"He was the king", you'll hear them say, "He whooped everybody in his day". He won everything...all the big ones. In the old days the "big ones" were "The Feature", "Hot Springs", The Tournament", and then came "TheInternational in Phillipines,theWorld Championship at Copper State,The Jumper-Hawaiian,and the 1st of the big knife derbies at Two States, and finally the biggest of the big,The independence day Hawaiian derby at Texoma followed closely by the christmas derby,the Breeders Tournament/World Championship.Oh, let's not forget the "biggie"at Red Arrow,over 100 entries at $1000.00 a pop,and in the end the World Championship at the Bayou Club.Of course,they were all big at Sunset,a who's who of the toughest of the tough.If you happen to be out in front of the cockhouses with the regulars or in the bleachers with the oldtimers you'll hear'em talking about who was the king, or better yet, the Kings! In my opinion we've had quite a few,all in their day equally tough.If you think hard enough about it,I bet everyone could pick their own personal king of the kings.You can be sure every cocker will have his or her own opinion.
The one thing you won't hear much about though is the "QUEEN".Now don't get me wrong, all the kings probably had a woman behind them,or in alot of cases,beside them.I know for a fact that some of them were top of the line "chicken women."Dena Hulsey,the Duke's wife from earlier times,and in the years not too far gone, Mrs.Nonie White, Dewayne White's wife,of the Black Smith entry.I know for a fact I'd give anything to be half the chicken man she is.When I went to visit the Whites(and now this is just between you and me)it was ms. nonie calling the shots.She'd tell Dewayne to get this or that, or that she was going to do this or that to the roosters,and all I ever heard him say was ok.that Mr.Dewayne is a smart guy! I found that out real quick!
another example is mrs. sabra ttochta. you'd see "miss sabra" as i called her at just about every derby at texoma, and she'd have a show of those blacks, her babies she called them. well let me tell you mister, if you were matched into her, you were in a whole world of trouble.don't believe me, well ask some of those alabama pro's that learned the lesson the hard way. two top of the line chicken women!!
let's get on down to why i started this story. i only know of one woman who truily lived, breathed, ate, and slept cocking, from early in the morning til way past late at night. in the early 80's til the mid 90's she ran with the toughest of the tough, the likes of joe goode, slim benoist,the johnson boy's, charlie and jimmy, oscar akins, cliff collins, dan gray and others most of you have never heard of, but were just as big and tough.consult your journals if you don't believe me! the fact is most all these guy's bought their worm pills and keep aids, etc., direct from her, little home made concoctions to make a rooster the best he could be.every one of the men listed before has publicly thanked her in the pages of "the gamecock" more than once. from her little one page ad, her name grew to literally a household word in the cocking world.from the philliphines to hawaii,to the mountains of tennessee, down into alabama,back up thru louisana. from the west coast of california all the way back to heartland of cocking in oklahoma. yes, far and wide fellow cockers, i give you the queen of cocking, the one and only pocahontas "POKEY"stover savage.for years she published the weekly fight report newsletter "the cock and bull". i don't know if you were a subscriber,but i promise you this, all the big boy's were, not most, all... from tips on horses or football games, to who was gonna win the derby and where in the coming weeks, you never knew just what might be in there.but she was usually right. if she told oscar his roosters were wormy, he wormed them(with her pills i might add), if she told the gamblers who was gonna win the derby, thats the way they bet, and if you were lucky enough to consider her a friend you were miles ahead of the pack!!
well people, pokey Stover was a friend of mine. i loved every minute being around her at the pits and cherished every phone call and e-mail we shared together. we talked several times a week in the last few months months before she left us, mostly just reminiscing about old times. i loved to hear her tell the stories of which she was full of, but i always had to make time for her to brag on her kids and tell me how good they were doing; very smart kids and i said that not her.
and so another flame burns out in the cocking world, but so many of our lives will be all the richer for knowing her!! I HOPE YOU WERE ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES!!
to end this, i tip my hat and rise my glass and salute the one and only true "QUEEN OF THE COCKING WORLD" MRS. POCAHONTIS "POKEY" STOVER SAVAGE. god bless you friend, and long live the "QUEEN".
The one thing you won't hear much about though is the "QUEEN".Now don't get me wrong, all the kings probably had a woman behind them,or in alot of cases,beside them.I know for a fact that some of them were top of the line "chicken women."Dena Hulsey,the Duke's wife from earlier times,and in the years not too far gone, Mrs.Nonie White, Dewayne White's wife,of the Black Smith entry.I know for a fact I'd give anything to be half the chicken man she is.When I went to visit the Whites(and now this is just between you and me)it was ms. nonie calling the shots.She'd tell Dewayne to get this or that, or that she was going to do this or that to the roosters,and all I ever heard him say was ok.that Mr.Dewayne is a smart guy! I found that out real quick!
another example is mrs. sabra ttochta. you'd see "miss sabra" as i called her at just about every derby at texoma, and she'd have a show of those blacks, her babies she called them. well let me tell you mister, if you were matched into her, you were in a whole world of trouble.don't believe me, well ask some of those alabama pro's that learned the lesson the hard way. two top of the line chicken women!!
let's get on down to why i started this story. i only know of one woman who truily lived, breathed, ate, and slept cocking, from early in the morning til way past late at night. in the early 80's til the mid 90's she ran with the toughest of the tough, the likes of joe goode, slim benoist,the johnson boy's, charlie and jimmy, oscar akins, cliff collins, dan gray and others most of you have never heard of, but were just as big and tough.consult your journals if you don't believe me! the fact is most all these guy's bought their worm pills and keep aids, etc., direct from her, little home made concoctions to make a rooster the best he could be.every one of the men listed before has publicly thanked her in the pages of "the gamecock" more than once. from her little one page ad, her name grew to literally a household word in the cocking world.from the philliphines to hawaii,to the mountains of tennessee, down into alabama,back up thru louisana. from the west coast of california all the way back to heartland of cocking in oklahoma. yes, far and wide fellow cockers, i give you the queen of cocking, the one and only pocahontas "POKEY"stover savage.for years she published the weekly fight report newsletter "the cock and bull". i don't know if you were a subscriber,but i promise you this, all the big boy's were, not most, all... from tips on horses or football games, to who was gonna win the derby and where in the coming weeks, you never knew just what might be in there.but she was usually right. if she told oscar his roosters were wormy, he wormed them(with her pills i might add), if she told the gamblers who was gonna win the derby, thats the way they bet, and if you were lucky enough to consider her a friend you were miles ahead of the pack!!
well people, pokey Stover was a friend of mine. i loved every minute being around her at the pits and cherished every phone call and e-mail we shared together. we talked several times a week in the last few months months before she left us, mostly just reminiscing about old times. i loved to hear her tell the stories of which she was full of, but i always had to make time for her to brag on her kids and tell me how good they were doing; very smart kids and i said that not her.
and so another flame burns out in the cocking world, but so many of our lives will be all the richer for knowing her!! I HOPE YOU WERE ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES!!
to end this, i tip my hat and rise my glass and salute the one and only true "QUEEN OF THE COCKING WORLD" MRS. POCAHONTIS "POKEY" STOVER SAVAGE. god bless you friend, and long live the "QUEEN".
