HIGH POINT,N.C. – A lively, honored and storied auction gavel rises this month on 50 years for the world-renowned Mendenhall School of Auctioneering, the oldest continuously owned and operated auction educational institution in North America.
Spurred by the excitement of competitive bidding and quick, captivating commerce, legendary auctioneer “Colonel” Forrest Mendenhall established the school bearing his name on his family’s farm half a century ago with an initial quartet of eager students who became the first of more than 7,000 men and women learning the commercial craft of precise auctioneering.
From every state, Canadian province and major continent worldwide, Mendenhall has been teaching cowboys, entrepreneurs, commoners and royalty alike his proven curriculum of robust auction skills “because this fast-paced, exciting business is all about bringing people and value together.” The school’s next class begins an intense 9-day session on Nov. 3, with four more high-energy sessions scheduled in 2013.
Awarded virtually every form of recognition in the auction world, Mendenhall is an 81-year-old dynamo driven by a personal calling and compelling desire to teach and learn. “My students learn that success in the auction business is a never-ending education about people, products, items and situation,” he said, recalling how he has learned from scores of thousands of auctions and episodes from the mundane to extraordinary.
Over the decades, the school’s graduates have started auction companies or joined existing organizations, with many attaining national recognition in the industry as leaders, educators and highly accomplished auctioneers to which they all happily attribute to the Mendenhall method they consider to jump-start their careers.
“It (the school) provides a good basis to get started, a realistic preparation for the profession with a strong foundation of practical knowledge from an eager staff of instructors and legendary leader,” said former student and international award-winning auctioneer Lynne Zink, owner of her own auctioneering firm, Joppa, Md., and president of the Auctioneers Association of Maryland.
Highly regarded as a congenial Southern gentleman, Mendenhall is deceptively mild mannered until he begins wielding an active auction gavel and starts the energized bidding. That’s when he explodes into a highly animated, mesmerizing auction master, delivering and directing incessant melodic calls for higher bidding as he confidently controls any crowd of anxious, eager and vocal bidders. In the auction world, the appellation of colonel is an honorary designation denoting accomplishment, stemming from America’s Civil War when colonels were authorized to conduct auctions.
In 50 years leading the school, Mendenhall assembled a cadre of accomplished instructors – some former students – who share his passion, integrity, ethics and the joy of fostering one of the oldest commercial professions in the world.
“Simply, Forrest demands excellence, pushing me to push my students and requiring all of us instructors to remain current and relevant. Not only do I teach, I learn thanks to Forrest whose breadth of experience showed me how to gain valuable insights for my business that I impart to my students needing to know about real estate auctioneering,” said Kim Hagen, an instructor and president, Hagen Realty Group, Carrollton, Ga.
Mendenhall earned the right to speak about auctioneering. “I had been an auctioneer for a decade before I started the school, realizing that if I was having so much fun, I knew I had to help others get in on the enjoyment, and the rest is a marvelous and terrific journey and history,” he said from the school’s 17,000-square-foot facility off busy North Carolina Highway 29 in a bucolic section of the Tar Heel State.
With 50 years of awards, photographs of every class, testimonials, auction memorabilia and mementos covering virtually every wall at the school, its comprehensive curriculum covers every aspect of auctioneering: product knowledge, methods, techniques, procedures and law.
“When students are graduated, they have been thoroughly tested, adequately learning the basics to develop and enhance their careers,” Mendenhall said, explaining that today’s primary auction focus categories are automobiles, real estate, antiques and livestock. Mendenhall gained his admirable auction talent, auctioning automobiles up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Currently, his auction company conducts auctions on and off site, in addition to operating Mendenhall Auto Auction, one of the largest vehicular auction centers in the Southeast that his son, Wayne Mendenhall, manages.
The school’s curriculum prepares every graduate to comply with various state licensing regulations. “Forrest is a living legend in the auction industry, but beyond his tremendous talent, he is a foremost educator. He knows the importance of being responsible for educating generations of competent and responsible auctioneers who operate in every state, as well as those in many foreign countries,” said Steve Proffitt, a Mendenhall instructor and general counsel at J.P. King Auction Co., Gadsden, Ala.
At the school where enrollment has been growing over the years, Mendenhall attributes enhanced interest in auctioneering to “a confident person’s desire to be his or her own boss” with the never-ending excitement of being involved in a fast-moving enterprise that is always different and delightfully intriguing with each auction.
“As the students know and learn, there’s always something to be auctioned, especially in this economy where real estate and other items are available,” the renowned auctioneer-teacher said. “As for competition, a competent auctioneer is in high demand because he or she can command attention and provide satisfactory results for clients.”
For details visit the Mendenhall School of Auctioneering website at www.mendenhallschool.com or phoning 336-887-1165.