"Virgil" was born in a litter of
four and was the last one to turn on. We tried rolling him at eighteen months
but he was not interested. Our efforts to roll Virgil did not succeed until he
was two years old.
In his first roll he fought against a hard biting
"Eli" dog who hit two arteries within four minutes. Virgil retaliated by
destroying this dog within the next six minutes. In the next roll, Virgil came
off the chain against a big strong opponent of Boomerang breeding, who was
conditioned, and thirty minutes later the owner picked his dog up. Virgil had
done considerable damage and was about to put him away. Big Brad contacted
me and set up a match with friends of his at fourty-nine pounds. First match,
Ted and Frank vs. Ozzie Stevens. When released Virgil barnstormed his opponent
called Harley from the first minute and never let up until Ted picked up at
twenty-eight minutes. Virgil never got a mark on him.
Second match, F.
Rocco called to inform me that Mike So. had a two time winner called Cain that
nobody would match. He explained Big Brad backed down from him with his Loco
dog. I called Mike and we agreed to match at fourty-eight pounds. On the day of
the fight I couldn't get Virgil to empty out. We walked him over and over to no
avail. Mike So. looked at his dog and then at Virgil and said he wanted the
forfeit and wasn't going to fight at all. I tried to get him to change his mind,
but I could not. My right hand man was there, his name was Bob Bryan and tried
to negotiate with Mike So. After plenty talking Bryan came back over to me and
said that Mike So. was ready to get in the pit with his dog. I asked him how he
did it. He said,"it was easy, he just set a time limit on the match, that is the
fight was still going on at fourty-five minutes, i would have to concede and
give the fight to Mike So. and Cain.
I thought this was crazy and I
didn't like it, as Bryan would always give advantages away in all his matches
(like giving away three or four pounds in all his matches). But I thought it was
better this way than not to match at all. When the dogs were released Cain
showed ability and bite. But the more pressure he tried put on Virgil, the
faster Virgil fought and the harder he bit. This match was taking place high on
top of a hill. The barn sat out in the open with no shade. Humidity was high and
Cain turned at twenty minutes. When handled and realeased, Cain started out, and
Virgil shot out of his corner, hitting Cain in the chest so hard that he drove
Cain's backend to the floor in a sitting position. They were both biting good,
but Virgil was clearly getting the best of it. I looked for a handle and got it.
I scratched Virgil and he pounded Cain in his corner. Virgil was now biting hard
on the nose, chest, shoulders and stifles. Cain to scratch again at twenty-eight
minutes. Virgil met Cain in the middle of the pit, but at the last second, side
stepped him taking a leg hold and running right by him, flipping Cain over.
Virgil was fighting an extremely fast pace and doing damage. I called Byran as I
was worried about making the time limit. "How muh time do we have", I asked.
Bryan replied it was now thirty-two minutes. I got a handle and back of the pit.
Virgil went into a foul hold and once again I called to Bryan; "How much time do
we have", Bryan called out thirty-six minutes. I got a handle immediately and
when Mike So. released Cain, he fell in his corner and was counted out at
thirty-eight minutes. This fight made "2" for Virgil.
Bob Bryan and Greg
Garnett contacted me quite some time later and they said they had a match hooked
up against Grace's CH. Elmo which was a litter mate to GR. CH. Mickey and GR.
CH. Trouble. I was the second match at this convention. Chicken Man Dave fought
first and lost. It was his barn and his scale. When I weigh, the scale was gone.
I asked Chicken Man where the scale was and his reply was that he was not
letting anybody use his scale. It all sounding fishy to me. But I put Virgil on
the scale to weigh him. Our match was set up at 49 pounds. The scale said Virgil
was two pounds light at 47 pounds. When I asked for a test weight, my opponent
tied a string around a barbell and hung that around the scale to verify the
scale was right. I said "bullshit" as I weighed my dog in the last week and had
a certified test weight and four different scales and Virgil was on the weight
on all of them. What this meant was my opponent was two pounds over weight. But
with all the arguing, I said the hell with it, let's get it on. Virgil met Elmo
in his corner and Elmo popped an artery in Virgil's muzzle and another one in
his shoulder. By eight minutes Elmo had Virgil down. But Virgil was deep into
the chest from the bottom. When under pressure, Virgil seemed to lose his temper
and sure showed it this day! For at the eight minute mark, he came off the
bottom with Elmo's chest in his mouth and he pressed Elmo over his head. Elmo's
front legs fell over Virgil's back while his legs were suspended in mid air.
Virgil then threw Elmo to the pit wall. He made a flurry into the throat for a
couple of minutes and switched to a belly and kidney hold. Virgil had unusually
long fangs and he buried them up to the gum lines in his kidneys. Virgil left
loose and then repeated this procedure two more times. After that Elmo was not
fighting back. His owner gave up the fight at thirty minutes. But his dog died a
short while later. This was win number "3" for Virgil.
Fourth fight I
was called by Frank Bunce to match into CH. Chisohn who was a four time winner.
He was owned by Swango and Sears bred by K.Gaines. In this fight Virgil caught
in his corner and popped an artery with the first five minutes. It seemed that
every time Virgil touched him, he drew blood. But CH. Chisohn was game and
determined. Virgil had a rough time with him but was slowly breaking him down.
By fourty minutes, CH. Chishon was in bad shape. Swango conceded at fifty-two
minutes and CH. Chishon died right after the fight to make this win number "4"
for Virgil.
The fifth fight was against Phil's Little George who was a
two time winner and a deep game dog. Virgil experienced some kidney problems in
the fourth fight and and in the last two weeks before this match the kidney
problems came back. Virgil started out fast and tore a gaping hole in Little
George's chest. Within the first ten minutes it looked like he was going to put
him away. Then he heated up probably because of the intense kidney infection.
Little George started coming back into the fight and got Virgil down for a
little while. But the more George tried to put on Virgil, the worse Virgil bit
him right back into the gaping hole that he opened in the begining of the fight.
As they were standing up battling it out, you could see the blood dripping out
of his chest like you turned on the spigot; I had been dripping like this from
the beginning of the fight. Little George had weakened and went down. He had a
hold of Virgil's leg. Virgil was chewing on his head to get him off and it
sounded like he was chewing on his knuckle bone. Phil conceded at forty three
minutes to make this win number "5" for Virgil. He was six years old, and I
sold him to "Solo" formerly with "STP" Kennels where he lived until he died at
11 years old.
This information was obtained from an unknown magazine written by
Ozzie Stevens .
GARRETT'S (CRENSHAW'S) CH. JEEP ROM
Throughout the history
of the sporting American Pit Bull Terriers, no single dog has made quite the
impact as GARRETT'S "CH. JEEP", and that beig the combination of not only his
worthiness as a supreme pit dog, but the ultimate supremacy of his reproduction.
JEEP was bred by JAMES CRENSHAW and sold to JAMES GARRETT as a young dog and was
campaigned and brought to notoriety by JAMES GARRETT asssisted by JAMES
CRENSHAW. JEEP achieved his fourth win over Ozzie Steven's CH. HOMER. This fight
making history, for the caliber of these two dogs meeting in the pit is unusual
in itself. Although, JEEP the victor, HOMER, in his own rights, had proved to be
just as good a combat dog and both dogs were truly entitiled to the legacy that
they have earned through this match.
Now that the formidable worth of
JEEP has been established, we will go on to the greatest asset this dog ever
possessed and that was his ability to reproduce a staggering figure of
Champions, one Grand Champion and numerous one and two time winners. The
conversation at many conventions always leads to great dogs and a dispute of
which bloodlines are the best to utilize to get the highest percentage of game
and winning dogs. I have often heard this one statement being passed when JEEP'S
name is brought up as to his high figure on the R.O.M. (Register Of Merit) list
and that is, well look how many bitches JEEP was bred to to create the amount of
Champions he has sired. My answer to those dogmen is this. Take three major pit
dogs that are from outstanding bloodlines such as STP'S GRAND CHAMPION BUCK,
four time winner, STP'S CHAMPION TORO and BURTON'S GRAND CHAMPION HANK, as these
three were considered exceptional pit dogs and many utilized these three
different bloods for the sole purpose of producing or establishing new lines
from them. All three lived approximately to the same age which was ten years.
Two were campained approximately the same time and died not to far apart, that
being, CH. TORO and GR. CH. HANK. HANK made his pit history prior to theirs, but
was bred as many times as JEEP, if not more. GR. CH. BUCK, probably second to
HANK in the amount of his breedings and TORO, which I am the most familiar with,
as I owned him for a period of three years. I personally bred TORO to 23
different bitches in my own yard during this period. The fact is all three of
these great dogs combined together, produced about half the number of Champions
as JEEP has. So common, sense will tell you how many champions doesn't hold
water.
Some of the crosses which are well known where JEEP created some
great dogs and the blood seems to click the best with are JEEP/RED BOY and
JEEP/RASCAL. As of this writing, it has been reported to me that there have been
two more Champions added to the list of the 16 point registration on the
Registry Of Merit list. Listed hereiafter, in alphabetical order, are
records and information pertaining to some of the prodigy of this great sire,
GARRETT'S "CH. JEEP".
CH. JEEP was born in August 1976 on the yard of
James Crenshaw, in the famous litter of Finley's CH. BO ROM to Crenshaw's CH.
HONEYBUNCH ROM. That produced four champions. The most famous of the four was
CH. JEEP ROM. But there was also Crenshaw's CH. CHARLIE. Who has been said to
have been a better pit dog than JEEP. CH. MISSY who is seen in allot of
pedigrees today, and Swetman's CH. HOLLY, who was said to be a terrible biter
with lots of ability. This was a great litter that was made once, for reasons
that I don't know. CH. JEEP is believed by many to be one of the best match
dogs of his time.
Defeated Pylant's CH. KATO at 43 pounds in :28
minutes. Cooper's WEENIE also at 43 pounds in :58 minutes. Stinson &
Stepp's BLACK DOG, who was said to be a three time winner at 42 pounds in two
hours and five minutes. And for his fourth and final match we went into
Ozzie Steven's CH. HOMER, at 43 pounds and won in 3:45. This was one of those
Classic matches, that history is made from. Two Great Game Dogs met, and only
one could win.
