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2019 COMPETITOR ROSTER | BIOS

10 J.T. PAYNE 11 DAVID WERNETTE
MISSOURI REGIONAL WASHINGTON REGIONAL
TENDER: JAKE PAYNE TENDER: JOSHUA CAREY
FOESTE MASONRY R&D MASONRY
CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO MARYSVILLE, WA
This year was the first attempt at Wernette started laying brick about
qualifying for J.T. Payne and his 20 years ago in Grand Rapids, MI.
mason tender, and brother, Jake He realized that being a rockstar
Payne. The 25-year-old mason wasn’t paying the bills and he need-
from Cape Girardeau, MO imme- ed a real job, so he went to a local
diately turned heads when he laid 638 perfect brick. He knew he brick yard, put his name in, and they called him back; he loved it.
couldn’t rely on his work experience to qualify for Las Vegas, so he He met a man by the name of Dale Van Prooyen, of DVP Masonry.
grabbed the wall drawing off the SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500 The lessons he would learn over the next year would never leave
website and started building practice walls in his spare time. His him, “He’s the best bricklayer ever, I think about him every day.
strategy worked, and he plans on getting in a lot more practice Lots of people have tried to teach me bad habits, and I stayed true
before the world championship. to my training and it’s served me well.”

J.T. and his wife are raising three kids, all under the age of seven. On his first attempt, Wernette won the 2018 SPEC MIX BRICK-
For the past six years he has been working for his grandparent’s LAYER 500® Washington Regional and qualified for the world
commercial masonry contracting company, Foeste Masonry. His championship at the World of Concrete in Las Vegas. But he didn’t
uncle and mentor is no stranger to masonry madness, having won win by being unprepared. Wernette put in a lot of practice gearing
the Fastest Trowel on the Block Competition in 1994 and 1996. up for this year’s competition, and he has his employer to thank.
With that kind of coaching, we expect big things out of this rookie
team.

12 DARIAN DOUTHIT 13 VINCE POLVERINI
OKLAHOMA REGIONAL PENNSYLVANIA REGIONAL

TENDER: ANDY ZEPEDA TENDER: RICH SMALLS
PROVIDENCE MASONRY D.M. SABIA
FAIRLAND, OK CONSHOHOCKEN, PA

Darian Douthit has a self-pro- Pennsylvania regional winner
claimed obsessive desire to be the Vince Polverini has been laying
best mason he can be. That desire brick for the same company, D.M.
paid off in 2016 earning him the Sabia, for the past 18 years. The
title of SPEC MIX TOP CRAFTS- 38-year-old mason grew up in con-
MAN®, one of the most coveted awards at the SPEC MIX BRICK- struction, his father and two brothers are general contractors, and
LAYER 500 World Championship event. he loves everything there is about his job. “You’re on different proj-
ects, looking back at the end of the day, it looks pretty cool. It’s time
At 47 years old, Darian has been a mason for over 30 years, attend- tested, time proven. It will stay there for a long time if you build
ing Northeast Oklahoma Vo-Tech for two years before beginning it right. That’s what I like about it. If you’ve even been to Italy, you
his professional career with Forste Brothers Masonry. He worked can stand back, the town is 1100 years old and is still functioning,
from the bottom up, starting as a hod-carrier and now owns his it’s pretty cool,” he said.
own masonry contracting company, Providence Masonry. “It is a
very rewarding career,” says Douthit, “It can be incredibly lucra- Family takes up the majority of Polverini’s time; he’s married with
tive, and a mason can move to almost anywhere in the U.S. and a little boy closing in on two years. “I’d love to practice as much as
find employment. A mason can also have a sense of personal ful- Scott Tuttle, but I just don’t have the time,” he told us. “I built two
fillment from a job well done; he or she can revisit projects years leads getting ready for this year’s regional. I’m going to try to prac-
later and still enjoy their craftsmanship.” tice a little bit for Vegas, but my goal is to try for 640 perfect brick.”

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