Warner Stamey

Warner Stamey was born in 1911 in Lincoln County, North Carolina, the youngest of 11 children. While attending high school in Lexington, he learned pit-cooked barbecue from Jess Swicegood and Sid Weaver, who sold pork from tents near the courthouse. His family's restaurant, Stamey's Barbecue, dates its founding to 1930. He cooked barbecue in Shelby, returned to Lexington in 1938 and bought out Swicegood's operation, and in 1953 moved his business to Greensboro, handing it to his son Charles about four years later. Stamey taught barbecue to Alston Bridges and Red Bridges of Shelby, and Wayne Monk of Lexington Barbecue worked under him for several years. He died in 1972. In 2020 he was inducted into the American Royal Barbecue Hall of Fame as a legacy inductee.