INDIAN BOLIO ROM
Bolio was bred by Maurice Carver
and Eddie Klaus in 1969. His sire was the famous pit ace Klaus' Zeke and his dam
was Klaus' Goldie. Bolio's pedigree is very heavy in the blood of a bitch named
Carver's Judy and her sister thegreat Carver's Black Widow. In fact he carried
fifty percent of this blood in his breeding. Bennett Clayton of Texas bought
Bolio from Carver and sent him to Floyd Boudreaux to be matched, he was hooked
into a dog that had killed both of his previous opponents. This dog's name was
Rowdy. Bolio was contracted into Rowdy twice. The first time Floyd was not
content with Bolio's conditioning for the fight, he knew that Bolio must be
perfect to fight a dog of this caliber. After Floyd paid the forfeit he set up a
new match with Rowdy for the big night of a southern convention. This time Bolio
was in great shape and when they hit, it was a real war. Bolio killed Rowdy in
about two hours and was voted best in show! At this same convention, there were
many champions being shown and among them was Davis' Grand Champion Boomerang. I
was not at this fight and I got my information from other dog men and the
sporting dog magazines. Sometime after the fight Bolio was sold to a fancier in
southern California.
The new owner of Bolio was not interested in
matching him again, even though I felt he was the best 43 lb. dog alive at the
time. He decided to use him as a stud dog and that was the best use for him.
Bolio was so talented he never got hurt in rolls. I was lucky enough to see him
roll many times against all kinds of dogs including dogs that were up to 15
pounds larger than he. He handled ALL his opponents with ease.
I have
not seen a large number of the famous foundation dogs fight and maybe some of
them were better dogs than Bolio. I have seen many fast lane dogs in action
since these foundation dogs faded into the past and I can say that Bolio is the
best dog I have ever seen pound for pound. He was not an extremely hard biter,
but he could shut his mouth. He was very skilled at keeping his holds and
sometimes it would appear that he was glued to his rivals head, he liked to
fight the head. He was very strong and fast wrestler and would quickly get his
hold and then use his body weight and muscle power to wear the opponent down
while punishing him the whole time. He would move in such a way that the other
dog would be carrying most of Bolio' weight with him. When the other dog would
slow down from the head holds, Bolio would go into the throat. If a dog did
happen to get Bolio off his head, Bolio would go toe to toe with him, but not
for long. Bolio would work his way back to the head and again be in total
control. He was the fastest, smartest, and most effective head dog that I have
ever seen. He had natural air and I never saw him slow down. He was a very
intense dog and he loved to fight. When in the corner he would scream with rage
until he was released into the other dog. Occasionally, he would bite you if not
released quick enough.
Bolio as a producer was the best stud dog that I
know of that ever lived. He was bred to some poor cur bitches and produced
excellent pit dogs from them. When he was bred to good bitches, those results
were amazing. Some friends of mine had a dispute with Bolio's owner and ended up
taking the dog while he was at church. I had no part in the taking of Bolio from
his owner's yard and do not know the details of the dispute between him and my
friends. I don't use his name because the purpose of this article is to praise
Bolio, not to put down his former owner. Bolio's former owner had stolen dogs
from me and so I feel that I owed him nothing. When the people who took Bolio
offered me breeding rights to the dog, I accepted immediately. Bolio remained on
my yard until he died at the age of thirteen. He would sire litter after litter
of good dogs and I would rate him as a better stud dog that my Tombstone dog,
who was also a great stud in his own right. Bolio produced fine dogs from all
his breedings, no matter what the bloodline was. His pups carried the same
traits that made him such a great dog. When I bred a daughter of Bolio's, Red
Baby, to Tombstone, the result was thirteen very good dogs. Eight of these dogs
won 20 matches. the other five five was used as brood bitches. Champion Tonka,
Champion Snubby, Champion Crash, and Creamator were some of the better known
dogs I sold from this breeding.
One of the first bitches I bred to Bolio
was Faith, a Clouse bitch. This breeding produced eight game and talented dogs,
including Chen Leng and Champion Princess. Red Baby's mother was a sister to
Offer's Crazy Babe, a pure Clouse bitch. Red Baby's litter was a bunch of great
dogs.
I had a bitch named Tuffy that was heavy in Clouse blood. She was
by Tater and Faith, and when I bred her to Bolio, I got some very good dogs
including Bull Boy Bob ROM and Champion Dugan. Bolio worked well with good
Tombstone and Clouse bitches. He also sired good ones to great dogs out of
bitches from the bloodlines of Eli Jr. and Ironhead. This reminds me of a
statement made by Ricky Jones. He said, "My favorite bloodlines are the
Eli/Ironhead cross dogs that came from Maurice during the early and mid
seventies. Percentage wise these dogs will get you to the pit more times than
any other bloodline out there. There are a lot of good dogs from other
bloodlines, but over all you will get more dog for your money and time from the
Eli/Ironhead line." Ricky Jones can run any bloodline he wants and he has a
right to his own opinion. I don't think any bloodline is so superior to the
other top bloodlines that it wins every time.
However, Ricky stated very
clearly that his dogs will win more that any other, now how in the hell would he
know this to be a fact, he never used anything except the Eli blood and did
99.9% of his winning in his own back yard! I say his opinion is weak and wrong!
I owned and saw dogs of Bullyson, Eli Jr., and Ironhead when Ricky still had his
hound dogs. I say the Bolio blood is superior and I sold my Bullyson-Eli Jr dogs
to make room for the Bolio blood that I breed. I talked with Carver on many
occasions and he told me more than twice that the Bolio dogs are his best
without a doubt. In the whole article he never spoke about two of the best dogs
he owned, Chome and Chocolate Soldier. These two dogs won 4 matches for him and
they were bred by Diamond Jim out of a Bolio bitch bred to the great Luther dog.
The mother of Chome and Soldier was Patrick's Rose. I understand that Jones had
a lot of wins to his credit, but the fat is that a puppy I sold as a pet beat
Grand Champion Sandman even though Sandman outweighed him by 3 lbs. I am talking
about Grand Champion Buck, a Bolio dog. If Ricky can make a statement that his
dogs are the best, I can tell you that the people with Bolio dogs aren't losing
any sleep over his "Honest Dogs." I would not trade one good Bolio dog for any
of his dogs. I quess most serious dog men run the line of dogs they like the
best. Bolio's blood is by far the biggest part of my yard. Almost all my dogs
have some Bolio blood in them and many are 60-70% Bolio blood. I don't think you
get the best results by just inbreeding on one good dog. You need other good
bloodlines to cross them with and to keep them strong. I am without a doubt the
biggest Bolio fan in the world and i have been bragging about him for twenty
years. Maurice Carver told me that "all the Bolio dogs will do for you is win.
Lots of people don't like them after they win, but they get the job done!" Eddie
Klaus and Maurice Carver deserve the credit for breeding Bolio and his great
litter mates Mendicino, Andy Capp, Daisy, and Leggs Diamond. All I did was
realize his potential as a stud dog. I am sure I would still have bulldogs if I
had never heard of Bolio, but I know my yard is a better yard because of him. If
I could have any dog that lived in the past, today, as a two year old dog, I
would take Bolio! -Pat Patrick
This information was obtained from The Canine
Performance Journal magazine back in MAY/JUNE of 1996.
CRENSHAW'S CH. HONEYBUNCH ROM
The story of CHAMPION HONEYBUNCH
is written as all fighting dog stories, and that is by the dog themselves. What
can be added to the accomplishments HONEYBUNCH has made as a winner, a champion
and a producer. HONEYBUNCH today is regarded as the most influential factor in
the history of dog fighting, her amazing ability to produce has proclaimed her
the very top producer of all times. It is with great pleasure that I recall some
of the events of her life in this exclusive story for the American Gamedog
Times.
I purchased HONEYBUNCH from Maurice Carver in 1972 as a
five month old pup. She was very active as Maurice had told me, I placed her on
the chain and watched as she developed into one of the best looking bitches I
have ever owned. HONEYBUNCH was a looker, super active on the chain and when
rarely caught standing, stood like a great show horse with her legs spread wide
apart. HONEYBUNCH was a great looking bitch, but was every bit as good as she
looked. Over the years I have had many people and many fanciers to ask questions
in regard to HONEYBUNCH'S record, ability, style and general behavior. I will
try to answer some of those questions in this story.
THE PIG
PICKIN:
Some matches were held in the Carolinas in the mid seventies. There was
a pig pickin (this is a cliche for BBG) before the matches were to take place.
This show was significant because both the great CHAMPION RASCAL and CHAMPION
HONEYBUNCH were cofiscated as a result of a bust after the fights were held. The
complete story of the rescue of these two great a not be told at this time, but
both HONEYBUNCH ad RASCAL were saved from the wrath of the authorities and were
returned to the friendly pitbull dog environment. The complete story of the
rescue has been told ad will be documented later.
RECORD:
CHAMPION
HONEYBUNCH was matched three times, winning all three! She was conditioned and
handled by me in all three of her fights. I have read some advertisements saying
she was a five time winner in some old magazines, these ads are sometimes
confused with a dogs actual record.
ABILITY: Many great dogs have been criticized for their
ability for one reason or another. No dogman that ever saw CHAMPION HONEYBUNCH
in action can say that she cut any slack to any of her opponents. In all her
matches she took charge from the word PIT and dominated her opponents. No dog
could or would scratch back into her after fourty minutes. HONEYBUNCH was what
we call in the game a main player. Like Tyson in the boxing world, you may not
win them all, but the opponent had better come to play. One person who can
testify to HONEYBUNCH'S biting power is Rex B. Rex was the judge for
HONEYBUNCH'S second match and was accidently bitten by her while unfanging her.
Rex was working with a breaking stick when HONEYBUNCH clamped onto his thumb.
When it appeared to me that the dogs were free I quickly turned HONEYBUNCH from
her opponent when Rex said, "Jerry, she still got my thumb". It had been quite a
struggle to seperate these two fast mouth bitches and I didn't realize
HONEYBUNCH was still clamped tight to Rex's thumb. The Old Man on the Mountain
replaced Rex as a referee and the match resumed. Rex who is the kind of man who
would not yell out in protest or make a big scene, but for the next few days he
realized why the Hispanics call the thumb, "Fat Finger".
A LESSON
LEARNED: A vauable lesson was taught to me by HONEYBUNCH when she was still a
young gyp. A well renowned dog man of the area came to my place to roll a female
when HONEYBUNCH was 18 months of age. I was eager to show off my latest Carver
aquisition so I took HONEYBUNCH off the chain and faced her up with the
experienced brindle bitch. The brindle crossed, took hold of HONEYBUNCH and
started to shake, HONEYBUNCH just rolled her big dark brown eyes at me to say,
what's going on. The brindle's handler yelled, "I'd shoot that bitch, she won't
even fight". I was to proud of my bitch to resort to anything like that, after
all she came from the "Old Master" and I placed her back on her chain and
decided to wait until another day to show her off.
PRODUCTION: HONEYBUNCH was blessed with the amazing ability to
bestow upon her offsprings her own ability to preform as well as produce.
