<b>By LINDA McGURK<br>
Indiana Correspondent</b> </p><p>

GIFFORD, Ill. — He’s sold horses in 39 states, in four Canadian provinces and at every major auction in America.<br>
He’s sold horses to country-western star Lynn Anderson, actors John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, and former presidential hopeful John Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz. He’s created – and brought six children into – an ever-growing auctioneering and horse show business.<br>
But despite the numerous accomplishments during his 56-year career – not to mention a stroke, bypass surgery and a battle with cancer – Gordon “Gordy” Hannagan is not showing many signs of slowing down.<br>
“I’m kind of retired,” Hannagan says when Farm World visits, but there’s little to prove it. Phones are constantly ringing, people are walking in and out of the office and Hannagan himself has just returned from the cold outside after showing a potential client some farmland.<br>
Since 1988, Gordyville USA, located one mile west of Gifford, Ill., has been the hub of Hannagan’s multifaceted business operation. Gordyville USA is a 160,000 square-foot indoor showground that plays host to the annual Midwest Equipment Dealers Ag Expo, flea markets, equipment sales, tractor pulls, bull riding events, rodeos and any number of horse shows. Hannagan bought the 40-acre tract and existing buildings in 1986, and opened it for events two years later.<br>
“We had our first Quarter Horse sale that December and we decided right then that we wanted to make (Gordyville) bigger,” he said.<br>
Said, and done. Hannagan doubled the size of the facility, which can hold nearly 600 portable stalls during horse sales, close to 500 exhibitors for the monthly flea markets and about 200 exhibitors during the Ag Expo.<br>
“I don’t think it can ever be big enough,” he mused.<br>
Gordyville has been a family-based operation from the get-go. Hannagan’s wife, Jan, has kept the books and run the office for years, and is, according to Gordon’s own account, “a jack-of-all-trades and master of all.”<br>
Two of the couple’s sons, Eddie and Jimmy, and daughter Patty Frerichs are auctioneers. Frerichs manages the flea markets, announces the horse shows and runs the concession stand with her sister, Mary, who is also in charge of the Quarter Horse shows and event scheduling. A third son, Buddy, takes care of the farm and the youngest daughter, Jody Quiram, helps with horse sales and shows.<br>
“We all get along really good,” said Mary, about working so closely with her family. “Each person has an important part of the business to take care of and we’re pretty good at getting everything done. If one of us has to be gone, the rest will pick up the slack.”<br>
Having gained a reputation as one of the foremost horse auctioneers in the country, it’s hard to picture Gordon Hannagan doing anything else. But his career path was far from given. Hannagan’s father, who was an International Harvester dealer, desperately wanted him to graduate from college and offered to pay him $17.50 per week if he did. Hannagan dropped out of college before long, and told his dad the deal was off.<br>
“My father asked me what I was going to do and I told him I was going to be an auctioneer and a horse trader. He didn’t think much of it; he thought I’d go broke,” Hannagan said, and chuckled. “But after he got over the shock, he paid for me to go to auctioneering school. He didn’t want a Hannagan to go into sales without an education.”<br>
Hannagan’s first job was at the local sale barn in Danville, Ill., and from there he quickly picked up more auctioneering gigs across the country. One of his fondest memories and biggest accomplishments was working for the largest ranch in the United States: The King Ranch in Texas, for 21 years.<br>
“It was a long way from a local sale barn to the King Ranch,” he said, stroking a prized gavel that he received as a gift after selling horses at the legendary ranch’s 150th anniversary in 2003.
“Vacation time” has never been part of Hannagan’s vocabulary and, even though he claims to be “kind of retired,” he admits not even his health problems have done much to slow him down.<br>
“Since 1988 this has been all my life and it always will be,” he said.
Hannagan’s father died in June 1961, just a few months before he made his first big sale and long before Gordyville USA became a Midwestern auction and horse show hub. But he has no doubts his father, although initially skeptical of his chosen trade, would’ve been pleased to see what he’s accomplished.<br>
“He would’ve been proud of me,” Hannagan said, with confidence.