Woody Woodard's father with Abbott and Costello

Born and raised in Memphis—in fact, the quintessential Memphis character—David "Woody" Woodard, the founder and principal of Kaddy Shack, first learned, refined and evolved his barbecue style from his father, a high school football coach in the early 1960s, who kept tabs on his players by keeping them busy, and out of harm’s way, waiting for the slow Memphis-style ribs to finish all night before Saturday games.

In 1985 Woody hired an elderly retiree to help in a store he bought, and he handed down to Woody an exquisite recipe that had consistently placed first in the local barbeque contest.

Elvis signing an autograph for Woody Woodard's sister

Five years later Woodard opened a new store at a promising intersection location in Olive Branch, Mississippi -- only a stone's throw from Memphis -- and half of the operation was given over to a barbeque restaurant, where he continued to perfect the cooking process. Stars such as Jerry Lee Lewis discovered and frequented the establishment, and Woodard’s ribs gained an increasing following.

In 1991 Barbara Woodard’s car broke down while she was visiting Louisville, Colorado, an old coal-mining community that had become a bedroom suburb for the Denver and Boulder metroplexes. When Woody flew out to fix the vehicle, the Memphis native decided to move his family, and his barbeque method, to Colorado.

One day in 1993, an outside caterer for a Louisville event cancelled at the last minute. Already known for his backyard barbeques, Woody offered a handy solution. "They knew I did barbeque so they hired me to cater it," Woodard recounts. "After that, I catered all their events."

LeAnn Rimes' Band at Kaddy Shack

By now the locals were positively raving about Woodard barbecue ribs. Woodard built his business slowly, moving his restaurant to a railroad siding on busy South Boulder Road, where today his original Colorado "Kaddy Shack 19th Hole" remains wildly popular. As displaced Country and Western stars and their crew members booked into Denver found their way up to little Lafayette, a national following picked up as well. Woody continues to cater out of the Kaddy Shack restaurant base, and the likes of Jay Leno have asked him to fly out and cook for private parties. Now legendary across the country, the next stop for Woodard's ribs is your dinner table.