HONEYBUNCH was easy to breed, produce large litters of puppies ad raised most of
them. This trait coupled with the uncanny ability to reproduce her likeness, has
proclaimed her the greatest producer of all times. Her mating career was started
after the poor showing verses the brindle female previously mentioned. The
choices of studs to be bred to her would also play a large roll in her rapid
advance to stardom. The excellent selection of CHAMPION BO, CHAMPION RASCAL and
CHAMPION OTIS by James Crenshaw coupled with some older brothers and sisters off
of TRIM MOODY and OSO NEGRO from my place caused a pyramid effect and spread the
HONEYBUNCH fame around the world. I bred HONEYBUNCH to TRIM MOODY when she came
into heat the second time. TRIM had a very impressive win in 56 minutes before
the mating.
During the match TRIM suffered damage to his private parts,
but came from the bottom to win. I had tested TRIM MOODY before this match ad
determined that he was dead game. This mating produced only three surviving
males ad all three males became match dogs they were GRAND CHAMPION WEEHUNT,
JOKER and BULLY BOB. After HONEYBUNCH weaned this litter I tried her again and
really liked what I saw. She was as rough as any female I had ever witness. Her
test was her first match and she proved her worth by taking out a very good
opponent and scratched so hard that if her foe did not meet her half way, they
would be knocked back to the corner wall. I contacted Dr. Kimsey Wood in an
effort to try breed my suped-up little match bitch to OSO NEGRO, I asked if he
would agree to a pick. It suited the Doc "OK" and I was just as pleased as OSO
NEGRO was building a reputation by kicking bull dog asses around the circuit, at
the time. We stuck these two together and produced a litter of nine pups, but
only two males. When the picking time came, the doctor said, "Jerry, I sure
would hate to take one of those pretty males, I would just as soon take two
females". I sent do home with two bitches that produced several match dogs as
well as reputable producers.
FACT: HONEYBUNCH returned to the four
squares to win two more impressive battles. The second of these was the Pig
Pickin match famous for the big bust. The opponent in this match was conditioned
and handled by Scotty Todd, he was using a good little black female at a weight
of 38 1/2 lbs. This was a little heavy for our heroine, but I felt that I would
spot a pound or so. I was right, she cut this one down in twenty-eight minutes.
One of the pleasures of owning CHAMPION HONEYBUNCH was the superior feeling
obtained from watching her work. She was always the same in all her matches,
rolling, controlling and always dominating her victim. By the mid-seventies I
decided to sell off some of my stock, but didn't want to put HONEYBUNCH on the
open market. James Crenshaw had a deep interest in the Carver family as I did,
he was very dedicated and a known eye for a good one. HONEYBUNCH'S fighting days
were over, but she was in the prime of her producing life. James and I reached
an agreement of sale and both of us reaped the harvest of the fruits of his
great vine even up to today.
TRUTH: The world of THE AMERICAN GAMEDOG was upgraded by the life of CHAMPION
HONEYBUNCH. The dog fraterity will continue to improve as a result of her
exsistence. The augments in regard to her offspring will continue for years
to come.
QUESTIONS: The question has been asked many times which of
HONEYBUNCH'S litters was the best? Which of her offspring was the best? These
questions will still be asked after all of us are long gone. Crenshaw and I
agree on the complexing of this question, even after seeing the results of each
litter.
My view is, how do you or where do you find a litter that can
compare to the records of champions JEEP, CHARLIE and HOLLY? Eleven wins and no
losses were recorded by the trio. HONEYBUNCH'S first litter however in which all
three males were matched, won ten and lost only two. The accomplishments of
GRAND CHAMPION SNAKE can not be ignored either in the search for the best, OTIS
also produced others of recogition, in this litter. When it comes down to the
big question of which offspring was best? It really puts you in a bind.
Crenshaw and I agree CHAMPION CHARLIE was a better athlete than JEEP,
but that the JEEP dynasty is now in a full bloom with the prime status and the
unprecedented 15 point ROM ranking and is sure to go higher. GRAND CHAMPION
WEEHUNT can not be overlooked either. Although he was ot an impressive, barn
storming type of dog. he always gave me his best and won six consecative matches
verses the competition of the time. His first win was at Crenshaw's place when
matched into a five time winner called TIGER. TIGER was a veteran of six matches
at the time. The Florida boys told me that TIGER had been matched when he was 18
months old and was picked up after making a good showing against the older and
possibly better dog. TIGER returned to win five and met WEEHUNT for his seventh
time out. WEEHUNT took a pretty good beating and came from the bottom to win in
one hour and twenty eight minutes. I was once accused of picking a soft spot for
WEEHUNT when I agreed to match into a one time winner in the Volunteer state,
instead of a two time winner in the Low Lands. Well as fate would have it,
WEEHUNT defeated the one time winner, the two time winner from the Low Lands
lost to another two time winner. WEEHUNT then went on to beat the winner of that
match when he went for his fourth triumph. I once won two matches in three weeks
when I substituted WEEHUNT for another male I had matched at 38 1/2 lbs. I
matched WEEHUNT at 37 lbs just three weeks earlier. He got lucky and ran DD from
Florida's entrant out of the square in 5 minutes. WEEHUNT record was six and
zero, but to say he was the best in the company of CHAMPION HOLLY, CHAMPION JEEP
or GRAND CHAMPION SNAKE is a dilemna that defies a simple solution. CHAMPION
HOLLY ranks among the best bitches i have ever seen and in my mind may be
HONEYBUNCH'S best offspring.
HONEYBUNCH also produced litters from OSO
NEGRO, RASCAL and TRIM MOODY. Yielding brood stock that in turn produced the
famous MOUNTAIN MAN'S CHAMPION HOMER strain, SNAKEMAN'S GRAND CHAMPION PEDRO,
FLIM FLAM, CHAMPION BUBBA, CHAMPION SANDMAN (SANDMAN was also a grandson of JEEP
as well as RASCAL JR.) and many more. Everytime you open your Sporting Dog
Journal there is a new champion with our star HONEYBUNCH in the third, fourth or
now fifth generation and another notch or two added to JEEP'S ROM status.
CONTROVERSY: Yes, even the greatest of the great must also be
subjected to the possibility of someone who may enter a bogus name onto a
pedigree. the last question I will try to answer in this story and the bottom
line of the is: "OK Maurice, If HONEYBUNCH really was sired by a Spanish
Pointer, could you please send me one more just like her!" After one of
HONEYBUNCH'S impressive wins I called Maurice to brag of her win. I told
Maurice, "She sure can bite" he replied, "Well God Dam sonnnn, she's got a
license too."
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The fame of HONEYBUNCH would not be as vivid had it
not been for the many contributions of severl breeders including Crenshaw and
myself. The others that were key breeders of this family have been James
Garrett, Gene Smith, George Wilcox, M. Stover, E. Reece along with a host of
others who believed in this line and has helped in the advance of this famous
strain of dogs. Last but most, The San Antonio Rose as Don Mayfield called him,
The Immortal Maurice Carver.
FUTURE:
It has
been said that HONEYBUNCH could produce match dogs from a German Shepard and I
can't deny or confirm that. I will say, "I quess there will never be another one
like her". We will continue to breed and somewhere in the back of our minds we
will hope to find one who will fill her collar.
In closing, I want to
relate to you something that happened the other day as I was recently visiting a
local Wal-Mart. I overheard a conversation between two young men, one of them
was a apparently a Pitbull owner and the other youngster a friend of an owner.
The conversation went something like this: "Your friend got good dogs man?"
Reply: "Yeah man, he has got some real rollin stones". Owner: "He got any Dibo
blood, Blood?" Reply: "Yeah man, I don't know if I heard of that one or not."
Owner: "How about HONEYBUNCH?" Reply: "Yeah man, I've heard of that one." I
nodded to them as I pushed my shopping cart loaded with Ole Roy by them as my
mind went to remembering the great CHAMPION HONEYBUNCH R.O.M.
This
article was written by Irish Jerry in the American Gamedog Times.
Boudreaux' ELI
Eli was the product of the
breeding efforts of Floyd B. He was heavily bred on Floyds all time favorite dog
Blind Billy. When Eli a 2xw was bred to Mr.B.'s Spook, another Blind Billy breed
dog, the outcome was to change the sporting community forever. Three famous
names that come to mind from the Eli/Spook breeding are: Eli Jr., Bullyson, and
a bitch named Brendy.
Maurice Carver & Bullyson
Eli
Jr. was a fantastic 2xw himself and sire of one of the greatest dogs of all
time, the 7xw Gr.Ch. Art. Art was unfortunately stolen and never recovered.
Before Art was stolen the breedings made with him produced a high percentage of
quality game dogs and enough to make Art an 'ROM' producer. Just to imagine what
Art could have produced if he wouldn't have been taken is enough to boggle the
mind. Art had a litter brother who was an exceptionally talented dog in his own
right, the 3xw Ch. Hurt. Bullyson was a 2xw, 1xL and another fantastic producer.
Bullyson's only loss was to one of his sons Benny Bob. Benny Bob subsequently
lost to Jimmy Boots in a classic match. Bullyson's legend as a producer can be
found in many dogs, but his most famous offspring has to be the 5xw Ch.
Honeybunch, the all time leading 'ROM' bitch. Honeybunch subsequently produced
the 4xw Ch. Jeep. Jeep now ranks as the number one 'ROM' dog to this day and
literally deserves to be covered in a story alone.
Other famous Bullyson
offspring are Loposay's Buster 'ROM', and the ever so famous Midnight Cowboy.
Brendy when bred to her brother Eli Jr., produced P. Carver's Black Shine. Shine
subsequently produced the legendary 8xw, 1xL Ch Rascal, Oso Negro a brother to
Rascal, and the world famous P. Carver's Stomponato. Rascal when bred to
Honeybunch produced the 3xw Polly, who in turn was bred to Jeep's father the
6xw, 1xL Ch. Bo 'ROM', thereby producing the great 7xw Gr.Ch. Outlaw.
CATES' GR CH NIGERINO
Another famous Eli bred dog was
the 5xw Gr.Ch. Nigerino. Nigerino represents some of the purest Eli Jr. blood to
be found today and is a highly respected bloodline in its own right. The thing
that make the Eli dogs so popular is that they are powerfully built dogs with
devastating mouths who consistantly throw these traits into their offspring.
One of best crosses to be made with the Eli line, was with the 'ROM'
Snooty dog. Snooty was an extremely intelligent dog who added the highly
desirable traits of pit intelligence and style. Eli dogs tended to be
barnstorming dogs and this would lead to short-windedness. The Snooty cross
corrected this problem without sacrificing the highly desirable Eli traits.
Probably the best known dog from this cross was the 4xw Ch. Chinaman 'ROM'.
