ODESSA, Texas — The mention of four certain words might cause many Odessans to smell the enticing aroma of barbeque. Those four words are Odessa Chuck Wagon Gang.
"In 1940, 13 local businessmen came together," Robert Rogers, current gang boss of the organization, said. "All members of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, [they] wanted to figure out a way to promote the city of Odessa. They settled upon the idea of cooking and serving barbecue in the manner of the old school chuckwagons from the 1800s early 1900 cattle. That idea caught on and blossomed."
Blossomed so much so that the gang just celebrated their 84th anniversary.
Almost 90 years later, the gang still tries to keep their food as original as it looked, and tasted, on their first anniversary.
"Our original plate of food that we served for years was sliced barbecue beef in a barbecue sauce, coleslaw and pinto beans," Rogers said. "We have expanded our menu over the years. We do grill steaks, chicken. We will do brisket, sausage, those kinds of things; pinto beans, green beans."
Having been around for so long, this wagon has been chucked in more places than just West Texas. The wagon has served people in 26 states and even nine countries.
"We've been in Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Scotland, England, Canada and Costa Rica that I know of," Rogers said.
No matter what part of the globe they’re on, and no matter how many musical artists and presidents they meet, they never fail to serve that West Texas barbeque.
"The largest event on record we did in either ‘98 or ‘99 in Edmonton, Canada," Rogers said. "We fed 37,000 people in one setting."
Showing off the West Texas hospitality to places far from the Permian Basin.
"You may get two to five seconds to interact with a person across from you," Rogers said. "[Have a] big old smile, West Texas hospitality, cut up with them a little bit, you know make a joke, greet them. You have to look at it as you never know what kind of day, week, year, life that person's having. And if we can bring a little bit of happiness, put a smile on their face for just a moment and know we just handed them a great plate of food, that's what makes it all worth it."
Putting a smile on people’s faces, all while not receiving a dime.
"Every one of us is a volunteer," Rogers said. "We all have day jobs and we do have some retired individuals. We have one paid employee and that's our executive secretary, but all the rest of us come off of our day jobs to come to this."
This fact was noticed by a pretty big company.
"Last year, we were invited to go to Quantico, Virginia to the FBI Academy to feed the FBI Hostage Rescue Team's 40th anniversary reunion," Rogers said. "But they didn't realize all of us guys had come off our day jobs, burnt vacation time and paid our own airfare. And they were just stunned, they couldn't imagine a group of 24 people giving up their time, paying their own money just to come work and serve."
And one of the FBI members made a comment that would make all the original members in 1940 smile.
"‘That's the America we fight for. These guys came here, just for us. That's what we fight for,’" the FBI member said. "I'm not sure there was any of us in the gang had a dry eye after that."
Bringing that West Texas goodwill to a more massive audience.
It’s safe to say, in the 84 years of the Odessa Chuck Wagon Gang, they’ve accomplished their goal one bite at a time.
"The tradition of the gang and being the goodwill ambassador is everything to us," Rogers said. "That's why we do it."
The gang went to 62 events in 2023 and are always looking for new members. If interested in joining, visit their website or call 432-332-8143.