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KEEP IT
FAMILY KEEP IT KABIKANO THIS IS NOT AN ANIMAL FIGHTING SITE. OUR SITE FOCUSES ON EDUCATION ABOUT THE AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER. WE DO NOT KONDONE DOG FIGHTING BUT DO REALIZE IT IS THE HISTORY OF OUR BREED. THEY ARE NOT KALLED "PIT" BULLS FOR NOTHING. GAME BRED IS AN ANIMAL THAT HAS BEEN BRED TO BE GAME.
It is perhaps impossible for modern dog people to realize the great reputation that Ferguson's Centipede enjoyed in the late 30s and early 40s. Perhaps it is sufficient to say that there was never any doubt that he was the best pit dog in the country at that time. Also, more than any other dog, he helped launch the popularity of the Old Family Red Nose strain, although he was more often referred to at the time as a "Lightner dog." At the beginning of his career, Centipede may not have been a unanimous choice for best dog in the country, as his ability was so great that it was not known if he was game. But his final match was against George Saddler's Black Boy, and it went two hours and twenty-two minutes without a turn by either dog, with Centipede finally prevailing. It was the third contest which convinced everyone of what a great dog Centipede was. Saddler was known to scout his opponent in a big money match like the one with Centipede, and he brought a dog that he thought could beat him. The fact was that both dogs had a reputation as bone-crushing pit warriors. I have an original flyer that advertised the fight, much as a modern prize fight, with Centipede being touted as the "Cream of Oklahoma" and Black Boy as the "Pride of the Delta." Centipede was whelped about 1933 in the kennels of L. C. Owens in Texas. He was the result of Dan McCoy's having discovered that there was still some of the old Lightner blood down in Louisiana. McCoy and Bob Hemphill made the journey down to that part of the country and bought several dogs. Hemphill kept his close to the vest, but Dan McCoy was always on the move and couldn't keep dogs, so he left his with trusted friends, including Arthur Harvey and L. C. Owens in Amarillo, Texas. Owen's Mickey was bred to the renowned Harvey's Red Devil to produce the litter which contained Centipede. When I met Bill Lightner in Colorado Springs, he and his wife were in their eighties, and they kept a kennel of basically small dogs of various coloration. Lightner and his wife were uncanny in their ability to select good brood stock. They had left the red, red-nosed dogs down in Louisiana because Lightner didn't like the looks of those dogs, and he felt they were coming out too big. Centipede would be an example of that, as his pit weight was 54 pounds. To listen to many modern dog men, the old time pit dogs were never that big, but not only were there these two great dogs at that size, but they each had been matched twice before they were matched into each other. Be aware that pit weight in those days was lighter than today, so the dogs were easily sixty-five pounds on the chain. Other than size, the only fault with Centipede was that he was a laid back dog and nearly impossible to work. Frustrated, Owens sold him to Earl Tudor. Although something of a genius in working dogs, even Tudor had a problem with Centipede. When he walked the dog, he stayed back at the end of the leash. Puzzled, Tudor stopped and looked at the dog, and the dog lay down! As patient as he was with the dogs, he wasn't sure that he could ever get Centipede in shape. He decided to rely upon natural ability and endurance for his first contest, which Centipede won handily in less than thirty-five minutes. The next opponent had a bit of a reputation, so Tudor enlisted his friend Red Howell to work the dog. Now Red was a real genius with dogs, a harbinger to the coming of Ham Morris just a few years later, another gem at training animals. Red never used force in training his dogs, but he understood their psychology. He discovered that Centipede was a natural house dog, and he would do anything for attention. Red's girls would dress Centipede up in dresses and put lip stick on him, and the dog thrived on it. Red and Centipede worked out a deal. If Centipede would run the turn table mill for a specified time, he could go in the house after his rub down. Nothing else would work. Centipede was unexcited by cats, and if Red placed a dog in Centipede's view, his eyes showed fire, but the dog was too smart to not know that the harness was keeping him from getting to the dog, so he didn't run the mill. Somehow Red was able to convey to the dog that he would get a reward for running the mill. The first time he took a few steps on the mill, Red brought him in the house. Very quickly, the dog got the idea. So Centipede spent a good part of his keep in Red's house with his young