Former Hoosier center George Leach has found his calling. The long line of

Hoosier fans at the OooWee BBQ truck outside BB&T Field on Saturday in

Winston-Salem confirmed that.

Most of those IU fans probably didn't wait as long as 90 minutes for a plate from his food

truck because of their loyalty to a former Hoosier basketball player. Many did

it because his food has developed quite the reputation around Charlotte and

other parts of North Carolina.

"We're barbecuing 24 hours a day," Leach told Peegs.com after hundreds of

Hoosier fans enjoyed one of his lunches before watching Indiana go to 4-0 with a

31-24 win over Wake Forest.

Earlier this summer the OooWee BBQ truck was named one of the

12 best food trucks in Charlotte by Thrillist.com. With a state known for its barbecue,

that means business is really good. He's already added a second truck to keep up

with demand.

"We're the largest food truck company in Charlotte right now," Leach said. "We also have a

catering business. Weddings, events, corporate lunches, all that kind of jazz."

Born and raised in Charlotte, Leach came home following about a decade of

professional basketball after graduating from Indiana after the 2003-04 season.

So how did he become so good with barbecue?

"Really a hobby I had playing overseas basketball that turned into career,"

Leach said. "My

brother-in-law (Jeff Atkins), who is on the trail, taught me how to use wood and smoke

everything and I ran with it."

His good friend Jeff Newton played with him for several years in Japan and had this great quote in the Japan Times about his former IU teammate when he retired from basketball this spring.

"George has the best left hand jump hook I've ever seen," Newton said. "The best barbecue I've ever had . . . and the worst right hand in all of sports history."

The OooWee truck had the usual beef brisket and chicken offerings but also

added smoked sweet potatoes, smoked salmon and a big hit was the 'BBQ Sundae'.

That was a big cup of layers of mac 'n' cheese, baked beans, meat, dry rub cole

slaw and your favorite type of barbecue sauce. It may not be low in calories but

it was easy to scoop and many Hoosier fans could be seen enjoying it on their

walk to BB&T Field.

The big guy had his food truck ready for business in the Wake Forest

tailgate lot area at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday.

"Basketball was easy compared to this. This is

hard work," quipped Leach.

As far as the state of Indiana basketball a

dozen years after his career, he counseled patience as the Hoosiers are expected

to have a much improved 2015-16 season under coach Tom Crean.

"It's rebuilding,"

Leach said. "Everyone wants IU to be winning but

it takes time to get to that point where you just wake up and win games. People

need to buy into what coach Crean is doing and see where it goes."

Leach

finally got a chance to return to Bloomington this past summer where he caught

up with most of the players that led Indiana to a co-Big Ten title in 2002 and a

run to the NCAA title game in Atlanta.

"It was just a reunion of our championship

(finalist) team," Leach said.

"Dane (Fife) got us going or said 'let's have a date.' Our wives will probably

never let us go by ourselves again.

"We all got together in Bloomington and

stayed at the Hilton right there. We had scheduled stuff, got to do a golf

outing, stuff like that."

They all picked up where they left off over 13 years ago.

"We had a good time,"

Leach said. "It was the same as it

was when we were in college. Everybody just got along. It was the most

tight-knit team I have every been on. Even playing pro overseas for 10 years,

that was the most tight-knit team."

Like many of those former teammates

he's a family man now. Over three years ago he married his longtime girlfriend

Amie and the two have a two-year old son named Noah. He has one thing in common with his 6-foot-11 father.

"I have a two-year old that is 42-inches and 32-pounds. He's huge," laughed Leach.

In case you're wondering, that's

the normal height for a five-year old.

For those who may be in the Charlotte area and want to catch up

with George and enjoy some of his smoked barbecue, here are the website and

social media links that will let you know where his trucks will be next:

OooWee BBQ web site |

Facebook |

Twitter |