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For the love of the Jaycees: As exhausted rooster, David Teachout remains active with community organization
SIKESTON — David Teachout, a longtime Sikeston Jaycee and now exhausted rooster (retired Jaycee), has long enjoyed his involvement with the organization, rodeo and community service.
Teachout, who is active in the community today, is well-known for his commitment to the Jaycee organization and the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo.
Once a Jaycee reaches the age of 40, they can become exhausted roosters, which are known as retired lifetime members of the Jaycees.
“There is a selection committee and not everybody that turns 40 is selected to be an exhausted rooster,” Teachout said. “There is a selection committee and your rooster status is based on your career as a Sikeston Jaycee, the things you’ve done and the things you’ve accomplished.”
Teachout, 64, said he hasn’t missed a rodeo since joining the Jaycees in 1986, after a friend who was already a member told him about the organization.
“I knew somewhat of the Jaycees and what all they did,” Teachout said. “And I had been part of a lot of volunteer organizations before.”
Teachout said when he first returned from college and moved back to Sikeston, he became involved in some clubs whose proceeds went to the Kenny Rogers Children’s Center, and he eventually ended up on the Kenny Rogers Children Center’s board of directors as a representative for the car club he was a member of.
“The Jaycees started the Kenny Rogers Children's Center with the help of Kenny Rogers himself, and I had always given back to the community, and to me, joining the Jaycees was the biggest way to do that," Teachout said.
Teachout mentioned he has always appreciated doing volunteer work and helping his hometown.
“Sikeston is my home; that’s why I am on my fourth term of city council and I have always done volunteer work,” Teachout said.
According to Teachout, he was extensively involved with the Jaycees for many years, holding numerous roles. Teachout said he served on the executive board for four years before becoming president of the club in 1992.
Not only has Teachout been on the executive board and president, but in his younger years as a Jaycee, he was novelty chairman, ticket chairman and also spent two to three years on the star team, where he was one year co-chairman of the star team.
“The star team was where we hired the entertainment,” Teachout said. “The star team isn’t a thing now, but when I was on the star team, the chairman and co-chairman actually belonged to the Country Music Association.”
Teachout said they would go to the buyers’ convention at the Country Music Association Awards ceremonies.
“They had a weeklong convention in Nashville where you could watch upcoming stars and that’s where we would go with our agents and book talent for rodeo,” Teachout said.
After being involved for so many years, Teachout said he has made many memories.
“One of my favorite memories about being a Jaycee and involved with rodeo is meeting the entertainers,” Teachout said. “I can still remember having a conversation for about an hour with entertainer Charlie Daniels, in the parking lot at the Ramada Inn (in Sikeston).”
Teachout said one of the most interesting and rewarding parts of being his age is watching the young men who are now joining the club and how they develop.
“Through the development of what they learn, being a Jaycee and then becoming community leaders, it is very satisfying to see that happen,” Teachout said. “There’s actually four men on the city council of Sikeston now who are on the seven-member council that are Jaycees.”
One of the unique things that Teachout has done and accomplished with being a Jaycee is going on and being apart of even bigger things.
According to Teachout, the Jaycees have an alumni association known as the “JCI Senate.”
“Only 1% of Jaycees become senators, and I was awarded a senatorship about nine years ago,” Teachout said. “I was awarded the senatorship at the Missouri State winter board meetings.
Teachout continued: “And right now, we actually have eight senators in our organization now, who are all roosters. I have been the president of the Missouri JCI Senate and I just came out of being a national vice president for the United States JCI Senate.”
According to Teachout, being a Jaycee entails more than just helping out at the rodeo each year.
“You’re part of something that is bigger than what you are,” Teachout said. “The things the Jaycee organization has done for the community — and being a part of that is amazing.”
Teachout explained how the Jaycees have done so much good in their community.
“Here, we have built park pavilions. We have helped fund the YMCA, and we built the Kenny Rogers Children’s Center,” Teachout said.
Even though he is an exhausted rooster, Teachout said he still attends Jaycee meetings and volunteers whenever possible.
Teachout said that for the past four years, he has operated one of the Pendleton Whisky stands at the rodeo. Teachout said before running the whiskey stand, he was also running novelties and designed part of the monument in front of the ticket office.
Teachout went on to explain how being a Jaycee isn’t just a club; it is also a family.
“It’s a family for one thing,” Teachout said. “A person will make friends out here that will be lifelong friends, and out of those friends, you make contacts that you will use for the rest of your lives.
He continued: “The people that have come through the gates out here and come into meetings are from all walks of life. We’ve had federal judges; we’ve had doctors, lawyers, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics, blue-collar workers and white-collar workers; it’s a melting pot. It’s just a great organization to meet people, to grow personally, professionally and to serve your community.”