Chinaman had it all and has subsequently produced a superior line of dogs. The
Chinaman dogs consistantly throw intelligent, powerful, game dogs with a lot of
mouth, literally a complete package. These dogs are true fast lane quality and
continue to make an ongoing impact in today's sporting era. It would be
impossible to list all the quality dogs that came directly or indirectly from
Eli Jr., Bullyson, or Brendy, because their impact on the sport continues on
today. Their are literally hundreds of famous dogs who owe their success to the
Eli line and its originator Floyd B. and it would take an archive of novels to
list the accomplishments of them all. This article much like the one about Red
Boy only serves to scratch the surface of this famous breed .
Mr. Jeep
Note: Another great line that has
benefited extensively from the Eli line was the one that was created by Ronald
Boyles. The Boyles line of dogs started from a Patrick bred bitch named Boyle's
Dirty Mary ROM crossed with some very rough Eli blood through Holland's Gr. Ch.
Cherokee Chief ROM, who was off of Everett's Buck and Goodman's Mizu. Buck died
in a kennel accident on Irish Jerry's yard with his Gr. Ch. Weehunt dog. Both
dogs were lost. The Boyles line has since taken off in a big way, and is a very
well respected.
GARNERS' CH. CHINAMAN ROM
Chinaman was born on the
yard of R. Abernathy on November 29, 1977. He was one of three pups born to
Abernathy's Molly and sired by Wood's Trouble. Molly always seemed to have 3
pups. This time there was Chinaman, Boy and a female who would be named Onyx
Lady (who went to the owner of Trouble, Dr. Wood). Boy would end up in the hands
of G. Wright, where he would win three matches. Chinaman was raised by R.
Abernathy and when he came of age he was placed with Dr. Wood to find out what
he was made of.
After a short stay, Dr. Wood shipped Chinaman to Vince
and Bob in California to make up for an earlier prospect he had sold them that
failed to live up to expectations. He arrived full of hookworms and roundworms
and weighed only 42 lbs., 4 lbs. below his eventual best match weight of 46 lbs.
Bob kept him on a long cable run and tried to help him overcome his emaciated
state. Chinaman thanked him by biting him, so Bob shipped him to Vince. It was
love at first sight. Vince wormed Chinaman and scheduled a roll for him.
After a 3-hour drive Chinaman was nauseated and dehydrated. He was
pitted 10 lbs. uphill against a powerful red dog named Ch. Ceasar who proceeded
to mop the floor with him. When the big dog tired, Chinaman went to the stifles
and punched very hard. Even though he was still nauseated and underweight he
came up from the bottom to bite down and stop Ceasar at: 28. Chinaman's next
roll was into Doc, a highly respected wrecker. If he could hang with Doc for
even 10 minutes, Chinaman would be worth a bet. Doc came out hard and slammed
Chinaman into the corner and tried to trade with Chinaman. Big mistake! Chinaman
hit the gut and killed the Doctor in his own living room in 17 minutes! It was
clear Chinaman was something special.
For his first two matches,
Chinaman was hooked into respected head dogs that some expected to weather the
storm and challenge the killing stifle and gut dog. Like their predecessors,
neither lasted to the half-hour mark with Chinaman. For his third, a match was
made with the highly renowned Gray's Hubcap who had dispatched the famous Red
Danger dog in a classic 2-hour encounter. Vince and Bob traveled 7 hours with
their dog and when they arrived, odds of 5-1 were being offered against
Chinaman. The betting line changed dramatically after the dogs were released.
Chinaman drove Hubcap into the corner on his back and this is where the match
ended 18 minutes later. Hubcap was a memory and Chinaman was proclaimed a
champion and best in show.
Suddenly no one had a 45-46 lb. male.
Respectable dog men avoided him like the plague. Finally, when he was 7 years
old, some determined fellows bought an expert head dog from R. Jackson, just to
take out the aging Ch Chinaman. The dog from Jackson showed a lot of ability,
but it wasn't enough to keep out an athlete of Chinaman's caliber. Chinaman
worked past his defenses and curred him out in 38 minutes. This had been
Chinaman's longest match, but the outcome was the same as always: he destroyed
everything in his path.
For all who witnessed his matches, Chinaman
became known as one of the roughest ever and a true finisher. According to
scientific tests, he had the air of a greyhound. According to all who saw him,
he had the mouth of an alligator. He was very clever. He would outsmart slick
ear and nose dogs and cur them out. He would finish straight-ahead dogs even
faster. Swapping-out was his game. Like all the truly great ones, Chinaman's
build was like a sleek, muscular thoroughbred.
The Chinaman name appears
in many of today's pedigrees. His contribution as a producer equals, or exceeds
his dominance as a performer. Among his better known offspring were Ch.
Eightball, Ch. Cotton, Ch. Chinabuck, Ch. Chinagirl, Ch. Stormy, Ch. Missy, Ch.
Chinarose, Ch. Ninja and Ch. Crock. He had three sons (Brodt's Boar,
Cottingham's Cotton, and Shockley's Header) go over the 3-hour mark on the same
weekend! Perhaps his greatest contribution is as a producer of producers, as his
son Frisco ROM has produced more champions and grand champions than any other
living stud.
The Legend
Note: Since this article was written
Garner's Frisco ROM has gone on to surpass Garrett's Ch. Jeep ROM as the
greatest producer in history.
GOING LIGHT BARNEY
Although I have often been referenced as the
authority on Going Light Barney, I must confess that I never even saw Barney in
holds. I found it quite fascinating, however that he was one of the most
controversial dogs of which I ever knew. I think part of the reason for that
fact was Barney's flamboyant owner, who is still alive as I write this. Although
not a bad fellow, he had a way of stirring up the dander of other dog men.
Consequently, all of Barney's accomplishments were always scrutinized with a
jaundiced eye. Since I had my picture taken with Barney, a lot of people seem to
think that Barney once belonged to me, but such was not the case, although I did
own a daughter of his which I bred back to him. That breeding produced George,
one of my finest all-time dogs from a pitdog perspective.
Its hard to
believe now, but Barney was welped way back in the 60's, so he is definitely an
old timer. He was a product of breeding a daughter of Johnson's fabulous Goofy
dog to a Rascal bitch. That produced Barney's mother, Penny, and she was nothing
to write home about-possibly a cold bitch and a trifle shy. She was bred to
Rootberg's Booger, strictly on the basis of his being a pure Corvino dog. So it
is not surprising that not much was expected of the litter, but it produced
Barney and several females which were renowned for their gameness, one of them,
Going light Babe, winning best in show down south in a losing effort!
Barney had a storied career. He had been farmed out to some guy in the
inner city to raise and was rolled from the time he was six months old,
something no educated dog man would do. After he killed two dollar George, a
highly valued pit dog in a pick up match when he was only a little over a year
old, he was reclaimed by his owner, who called himself Larry Light in the pit
circuit. He was matched into fast company down in Mississippi against a Carver
dog and won handily in about 20 minutes. This was the convention which also
featured Boomerang and the immortal Bolio. Bolio won best in show because he won
over the dog with the highest reputation, a dog which was thought to be
unbeatable.
The controversy comes from the fact that Barney was counted
out in his third match in Dallas. Larry swore up and down that he was doped, as
the dog didn't know where he was, and had lost his equilibrium for several
hours. Whatever happened, Barney came back to win six in a row against the best
the other side could come up with. One match was raided and the dog confiscated.
This was before the felony laws, and the dogs were broken out of the pound in
which they were held. The match was held, and Barney won in an hour and five
minutes. Barney was dyed black and shipped to a preacher in New Mexico. Part of
the reason for all of this chicanery was that Larry was suing the animal control
people for losing possession of his dog!
Barney's toughest match was
against another ear dog, extremely well thought of, and the match went nearly
two hours before Barney prevailed. That was back in the oil crisis days, in
which you couldn't plan a long trip, as you might run out of fuel. Larry and his
cohorts loaded up the station wagon with several gallons of gasoline so that
they could make the trip there and back without having to worry about fuel. I
was in vited to go along, but I was not of mind to travel in that rolling time
bomb! Hence, I missed my chance to see a great match. Barney usually had an easy
time with his opponents, controlling them with ear holds until the dog was worn
down, and then Barney went in for the kill. I think it was the quit in Dallas
that made it possible for Larry to go on finding matches for Barney.
After the above mentioned match, a fellow named Jobe, who put out a pit
dog magazine, did a cover story on Barney. He had been there at the match, and
he dubbed Barney a Grand Champion. That was the first time I had ever seen the
term used. Now, he would not be eligible for the title because of the loss in
his second match. Mitigating circumstances don't count, and besides, Larry was
never able to prove anything.
Barney was known more for ability than
gameness, but he was game enough to win, and the loss came under suspicious
circumstances. Barney was an unusual Bulldog in that he had an aloof
personality, in direct contradistinction to most bulldogs. He won Larry's wife
over because he would sit up and do tricks on the chain or in the kennel run,
but once he was taken out, his demeanor changed completely. He had achieved his
goal, so the claim was gone, and he simply was off to do what he wanted. Larry,
who was a real-estate speculator who owned half the land in San Diego county,
loved the deviousness of the dog. He was also delighted that his wife, who
abhorred the pit dog game, was Barney's stoutest ally-although she certainly
never went to a match.
Barney was never open to stud, and he was never
bred much, as Larry seemed to concentrate his breeding program on breeding dogs
that were down from Penny and in breeding Barney's sisters, in particular Babe.
Larry was one of those guys who kept track of litters by naming all the pups
with the same letter, but somehow one in this litter got named Scarlet. Although
a fine pit dog, she escaped Larry's ownership. Another game sister of Barney was
Belle, who won several matches.
As for the blue dogs most of them are
sought out today by those who want them for appearance. I have even heard it
said that all blue dogs stem from staff blood. Being of the skeptical nature, I
tend to doubt that fact. One of the best dogs I ever saw was a blue dog and his
brother in a Las Vegas convention. They were both talented and game, but I was
never able to ascertain their breeding-but they certainly seemed to have no
staff blood in them. Besides, the staff standard calls for black nose, so I
doubt that would be the source of blue dogs. In truth, there are probably a
multitude of sources as it seems to be a simple mendelien trait.
Readers
may be assured to learn that Heinzl once informed me that the last Stratton he
knew was African-American gentleman who had a strain of blue dogs. Again, he
didn't know the breeding on them, but Howard said they were as game a line as he
had ever seen. And Howard was tough to please!
