THROW BACK THURSDAY My Buddy Steve Fauks You know for centuries there have been horse shows. There have been farriers, tack makers, saddle makers, show managers. The guy that keeps the ring watered and drug. The horse trainers get their ego’s feed. The owners are supposed to be having fun. All at the horse show. More times than not, all the people that actually put the show on are unsung. Then there are a few that seem to be everywhere. There are very few people in the horse community that doesn’t know Steve Fauks. I have often told the story, that Steve, his wife Caroline, Stan & Susan Morey, my wife Terry and I took a trip to Italy. We all went to Rome and went to visit the Vatican. As we were walking around Steve disappeared. Well it came time for the Pope to come out on the balcony and bless all of the audience. Terry, Caroline, Stan, Susan and I were in the crowd. Here out comes the Pope. Sure enough Steve is with him. We were standing next to some people in the crowd and I heard one guy say to the other. “Who is that up there on the balcony” the other guy said “I’m not sure who the guy is wearing the white beanie, but the other guy is Steve Fauks”. Growing up in Oklahoma City in the 50’s, believe it or not. There were some very high profile American Saddlebred stables in Oklahoma. One of those stables was Harold Adams stables. So Steve grew up showing , Saddlebreeds. In fact at the same time the renowned Mary Gaylord and her sisters and brother all rode with Harold Adams. If you have not heard of Mary Gaylord. If you ever drive through Shelbyville, Kentucky, you will see a larger than life size statue of Mary and here famous 5 gaited horse Santana Lass. The statue is right on the main street of the city. The Gaylord’s own the Grand Ole Opry. Just over 30 years ago I meet Steve Fauks. He was a hard core bachelor in his thirties. He was one of those guys that were at every horse event doing whatever job the show the show staff needed help. Steve has worked the rings, out in Scottsdale for years. He and his now wife Caroline has been the show manager for the Morgan Grand National Show. And the 2 of them own and operate the very best in quality horse transportation. Summerfield Transportation. With the highest quality rigs in the horse industry. Now everyone knows Steve but how many know his background. If you are a kid and think that you can,t make a living doing what you love. Then listen to this. Steve was born and raised in Oklahoma City along with his brother Mike. Their Dad and Mom are both Veterinarians. They owned a very successful small animal practice in Oklahoma City. After graduating from North West Classen high school (same school as Vince Gil graduated from years later) Steve went to college and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in business. In the 60,s the war in Viet Nam was raging on. At that time there was still a draft. So Steve joined the Army rather than wait to be drafted. In typical Steve Fauks style. Steve ended up getting sent to Germany and in typical Steve Fauks style. He had the job throughout his stretch driving the base commander around in the Colonel’s jeep. In WW II that guy was called the “dog robber”. After his stint in the Army, Steve and a lifelong buddy of his decide to take a ride east. They decided to visit the Sunshine state of Florida. In those days, if you went to Florida you just had to go to the number 1 tourist attraction, Cypress Gardens. What many people don’t know about Steve? Is he is an avid water sports guy as he has been horseman. Well when he and his buddy Hal Burba got there they thought it would be cool to hang around for a while. Steve got himself a job taking tickets at Cypress Gardens. Well the weeklong trip ended up lasting 10 years. In those ten years Steve went from taking tickets to being a stunt skier to managing the ski show for Cypress Gardens. The pictures below shows Steve in every advertisement either on Bill boards, posters or T.V Commercials. He is guy in the pictures that the beach boys sang about with his bushy blonde hair does. Steve was one cool cat. Steve Fauks the inventor. While skiing, in the ski show several times a day, for 10 years. Steve learned that in order to do the Pyramids with girls on top of the pyramid. The girls could only be a specific height and weight. Along with other stunts the girls had to learn to ski backwards. If you have been on a slalom water ski they are built to go forward and not backward. Well there were skis that were tipped up at both ends. But they were difficult for a 90 pound girl to turn the ski around. Their ankles were just not strong enough. So resource full Steve invented a swivel that let the ski stay forward and the binding would rotate. To this day 40 years later no one has ever engineered a better swivel and they are still in demand worldwide and used at all of the ski shows around the country. If you ever see Summerfield Transportation their is a logo of the swivel. After a decade of water shows, Steve headed back to the Sooner state. In the last 20 years Steve Fauks has worked almost every large and small horse show west of the Mississippi river. He has worked Arabian, Saddlebred, And Morgan shows. Anyone that is close to Steve knows that he can walk around a show grounds after everyone leaves and before the stall cleaners come in. Steve will pick up the stuff that has discarded. From this if you need something of any kind Steve usually has one. So, one day I had bought and old steel bumper pull 2 horses and I called Steve to see if I could take it to his shop and put new running lights on it. As always he said sure, “ bring it over.” I can’t remember exactly what I asked him for, but he said ya I think I have that in this old trunk. Steve walks over and pulls out this old trunk like people used on long trips. Some call them a steam trunk because they were used in ships that crossed the ocean. Anyway. He pulls open this trunk and pulls out an artificial leg. In fact it was a left leg and it still had a sock and a shoe on it. I said to him how the hell did you get some poor old guy’ s artificial leg. He just as a matter of fact, “it came with the trunk.” So if you ever need a bucket, a halter, a lounge whip, a WW I cannon, a sword from Napoleon or a left artificial leg. Call Steve Fauks at BR 549. I guarantee Steve has it. After staying a bachelor until 50 years old Steve finally found the love his life. Caroline at the time was working as a comptroller for International Arabian Horse Association. One thing lead to another and the committed single guy tied the knot. That was 18 years ago. They both have been great friends to Terry and me and we cherish the friendships. Bill Addis Please look at all the pictures
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 13:26:02 +0000
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