The Gillheads Show Koi

(UPDATED - new pics 2/21/99)

Welcome to the second page for the Childers' web site. Below are pictures of our show koi. 1998 was a busy year. Starting in June with the annual Associated Koi Clubs of America annual seminar which, this year was held in Louisville KY. I was fortunate enough to have business in Frankfurt, KY that same week and was thrilled to attend at least a portion of the seminar. Our club show was held over Labor Day weekend in Oklahoma City at the Will Rogers Horticulture center. In Late September we attended the Texas Koi and Fancy Goldfish Society Koi & Goldfish show in San Antonio. Then came Late October and Novenber.....well, after the pictures are stories regarding our exploits for these months.

Page 1: http://hometown.aol.com/schild0158/Gillheads.html

Shiro Bekko, 22"                Gin Rin Sanke            Goromo, 18"              Kin Di Showa    

   Best Mature                     Best in Class            (not shown yet)            (no awards yet)

   1997 OKS                        1997 OKS                                                            

     Kohaku, 16"                    Sanke, 16"              Kohaku, 14"             Shiro Utsuri, 13"

     Best in Size 4                 2nd Sanke, sz4      Best in Sz 12"-15"         Baby Champion    

      1998 OKS                     1998 OKS    1998 ZNA Orange County   1998 S.A.K.A.

                                                                 1998 S.A.K.A, AKCA       1st, 12-15" Utsuri

                                                                   Club Koi of the Year          1999 San Diego

Yamabuki Ogon             Platinum Ogon, 4"            Sanke, 19"                  Showa, 13"

1st size 2 Hakari Mono     Best in Class             (no awards yet)          1st size 3 Showa

1998 OKS                1998 TX Koi & Fancy

                                        Goldfish Society

   Shusui, 19"                    Shiro Utsuri 10"             Asagi, 20"                 Kohaku, 10"

2nd, size 5 Asagi/Shusui   1st, size 2 Utsuri   1st. size 5 Asagi/Shusui     (no awards yet)

   1998 OKS                      1998 OKS                 1998 OKS                

      Tancho                   Shiro Utsuri  18"            Kin Showa   13"          Sanke18"

    Best in Class             Acquired Nov 98            Acquired 11/98      Acquired 11/98

    1998 OKS

    Showa 7"                Kujaku 7"              Showa 18"

Acquired 11/98      (not yet shown)       (not yet shown)

California Business Trip

Although I travel constantly on business, I have never had the pleasure of traveling to Southern California on business. In October of 1998, that was to change. I had a series of business meeting scheduled in and around the Los Angeles area. I was hoping that I would be able to visit some of the numerous Koi dealers in the area since Southern California is the "Koi Mecca" of the United States.

I finished my meetings early on Tuesday of that week and called a friend and AKCA certified judge, Burt Ballou. Burt was gracious enough to meet me and take me to three dealers and also some Koi ponds, including that of Joan and Bob Finnigan. During dinner that evening with Burt, he informed me that the ZNA Orange County chapter was going to have a one day Koi show on the coming Saturday and Burt suggested that I stay for the show. I quickly decided that I would change my Saturday morning flight to Late Saturday.

As the week wore on, I could only dream about the upcoming show. By Thursday I had talked myself into buying a Koi to enter into the show. I stopped by Asahi Fancy Koi and ask my friend and the owner, Henry Nakamura to help me select a Koi. I advised Henry of the price range I was looking for and he Bowled up 5 gorgeous fish. I quickly admired a 14" Shiro Utsuri and asked Henry for his opinion. Although Henry also liked this fish, he advised me that the 13" Kohaku would probably fare better in the show. After much debate (all of 2 seconds) I informed Henry that I would take both fish. I asked Henry if he had any show packets and he advised me to call Joan Finnigan for further information.

That evening I called Joan and asked her about entering fish into the show. She started off by letting me know that this was a "young" koi show, meaning that it was limited to koi between 12" and 24". I let her know that this would not be a problem since "both" of my fish were around 14". She then let me know that it was an English style show and each entrant would have his/her own tank. In order to make sure that they had enough tanks and entrants, they had a minimum of 5 fish and a maximum of 10 fish per entrant. Now this was a problem since I only had 2 fish. I graciously thanked her for her time and resigned myself to only being a spectator. And to having my new Koi shipped back to Oklahoma.

