| Hickey is 2011 Illinois Champion Auctioneer |
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From a field of 20 of Illinois’ best auctioneers, Josh Hickey of Steward won the judges’ favor at the 27th Annual Championship Auctioneer Contest on Aug. 16.
The Illinois State Fair event was sponsored by the Illinois State Auctioneers Assoc. (ISAA) and Farm Credit Services.
Hickey graduated from Worldwide College of Auctioneering in Mason City, Iowa in 2004 after working auctions at a young age with his auctioneer father, Terry Hickey. A full-time auctioneer, he has been associated with Bearrows Real Estate and Auction Co. in Rochelle for seven years, selling real estate, farm machinery, household, antiques and a number of benefit and charity auctions.
He also sells weekly auctions at Fairway Auto Auction, Insurance Auto Auctions Specialty Division, Evansville Auto Auction, Greater Milwaukee Auto Auction, and Badger State Auto Auction.
Hickey and his wife Kristen have two sons, Hank, 3, and Everett, 1. When not calling auctions, Hickey spends time working on their family farm, hunting, fishing and playing toy tractors with his boys. He is also a trustee on the Willow Creek Township Board, and a member of St. James Church in Lee, Ill.
The auctioneer judges were Ohio Champion and 2011 International Reserve Champ-ion Jason Miller CAI, 2010 Wis-consin Champ-ion Carol Miller, 2010 Illinois Champion Ryan Jordan, 2011 Illinois Hall of Fame Member Jim Folger, and ISAA President Don Crist, CAI.
Reserve Cham-pion was Van Adkisson of Roseville, and First Runner-Up was Alex Belcher of Buncombe. Rounding out the Top Five were Blake Canning of Murphysboro and Darrell Moore of Winchester.
Other contestants were: Johnson Cornwell of Mendon, Anthony Emig of Trenton, Zachary Franks of Munster, Code Hanold of Brighton, Todd Holmes of Wilmington, Keith Jones of Arlington Heights, Kyle Kelso of Macomb, James Lehde of Addieville, Mark Mommsen of Sycamore, Joe Orwig of Toulon, Logan Schmid of Clinton, Marc Stauder of Pana, Amberleigh and Ryan Wankel of Jacksonville, and Joseph Wieseman of Worden.
To better prepare the winner for international competition, this year’s contest included for the first time an interview that counted for 40 percent of the final score.
Hickey’s responses to questions asked by Emcee Ron Sanert of Greenview were thoughtful and articulate.
He went on to sell at the Governor’s Sale of Champions that evening, breaking a record for the champion steer at $51,200; and then raised an additional $10,000 on the same steer for the Orion Samuelson Scholarship Fund.
Past President Cory Craig of Edinburg has served on the Governor’s Sale Committee since it was reorganized in 2005. The sale is called by the new champion; three past champions on a rotating basis; the ISAA president; State Sen. John Sullivan and State Rep. Jim Sacia, who are also licensed auctioneers. Three ISAA Champion Ringmen catch the bids from the standing-room-only audience.
The Illinois State Auctioneers Assoc. has more than 400 members and is known as one of the premier auctioneer trade associations in the nation. Maxine O’Brien of Madison, Wis. has served as their executive director for the past 10 years. |
| 9/1/2011 |
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