daughters. Howell told Bob Wallace that Centipede was absolutely the smartest dog he ever saw of any breed. He would bring Red a bottle of beer, opening up the ice box to get it. Red swore that he could have taught him to open those bottles too. The match between Centipede and Black Boy would qualify as a classic contest. The dogs met in the center like a couple of freight trains, and first Black Boy had the upper hand. In fact, the lead changed a couple of times, with its being anyone's match up until the two-hour mark. At that point, Centipede finally took command for good. Saddler gave it up in 22 more minutes in a desperate attempt to save his dog. After Centipede beat Black Boy, Tudor couldn't get him matched, as everyone conceded that he was the best. Nothing his weight, or any weight, could beat him. That was the common opinion among dog men. This was evidenced by the fact that Tudor opened him up at catchweight with no takers. Frustrated, Tudor sold the dog to Dave Ferguson. Now Dave Ferguson was well known and liked as a pit dog aficionado, but he couldn't keep dogs, as he played trumpet in a big name band. He toured the country, and he spent a lot of time in New York and in San Francisco. For that reason, he left the dog with various trusted friends in the dog game. Dave was a good hearted guy, and he always allowed that whoever was keeping the dog could not only breed to him, but stud him out as well. Because of this situation and the dog's great reputation, the dog was bred a lot, and if we trace back our pedigrees far enough, we will find Centipede there some place. We could do a lot worse! Dave Ferguson was drafted into the army during the second World War, and he received decorations for heroism. None of the dog men were surprised about this, as they had always referred to him as "the little man with the big heart." Unfortunately, Ferguson was shot and killed by a sniper in the last days of the war. There were lots of losses during that war, but that one particularly threw a pall over the pit dog fraternity. Centipede died in the yard of D. A. McClintock, another genius with animals and a great lover of the Old Family Red Nose strain. By the time McClintock received the dog, he wasn't producing any more, but he took care of him and even gave him time in the house. Like Red Dunham before him, McClintock considered Centipede the smartest dog he had ever seen. Beyond being smart, Centipede was considered a great dog, the greatest pit dog of his time. When someone of those days referred to "the great one," they didn't have to mention the name. Everyone knew that it was Centipede.  WILDER'S RED SATAN
 GR CH CATES' NIGERINO (5XW)
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.
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 being 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 assisted by James Crenshaw. Jeep achieved his fourth win over Ozzie Stevens' 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 entitled 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 bloodline's 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 create the amount of Champions he has sired. My answer to those dog men is this. Take three major pit dogs that are from outstanding bloodline's such as STP's Grand Champion Buck, six 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 campaigned 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 breeding's and Toro, who was bred to 23 different bitches 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. In retrospect, dogs like Ch. Homer, Gr. Ch. Art, and Tombstone who was bred limited amounts of times and was still able to produce high quality dogs should also be considered. Certain dogs should be on the ROM list considering the number of times they have been bred, like: Jeep, Buck, Yellow, Frisco and Mayday to name a few. 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. 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 (Super Gnat's) Ch. Charlie, who has been said to have been a better pit dog than Jeep. Ch. Missy who is seen in a lot 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. James Crenshaw has stated publicly that he never liked Jeeps style personally, as Jeep was never a finisher in his eyes. This however severely contradicts Crenshaw's choice off dogs that he's personally based his yard on, as they were primarily off of Jeep, and crosses that he made with Ch. Rascal for the most part, and in later life he was well known for using Jeep/Red Boy dogs. CH. Jeep is believed by many to be one of the best match dogs of his time. Garrett's Ch. Jeep ROM 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 Stevens' 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. One created a legacy and the other a dynasty. Garrett's Ch. Jeep ROM died in the fall of 1989.