I finished my business meeting much earlier than expected on Friday and went to the show site to offer my assistance in setting up the show and the show tanks. Joan and Bob Finnigan were there and Joan apologized for the fact that I had purchased fish and would be unable to enter them in the show. Joan kept after me all day Friday to buy 3 more fish. I knew I was in hot water already with my loving wife Cheryl and that I was going to have a hard enough time explaining 2 fish, let alone 5! But, the hobbyist and competitor in me finally surfaced and I did in fact buy 3 more fish. After all, how often does a relatively newcomer from Oklahoma get to compete against the likes of the Finnigans, Galen Hanson, Steve Drake, Burt Ballou…etc.. Well Saturday morning came and I was the first to show up at the show. When judging started I was thrilled. Size 12" - 15" Kohakus were first and low and behold, the Kohaku that Henry Nakamura advised me on won first place! But it didn’t stop there, after all of the 12" - 15" classes were judged, my Kohaku was then selected as Best in Size! After the next sizes and classes were judged, it was between my Kohaku and Steve Drake’s Shiro Bekko for "Young Champion". Since Steve’s Bekko was a size bigger and was a magnificent example for its class, I just knew it would beat my Kohaku. Steve and I set a small wager on the side, he was betting on my Kohaku and I was betting on his Bekko. Guess what, The Bekko won but I won the bet, $1.00. I offered to exchange the $1.00 for the award.

You may be wondering how the Shiro Utsuri and other fish fared? Well, the Shiro Utsuri took 2nd behind Burt Ballous but all of the other 3 took 1st place in there size and class, not bad for a flatlander between the mountain ranges. I presented a Friendship award on behalf of the Oklahoma Koi Society to a beautiful 23" Shiro Utsuri. Shortly after the awards I thanked everyone and headed to the airport, trophy in hand, dreading the inevitable encounter with my loving wife Cheryl.

As I walked off of the airplane that evening, trophy in hand, I began to shake and perspire, waiting for the inevitable encounter. Immediately upon noticing the trophy, she frowned asked me about the trophy and then said "Congratulations"! I was so thrilled and upon telling her of my adventures, so was she except now I am not allowed to go to Southern California or Koi shows without her!

California Business Trip

(Part 2)

Following my October of 1998 business trip to the "Koi Mecca" of Southern California, my wife Cheryl and I finalized our plans to attend the Southern Arizona Koi Association Koi show in Tucson Arizona. Bill and Barbara Puckett were going to fly out there and back with us while we were to meet Chuck and Kimberli Downs in Tucson. Cheryl, the Pucketts and I left on a noon flight on Friday to Phoenix and were then going to drive down to Tucson.

The Tuesday before we left I called Henry Nakamura at Asahi Fancy Koi in Gardena California to arrange for him to ship my 5 new koi back to Oklahoma City. During the course of the conversation I learned that Henry and his darling wife were also going to Tucson for the S.A.K.A Koi show. Henry was gracious enough to offer to bring my 5 award winning Koi to Tucson for me. I was thrilled. Henry had helped me pick these fish out and the Kohaku that he recommended became "Best in Size" at the ZNA Orange County Show just 2 weeks earlier.

Friday finally came and Cheryl and I met the Pucketts at the airport. We were fortunately able to get another Oklahoma Koi Society member to baby sit our kids (Koi) and our 3 children as well. We found out that it was Barbara’s first time to fly and we tried to comfort her throughout the flight with stories of bumpy flights and near crashed…I don’t think she appreciated it either.

Upon arrival in Phoenix, I was disappointed to find that my cell phone was not in my suit case. We were delayed while I filed a report with the airline concerning the apparent theft of my cell phone from my suit case. After picking up the rental car, we were off to Tucson. About two hours and a Burger King Whopper or 2 later we arrived in Tucson. I asked Bill Puckett for the directions to the show since I had given him the show packet 2 weeks earlier. Unfortunately, Bill had forgotten to bring the packet with him but assured me that he knew the way. You know what? We actually found the show without a single wrong turn. Way to go Bill!

