Nashville Auction School was founded in 1964 by
Colonel Buford Evans, Master Auctioneer from Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.
Colonel Evans is a veteran of World War II and served in the famous
Tenth Mountain Division, an elite mountain fighting force. The Tenth
Mountain Division is the army's first force trained in mountain fighting
and survival. He was chosen because he met the strict physical and
mental requirements and had experience handling mules and other animals.
After World War II, he began his career in the real estate and auction
business.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal wrote this about Colonel Evans in the
Sunday Mid-South magazine:
"Buford Evans welcomes your hand for a hearty shake and immediately you are
his and he knows it. In a wink, his voice enraptures and whisks you down the rabbit hole with
tales of folks departed and tales of folks alive, using names you never heard of and those you know too
well, putting flesh on ideas and characters you never met in your life. But Buford Evans met them, and now
you have met Buford. That's enough.
Then this stately country boy, easy as you please, can turn your head to the
learning' and teach you how to make a buck on a prayer and a nod and a promise. He's a
silver-tongued devil with a gavel. Auctioneering, after all, is his love and his life.
Buford - or "Colonel Evans" as his students call him - Buford never rushes
a story. He lets the pause and the pantomime give it strength. He grabs at the air and tugs at his
clothes and breaths life into an outline made of vocal rises and falls, rhythmic accents and a bit of a rasp.
He doesn't mind saying that when he leaves the world for God's Green Acre,
he wants to be remembered most for his Nashville Auction School, the first auction school east of the
Mississippi River and south of the Mason-Dixon line."
"Auctions are family projects," Buford says. "I have two daughters and four sons,
and they clerked sales as they came up. They would hold items up to be sold. They would help get
things out and line it up for the sale. They would cashier sales. My wife helped. Everybody did something
on auction day, if it wasn't but to carry a glass of water to somebody working. We've been able to work
together and travel together."
So in 1964, Colonel Evans sat down at his portable Smith Corona typewriter and put
down on paper the recipe for the smooth auction chant that he had developed over the years in rural
southern Middle Tennessee. He continued with his formula for being a successful businessman and also
included chapters on proper business practices. The contents were divided into chapters and placed in
notebooks by the Evans children. After the text came records and cassette tapes. The school began classes
in 1964 in the meeting room of the old Clarkston Hotel in downtown Nashville. About 1970, the school moved
to the Anderson Hotel on West End in Nashville and has had several homes since.
On January 1, 1999, Wendell Hanson purchased Nashville Auction School from the Evans
family and has moved the school to Tullahoma, Tennessee to better serve our students. The school
has educated over 8,000 auctioneers from every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries.
The school will always teach the Colonel Evans smooth rhythmic style that sets the Nashville Auction School
students apart from all the others. It is a distinctive style that is designed to be pleasant to the ear
and exciting to hear at the same time. We strive to teach our students how to deal honestly with the public
and use their skills to earn a living that can be compared to other professionals in their area.
Treat everyone like family…follow the golden rule...we treat our students like we would want to be treated.
The tradition goes on.
Nashville Auction School (NAS)
112 W. Lauderdale St., Tullahoma, Tennessee 37388
1-800-543-7061 Fax: 1-931-393-3241
e-mail: nas@learntoauction.com
