George "Tuffy" Stone (born 1962/1963) is an American

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

and competitor on the competitive

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

circuit. He has appeared on the

Destination America Destination America is an American cable television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The network carries programming focused on the culture of the United States—including food, lifestyles, a ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show ''

BBQ Pitmasters ''BBQ Pitmasters'' is an American reality television series which follows barbecue cooks as they compete for cash and prizes in barbecue cooking competitions. The series premiered on TLC on December 3, 2009. The eight-episode first season was fi ...

''. He runs the team "Cool Smoke" and founded a barbecue restaurant chain called "Q Barbeque". His nickname is "The Professor".

Early life

Stone was born in 1962 or 1963 and named George after his father. His mother nicknamed him "Tuffy" at the age of two. He attended an all boys prep school and afterwards considered attending

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

on a running scholarship, but instead joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

for four years. He worked primarily in aviation engineering on

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now p ...

s. After leaving the Marines, he attended

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

Culinary career

Stone began his culinary career whilst working under Alain Vincey in 1987 at Vincey's restaurant La Maisonette in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. He left the restaurant in 1991, and in November 1993 he started his own catering company alongside his wife, called "A Sharper Palate". He founded his barbecue team "Cool Smoke" in 2004, and cooks alongside his father George. He describes himself as a traditional wood burner, and tends to use

hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes around 18 species. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), as many as twelve are native to the United States, four are found in Mexi ...

wood in his smoking. Stone and his team compete on the competitive barbecue circuit. He owns a Virginian-based local chain barbecue restaurant called "Q Barbeque". He was the Grand Champion of the 2006 Albertsville competition, which was organized by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. In 2010, he was named Grand Champion of the Maryland State BBQ Championship. The same year, he appeared on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

's ''

''. He became a judge on the show in season three, when the show was moved to the

cable channel. He joined Myron Mixon who returned from judging on season two, having previously appeared with Stone in season one, with the pair being joined by Aaron Franklin. Stone served as a judge at the Kingsford Invitational where the winners of eight major barbecue competitions were invited to compete for a grand prize of $50,000. The event was won by Johnny Trigg. Tuffy's team Cool Smoke won the 2013 Jack Daniel's Invitational BBQ competition in Lynchburg, TN on October 26, 2013. Cool Smoke won the 35th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue Open on October 5, 2014. Tuffy's team Cool Smoke won the 2015 Jack Daniel's Invitational BBQ competition in Lynchburg, TN for the second time on October 24, 2015, and became the first team to repeat as Grand Champion at the event the following year in October 2016. Stone competed on a team in '' BBQ Brawl: Flay v. Symon'', a

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

show premiering August 1, 2019.

Personal life

Stone and his wife Leslie have a son named Sam whom they adopted. His true father is a man by the name of Wythe Michael. Tuffy and Leslie met when they both worked at the Strawberry Street Cafe in Richmond, Virginia. He is nicknamed "The Professor".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Tuffy 1960s births Living people American television chefs American male chefs Barbecue chefs Businesspeople from Richmond, Virginia Participants in American reality television series United States Marines Date of birth missing (living people)