The Spec Mix BRICKLAYER 500 featured teams from across the country vying for the title of World’s Best Bricklayer and Top Craftsman. Masons practiced for days, weeks, even months to perfect their techniques and increase their speed.
Well, not every mason practiced. In fact, the winner, Jerry Goodman of Blythewood, S.C.-based Jerry Goodman Masonry, claims he didn’t do anything to get ready for the competition. “I didn’t practice at all,” says Goodman. “I’ve been laying brick my whole life. The main thing you’ve got to do is just stay calm.”
This was only Goodman’s second attempt at the prize, and you might say he was a somewhat reluctant participant. Goodman’s daughter, Heidi Albea, actually pushed him into getting involved in bricklaying competitively two years ago.
“She and her husband found some applications at Boral Brick in Columbia for the bricklaying competition,” Goodman recalls. “She wanted me to try, and I said, ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ That year, the regionals were held in Charleston, and I took first place and craftsman, and then went to Vegas. However, I didn’t place in Vegas.”
Heidi Albea, it must be noted, is not only Goodman’s daughter, she’s his tender. So, when she said, “Well let’s do it one more year, Dad,” Goodman couldn’t refuse. “I said, ‘Alright,’ and so last year, we went to the regionals in Charlotte.”
Good thing he did; he took first place in Craftsman and went on to the national competition in Las Vegas. The results speak for themselves, but Goodman voices them saying, “We actually won the top two prizes. They said it was the first time it’s ever happened in the 12 years they’ve been putting it on.”
Competitive bricklaying isn’t for every mason. Goodman started out laying brick at the age of 17 and has been working the trade for about 40 years, the last 15 heading up his own company. In the early-1990s, he entered and won the state block-laying Fastest Trowel competition for two years in a row. And, while block laying and bricklaying are different, the competitive stress is similar.
According to Albea, “Dad said it was just too intense, and he didn’t want to try a second time. But I talked him into one more time, and he did it – he won.”
Goodman agrees. “That’s why I wasn’t really too hip on going back into competition. I enjoy them, but they are very intense. It’s a lot of work. But it’s still a good time.”
Albea has been helping Goodman for years, not just in competitions, but throughout the company’s work. As Albea says, “It started out as Jerry Goodman and Sons – my brother, Donny, works for Dad – and then I got involved and stayed. So Dad had to change the name to Jerry Goodman Masonry. I seemed to be around all the time, and I enjoy the challenge, working hard, and working outside; it just seemed natural.”
A father-daughter team is uncommon, especially with the woman doing the tending. Under competitive stress, it’s even a harder job. “I didn’t have any problems,” Albea admits. “I’m used to keeping him and my brother stocked with brick and mud, so that was right up my alley. I had to keep moving; I didn’t have any down time. He kept me busy.”
Next on the agenda? Returning in 2015 to defend his titles and, if all goes according to plan, tending for son Donny or daughter Heidi at some point in the future. Meanwhile, the whole family can enjoy the spoils of Jerry Goodman’s win: a red 2014 Ford F-250 4x4 pickup truck and more than $20,000 in cash and prizes. See you next year, Jerry and Heidi!
Tom Inglesby, former editor of Masonry, lives and works as a writer in Southern California. |