After visiting the show site and learning where our hotel was at, we drove over to the hotel to freshen up. We found the Finnigans at the Hotel and I was excited to learn that Joan was to be the head judge with Bob being the assistant and Charlie Atwell as the candidate judge. Since I knew all of these judges and have always had the utmost respect for each, I knew that we were going to a great Koi show.

We went back to the show site and found Debbie Tibbets along with members of the Rocky Mountain Koi club from Denver. They graciously asked us to join them for dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant. A good time was had by all, especially those of us that had the margaritas. After dinner, it was back to the show site. By this time My fish had arrived from California and were in with the Asahi Fancy Koi. After visiting for a while, we retired back to the hotel and agreed to meet the Pucketts at 8:30 am the next morning.

Being that Phoenix is in a different time zone from Oklahoma City, both Cheryl and I were up with the first light. After watching the morning news, we decided that perhaps the Pucketts were already up also. So, at 7:15 am we went and knocked on there hotel room door. Oops, perhaps we were wrong. Bill was in the shower and Barbara was in curlers. Cheryl and I decide to go to MacDonlads for an egg MacMuffin while we waited to the appointed time, 8:30 am.

Upon arrival at the show site, Henry Nakamura and I got my fish bowled and entered into the show. While Cheryl and I were doing this, Barbara found a beautiful little Kujacku in Henry’s vendor tank. For the next hour and a half Barbara tried to convince Bill to buy her that fish. If I had known that they wouldn’t finally buy it, I would have. It was gorgeous! But alas, just before the show entry was closed, Jack Stone purchased this fish. Needless to say, Barbara Puckett was not happy.

The judging started with the size 1 fish and the little Kujacku took 1st in its class, Barbara was practically in tears. Upon completion of all size one classes, the judges selected that same little Kujacku as "Best in Size". Now Barbara was really upset and Bill wasn’t exactly happy either.

The size 2 fish were next and all of our size 2 fish took 1st place! I was ecstatic when the Judges picked our Shiro Utsuri as "Best in Size," even over our own Kuhaku that did so well at the ZNA Orange County show. Now it was time for the Judges to select the "Baby Champion" award. It was between the "Best in Size 1" Kujacku and our own "Best in Size 2" Shiro Utsuri. I almost wanted the Kuhaku to win, just so Cheryl, Barbara and I could give Bill Grief. But I was just as happy when our Shiro Utsuri won! I was hopeful that our Kuhaku would be "Bumped up" to Best in Size 2, but a beautiful Doitsu Showa won this award.

After the Grand Champion was selected, there were numerous other special awards. Our Kuhaku was is the running for the Judges’ Choice, Male Champion and President’s award but got edged out in each of these categories. It was selected as the Southern Arizona Koi Association’s "Club Koi of the Year"! But after discussion were held and the rules reviewed, they were going to disqualify it since it wasn’t a S.A.K.A. member’s fish. Guess what? I am the newest member of the Southern Arizona Koi Association and a picture of our Kuhaku will be featured in the judging contest at the AKCA seminar in Costa Mesa CA this coming June. Bill started to tease me about buying an award. I reminded him that in fact he bought me the award since I had given all of my money to Cheryl just minutes earlier to go shopping and I had to borrow the membership dues from him.

Chuck and Kimberly Downs were also present during the judging and unfortunately had to return to Kimberli’s parents house in Phoenix late on Saturday afternoon. At the awards banquet we found out that the little Kujacku won 4 major awards, and Bill looked a little green by the end of the evening.

Sunday was relaxing with a mini pond tour of 4 ponds located around the Tucson area. If you’ve never seen a pond in the desert, its worth the trip. I am happy to say that we only purchased 2 more fish in Tucson and they were much smaller (and less expensive) than the ones purchased in Southern California 2 weeks earlier.

Since my fish were at 2 shows in less than a month, Henry advised me that they needed time to recuperate. Henry Nakamura agreed to "board" my fish in Southern California for the winter. He also invited Cheryl and I to enter these fish into his private, by invitation only show in March of 1999. I guess Cheryl and I will be vacationing in sunny Southern California next spring!

Back to page 1: http://hometown.aol.com/schild0158/Gillheads.html

Oklahoma Koi Society Home Page: http://www.afsimage.com/okkoisociety/

Water garden Society of Oklahoma Home Page: http://www.members@xoom.com/WGSO