Ann Thompson remains undefeated. She crowed like a rooster more convincingly than all challengers at the World Human Crowing Championship held last weekend in Rogue River, Ore.
The world championship is held during the town's Rooster Crow Weekend, which includes crowing by both humans and the genuine article.
The secret to getting a rooster to crow competitively was shared by a competitor in Oregon's Mail Tribune newspaper after the birds-only contest:
"I just kept him away from any other roosters or chickens for six weeks before the contest and brought him to the contest in a large sack."
Luckily, Thompson doesn't require such treatment before a contest. The 25 year-old McGintytown resident gained the skill more than 10 years ago as a side effect of trying to teach an apparently speech-impaired rooster how to crow.
Her competitive career started at last year's Prescott Chicken and Egg Festival, where she entered the state crowing contest and won. She entered the national championship at the World Chicken Festival in London, Ky., (home of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, appropriately.), a few weeks later and won that as well.
Thompson had already made plans to visit friends in Washington State when she discovered that the world rooster crowing championship was, serendipitously, in neighboring Oregon.
In February, Thompson was courted by NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She had packed her bags and was ready to set out on an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles when she learned that she would appear as a well-known and often coarse country-fried comedian's "Arkansas cousin." Standing by her Christian values and status as a role model for many children in various civic and religious groups, Thompson declined the offer.
"I don't really like crude humor and definitely didn't want to harm the minds of children with the humor of some comedians that might not be child-appropriate," She said shortly after making the decision. "In today's culture, where kids are bombarded with things like that are bad like that, I want to show the next generation that character is still something to be admired."
Many said she'd blown her chance at 15 minutes of fame, but Tonight Show producers seemed to admire her decision. She was invited back in March to appear as part of a segment involving no coarse comedians, though the guest who appeared after Thompson's segment, the even-more-coarse comedian Lisa Lampanelli, likely had Tonight Show producers nervously hovering over the "bleep-out" button.
In Oregon, Thompson said she found herself up against 11 adult competitors, many of whom just "yelled cock-a-doodle-doo," she said, but a few rivals possessed the gift of rooster mimicry. To prevent influencing the judges, Thompson only revealed her status as national champion after she was declared the winner.
Confusingly, Thompson's trophy won in Rogue River bears the inscription "National Human Crowing Champion," though the contest is listed at www.oregon.com as the world championship.
"I'm thinking 'OK, There's two national championships?,'" she said.
She admitted, jokingly, that there's room for organizational improvement in the world of international competitive rooster crowing, but her mind is satisfied that she's the reigning state, national and world champion.
At any rate, she said, her talent has given her ample opportunity to share her views on standing up for what one believes in and moral purity.
(Staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached by e-mail at joe.lamb@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