People with little
experience are quick to denounce Barney and the blue dogs. I would suggest a
little caution in that respect. Barney may have not been the greatest dog of his
time, but he beat some really good dogs. And not all blue dogs are alike.
by Richard F. Stratton
BAILY'S BINGO & HUNTER RED
.....................Bailys Bingo "Sire
of Hunter Red"...............................................Hunter
Red
Baily's
Bingo
In 1983, Katie
Marlowe made a breeding that made an impact in today's dogs. The litter I am
talking about was when she bred her Fanny dog (double bred Granddaughter of Bass
Tramp RedBoy) back to RedBoy. This breeding was very similar to the famous
Chavis' Yellow John dog. From this breeding, came Bingo, Amber, and a few
others. As a pup, Bingo was raised and campaigned by Katie Marlowe at the age of
two. His first and only match was during the summer of '85 against a highly
regarded dog going for his grand championship. After 1:27 minutes, Bingo
defeated the four-time winner in great fashion. Shortly after he was matched,
Katie sold him to Steel Fire Kennels. Three years later, in the summer of 1988,
the SDJ had an advertisement posted by Steel Fire Kennels to sell Bingo. At the
time, I kept a yard of tight Yellow John bred dogs. After talking to Fletcher
Chavis, who was my main influence in the RedBoy dogs, I became very interested
in a dog that I thought would make a big impact to my yard. Bingo would bring
the RedBoy blood up close. Once I got Bingo in my yard, I wanted to personally
see if he was as good as they say. He was rolled several times, in which he
proved to me that he was going to be used as my primary stud dog.
Bingo
was bred to approximately 26 different gyps during the time I had him. Twenty of
those gyps were my own. Although he was bred to a lot of great females, some of
the ones that come to mind are Marlowe's Peaches (Eslinger), Bailey's Lacy,
Bailey's Paycheck (pure Yellow John), Richardson's Cream, El Vira (2XW), and
Bailey's Cherry. When he was bred to Peaches, the litter of pups consisted of
WCC's Deacon ROM, Crenshaw's Hunter Red ROM, GR CH Radar, Charlie's Justice
(2XW), and Red Girl (1XW and 1XL dead game). With Lacy's breeding came Ch Bubba,
Rangel's Durango, Ginger, and Spooty. The last litter, I would like to mention
was Bingo's breeding to Richardson's Cream. This litter consisted of two females
that automatically come to mind. The two females were Blitz and Twister (dam of
Pitstop's Red ROM). Other dogs that I would like to mention produced by Bingo
were Bailey's Crypt (AKA Bo), Bailey's Cadillac, Bailey's (O. Stevens') Red Ape,
Garner's Hap, and Ch Monkey Man. With those dogs in mind, Bingo has produced at
least two Champions and 1 GrCh.
The last dog I would like to mention in
details is Bailey's Crypt. In 1998, I reacquired Crypt back from a long time
friend. At the time, he was 6 years old. Crypt was the result of breeding
Bailey's Cherry to Bingo. Crypt, unlike his father, produced dogs with a very
hard bite. At the same time he also produces game dogs with great wind (RedBoy
traits). Most of the dogs Crypt has produced are now just becoming of age. So
far, he has shown me that he will produce as good, if not better than his father
(Bingo), since he is producing hard bitters that are game and long winded. To
this date, he has currently produced 6 one-time winners and 1 two-time
winner.
Hunter
Red
Hunter Red was originally owned by James C., I spoke to him about Hunter
Red about a year back, and he said that he sold Hunter Red to Thomas S. because
he was a poor quality match dog.
Thomas subsequently owned the dog for
quite a while and the stud fee was fairly low, around $300.US if my memory is
correct. He was bred a lot, some say over 200 times. He has produced well
thought with many 1 and 2 time winners to his credit plus a couple of champions.
Thomas later sold him to the Tennessean along with some excellent dogs that
Thomas had Championed and Grand Championed from Robert H.'s stock. Robert H. got
rid of most of his yard when he went over to Iraq during the Gulf War. Who knew
such an exceptional litter would have been produced out of Robert's old ROM
Booger bitch. Anyways this is a little off topic, but somewhat related.
The Tennessean consequently raised the stud fee price for Hunter Red to
$1000.US. This is good and bad, first the good. Higher stud fee will get rid of
a lot of people who are just looking to peddle paper and will bring in the more
serious dogman with good proven bitches. The bad is that some will think that a
high stud fee means a great producer. I personally think Hunter Red is a very
good producer, who will show better offspring now, because he is being bred to
better bitches.
Hunter Red also had two excellent brothers. One is the
ROM Deacon dog and the dead game Ch. Radar Man. Deacon unlike Hunter Red was
a match quality dog, and has produced exceptionally well considering the number
of breedings that were made with him. Some say ROM is not an indication of
producing ability, that it could be just a lucky litter. That's true, but Deacon
has also produced the multi winning Don King dog, and a number of 1 and 2 time
winners. Deacon is also only the second Red Boy male to reach ROM status. the
first was Yellow John. Hunter Reds main breeding areas were the southern states,
while Deacon was bred in the more northern states. It is true that some would
say the Red Boy dogs are soft mouth dogs, but there is no doubt about their
gameness. Mouth can always be added. Gameness should still be the primary
concern. A lot more could be said about these dogs, so I hope someone will jump
in and continue this.
Mr. Jeep
Note: Since I wrote this article Hunter Red has reached
ROM status.
GRAND CHAMPION "35"
Many of us have read
the depiction of the great "35" dogs 3rd match in Richard Stratton's book. I
thought it might be interesting if Rushin Bill would elaborate some more on the
life and times of that outstanding canine warrior of the 1980's and he has
kindly consented to do so. Hopefully this will clear up any misconceptions, if
there are any, about that dog and his amazing career and enlighten and amuse our
readers in so doing. Hope you enjoy it. ( Ed. )
GR.
CH. "35" THE BEGINNING
It was a blistering hot day in central Oklahoma the
second time I saw the little buckskin dog that, as fate would have it, was
eventually to change my life. We were in the midst of the heat wave of 1980,
suffering through over forty straight days of hundred degree plus temperatures,
and when I heard the knock at my door, I really didn't feel like answering, not
just because of the heat, but due mostly to one of the worst hangovers of my
adult life. Fortunately I did answer, only to be confronted by a fellow who
looked at least as bad as I felt. I didn't recognize him immediately as we had
only met once before and it wasn't until I saw the dog in the back seat of his
car that I knew who it was that had summoned me from my nauseous stupor aboard
the "porcelain pony" in my bathroom.
He probably didn't remember my name
either as we had only spoken briefly one day when I had seen him walking the pup
and stopped to ask about it. He didn't know how the dog was bred and said only
that a friend had given it to him as a young pup the last time he passed through
New Mexico, judging from his apparent age, at least six or eight months ago. I
thought no more about the man or his pup until that day, several months later,
when in the scorching midday sun, he and the dog showed up on my doorstep.
He said, "I know you know about these dogs and I was wondering if you
would give me thirty -five dollars for him. I have to go away to McAlester
(state prison) for a few months and my wife doesn't like the dog. Its okay if
you want to fight him or whatever." My first impulse, standing there staring at
him, his long sweat-soaked hair clinging to the ashen skin of his face and neck,
(and my stomach doing cartwheels across my torso ) was to tell him to "take a
hike" so I could rush back to my retreat in the "John". But a little voice in
the back of my brain ( the crazy "dog man" voice ) said "Hey Bill, you cannot
raise a pup to a year old for thirty-five dollars, much less buy one. Maybe you
should give it a shot?" I said, "Wait here. Ill see if I have the cash." It
turned out to be one of the luckiest ( if not the most immediately enjoyable )
decisions I've ever made.
I must confess I didn't even feel like walking
the yearling pup for almost twenty-four hours. I just put him in a crate
downstairs and went back to wishing I were temporarily dead. I remember
marveling at how uncannily silent the dog was, never making a peep the whole
time, nor did he soil his crate before I finally got around to taking him out.
It was only then that I saw he was absolutely covered with ticks! They were in
his ears, between his toes, in his armpits, everywhere! So, after he took a
long, long pee and moved his bowels our first mission was to soak him good with
a powerful insecticide. I noticed too, on that first walk with him, that he
would go in any direction except where you wanted him to go, a trait which would
stay with him the rest of his life. And one which isn't too convenient for
trying to "empty out" a match dog.
I got him "wormed out" as well as
taking care of the tick problem and wondered if my money might not have been
better spent on feed for the twenty or so dogs I already owned. After all I
didn't even know the breeding of the dog and what were the odds of this orphan
turning out to be worth keeping? But he was mine now and the money was gone; I
might as well keep an open mind about him and see how my investment turned out.
I mean, I had some well bred dogs in my yard but nothing that was looking like a
world-beater, and who knows, maybe this little buckskin dog would be that "ace"
every dog man dreams of. He was already a year old so it wouldn't take much
longer or much feed to find out. And he was a good-looking little dog, nice
head, good body structure and big teeth!
Five or six weeks later I
decided to walk him up to another of my males to see if he might be ready to
start. I chose "Cody", a well bred "Hank"/ "Jesse", "Bolio" cross with some "old
Wallace" and "Jim Williams" blood mixed in too. He was a few pounds larger and
six months older than the buckskin pup, which at that point I don't think Id
even chosen a name for; ( no sense in "wasting" a good name on a dog that would
probably "quit" anyway, right? ) But this was just to be a "starter bump"
anyway, to see how badly Id squandered my thirty-five bucks. I wouldn't let
"Cody" hurt him, as "Cody" had started and looked promising in rolls and, of
course, the pup had no experience at all. I intended to give him the same chance
as all my dogs got, to "make the grade", though I vowed he would certainly get
"game-tested" a lot harder due to my lack of confidence in his, at least to me,
mysterious family tree.
I took him off his chain and approached "Cody"
cautiously, as I didn't even bother to pick up a breaking stick, so sure was I
that probably nothing would happen anyway between the two youngsters. "Cody"
stiff-legged it and growled but before either "Cody" or myself could do anything
to stop him ( we had different methods in mind, "Cody" and I ) the pup had
grabbed "Cody" by the side of the head, flipped him over his shoulder and was
vigorously shaking and working his hold! Fortunately I was seasoned enough not
to panic but I was so surprised that it took me a few moments to collect myself
enough to formulate a plan and get the now angrily combative, young adversaries
apart. Later, after putting the soon to be named, buckskin "pup" back on his
chain, I had a chance to ponder what had happened. What had happened? "How did
that thirteen month old "pup" do that to "Cody", I wondered? Soon enough I would
understand that it wasn't a fluke I had just witnessed but the coming of age of
the best pit dog I have ever seen. That tick-infested, buckskin "pup" of unknown
breeding was soon to become the feared, "35" Dollar Dog, destined to win eight
straight contract matches, without a loss, and would eventually become known as
the famous...GR. CH "35"
SANTA'S GR. CH. MONGOOSE
When I first got into
this game, I was told that if you could find a dog that could breath under
water, bite like an alligator, and disregards pain, you would have an ace or
should I say "Mongoose". I was fortunate enough to get him from my friend Havana
Chico who had come into some unfortunate circumstances. To look at him you
wouldn't think much. He'll lay on his back and play with puppies, let the birds
drink water out of his bowl and in general live his life waiting for you to come
home and scratch him behind the ear. But don't ever make him mad!
