MY HEROES FROM THE PAST..........
THE LATE GREAT JIM CALIA
The entire time I knew Jim, and that was from being very young as a boy up to
when he passed away; Jim was always the same, meaning that his demeanor
was always level, not up and down like many of us. I found this trait to be very
rare in pigeon people or in just humans period. He would look you in the eye
and shake your hand, no matter what your status was in the pigeon game. He
treated everyone with respect and was never condescending. I got a kick out
of his energy and all the work he did for the Martinez club. This was apparent
when we would ship those 5 bird specials there and ship from that club. If you
never had the chance to meet Jim, he wasnt a tall man. But his presence was
huge......he had alot of charismatic attributes about him. Yes you can tell that I
truly respected and enjoyed this guy and, along with hundreds of others, miss
his presence dearly. I often mention how much "character" the old timers in
our sport had. Many that have passed on had that special thing about them that
helps us to remember them. The old San Francisco Club had many many flyers
that later on moved to other areas but they carried with them the unique gift
of personality wherever they flew. That club had so many many characters, its
unbelievable to think about it now.
Jim Calia was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania on August 15, 1929 in the heart of the
depression. His family moved to San Francisco, California in 1933. Jim met a schoolmate
who had homing pigeons when he was 9 years old. He fell in love with them and built a
coop in his backyard. He flew competively in San Francisco for many years as a child and
then went into the military service in 1948. He was stationed in Korea and returned back
to the United States in 1952. He continued with the pigeons and met his future wife
(Arline Klein) and they married in 1954. He became a San Francisco Fireman in 1954.
He was a Fireman for 27 years and retired in 1981.
Jim and Arline had three children (Sue in 1956, Cathy in 1959 and Jimmy in 1962). In
1966, they moved to the city of Concord where Jim joined a very competitive club, the
Martinez Homing Pigeon Club.
Jim became a very successful flyer and started a family of Janssens that are still winning
today. He started this tight knit family of Janssens in 1969. Jim won many awards and
won 1st All American in 1976 and 1977 (3 All American Awards in total). Jim is truly a
legend in the sport of racing pigeons. He was a fantastic flyer with the will to win. He had
a competitive nature that was tremendous and had a heart of gold. He was also well liked
by everyone.
Jim’s son, Jimmy, was raised with the pigeons and flew in the club as soon as he could
join at the age of 10. Jim passed away on July 28, 1992 at the young age of 62. Jim
always wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and carry on the family tradition.
Since his father’s death in 1992, Jimmy has continued to breed and fly the Calia Janssen
strain.
The strain has flourished and helped Jimmy win (2) separate 2nd place All-American
Awards. Jimmy was 2nd All American Loft in the High Middle Category of 1999 Young
Bird series. In 2001 Youngbirds, he had an even better season than his All-American
year of 1999. He won 1st combine average speed in both the “A” series (68 lofts) and the
“B” series (54 lofts) and 2nd All American once again in the High Middle Category.
The Calia Janssens are a tight knit family of Janssens that have continued to win for the
past 39 years for the Calia’s and other fanciers across the United States and Taiwan.
Many people think that Jimmy is a junior, but that is not correct. His father’s birth name
was Vincent Calia.
Calia Janssen History
Jim Calia was the consummate competitor. He did not like to lose. Jim flew birds in San
Francisco until moving to Concord in 1962. He was always a good flyer, but everything
changed in 1969 when he obtained the Janssen strain. In early 1969 he rose to the top
and stayed there. He acquired his first Janssens that year. Hank Vernazza was kind
enough to give Jim two pigeons. He gave him a mealy hen 69MTZ 7944 that Jim later
named “Meadowlane”. She was named after Vernazza’s street. He also gave him a cock
68MTZ 244 (later named Hank Jr.). . He told Jim that if he didn’t like the cock after the
first year, he would replace him. Jim wasn’t real impressed with the offspring that 244
bred, so he brought him back to Hank. True to his word, Hank replaced him with his
father, 66MTZ 5478. His father was already an established breeder for Hank and a direct
son of the “Red Hen”. Jim named this cock “Hank”. As it turned out, “Hank Jr.” also
turned out to be a fantastic breeder. Jim had bred a blue check hen 69MTZ 7790 off of
“Hank Jr.” before he gave him back to Hank. 69MTZ 7790 was just an average flyer, but
turned out to be a fantastic breeder. She was named the “Queen” hen. Her mother was
another Janssen that was acquired from George Brown and was aptly called the “Brown”
hen.
A lot of people think that the Vernazza Janssens and the Calia Janssens are one in the
same. This is not true. The Calia Janssens are a mixture of Janssens that Jim acquired
over the years that met the qualities and performance that he expects in performance
racing pigeons. Another one of the key pigeons was a bird that Jim acquired from Dr.
Wendell Ogden of San Bernadino, California. He met Dr. Ogden at a convention and
became friends with him. Dr. Ogden also imported birds through Piet DeWeerd about the
same time as Hank Vernazza. Dr. Ogden’s birds had similar bloodlines as Hank’s birds. In
1970, Jim and Dr. Ogden traded futurity birds. One of the birds that Dr. Ogden sent was
a beautiful blue check cock 70MTZ 528. This cock was the 2nd best flyer in the entire
MTZ club in 1970 youngbirds. Jim put him in the stock loft and called him “Og” after Dr.
Ogden.
“Og” was mated to “Meadowlane” and their offspring later proved to be outstanding flyers
and breeders. They were the parents to such greats as Puregold, Tuffy and Workhorse.
Jim also brought another Janssen hen in from Ed Jankoski that he named “Juliana”,
74WAC 4004. This hen also impacted the Calia loft when she was mated to the
Workhorse cock.
