“The most disastrous crisis we face in the next two decades will be the food shortage crisis.”
— Jack “Spot” Baird, Professor of Possumolgy
Fifty some-odd years is a long time to chronicle people, places and events. Maybe that’s why, ever so often, one of the well-known or illustrious individuals I’ve been privileged to interview comes to mind.
Like the guys at the Possum Works up in Rhonesboro, Texas. That’s where “Possumologists” Jack “Spot” Baird and the director of research at the Possum Works, Dr.
Richard “Dick” Potter, were on a mission to solve a looming disastrous food crisis at the time I met them in the Spring of 1985.
Maybe you’ve heard of them? For that matter, perhaps maybe you’ve met other possumologists.
As for downtown Rhonesboro, the unincorporated city was founded in 1902 in Upshur County and named for W. M.
Rhone, the only sawmill operator in the area until 1901. That’s when the Marhsall & East Texas Railroad came along and created a town with 15 sawmills, 10 stores, two churches, a school, a hotel, a bank, a gin and a cotton yard.
According to online information, little remains of Rhonesboro today other than about 40 people, a historical marker and a unique zip code. Unique because despite being assigned the 75755 postal code, according to the USPS, Rhonesboro is listed as “not acceptable” for not recognizing Big Sandy or Holly Lake Ranch for that postal code.
It was, however, on its way to being accepted and put on the map at one time by the Possum Works and its wholly owned subsidiary, the “Low Tech International Possum Fertilizer Factory.”
When I talked to them 38 years ago, Baird and Potter felt strongly that their work was leading to a solution for looming food shortages, just one of the many perils facing mankind in 1985.
According to Professor Baird in my interview at that time, “We live in a world where one crisis follows another, what with the energy crisis, the housing crisis and the economic crisis. By far,” Baird emphasized, “the most disastrous crisis we face in the next two decades will be the food shortage crisis.”
“Professor Baird and Dr. Potter, being men with keen minds and strong convictions for a remedy will lead us through this valley of hunger,” I wrote after talking to them.
During the interview, the duo detailed how to prepare one of their prized recipes, Possum Treat. Not to be confused with the Shelby County community of Possum Trot, located down in the south end of the county near Goober Hill.
Preparation called for one dressed opossum, five-to-six-pounds. The ’possum can be cooked whole or carved into specific cuts as diagrammed by Baird and Potter. “As you can see here on this chart, the easiest cuts include the possham, then the possbelly. Back here you’ll find the short ribs and possabaloney.
Over here is the strip possaloin, and moving back you have your Rhoseboro rump, and the tasty tail portion is called the curloin.
“Once you’ve decided whether you want to prepare your ’possum whole or in cuts,” Baird continued, “you will also need six number one East Texas yams, preferably the variety grown near Gilmer, home of the East Texas Yamboree. Plus, half a cup of ribbon cane syrup and a long white oak board. Place the ’possum on the board, surround it with the yams and cook in a 350-degree oven until done, basting often with the syrup.”
“So, how does it taste?” I quizzed them.
“We’re still researching and experimenting with it,” Baird replied. “The best we’ve achieved so far is to dump the ’possum and potatoes in the trash and eat the board.”
They must have achieved a certain degree of success with their research. They presented their possumology not only at the East Texas Yamboree Festival in Gilmer for many years, but also at the San Antonio Folklife Festival.
Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to follow up with them to determine if they had perfected ’possum pot roast. Or if they solved the pending world food crisis.
I’ve always said, however, it was an honor to meet these two scientific men on a mission.
