Uniontown High School student aspires to be professional auctioneer

Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Tammy Helm/Tribune photo Hayden Cole, 15, of Fort Scott, works a crowd for bids during a benefit auction in August for Mercy Hospital Foundation's campaign to raise money for a telemedicine program. Cole hopes to wants to be an auctioneer after high school.

Hayden Cole loves to talk.

So much so that the 15-year-old Uniontown High School student wants to be a professional auctioneer when he turns 18. On Sunday Cole was the auctioneer for the Lute Karleskint fundraiser benefit. Cole said he began aspiring to be an auctioneer around five years ago, watching television programming related to the trade.

"There's a TV auction on every Friday, or a bull sale on RFD (TV) Superior, or other livestock auctions that I usually watch," Cole said. "I record every auction that comes on. I sometimes travel around to different counties to watch the bull sale, but mostly I just go to the Fort Scott sale barn (Fort Scott Livestock Market)."

Rural Free Delivery Television (RFD-TV) is primarily dedicated to rural issues, interests, happenings, and concerns. Superior Livestock on RFD airs an auction every Friday. Cole said he has gained valuable auctioneering experience not only by going to sale barns and watching livestock related television programming, but also from talking to professional auctioneers.

Charly Cummings of Yates Center has been influential to Cole. Cummings is a former world champion auctioneer, winning the 2011 World Livestock Auctioneer crown. Another of Cole's influences is Lanny Ireland of Fort Scott, the 1996 World Livestock Champion. However, others in the industry have also impacted Cole's desire to be an auctioneer.

"I like to listen to Ralph Wade and John Korrey on Superior (Livestock), they kind of got me interested," Cole said.

Cole does have other interests outside of auctioneering and livestock. He plays for the Uniontown High School basketball team. Some of his other hobbies include showing sheep and pigs at fairs, and checking cattle on horseback. Cole is also currently a livestock judge for FFA, which requires a moderate amount of travel.

Cole has enjoyed traveling to Burlington for the Eastern Kansas Swine Show Series. There, Cole said, he shows swine for points and other prizes. Later this month Cole will be traveling to Kansas City, Mo., to participate in the American Royal.

"This month, I'll judge at the American Royal for our 4-H county judging team," said Cole. "I'll be judging all species: cattle, sheep, hogs and goats."

Cole's favorite part of traveling is meeting new people and checking out livestock featured in different counties and, sometimes, even different states.

"The livestock they bring in is almost always different than ours," Cole said.

Looking to the future, Cole said he wants to attend auctioneering school. While staying close to home is a priority for Cole, he is interested in attending Western College of Auctioneering, located in Montana.