I was
amazed to see the ability this little dog possessed, not only was he quick, he
was impervious to pain. This is what made him the ace that he is. There have
been many hard mouth dogs to come across a pit, although I have seen lots that
couldn't take what they could dish out. The harder "Goose's" opponent would
fight the more he liked it. In his five contract matches he destroyed all. The
only one to live jumped the pit in 15 minutes. He took dogs apart, bite one got
their attention, bite number two made them wish they were someplace else. There
never was a need for bite three. He would almost condition himself loving to
run, whether alongside you on a bike, or on a mill. Some of his offspring
already show his characteristics.
It is my belief that sometime in the
near future people will look into the background of a pedigree and hope to find
his name. This is not a dog I bred, but was lucky enough to own. You always hear
stories about how great a dog is, or was. But here is the culmination of what
the old breeders strived for. Game, impervious to pain, and a love for the pit.
Santa (Mike) previously of P&H Kennels
Postscript
The editor asked me to add a
little to those nice words about "Goose" as I DID breed him. And I can tell Mike
where that "imperviousness to pain" comes from too! It is there because both of
Gr. Ch. "Mongoose's" parents, Rushin "Sabre" and Rushin "Cracker", were deep
game dogs, as were many of the dogs before them. Dogs like his grandparents,
"Stomper", "Tar Baby", "Bandit" and "Sissy", all game ones themselves. Not to
mention ancestors like Ch. Rascal, Gr. Ch.Boomerang, Ch. Honeybunch, Gr. Ch.
Pedro, the Plumbers' Black Diamond and so on.
His sire, "Sabre" or
"Fuzzy" as I always called him, was a two time winner, one of those accomplished
with a badly "wrenched" back but went on to out-scratch his opponent anyway!
Because of it he could hardly walk for two weeks after the match and in fact
still suffers the after effects to this day. But he still could scratch ...and
scratch he did that day, taking home the "Best in Show" trophy and proving what
a game dog he was! "Goose's" dam, old "Cracker", was, if anything, even
gamer! She produced so many game dogs for me that she became (through no actual
plan of mine) the "foundation" of the "Rushin Line". So you see Mike, that
gameness, that imperviousness to pain, was no accident. It was that old "legacy"
passed down to him from his ancestors for many dozens of generations.
Mike didn't even mention that before he or Chico owned him, "Mongoose",
in the hands of an idiot, survived being rolled with dogs 40lb. heavier than he
and never made a bad sign! I am proud to say I bred that little dog, and
happy that I encountered this great and GAME breed which is unlike any other.
Keep em scratchin , Rushin Bill
BOUDREAUX' ELI Vintage Match Report
MARCH THRU MAY 1968 Sixth Match: JACK SMITH VS. FLOYD
BOUDREAUX Males at 38 pounds. Cajun Rules, Howard Tee, Referee Pete
Sparks, Timekeeper
Jack is using a red dog called Bozo said to
have been bought by Sonny Sykes from Jerome Hernandez. Floyd is using a black
which he calls Eli. The black gets the first hold as Bozo gets skin hold in
throat. Black is getting into the throat of Bozo as Bozo works the ear trying
for a shoulder.
50 to 25 bets being made. Bozo the favorite. Black is
showing good and working for Bozo's throat. All the dog fighting in the previous
match is being wrapped up in a ten-minute space of time in this fight. Black
gets in Bozo's throat at 14, then Bozo throws one leg over the black's shoulder,
gets an ear and throws the black dog. Bozo gets a shoulder and shakes and the
black dog gets a mouth hold and gets him off.
Black up at 15 and into
the throat. The black comes up and the bets shift to even money as both dogs are
working the shoulders and front legs. Bozo gets the nose and shakes at 21.
Changes to a hind leg, gets stifle and shakes. Bozo is working front leg. Back
to mouth fighting at 25-minute mark. Bets getting hard to get at even money as
first one then the other gets on top and gets nose and mouth. The black acts as
though he has shot his wad. Bozo has opened up the black's front leg and the
black is weakening. Story is that the black has heartworms. 38 and a pick up,
Bozo to scratch. Made determined scratch, gets a front leg and the black goes
into Bozo's neck. 40 a pick up, black scratches hard. Bozo gets nape of neck and
the black goes down. 54 a pick up, Bozo to scratch. Made determined scratch. 57
pick up with black to scratch. Trotted over and took hold, gets an ear and Bozo
goes down. Bozo makes a good scratch at the one-hour mark. One minute later the
black makes a good scratch and Smith gives up the fight. Black makes a good
courtesy scratch. Eli is the winner in one hour and one minute.
Boudreaux' Eli is without question one of the most famous of modern dogs
from the 60's era. He and his sons Eli Jr. (sire of Gr. Ch. Art.-grandsire of
Chinaman, Stompanato, Crenshaw's Ch. Rascal etc.) and Bullyson (sire of Ch.
Honeybunch, Midnight Cowboy and Chivo, Loposay's Buster etc.) were used to
create lines of their own and those in turn have spawned even more good lines of
bulldogs. There is hardly a line of good dogs today that cannot trace its
lineage back to the Eli dog. He was a product of inbreeding on Boudreaux' old
Blind Billy dog (Dibo X Minnie) with some Trahan's Rascal (Dibo's half brother)
blood thrown in, both good Tudor/Corvino bred dogs. I believe Mr. Boudreaux is
still producing some fine dogs and I have talked to dog men who wouldn't have
one from anyone else. Mr. Boudreaux has been breeding these dogs for over 35
years and has produced some of the best ever to look through a collar. The
perfect southern gentleman and devoted family man, he is a real credit to the
dog game and an excellent role model for the aspiring young dog man .
(Ed.)
Champion Ace "Blackie"
Champion Ace Blackie's
career took off with a big bang. He was hooked up for the first time to go at 29
pounds into Mitchel's Crowbar a reputed 2x winning dog. Blackie weighed in at 27
1/2 pounds. Crowbar was 1/2 pound over weight. Blackie outclassed his older and
more experienced opponent by working the head and holding him out.
Blake
won this one in 50 minutes. This win made Blake a 1x-contract winner. The second
one was at 30 pounds into Littlefield's Sparky. Blackie weighed in slightly
under 28 pounds. Sparky weighed dead on weight at 30 pounds. Blackie rode the
head for a quick victory. Blackie won this one in 29 minutes. This win made
Blackie a 2x-contract winner.
Blackie's Third outing was into Montas'
Blue Balls at 30 pounds. Blackie weighed in at 28 pounds. Blue Balls weighed in
at 30 pounds. This show was pretty good. Both seemed to be extremely
intelligent. Blackie was the winner in 42 minutes. This made Blackie a
3x-contract winner and a Champion.
Now Champion Blackie got hooked up
for number 4 into Bilinki's Banjo at 32 pounds. Blackie arrived the day of the
show looking extremely poor and sickly and weighed in at 27 pounds. Banjo was
purchased specifically to beat Champion Blackie. Banjo weighed in slightly over
32 pounds but nothing was done about it. Well, Champion Blackie showed his stuff
and won quite easily in 22 minutes. This made Champion Blackie a 4x contract
winner at 22 months of age. It also got several fanciers who didn't campaign
this bloodline to get some dogs of this and related bloodlines to try for
themselves. Well most dog's stories would end there, but this is no ordinary
dog. Therefore this is no ordinary story.
When Champion Blackie was 28
month's old he got taken off the chain and went to a competition weight pull at
the Down East Pit Bull Club in North Carolina on March 31, 1991. Blackie weighed
in at 28 pounds and competed in the 35 pounds and under Male class. He
placed in his class. Then he got awarded a trophy for the most weight pulled
per pound body weight. In other words of all the dogs who competed Champion
Blackie was the strongest on that day pound for pound. To explain this a 28
pound dog who pulls 1,400 pounds that is 50 pounds per pound body weight is
pound for pound stronger than a 80-pound dog who pulls 3,920 pounds that is 49
pounds per pound body weight.
A week later he was then entered in the
competition weight pull in Jacksonville Florida on April 7, 1989. He was also
entered in the conformation show. He again weighed in at 28 pounds. Champion
Blackie got first place in his conformation class of 9 dogs. He also placed
again in the weight pull. A week later Champion Blackie went of the chain into
Francis' Bear a 34 pound dog. Champion Blackie who again weighed in at 28 pounds
won in 53 minutes.
Two weeks after that Champion Blackie was contracted
into another 4x contract winner Snakeman's Champion Pedro Jr. at 28 pounds. For
the first time in Champion Blackie's rough life he was going to compete with a
competitor of equal little size both going for their Grand Championship. Well,
everything was set to go. Then Snakeman up and backed out. He said he forfeited
since he didn't want to take the chance on getting Junior killed or injured
where he couldn't be breed being he was getting a $1000 for a stud fee of Junior
back then.
July 4th Champion Blackie again went of the chain and won in
38 minutes. His opponent Martinez' Lou was another 34 pound dog who went into
Champion Blackie's 28 pound little self. Champion Blackie continued to compete
and place in weight pulls all over the county. Blackie is in a league by
himself.
Then Champion Blackie got bit by a rattlesnake in August. The
word went out to two or three friends and the challenges poured in about 3 hours
later. Everyone seemed to have 38 pounders to go into 28 pound Champion Blackie.
The smallest challenger was J. & Dee's Man a 1x winner at 34 pounds
against The Professor's Tuffy or Scruffy, Anyway something like that. It was
felt that if Champion Blackie wasn't hooked up this time even though he was sick
so he could go for his Grand Championship, there would probably never be a next
time being Champion Blackie was such a hard biting, destroying, killing type of
competitor. So it was set up to go late September. Champion Blackie again
weighed in at 28 pounds. Man weighed in slightly over 34 pounds but nothing
was said. To put this into perspective a 28 pound dog competing against a 34
pound dog is the same as a 56 pound dog competing against a 68 pound dog an
obvious unfair advantage. Being Champion Blackie was such a hard biting;
destroying, killing type of competitor none ever wanted to dare compete at even
weight. This one went 1 hour and 22 minutes with Champion Blackie going 6 pounds
uphill till he could not could not go.
It is interesting that 2 weeks
after this show J. & Dee Kennels bred a bitch to Champion Blackie. Then
another one 3 weeks after the show was also bred to Champion Blackie. The plan
was to cross the Champion Blackie blood with the Man dog's blood. Obviously they
knew when they saw something they liked.
