🚨 Warning: Spoilers Ahead! 🚨
Catch the Plumbing National Championship on December 26th (8 pm ET) exclusively on CBS Sports Network!
Ian Edelbacher wanted to continue being an almond farmer.
But five years ago, after his family sold their almond farm, the Madera, Calif., native decided to try something new, leading to a question he struggled to answer:
“What else can I be good at?”
Edelbacher had grown to love life on the 110-acre orchard, a farm that was started by his grandfather, then passed down to his father, aunts and uncles. He spent his workdays driving a tractor through the dusty fields, sometimes in triple-digit heat, tasked with different jobs throughout the yearlong almond lifecycle.
Some weeks called for regular orchard maintenance, like watering and fertilizing the trees. There was the bloom period, when he’d spray bloom spray on the almond trees to make sure rain didn’t interrupt the growing process. There was the harvest, when he’d drive the almond shaker and shake the trees, then sweep the nuts in a nice row.
It was hard, manual work. But Edelbacher appreciated each step of the cycle. Oftentimes, he’d eat the almonds at different phases.
“If you got one when the hull was still green, you could crack it open and it was almost like a little cucumber inside,” Edelbacher said.
Five years ago, he anxiously wondered what career path would be next. He was good at working with his hands. He liked using tools. That’s why his wife, Alyssa, suggested he come work with her at Fresno Plumbing and Heating and get his commercial plumbing apprenticeship.
“I figured I’d give that a shot,” Edelbacher said. “If I didn't like it, I could always try something else.”
Five years later, Edelbacher is the 2025 ServiceTitan Elite Trades Champion Series (ETCS) Plumbing National Champion.
‘Like a giant puzzle’
Edelbacher credits his quick plumbing ascension to Fresno Plumbing’s hands-on apprenticeship program, as well as his classes with the California Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors (PHCC) Association.
But the long days in the almond orchard certainly helped instill his work ethic.
Edelbacher said the biggest difference between the two jobs is that every day as a plumber brings a brand new task. As for the biggest similarity? Just like almond farming, which goes through different phases throughout the year, Edelbacher loves seeing a large commercial project come together.
“It's almost like a giant puzzle,” Edelbacher said. “You see how all the different trades are working together to get one goal accomplished, and you get to see how the whole plumbing system works together, from the ground up.”
Another similarity is that much of his work gets hidden behind a wall, just like how most people never get to see and taste a green, cucumber-like almond before it’s matured.
“That’s why I take pictures,” Edelbacher said. “I got a whole bunch of plumbing pictures in my phone.”
Going all in
Even though Edelbacher was competing against plumbing finalists with 30 more years of experience, he didn’t feel intimidated or ill-equipped on the ETCS competition floor.
“That’s because as an apprentice, I’m doing all the dirty work,” Edelbacher laughed.
Watching from the crowd was his wife, Alyssa — who wasn’t at all surprised to see her husband competing for a plumbing championship on national TV.
“He's a jack of all trades,” she said. “He applies himself in anything he does. So I knew that once he got to Fresno Plumbing, he was going to excel.”
She stood next to Chris Edelbacher, Ian’s father, who marveled at his son on the competition floor, reminiscing about their time in the almond fields.
“We overlapped on the farm for at least 10 years,” he said. “Ian got into plumbing on his own. So it's pretty crazy. We had to re-pipe our house, and Ian did the PEX tubing. He got in there like a pro, too. Up in the attic when it was 110 degrees outside.
“He goes all in when he's doing a job.”
By the end of the competition, they were all celebrating with Edelbacher, who held his new, hulking plumbing trophy in one hand, and an oversized $10,000 check in the other, sporting a new title he never could have imagined five years ago.
“Plumbing champion!” Edelbacher said with a big smile and a laugh. “Pretty crazy. I’ve got bragging rights now. I’m telling everyone at work, ‘Don’t tell me what to do. I’m the national champion.’”
