alward with tender Hazen Alward in third place. With an adjusted count of 293, the East Rowan High School team of Mason Ridenhour with tender Braxton Smith won the Jr. SPEC MIX Bricklayer 500 followed by mason Israel Burgarin and tender Leslie Maldonado of Columbus Career & College Academy in second place and the West Rowan High School team of mason O’Connor Leonard and tender Dillion Smith in third place. Photo by Judy Johnson

Committee Chairman David McQueen, pictured left, announced that the Kirby Construction Services team is the winner of the 2022 NCMCA Annual Fall Golf Tournament in September at the Mill Creek Golf & Country Club in Mebane. Pictured left to right, Chairman McQueen, team member Joe Norman, committee member Chris Mitchell, team captain Larry Kirby, committee member Dwayne Bryant, and team members Larry Chapman and Brian Nelson. Finishing in second place, the Adams/Oldcastle team of Eddie Jordon, Rob Haas, Brian Smith, and Carlos Leon. Third Place went to the Whitman Masonry team of Doug Burton, Bill Reed, Jimmy Wall, and Ken Armistead. “Closest to the Pin” recognitions went to Wade Hume, Heber Aldridge, and Steve Wheeler. Randy Clayton won the “Longest Drive” contest. Chairman McQueen expressed appreciation to all the sponsors including Argos USA for the barbecue chicken dinner and EZG Manufacturing for arranging the EZG Mudhog Mixer hole-in-one prize (that once again went unclaimed.) Proceeds from the tournament fund the NCMCA Sigmon Memorial Design Scholarships at NC State and Appalachian State universities.  Photo by Jodi Helms. 

As of September, Ryan Shaver (left) is the new Association Manager and Executive Vice President of NCMCA and Jodi Helms joins the staff of NCMCA as Office Manager. The NCMCA office will be moving from Hickory to Mount Pleasant, North Carolina over the next several months. Lynn Nash, who has managed the Association since 1997, will assist with the transition until his full retirement in May 2023. Shaver joined the NCMCA staff in the spring of 2018 as Workforce Development & Training Coordinator. Jodi Helms is an educator and taught kindergarten for ten years. She is the wife of Scott Helms of member firm Helms Masonry.

NCMCA two-time Past President Gary Joyner (left) recently received national recognition for his contributions and ongoing involvement in the nation’s masonry industry. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Joyner Masonry Works, Inc. in Greenville, North Carolina, Gary was inducted into the National Masonry Hall-of-Fame at the Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA) closing banquet during the August 2022 MCAA Annual Mid-Year Meeting held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  He launched Joyner Masonry Works, Inc. in 1978 primarily performing residential masonry. Since then, the firm has grown to become one of the larger masonry contracting firms in the state and has performed work on prominent projects across eastern North Carolina including work at NC State University, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gary’s son Chris is now the President of the firm.  In 1981 Gary became involved with the North Carolina Masonry Contractors Association. Gary says, “Becoming involved in NCMCA was the single most important experience and the turning point in my career. The knowledge gained from the association with other masonry contractors from around the state was immeasurable.” In 1987 Gary was elected President of NCMCA for the first time. In 2012 Gary was the first person to be elected to a second term as NCMCA President.  The Masonry Hall of Fame was created by the Mason Contractors Association of America “to recognize and award individuals who have dedicated their lives to the masonry industry.” Gary Joyner joins forty other individuals previously inducted into the Hall-of-Fame, including four from North Carolina: Glenn W. Sipe (2012,) Sam McGee (2014,) Bob Merrill (2019,) and instructor Doug Drye (2020.)  Along with Gary Joyner, Past MCAA President Richard “Mike” Johnston of Johnston Construction Company in Tacoma, Washington was also inducted into the Hall-of-Fame for 2022.  Fellow Masonry Hall-of-Fame member Robert “Buddie” Barnes, (right) Chairman of the Board of Dee Brown, Inc. of Texas, nominated Joyner for the Hall-of-Fame and introduced Gary at the Hall-of-Fame banquet.      CLICK HERE FOR A VIDEO INTERVIEW

At an October recognition dinner held in Asheville, NCMCA announced David Bass as the recipient of the 2020 NCMCA Eleanor Flowers Upton Award for long-term distinguished and exceptional service and dedication to the Association and the masonry industry by an associate member. The Upton Award selection committee approved David Bass’s nomination in early 2020 and had planned to announce and present the award at the 2020 annual NCMCA spring convention that was canceled because of the pandemic. A video announcement was prepared in the summer of 2021 and was debuted at the Asheville dinner. Pictured left to right, the most recent previous Upton Award recipient from 2018, David McQueen; 2020 honoree David Bass, his wife Kim, and their son JD.  David Bass is retired from Adams/Oldcastle, Asheville.   CLICK HERE TO WATCH NCMCA’S PRERECORDED ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE AWARD

In July, the North Carolina Masonry Instructors Association met in Greensboro and elected new officers for the 2022-2023 term. Left to right, new Vice President, Fred Mason of Columbus College & Career Academy; new President Matthew Almond, North Stanly High School; out-going President Rodney Harrington, West Rowan High School, who served six years because of the pandemic; new secretary Chris Garner, Lee County High School; and new Treasurer Roland Dixon, Pender County High School. McGee Brothers Company hosted the instructors for a day of continuing education that included lunch provided by McGee Brothers Company and Adams/Oldcastle. Among the day’s activities were hands-on demonstrations by Masonry Cosmetics, East Coast Brick Staining, iQ Power Tools, EZG Manufacturing, and Stabila.

NCMCA associate member firm EastWest Products hosted the annual “Butch Hardy Top Trowel” competition in May at their manufacturing and retail facility in Kinston. Masonry students from Pender County High School, North Lenoir High School, and Columbus Career & College Academy participated, a somewhat smaller number of schools than usual because of pandemic school travel policies. Students competed for cash and tool prizes and enjoyed a hotdog and hamburger lunch courtesy of Manning Masonry. Columbus Career & College Academy had a “clean-sweep,” with their team winning the top three places. Pictured left to right, Parrish Hoffman, EastWest Products; Third Place finisher Kalyn Stover; Brantley Rivers, EastWest Products; Second Place Finisher Israel Bugarin; Columbus College & Career Academy masonry instructor Fred Mason; 2021 Winner and Champion Annayeli Dionisio; and Brett Hardy, EastWest Products. 

Past NCMCA President Doug Burton regularly refers to Patrick Rand as “The Professor of Masonry.” Indeed, NC State’s Professor J. Patrick Rand has proven to be among the Nation’s leading authorities on masonry performance, research, and design. He is a past president of The Masonry Society, has authored several books, received numerous professional awards and recognitions, and has been an instructor for the NCMCA Masonry Contractor Certification Program since the program’s inception in 2006. Some twenty years ago, Professor Rand and Doug Burton created the Sigmon Memorial Design Scholarship at NC State, also now awarded at Appalachian State University. In June, after forty-four years, Rand retired as a Distinguished Professor of Architecture in the College of Design at NC State University. Masonry association officials joined Professor Rand and NC State College of Design faculty and staff in July for a lunch to discuss masonry-supported scholarships as Professor Rand steps away from his teaching role. Left to right, Doug Burton; NCMCA Executive Vice President Lynn Nash and President Danks Burton; Professor Rand; Frank Werner, retired from Adams/Oldcastle; David McQueen, Adams/Oldcastle; and Southeast Concrete Masonry Association President James Cain. Photo by Lauren Hipp.