These birds were all great birds and blended a tight family that are known as the Calia
Janssens. Jim’s flying record took off in the early 70’s and culminated with 3 All-American
Awards, 1975 Youngbirds- 2nd All- American, 1975 Old Birds- 1st All- American and
1976 Old Birds- 2nd All- American.
Jim also started to sell pigeons in the early 70’s and sold birds throughout the United
States and Taiwan. People from all over the United States have won with his birds and
the Calia Janssens are well known throughout the United States and Taiwan as top birds.
Jim sold many birds to Charlie Murray of Texas. Charlie had an outstanding record with
the Calia Janssen birds and you can’t go to many lofts in Texas that don’t have Calia
Janssens. Jim bred 73MTZ 888 and sold him to Charlie Murray. “888” became Murray’s
foundation breeder and is considered a legend in Texas. He was a son of “Meadowlane”.
There are so many people that have had success with the Calia Janssens; I can’t do
justice by just naming a few.
The Calia Janssens have also won 1st place Walt Disney award, 1st San Diego Classic,
1st A.U. Hall of Fame, 1st San Diego Triple Crown Race, 1st Ventura Triple Crown Race,
1st California State Race, 1st MTZ Auction Race (numerous), 1st MTZ Futurity race
(numerous), 1st numerous Hall of Fames, 1st Snow Bird Race (1983), and many other
top races across the country and Taiwan. A Calia Janssen flown by Frank Viola won 1st
place in the prestigious Frank Viola race with a bird that he purchased from the Calia Loft
loft in 1990. A son of the Shy cock.
In 1984, Hank Vernazza donated some birds to be auctioned off at the MTZ club for their
truck fund. Jim purchased the “Shy” cock and “Diamond” cock at this auction. They were
both direct sons of the “180” hen of Vernazza. Jim later acquired other children of the
“180” hen and had 8 children at one time. The “Shy” and “Diamond” cock were the top
breeders of this group. These birds were very special because they were Janssens that
performed well at longer distances.
Jim wished that Jimmy would carry on the Calia name in the pigeon sport and continue
what he started. He wanted his name and birds to live on well past his death. After his
death in 1992, Jimmy obtained all of his breeders and got them down to a number that he
could handle. This is about 20 pairs of breeders. Jimmy continued to fly in 1992 and
1993 and flew good, but not as good as he would have liked. In 1994 youngbirds, his
race team got sick and the youngbird season was ruined. It was after this season that he
re-evaluated what his long-term plans were going to be.
In 1995, he decided that with his job (Police Officer) and his growing family, he needed to
only fly one of the seasons. He chose to only fly youngbirds. He is very competitive and
wanted to give all he could to one season. He also decided to make his concentration
around the “Diamond” cock. He wanted to keep as many of the Diamond’s children as he
could and race as many of his grand children as possible. He mated him to his daughters
and kept most of the offspring for breeding purposes. He had a very good year in 1995
YB’s and was 10th overall average speed in the “A’ races of the Bay Cities combine ( 117
lofts). That same year he was 1st overall average speed in the “B” races of the Bay
Cities Combine (32 lofts). That year, he won 1st place A.U. Hall of Fame (11-20 lofts) with
95 Calia 0122 a granddaughter to the “Diamond” cock.
1996 youngbirds was just an average year. In 1997, his breeding strategy finally started
to take effect. He became more focused and his desire for winning became more
prevalent. 1997 youngbirds was a good flying year and he finished 7th combine average
speed against 112 lofts in the “A” series and 2nd combine average speed in the “B”
series against 32 lofts.
1998 youngbirds was an excellent season and he finished 5th Bay Cities average speed
against 101 lofts. 1999 youngbirds was his break out season. This was the season that
he took it to another level. It made him very satisfied and his father would have been
proud. He was leading the overall Bay Cities Combine average speed going into the last
race by 28 seconds. After having an outstanding 7 previous races, He fell down the last
race and finished 3rd overall average speed against 110 lofts. His record was so good
that he won 2nd place All-American and fulfilled one of his goals. He had some
outstanding birds that year and an absolute standout in 99JCL 56 “War Admiral”. He is a
grandson to the “Diamond” cock and won diplomas in 6 out of 7 races. He won 1st place
California State Hall of Fame (100 + loft category) and was 2nd place A.U. Hall of Fame
in the 61-100 loft category.
2000 youngbirds was another excellent season and he was 4th Bay Cities Combine
average speed against 90 lofts. He was also the Champion Loft in the Golden Gate
Combine. It was an excellent season overall. Like previous years, 80% of his race team
were grand children to the “Diamond” cock.
2001 youngbirds was an outstanding season and even better than his 1999 All-American
year. He had a fantastic season and did great in every race. He won 1st Bay Cities
Combine average speed in the “A’ series against 68 lofts. He also won 1st Bay Cities
Combine average speed in the “B’ series against 54 lofts. His team consisted of 58 birds.
38 of the 58 birds won diplomas. He had 7 different birds that won diplomas in 4 different
races. He took 2nd place All-American once again in the High Middle Category.
Jim Calia’s favorite birds were Meadowlane, Og, Workhorse, Queen, Bright Eyes, Tuffy,
Puregold, King of the Road, Diamond, Shy, Juliana, and Pink Lady. He respected the
great old flyers like Hank Vernazza, George Haas, Al Boccone, Joe MeEvoy, Al Cambra,
Brad Laverne and Cookie Siino.
Jim Calia was the most proud of his achievement of winning 7 races in a row in 1976 in
the MTZ club. This feat was a great accomplishment and has never been duplicated.
That record is still strong today and has not even come close to being broken. He was
very proud of his seasons in 1976 and 1977 which won him his All American Awards.