Champion Blackie was weight
pulled till he got his Ace title. For the grand finale on his weight-pulling
career he was entered in 6 different classes. Champion Blackie weighed in at 28
pounds. He was entered in Males 35 pounds and under, Males 35-45 pounds, Males
45-55 pounds, Males 55-65 pounds, Males 65-75 pounds, and Males 75 pounds and
over. Now you had to enter your natural body weight class first. So Champion
Blackie was entered in 35 pounds and under. To enter a higher class there must
be 3 dogs in the higher class. There were 3 dogs in higher class.
Well,
when the weight-pulling judge decides there are only a few dogs entered they
usually combine classes. In this case there were allot of dogs and the judge
decided to be lazy and combine all classes. So Champion Blackie pulled 500
pounds with Males 35 pounds and under then pulled 500 pounds for 35-45 pounds,
then 500 pounds for 45-55 pounds and so on. For each dogs' 1 pull Champion
Blackie had to make 6 pulls of the same weight, once for each class. Champion
Blackie the spectacular individual amazed everyone that day. It's had enough to
place in your own natural body weight class, but to compete in a bigger dog
class with the bigger dogs and beat them is stupendous. Champion Blackie placed
in all 6 classes. What other dog has ever done this since the rule of three dogs
in a higher-class prior? This completed his requirement for the award of the
title Ace.
Champion Ace Blackie has produced dozens of contract winners
bred to a couple of different bitches. Some of these are Carlos' Champion Aaron
3xW, DeBow & Jones' Champion Secretariat 3xW, Wee Willie's Champion Boots,
DeBow's Champion AARDVARK 3xW, DeBow's Amy 2xW, Roughside's Dutch 2xW,
Roughside's Bermuda 2xW, Clam Bar Boy's Dawg 2xW, Beast Master's Betta 2xW,
Nelson's Petunia 2xW, DeBow's Prissy 1xW, DeBow's Delete 1xW and Wildman
Wooten's Trouble 1xW.
Champion Ace Blackie is a true freak of nature
having produced winners no matter what kind of bitch he was breed to be it cold
bitch, a cur, a game bitch, a contract winner, or even a champion. He has never
failed to produce a dog that can and does win. Champion Ace Blackie has also
produced dozens of winning conformation dogs and winning weight-pulling dogs.
This story has not ended yet. This is no ordinary dog. This article was written
to highlight some of the major events in Champion Ace Blackie's life as a
winner, Champion, Ace, and producer of the same. Champion Ace Blackie is still
alive and at public stud. Therefore again this is no ordinary story. There are
several pages yet to be lived and recorded for history.
Keep your
eyes open.
DSK's GR CH "Banjo"
All right lets change the
pace a bit. Does anybody have any of this blood? If you don't you might want to
consider it. Oh yeah, for you PETA people this is only a story . he he he
he!!!
I saw Banjo's damn, who was a
super game little bitch (Coy finally got her killed going #3lbs up hill, into a
good one). But then, every dog she beat was bigger than she was.
Saw
Banjo 2 times. The first was against a Okie dog named Grunt that had won 2
impressively, there was a little jockeying at first then Banjo got onto the
head, then took out Grunts shoulder, it went strait down hill for Grunt at that
point as he laid down. You DONT fight a dog like Banjo (or any other good dog)
from the floor!!!!
The second was for Banjo's #4 (if I remember
correctly). He went into Raul & Sonny's super game little dog (cant remember
his name, but it is in the mags. He was a Pedro bred dog. Well Banjo basically
wacked his butt but he kept coming, running those eye popping scratches that
impress everyone. His courtesy scratch took about 30 seconds as he made the
"gamest" scratch I have seen.
Those of you that have seen the video
of Banjo x Grunt may want to know that Banjo was far more impressive in his last
outings. Saw B.B. Red in a couple schooling rolls, and then when she beat
Carroll's "Gizmo" bitch. It was 45+/- minutes of rough swapping out. With BB
coming out on top obviously. In my opinion the styles of Banjo and BB red were
almost completely different. Banjo was a slick, smart, offensive head dog. BB
Red was a "screw you all" I am going to kill you, kinda dog!! She would take a
punch to give one, and Banjo was more into just giving the punch. I wish I would
have seen when BB red beat Ken Allen in what was it 4 minutes? Coy told me she
dove into Ken's bitchs' genital area, Kens dog turned and a turn was granted,
when BB let go to with holds Coy made a handle and Kens bitch stood. All in
about the same time than you have been reading this message!!!!!!! Another
of the seemingly forgotten of this blood is Ch Leroy Brown. Saw him whip the
Kemmers in about 40 minutes or so, Impressive bulldog. More of a traditional
"brawler".
I also saw, first hand, Coys Ch "Nemo". I lost to "Nemo" with
a 2 x winner that had previously beaten the LA Dream Team and Border City from
Mexico. Coy and I were friends at the time and he let his wife (at that time)
handle Ch Nemo. Well, my dog quite on all fours in about 30 minutes, after
winning for the first 20 or so. That was Nemo's first, he went on to win 3 more
and died in a win against the Bellon Club. He was a dead game dog that could
fight. His brother Chip was better. Clarks Ch Cowboy, BB Reds and Banjos Uncle,
was another great dog, that produced well after Randy Clark sold him to C.
Mayfield out west.
I've seen alot more of the dogs of this bloodline,
and I like it. I have chosen another bloodline to go with for a few reasons. In
my opinion these dogs are very tricky to breed, be careful inbreeding
them!!!!!!!! I've seen some inferior freaks caused by inbreeding this blood too
much, but I guess that can happen with any blood. When Mike Thibedoux was
originally obtaining the base stock of this present bloodline, Maurice Carver
told him to wait until they were 3 because they matured slower than some of the
other blood. Waiting until they are 3 is probably a good idea for any
blood!!!!!!! Dead Serious Kennels is proving that they are here to stay and as
good as any!!!!!!
-Ranger-
Courtesy of
FWK.
I was
recently asked about the dog named "Art". This dog was a very important part of
Bulldog history. This dog came on the scene about the time when mediocrity in
the dogs was coming to an end. The combine that originally owned and campaigned
Art were among some of the best dog men of that day and had as good a "Stable"
of great dogs as there were around of that time.
I had heard that these
boys were bringing him out long before I ever saw him. When I did see him, I was
impressed and became even more so with each of his outings. In spite of his
ability there were many around, some of which were cronies of mine that were
convinced that he couldn't be any count since he was cur bred. I never saw Art
in trouble but could say for certain he was smart, hard-mouthed, well-balanced,
and as methodical and pit wise as the best I have ever seen. He was a dog anyone
would be proud to feed.
My most memorable experience having to do with
this world renown dog took place on a beautiful day in North central Texas when
the combine rose to the challenge and brought him up to meet the Big Plumber's
Jade dog. Jade was off of Hammonds' Zeke bred to Rasmusson's Ginger and one of
the heaviest Dibo dogs of that day. He was thought by many a dog that couldn't
be beat. He was a hard mouthed, offensive dog that would take a lot of good dogs
out in short order. Jade had one flaw compounded by a medical problem that no
one ever bothered to address. He never paced himself, mainly because he never
had to but had a soft palet that would make it impossible to breathe if he had
to go the long route. You got the picture, the Plumbers' were betting that this
would be a short one so never worried about the oxygen problem.
As things
would happen, the dogs were readied and a referee was sought out of the small
crowd of well-known dogmen. Maurice Carver refused as he was backing his boys
and the Art dog. Jim, one of Art's owners turned to the Plumbers and said, "You
got a problem with him",pointing to me, and the Plumber's were ecstatic to have
someone from their camp seeing that they got a fair shake. This was back in a
time where there was an era of sportsmanship and even though I had refereed a
bunch up to then, I had never called one of this magnitude. Both handlers were
pros so we agreed on the rules, shook hands and I said, "Let the best dog
win".
The dogs hit and Jade buried up to his eyes in Art's chest and as
he was getting ready to "Sit the Ivory" Art took him out. Jade kept driving and
had set a fast, hard pace for dogs of this size, but when he would get into the
shoulder instead of destroying it as was his specialty, was taken out. The first
half of this fight was like a chess game with Art no doing much, just staying
out of trouble and in charge at the same time. Close to the half hour mark, Jade
had started to melt and was gasping for every breath at this point. Art still
being relatively fresh went to work and it appeared Jade would most likely meet
his maker, had not the Plumber's picked him up. It was obvious that Jade wasn't
going anywhere and the Plumbers showed good sportsmanship in their decision to
concede. Everyone shook hands and went their separate ways.
I never saw
Art again after that day that I can remember, but heard he lost on a foul and
the boys from up north bought him a for a brood dog. It seems like they took him
out a couple more times and he shown even better than he had in his younger
days. He was later stolen and never recovered. If I wrote on every story about
where he went it would fill a small book. Someone knows and as far as I am
concerned a dog thief deserves at least a major heart attack.
Art will
long be remembered by those dog men of the 70's, as a good one. Weather they
agree on his being a great dog or not, you can bet he is another one who made
his mark in the Bulldog world. After he was offered at stud, the ads on him read
"Art" The dog with the Heart". What a dog, could have won a dog show and had the
Eye of the Tiger.
Bull Plug
1999
GR CH Zebo
ROM
In the early 1970's, in North
Carolina, was a young fancier named Lonzo Pratt who was just starting in the dog
game and was purchasing and breeding some well bred dogs from known dog men. He
had purchased a young tested gyp from J. Loposay by the name of Fay, who was
sold because she turned cold and wouldn't start for Jack Kelly and was left on
Loposay's yard by Pete Sparks. After numerous breedings Lonzo struck fame from
one breeding that contained three males and two females. The two females were
Lena and Rosie, the males were Crush, Vindicator, and Zero. Of the three males
Zero and Vindicator would distinguish themselves as great match dogs. The better
of the two was Zero, as Zebo was originally named, who gained his fame as a
match dog and producer. In all, this black 40-44 lb. dog won a total of seven
contract matches, thus becoming a registered Grand Champion, a Register Of Merit
sire, and a member of the Bulldog Hall Of Fame, the only dog to be recognized by
these three honours.
Zebo's career began on the yard of Lester
Hughes, "The Mountain Man", where he won four times, all quick kills. After his
fourth he was shipped to the yard of Grady Cummings and while there, Cummings'
Red Fox made the mistake of getting off his leash and ran into Zebo and was
killed. Grady then made Lester get Zebo off of his yard. Zebo was then sold to
Dave Adams' of Ohio, of whom Zebo is best associated with. At first Mr. Hughes
hadn't intended on selling Zebo, but Mr. Adams came up with enough money to
change his mind. Unfortunately, Zebo attacked Mr. Adams' son and nearly took his
son's ear off. After the request of Mr. Adams' wife, Zebo was sold again, this
time to Mr. Johnson who fought him twice more. The last time to a son of his
litter mate brother, Vindicator. Mr. Johnson hoped to get another match in, but
was unable to find any takers, despite the fact that Zebo was past seven at this
point. Thus, Zebo was retired to stud, and lived to the age of 13, siring his
last litter days before his death. He had lost sight at the end, due to the
extensive damage he sustained, for no dog was ever able to get to his rear.
