Nov. 16, 2010

For more information contact:

Crystal Albers, assistant director of communications/web editor, at 816-383-5134 or calbers@angus.org

PHOTOS AVAILABLE upon request at prphotos@angus.org

Angus Heritage Honored

American Angus Association^® inducts six Angus enthusiasts into the Angus Heritage Foundation.

The Angus breed has a rich heritage in the United States, built on more than 127 years of genetic improvement and generations of dedicated breeders and enthusiasts who have made it possible. Each year, the American Angus Association honors select individuals for their dedication to the improvement and advancement of the breed by induction into the Angus Heritage Foundation.

This year, honorees included: Leo J. Baker, Saint Onge, S.D.; Hugh Ingalls, Faith, S.D.; Jay P. King, Rock Falls, Ill.; and Jim and Ardyce O’Neill, Logan, Iowa. Albert Gore, Sr., formerly of Tennessee, was inducted posthumously.

Inductees were recognized during the Association’s Annual Banquet Nov. 15 in Louisville, Ky. Each inductee or a representative received a framed certificate, and all names will be engraved on a plaque at the Association’s Saint Joseph, Mo., headquarters.

A new booklet features photos and brief biographies of all Angus Heritage Foundation inductees honored since the program was initiated in 1983. Contact the American Angus Association at 816-383-5100 or prphotos@angus.org to request copies.

Brief biographies of each 2010 inductee follow.

Leo J. Baker

Leo J. Baker of Bakers Lemar Angus Ranch has been a producer and promoter of black Angus cattle since 1952. He attended his first annual meeting of the American Angus Association in Chicago and has attended almost every year since.

Baker started his own herd with 13 registered heifers that, in turn, delivered 13 bull calves.

He and his family were hosts at their ranch to the World Angus Forum in 1993, and he has sold breeding stock both nationally and internationally.

Baker has served on several state and local boards involved in cattle and agricultural production. He is a member of the American Angus Association, the South Dakota Angus Association and the Black Hills Angus Association.

The Belle Fourche, S.D., Chamber of Commerce honored Baker in 1997, naming him Agribusiness Person of the Year for his contributions and leadership in the area. He was also named 2010 Breeder of the Year by the Black Hills and South Dakota State Angus associations.

Baker served for six years on the Board of Directors of the American Angus Association.

Albert Gore, Sr.

Albert Gore, Sr. was born Dec. 26, 1907, in Granville, Tenn., the third of five children of Allen and Margie Denny Gore. He studied at Middle Tennessee State Teachers College and graduated from the Nashville YMCA Night Law School, now the Nashville School of Law.

He first sought elective public office at the age of 23 when he ran, unsuccessfully, for the job of superintendent of schools in Smith County. A year later, he was appointed to the position. He served as Tennessee Commissioner of Labor and was elected as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee’s 4th District from 1939 to 1953 but for an interruption to serve in the U.S. Army in WWII.

He served as U.S. Senator from the State of Tennessee from 1953 to 1971 and was the principle sponsor of legislation creating the Interstate Highway system. He was one of only three Democratic senators from the former Confederate states who refused to sign the Southern Manifesto and opposed the Vietnam War. After leaving the Senate, Gore, Sr. resumed the practice of law, taught at Vanderbilt University and continued breeding Angus cattle. He died at the age of 90.

He was married to attorney Pauline LaFon Gore (who died in 2004) and had two children, Nancy LaFon Gore (who died of lung cancer in 1984) and Al Gore, Jr. who served as Vice President of the United States from 1993-2001 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Hugh Eugene Ingalls

A registered Angus owner since he was 12, Hugh Ingalls has been a strong advocate of the breed. From his first heifer calf, which his father, Lawrence, transferred to him in 1942, he has built a cow herd that won the 1983 American Angus Association-Centennial Angus Herd Award.

Ingalls’ grandfather purchased an Angus bull in 1895 with the registration certificate number 19975 and a hand-written pedigree, giving this herd the distinction of being the oldest Angus herd in South Dakota. Production records have been an important part of Ingalls’ genetic program since 1956.

In 1990 he was named the Black Hills Angus Association’s outstanding producer. He has served as chairman and board member of the Black Hills Angus Association, the South Dakota Angus Association, and the South Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement Association. He has served as a South Dakota voting delegate to the American Angus Association Annual Meeting for many years.

For more than 20 years, he has sold his Angus steers to South Dakota State University for beef quality research.

“Through fad and fashion, good years and bad, the Angus cow has been, is today and will be tomorrow, the pattern of excellence for others to follow and attempt to attain,” Ingalls once wrote.

He is the only recipient of both the “Stockman of the Year” award and the “Hall of Fame Silver Spur Award” from the Black Hills Stock Show. Ingalls is known as “a true stockman” who has unselfishly volunteered to promote the cattle industry and the Angus breed.

Jay P. King

Jay P. King was raised on an Illinois Angus farm started by his father, W. Wilson King, with the purchase of their first Angus in September 1945.

King is currently involved in the family operation, Sauk Valley Angus, with his daughter and son-in-law, their sons and his grandchildren. Sauk Valley Angus was recognized as the Illinois Beef Association’s Beef Seedstock Producer in 2004, and the Beef Improvement Federation’s Seedstock Producer of the Year in 2006.

King was an inaugural member of the Illinois Junior Angus Association, and a large contributor to that organization as his children grew in the breed. He served numerous terms as director of the Illinois Angus Association, and also as its president in 1996.

King was elected to serve as a director of the American Angus Association in 2001 and 2004, and served as its president in 2009 during what was one of the Association’s most challenging years. During this time at Association President, King helped develop policy to address two newly recognized genetic defects and to implement cost cutting initiatives, as well as address fee structures to proactively manage an operating budget shortfall.

Jim and Ardyce O’Neill

O’Neill Angus Farm was established in 1951 by Jim and his father, Clinton. Two of the first females purchased, the Eraline’s and Delia’s, rich in the blood of Earl Marshall, are the dominant cow families producing most major herd sires. Their goal to produce profitable Angus cattle for the beef industry has resulted in O’Neill Angus progeny worldwide, with production and test station records, as well as many show and sale records.

Jim was named Master Breeder at the 1987 All-American Angus Futurity and Iowa Seedstock Producer of the Year in 1990. He is a past president of the Iowa Angus Association; president of the Iowa Beef Breeds Council; and longtime voting delegate to the American Angus Association Annual Meeting.

Meanwhile, Ardyce has plays an essential role managing the farm office. She has been active in the Iowa Angus Auxiliary and has served in several leadership positions within the American Angus Auxiliary. She is an American Angus Auxiliary past president and served as the organization’s former National Beef Education Chairman. Ardyce was also integral in forming a Beef Education Booth displayed at the National Western Stock Show, as well as the first All-American Certified Angus Beef® (CAB) Cook-Off held at the National Junior Angus Show (NJAS) and organized in 1983.

Jim and Ardyce have three children, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. They belong to the United Methodist Church and other local organizations.

Visit www.angus.org for complete coverage of Angus events held in conjunction with the 2010 North American International Livestock Exposition, including board election and show results.

The American Angus Association is the nation’s largest beef breed organization, serving nearly 30,000 members across the United States and Canada. It provides programs and services to farmers, ranchers and others who rely on the power of Angus to produce quality genetics for the beef industry and quality beef for consumers.

For more information about Angus cattle and the American Angus Association’s programs and services, visit www.angus.org.

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