(the beginning)

I recently sat with my father in his cigar room in our office building and asked him to tell me his story of becoming an auctioneer and how the Kruse Family got their start in the collector car industry. The following is a written narrative of that conversation.

Tiffany: Dad, I read an old Hemmings article from 2018 about Leo Gephart that infers that the Auburn Labor Day auction was his idea. Is that correct?

Daniel: No. It was 100% Russell’s idea. I was at that meeting with Leo. It was Russell, Leo, and I at the country club in Auburn. Russell asked Leo who he needed to speak to at the ACD (Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg) Club to hold an auction the weekend of the festival. Leo originally was to become one-third partner in the company. There was never a contract. It was a handshake. He became the local sponsor of the Auburn auction and introduced us to Tom Barrett and Russ Jackson in Scottsdale which was the second auction we held. Barrett and Jackson became our local sponsors there and did not split off to form their own company until about a decade after in the early 1980’s.

Tiffany: Leo obviously never became a partner of original Kruse Auction Company?

Daniel: No. No, he wasn’t. He was a local sponsor but never realized becoming a partner. The original four were Russell, Dean, Dennis, and me.

Tiffany: How did Russell get his start as an auctioneer? I have always heard the “famous” quote, “no one is making any money off of me being a farmer except the auctioneer”.

Daniel: Yes. That’s true! Russell became an auctioneer after losing his farm. He attended Reppert and went to work for Donald Day who was a very good man. He was the expert on farm auctions in northeast Indiana, south Michigan, and west Ohio. Everyone in that area knew Donald Day.

Tiffany: Why did they split ways?

Daniel: Donald wanted Russell to sell in a particular style. Russell refused. Russell insisted on being fast but clear and concise so that anyone that walked into an auction he was selling at could understand him. We are still known for this style of auctioneering today.

Tiffany: When I attended the Missouri School of Auctioneering (Kansas City), I remember Dick Dewees wanting me to call bids in a sing song style. I looked and him and said, “Now you know I can’t sell that way. I am Kruse”. He laughed and said, “No, your grandfather would not be happy with me”. So, how many years was Auburn held behind the Dairy Queen?

Daniel: One for sure. Maybe two. By the third year, we had moved out to the football field at Dekalb County High School. Dean became the car auction promoter in year two. Russell, Dennis, and I continued to concentrate on farm and estate auctions, as well as real estate while Dean built up the car auctions by finding locations and local sponsors. Year two we held four auctions, I think, in Auburn, Cincinnati, New York, and Scottsdale. Year three, those auctions became annual, and Dean just kept adding auctions. His belief was “all roads lead to Auburn”. The third year in New York is where I auctioned off the Stripper Duesenberg for our first world record at $51,000. Dean did not think it would bring reserve, so I took the block to call the bids.

Tiffany: Okay, Dad. Did you just say the Stripper Duesenberg?

Daniel: Yes. They called it that because a Stripper owned it.

Tiffany: You keep using the expression “local sponsor”. Can you describe what that is to me?

Daniel: When Kruse expanded into a new city, we found someone like Leo Gephart. He would introduce us to car clubs, museum owners, collectors, which made it easier for us to find consignors. Dean would herald them as the “local sponsor” and they would get VIP treatment at the auction and be paid for their services, usually a percentage of the auction income.

I oversaw getting the hotel rooms after Dean found the location. We never paid for hotel rooms. NEVER! Hotels back then were empty on the weekends because it was rare for people to travel for pleasure in the way we do now. I would talk to the management of the hotel and explain I could basically sell out the hotel during the weekend of our auction but for us to choose their hotel, they had to provide us with X number of rooms for free.

Tiffany: Ingenious, Dad!

Daniel: The auctions were all originally in tents. We rented those tents in Auburn because it was cheaper and easier than trying to find them all over. Dennis and I would drive to the auction site early and make sure everything was set up in time to hold the auction. I would auctioneer but my main job initially was grinder and ringman. I trained Kenny (Garman) and Marty (Hill).

Tiffany: Russell attended Reppert School of Auctioneering, correct?

Daniel: Yes. Russell, Dean and Dennis.

Tiffany: Did they train you or did you go to Reppert too?

Daniel: Russell and Dean trained me. I was 13 years old when I started. I would clerk the farm auctions and practice on the small lots. At 14, I was working the ring and auctioneering. By 15, I was working for Yoder and Fry as an auctioneer.

Tiffany: How old were you then when the first Auburn auction was held?

Daniel: I was 21 years old. You were born that January in 1971. I turned down a full load football scholarship to Indiana. Instead, I attended college at IPFW (Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne) while continuing to work auctions. I kept missing class for work. One professor was particularly angry about the number of absences I was racking up. He confronted me and when I realized I was making more money than he was, I decided to give up college and focus on the auction business full time.

Tiffany: The car auction industry takes off and Kruse grows into big business. Kruse literally created an industry! Was that an exciting time? Also, just out of curiosity, who worked in the office initially and what kind of paperwork did you do?

Daniel: The seventies were a great time! Very exciting. We had success after success and met a lot of heavy hitters in the business world, even some celebrities. Our wives worked in the auction office the first two years, especially Auburn. We had consignment forms, clerk tickets, bidder registration forms and bill of sale invoices. Coming from the farm auction business, we had experience with contracts and conveying ownership of machinery with engines. Kruse was sued 51 times, but Derald (Kruse, brother and attorney) and David (Kruse, brother and attorney) kept us out of trouble. Over time, these lawsuits helped Derald and David refine and add to our forms so that they became pretty much fool proof. Being there basically start of the Indiana Auctioneers Association, with Dean being a former state senator and both Russell and Dean, former presidents of the IAA, put us in the right position to help build the laws and standards by which collector cars auctions are governed by today.

Tiffany: Do you know a bit of the general history of auctions?

Daniel: The auction is one of the oldest trades in the world. Auctions were being held before Jesus was born. Auctions have been used for over two millennia to turn assets into cash. Auctioneers are referred to as “colonels” because the military used auctions to sell off surplus and seized goods. The 1950’s is the golden age of the auctioneer. Auctioneers transformed from tradesmen to businessmen. This is when Russell, himself, becomes an auctioneer around 1952, I believe. Now auctions are held 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year thanks to the internet.

Tiffany: What happened then, around 1980 that led you to sell out and move us to Las Cruces (New Mexico)?

Daniel: Dean controlled of the company as president. Dennis kept the books. Russell and I signed auctions and did whatever needed to be done. Bob Jensen approached Dean about buying the business and it was at this time that I came to understand that Kruse was in debt. It was more debt than I was able to be personally responsible for and so I decided along with Dennis and Russell to sell. I was also feeling drawn into a closer relationship with God and decided this might be a sign it was time to go into the ministry. We followed Mickey Kennedy (former pastor of County Line Church of God) to Las Cruces, and I became is associate pastor.

TO BE CONTINUED…