Vindicator, was a red/red nosed dog that many, who had witnessed
him matched contend he was a better dog than Zebo. He was a two time winner,
winning each in identical times of 1:30. One of those victories was over
Finley's Ch. Bo. He lost his third to Cutchin's Ace. Vindicator died at a young
age of heart worms.
Rosie, like Vindicator, was also red/red
nosed, but was never formally matched, though she was tested for 1:10. She
simply was considered to too valuable as a brood bitch. She lived to the age of
10, dying also of heart worms a month after her last litter.
Zebo
produced Stepp's Ch. Willie and Adams' Ch. Katy when bred to Tomsic's Spider
ROM. Ch. Willie was, as said by some, to have the same destructive force of his
sire, by killing each of his opponents in times of :27, :54, and :29 minutes.
Others produced by Zebo were Ch. Ruby, Ch. Abuelita, Ch. Zipper, Ch. Diamond
Jim, Clemmon's 2XW Z-Boy, Nigger Tobe, Super Gnat's 2XW Blackie and Hughes'
Gator just to name a few of the good dogs he sired. He is the grand sire to some
great ones like Doc's Ch. Moe who was a Grand Champion until he ran into Red B's
Ch. Charlie. Many said that Moe went to the well one time too many in his loss
against Charlie. After his victories over Ch. Fargo and his brother Basket, too
much was taken out of him to go into a much younger dog like Charlie.
The breeding that produced Zebo and his litter mates was one
of those outstanding litters that come only once in a while. Basically this
breeding was a Dibo/ Old Family Red Nose/ Colby cross, which explains why all of
Zebo's litter mates were red or red/ red nosed. But where did this one black dog
come from? Many speculate Zebo wasn't bred as represented, for one Mr. Hughes
purchased Zebo from Lonzo without any papers. Some claimed Mr. Hughes sold many
different Zebo's. And a lot claim Zebo to be a half brother to another famous
pair, Eli, Jr. and Bullyson. Although, Lonzo's Andy was a black dog himself and
Zebo through nothing but black dogs, even when bred to various, different
colored females, it still remains a question in a lot of people's
minds.
GR CH
Angus
Some dogs can be recognized
by titles they earn such as champion, grand champion and register of merit,
Angus is recognized by the title of "Champion of Champions".
Angus' sire was a dog named Willie Brown's Nigger, who was a two
time winner, sired by Clayton's Eli, Jr. bred to his mother, Boudreaux' Spook.
Angus' dam, O. Stevens' Heidi, was bred by A. Steinberg from Sly Fox to Red
Pepper (Ed Ritcheson blood) and was a litter mate to Ch. Prince. She was
originally owned by O. Stevens' and matched once at twenty nine and a half
pounds. She demonstrated the frustrating style of hanging on the bottom jaw and
discouraging her opponent until Ziggy M. and Tony M. conceded the match in an
hour. Ozzie then traded her to Big Brad and Keummerling, because he didn't have
any use for her as far as breeding. The bitch she was traded for was a cold gyp,
at the time, named Geraldine.
Big Brad tested Angus and because of
the fact that Big Brad had numerous winners already on his yard, he sold Angus
to Billy Stepp as a game dog. Angus then went on to shake up the dog world by
defeating Rixey's Coal Cat, Jay's Buster, Crenshaw's Ch. Otis, Keummerling's Ch.
Freddie (brother to O. Stevens' Ch. Homer), Garza's Heman and Love's Tiger, all
of which were great dogs. Angus was then hooked into, the then 3X winner, Ch.
Jeep as a rematch for the victory over Stinson and Stepp's Ch. Black Glover.
During the keep, Angus was involved in an accidental kennel fight with Ch. Ruby
and was wrecked in the chest area, thus forcing Stepp to pay the forfeit to J.
Crenshaw. After Angus healed from this incident, they hooked up with Crenshaw to
try the Angus / Jeep match again. Unfortunately, Angus got loose once again and
ran straight into Ruby. By the time Stepp got there, the damage was already
done, because so much money was riding on this match, Stepp and Co. asked O.
Stevens if they could borrow, the 4X winner, Ch. Homer as a replacement so as
not to lose another forfeit. Which is how one of the greatest matches of all
time came about, Crenshaw's Ch. Jeep VS Stevens' Ch. Homer.
Angus
wasn't bred many times, but in his few breedings he sired good dogs such as
Diaz' Ch. Mac, out of Torres' George. When bred to Stepp's Ch. Ruby, he produced
Broadway Jack's Gee Whiz, Super Gnat's Guess (2X winner), Super Gnat's Ch.
Butch, Suzy, and the 7X winner Racehorse. Also, there was Solo's Cobra, Big
Brad's Loco and Tara, Texas Ron's Major, Frankie, Sassy, Evil (who lost to O.
Stevens' Ch. Zero), and Ralph's Prince (who was picked up at
1:57).
Champion
Rascal
Champion Rascal was born
in 1972 on the yard of Maurice Carver and was later owned by James Crenshaw.
Rascal won 5 contracted matches, 6 off the chain and suffered just 1 lost, and
that was his first. His first match was at 52lbs. against C. Sykes' Sampson, and
took the count a 1:52. At this same match Ch. Honeybunch won her second match in
:28. In 1974 Rascal met Wood's snooty, again at 52lbs. and this close match
ended in 1:57. For his third match and second win, he defeated Irish Jerry's
Soldier in 1:30. For his championship, he won over Baxter's Booger in 1:16 at
48lbs., which turned out to be his ideal weight. He then had wins over Hughes'
& Hick's Big Boy in 1:45 and Langston's Satan in 1:19.
Champion Rascal wasn't noted for possessing a devastating mouth,
as some would have had many believe, but he was a very game dog as all of his
matches went over the hour mark. He fought any style, but preferred to work the
head. Not many dogs could put Rascal behind. Even in his loss to Sampson,
Sampson died within a half an hour after the match.
His ability to
produce is evident in the likes of Gr. Ch. Pedro, Ch. Rascal, Jr., Demon, Sugar,
Bandit, Polly, and Krypto just to name a few of his offspring.
Rascal died at the age of 11 in 1983, but will be remembered as
one of the best.
"Virgil" was born in a litter of
four and was the last one to turn on. We tried rolling him at eighteen months
but he was not interested. Our efforts to roll Virgil did not succeed until he
was two years old. 
Throughout the history
of the sporting American Pit Bull Terriers, no single dog has made quite the
impact as GARRETT'S "CH. JEEP", and that beig the combination of not only his
worthiness as a supreme pit dog, but the ultimate supremacy of his reproduction.
JEEP was bred by JAMES CRENSHAW and sold to JAMES GARRETT as a young dog and was
campaigned and brought to notoriety by JAMES GARRETT asssisted by JAMES
CRENSHAW. JEEP achieved his fourth win over Ozzie Steven's CH. HOMER. This fight
making history, for the caliber of these two dogs meeting in the pit is unusual
in itself. Although, JEEP the victor, HOMER, in his own rights, had proved to be
just as good a combat dog and both dogs were truly entitiled to the legacy that
they have earned through this match. 
Bolio was bred by Maurice Carver
and Eddie Klaus in 1969. His sire was the famous pit ace Klaus' Zeke and his dam
was Klaus' Goldie. Bolio's pedigree is very heavy in the blood of a bitch named
Carver's Judy and her sister thegreat Carver's Black Widow. In fact he carried
fifty percent of this blood in his breeding. 
The story of CHAMPION HONEYBUNCH
is written as all fighting dog stories, and that is by the dog themselves. What
can be added to the accomplishments HONEYBUNCH has made as a winner, a champion
and a producer. HONEYBUNCH today is regarded as the most influential factor in
the history of dog fighting, her amazing ability to produce has proclaimed her
the very top producer of all times. It is with great pleasure that I recall some
of the events of her life in this exclusive story for the American Gamedog
Times. 
Eli
Jr. was a fantastic 2xw himself and sire of one of the greatest dogs of all
time, the 7xw Gr.Ch. Art. Art was unfortunately stolen and never recovered.
Before Art was stolen the breedings made with him produced a high percentage of
quality game dogs and enough to make Art an 'ROM' producer. Just to imagine what
Art could have produced if he wouldn't have been taken is enough to boggle the
mind. Art had a litter brother who was an exceptionally talented dog in his own
right, the 3xw Ch. Hurt. Bullyson was a 2xw, 1xL and another fantastic producer.
Bullyson's only loss was to one of his sons Benny Bob. Benny Bob subsequently
lost to Jimmy Boots in a classic match. Bullyson's legend as a producer can be
found in many dogs, but his most famous offspring has to be the 5xw Ch.
Honeybunch, the all time leading 'ROM' bitch. Honeybunch subsequently produced
the 4xw Ch. Jeep. Jeep now ranks as the number one 'ROM' dog to this day and
literally deserves to be covered in a story alone. 
Another famous Eli bred dog was
the 5xw Gr.Ch. Nigerino. Nigerino represents some of the purest Eli Jr. blood to
be found today and is a highly respected bloodline in its own right. The thing
that make the Eli dogs so popular is that they are powerfully built dogs with
devastating mouths who consistantly throw these traits into their offspring.
Chinaman was born on the
yard of R. Abernathy on November 29, 1977. He was one of three pups born to
Abernathy's Molly and sired by Wood's Trouble. Molly always seemed to have 3
pups. This time there was Chinaman, Boy and a female who would be named Onyx
Lady (who went to the owner of Trouble, Dr. Wood). Boy would end up in the hands
of G. Wright, where he would win three matches. Chinaman was raised by R.
Abernathy and when he came of age he was placed with Dr. Wood to find out what
he was made of. 
When I first got into
this game, I was told that if you could find a dog that could breath under
water, bite like an alligator, and disregards pain, you would have an ace or
should I say "Mongoose". I was fortunate enough to get him from my friend Havana
Chico who had come into some unfortunate circumstances. To look at him you
wouldn't think much. He'll lay on his back and play with puppies, let the birds
drink water out of his bowl and in general live his life waiting for you to come
home and scratch him behind the ear. But don't ever make him mad! 
Jack is using a red dog called Bozo said to
have been bought by Sonny Sykes from Jerome Hernandez. Floyd is using a black
which he calls Eli. The black gets the first hold as Bozo gets skin hold in
throat. Black is getting into the throat of Bozo as Bozo works the ear trying
for a shoulder. 
All right lets change the
pace a bit. Does anybody have any of this blood? If you don't you might want to
consider it. Oh yeah, for you PETA people this is only a story . he he he
he!!! 
as of 21 April,
2001.