 TUDOR'S DIBO (3XW)
The Dibo line descended from the inbred Lloyd's Pilot (Pilot was bred at the "Red Lion Inn" in Birmingham, England and imported by Charles "Cockney Charlie" Lloyd, of Manhattan, New York City) strain of Con Feeley of Chicago which was then selectively bred by Joe Corvino, also of Chicago and resulted in 2 key dogs, Corvino's Gimp ( Dibo's Great-Grandsire) and his litter brother Corvino's Shorty. Dibo also had some influence from the powerful strain of Frank Henry of Marietta, Ohio whose blood centered around his "Richmond" dog which was imported from Wolverhampton, England. This Richmond blood was blended with Lloyd's Pilot blood of W.T. Delihant and great aces such as Swineford's Ch King Paddy, Henry's Ch Black Brandy, Tudor's Gr Ch Black Jack and his much-feared son Peterson's Gr Ch Black Jack, Jr. resulted. Gr Ch Black Jack, Jr. was out of Cunningham's Nellie, a pure Henry bitch descended from Richmond. A daughter of Gr Ch Black Jack, Jr. was then bred to the imported Irish "Old Family" gamedog Bill Shipley's Red Jerry owned by Shipley of Texas who maintained a breeding partnership with Irishman Jim Corcoran. This breeding yielded the bitch Tudor's Goldie, a devastating pit dog which Joe Corvino bought from Earl Tudor and incorporated into his breeding program, which ultimately resulted in Dibo. Dibo's dam was Ed Ritcheson's Bambi. Bambi, also known as Heinzl's Bambi, was sired by Ritcheson's Spike and she was out of Ritcheson's Spotty. A novice by the name of W. D. Smith acquired Bambi and made the breeding to Wiz Hubbard's Bounce. Smith eventually sold Dibo, as a pup, to a man named Jensen who only wanted a pet for his son. The young boy named his pet Dumbo, but tired of him and wished for a collie, as Lassie was popular at that time. Jensen then contacted Mr. Heinzl in regard to trading Dumbo for a collie pup. Howard Heinzl knew Bounce and Bambi were good individuals, but still had his doubts as one of Bounce's sisters were questionable, and Bambi was cold. The trade was made and Dumbo went home with Howard Heinzl and stayed, where he would follow Mr. Heinzl and stayed out of the reach of the other chained dogs on the yard for about two years. Earl Tudor visited Heinzl's yard and took a liking to Dumbo. Mr. Heinzl offered Mr. Tudor any dog on his yard, trying to convince him to purchase a good dog. In spite of everything, Tudor took Dumbo home and changed his name to Dibo. Dibo was stolen shortyl after and was sold to a black restaurant owner, who named him Runt, Frank Ferris later changed all the incorrect papers. The pup wouldn't hit a lick until it was 2 1/2 years old, but when it did, it was an cae dog from that day forward! Floyd Boudreaux and William Burley owned a good brindle dog named Buzz on halves. They had to pull this pup off Buzz in :18 minutes as he wrecked Buzz in short order. Floyd matched him at 39 lbs. into a 40 lb. dog and won the contest in style and short order. He used his dad's Man dog 6 weeks later and matched into Gaboon Trahan and his highly regarded Country Boy dog, gave him a pound and beat him in :33 minutes. Tudor got Dibo back from the gentleman and by the age of four, Dibo had finally turned on and eventually became a three time winner at 44 lbs. His performance record is minute in comparison to his ability to produce. He's sired: and the list goes on.
Dibo had two litter mates that also made names for themselves: Heinzl's Arizona Pete and Langham's Lil.
Tombstone was bred by the great breeder Don Maloney. Maloney sold to R. Petronelli as a young dog, who then sold or traded him to Don Mayfield, where he was raised. His sire was Maloney's Toot, who was a son of Tudor's Spike out of Carver's Black Widow. Toot was a devastatingly hard biter who had produced dogs that passed that trait to their progeny. another son of Toot who was a great producer of hard mouth dogs was Maloney's Davis, who sired Ch. Our Gal Sunday, Ch. Cobra, and Ch. Black Sabbath. Tombstone's dam Speedy Alan Jena, was a scatter bred bitch containing dogs from P. Sparks, H. Heinzl, J. Corvino, and E. Tudor breedings. Tombstone was matched one time and after that one victory he was retired to stud, after being available for a second match with no takers. This match was against Bobby Hall and a 2X winning son of Bullyson, named fittingly Bullyson, Jr. Ed Weaver was putting on a show and notified Bobby Hall that Don Mayfield had a 55 lb. male open, so Bobby Hall accepted the challenge. Ironically, Mr. Hall conditioned Bullyson, Jr. at Mayfield's house, at the same time, Don was conditioning Tombstone for this match. The match was one sided for the first hour with Tombstone on defense and Bullyson, Jr. on offense with stifle holds. At the hour mark it appears about even, at 1:09 both dogs are down and at 1:14 an out of hold is called with Tombstone making a hard scratch. Bobby Hall concedes the match at 1:25 making Tombstone a winner in a game, come from behind effort. Shortly after that match Pat Patrick paid a visit to Mayfield's in hopes of purchasing some good dogs, he was offered Tombstone. Pat purchased Tombstone, but left him there until, he was matched again, which never happened. After the 14 months that he remained at Mayfield's in hopes of another match, Mr. Patrick requested Mayfield to send him his dog. Upon arrival to Pat's yard, Tombstone was then bred to about 15 bitches. Due to the fact that he was a long legged, rangy looking and scatter bred dog, he wasn't in high demand as a stud. Of his few breedings, one to a daughter of Indian Bolio named Red Baby, he produced champions Tonka, Crash, and Uptown's Snubby. He also produced Ch. Reno, Dozer, and Gr. Ch. Hope just to name a few of his progeny. Tombstone died a few years later from heart worms, as back then the cure was sometimes worse than the malady.
