For years, Bruce Ring competed against some of the nation's best barbecue cooks, taking home some 400 awards.
After moving back to Jefferson City, where he was born and raised, in 2004, he bought Zesto Drive-In, where he started selling his award-winning barbecue. (He's since sold the restaurant to Chris Wrigley.)
Then, he and a few friends who were into barbecuing had an idea: "We thought, 'Wouldn't it be fun to have a cookoff in Jefferson City?'"
So he, along with friends Brian Schrimpf, Brian Welch, Wrigley, Greg Bowman and Stacy Backues, started the Capital City Cook-Off.
It started as a Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned event that brought in competitors on the KCBS circuit - some of the best cooks around. They competed in barbecuing chicken thighs, pork shoulders, brisket and ribs, with prize money going to the top competitors.
As a way for the public to get involved, event organizers held a "buck-a-bone" competition in conjunction with the cookoff. The public could pay a flat fee to sample pork ribs from teams of area residents. It was a competition, social event and fundraiser.
The first year, organizers contacted Debbie Hamler, executive director of The Special Learning Center, which provides education/therapy to children with developmental disabilities.
"Debbie took a chance on us," Ring said. "She said, 'We'll give you some volunteers, and if we get whatever is left over, that's great. And if we don't get anything, that's great, too.' The first year, we gave them $7,500. And it grew and grew."
To date, the Capital City Cook-Off has donated $235,000 to SLC.
Due to the pandemic, this year's event will be limited to a buck-a-bone drive-thru fundraiser. Ring said Bowman has assembled some of the top local barbecuers to cook pork ribs using a single recipe so they'll all have a uniform taste.
Ribs need to be ordered in advance at capitalcitycookoff.com. Slabs of ribs are $25 each or $20 for orders of 10 or more. They can be picked up 11 a.m.-7 p.m. May 7 at the Eagles Club, 1400 Missouri Blvd.
This year's organizing committee consists of Schrimpf, Bowman, Stacy Backues, Nick Lepper, Tyler Beck, Dan Lewis, Welch, Ring and Lt. Dave Williams, of the Jefferson City Police Department.
Barbecue might not be a central part of Ring's life these days, but he still stays plenty busy.
Ring is the director of investments for the Missouri State Treasurer's office, where he manages a fund of more than $6.5 billion.
In his spare time, he and his wife, Beth, enjoy their two dogs, Jerry Lee and Max, and try to stay in shape "try to live a little longer than what we ought to."
He also enjoys fishing and hunting.
Although he no longer cooks competitively, he still enjoys making hamburgers, pork steaks, shish kabobs and other meals on his Weber Smokey Mountain or one of his other grills. He misses competitive barbecue but said he doesn't miss the expenses that go with it. He recouped some of those expenses due to his success on the circuit: Among his 400 awards were a couple of dozen first-place finishes.
He still stays in touch with some of his former competitors whom he now counts as friends.
He hopes the public supports the Capital City Cook-Off this year, despite its changes due to the pandemic.
"We're encouraging everybody who has supported us in the past to support us again," Ring said. "They (SLC) do a lot of good work out there and provide a valuable service in town. They need money to continue their mission, and they are a very deserving organization."