For the third year in a row, a Huntley Brothers Company apprentice has won the North Carolina Masonry Contractors Association (NCMCA) Annual Samuel A. McGee Masonry Apprentice Skills Contest. Eighteen-year-old Jamison “JK” Huntley defended his 2017 championship by repeating in 2018, taking home the David R. Sigmon Award for first place in a field of 38 contestants from nine NCMCA member companies.
Adams, an Oldcastle company, co-hosted the event with the Charlotte Metrolina Chapter of NCMCA May 19 in Charlotte.
The new champion is the son of Maria and Tim Huntley of Monroe and is number five of nine brothers. JK is the first of the brothers to win first place in the annual NCMCA contest. Now he has done it twice. JK’s brother Landon is his foreman at Huntley Brothers Company and father Tim says Landon felt like JK would win, that he is a very good team player and does a great job. (Tim added, “I can’t believe Landon said that about his brother.”)
JK’s masonry instructor was his great-uncle Sam McGee for whom the contest is named. McGee was a founder of McGee Brothers Company, a firm based in Charlotte that is often listed as among the largest masonry contracting firms in the country. McGee, who died in 2015, was recognized across the country as a leader and innovator in the industry. He was inducted into the national Masonry-Hall-of-Fame in 2014. Jamison’s was one of the last masonry classes that Sam ever taught.
Finishing second to fifth place respectively were Coner Hallman, McGee Brothers Company; Rex Huntley, Huntley Brothers Company; Zachery McGee, McGee Brothers Company; and Jesse Baker, Gates Construction Company. Each contestant had two hours to build a detailed four-foot by three-foot brick and block panel which was then judged in nine predetermined categories.
By earning the David R. Sigmon award for first place, JK won $1,000 cash and a wheelbarrow full of tools. He also earns the right to represent North Carolina again at the Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA) International Skills Challenge this coming January at Las Vegas. He won that competition in January earlier this year.
The NCMCA has approximately 136 member companies across the Carolinas. NCMCA promotes masonry as a preferred building system and as a great career opportunity.