Pitmaster IndexDon McLemore
Longtime Owner, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q
Don McLemore
Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-QDecatur, Alabama
Signature:Big Bob Gibson pork shoulder and the bottled Alabama white sauce
Don McLemore was a grandson of founder Bob Gibson, and after Gibson's death in 1972 he and the other grandchildren took over the Decatur restaurant. He led its modern expansion, including the mid-1990s bottling and retail sale of the white and red sauces that spread the brand nationally, and brought son-in-law Chris Lilly into the business in 1992. Recognized as a barbecue pioneer, he remained a guiding figure of the operation for decades.
Technique
Uphold the original hickory-pit method of long, slow smoking of whole pork shoulders passed down from Bob Gibson.
Influences
Bob GibsonCatherine McLemoreThe family pit tradition