Growing up on the family farm in Iowa, Jake regularly attended farm auctions with his father. Gaining an interest in the excitement of the live auction and the exchange of goods and products through the melodic banter of numbers from the lips of the auctioneer, a life long dream took root.

Impressed by the style of one auctioneer in particular, Jim Schaben, Jake's desire to one day hold court over a livestock auction took hold. Fifty years later, Jake returned to the same auction house in Dunlop, Iowa and orchestrated the sale of cattle for several of the local farmers, many of whom he went to school with as a boy.

What makes the story so remarkable is the life long struggle Jake has battled with stuttering. As a boy it was rare to hear Jake speak privately, let alone in front of a public forum. But, after four years

of speech therapy at the University of Iowa, a degree as a speech pathologist, and years of family support and encouragement, the dream of being an auctioneer is now Jake's reality.