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 the great 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! 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's 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 than 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 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 fact 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!
Vernon Jackson bought a puppy from Don Mayfield in 1971 and named him "Hank", the sire to Jocko and 5 other champions. Then Don gave him many more dogs to build his kennel on this bloodline. Champion Jocko was bred by Bob Rast, when he bred his bitch Queenie to Hank. Jocko, along with Bass' Tramp Red Boy, were the foundation of one of the most successful bloodlines of the past thirty years, the Red Boy/Jocko bloodline. Jocko was bred to his daughter, Tant's Rose, to produce Tant's Miss Jocko, who was then bred to the pure Red Boy dog, Chavis' Ch. Yellow John ROM, to start the famous bloodline. Jocko, in addition to being one of the foundation dogs of the Red Boy/ Jocko bloodline, was a first class performance dog. He was matched and won four times between 1977 and 1980. He won over Hanner's Black Jack in 1:08. His second time out he won over Middleton's Bucky, a 2X winner, in a wild 11 minutes of back end techniques. His third was over Hodges' Ch. Brute, a dog reputed to have won 6 or 7 matches. His last time out he won over the black dog of Moutain Man's. Jocko was matched between 46 and 48 1/2 lbs. and was considered one the better, if not the best, back end dog of his time.
Mayday and his siblings were all impressive and well built but Mayday always stood out. He was BIG, CONFIRMED, and fearless, He walked out of the van as a puppy after the long drive, barked, and marked my kennel as HIS territory right when he hit the ground. He had a huge head, long ears and barked at the other dogs from the start. His head was always up high. He really thought he was the MAN. He was a happy and energetic pup. The first time we put him in the box, we did it with Ch. Leroy (heavy Paladin). Leroy was a HARD biter. He got a hold of Mayday's chest and bit hard. Finally, Mayday got a hold of the head and got him out. After that, Mayday was PISSED. For the next 5 minutes, he mopped the floor with Ch. Leroy. We had to stop it cause he was killing him. Of Course, Leroy was pushing 9 pounds, and it was not fair. BUT from that Moment on Mayday SCREAMED in the corner. He really was impressive. We go into, SLK & Dennis Ls HI VOLTAGE (2X), at Catch Weight. This match was special to me because of the adverse circumstances. A. - Mayday, (First time out) We arrived late Monday night in PR and we went with Choice and Leroy. Both of them won. Ch. Choice won in an impressive match against a HARD biting daughter of Garner's Frisco ROM. We arrived at 2 AM to the kennel and I knew something was wrong. Whenever Mayday heard my voice, he would SCREAM and bark, and go crazy cause he knew it was time to work. The problem was that it was SILENT. We took a flashlight into the kennel and to our surprise we find Mayday inside his cell but with another DEAD bulldog. The dog was a brother to Southern Kennels Xuxa. He had gotten loose and they fought fence to fence, but I think Mayday grabbed the fence and pulled it enough for the other dog to come through. It was no big deal that he killed a smaller dog but the match was that Saturday and he looked exhausted. We cleaned him up; we locked him in a totally dark room with all the food and water he could handle and on the next day's walk. He looked better; we did the same thing the next day. I was really worried that the accident might have tired his mouth. One b/c of making the hole in the fence, the other in killing the dog. At the time of the show, Mayday only had some scratches and swollen lips. HI VOLTAGE; weighed 67Lbs, and was a monster, Mayday weighed 59 pounds. He looked Tiny next to High Voltage. But catch weight is catch weight. Finally, Mayday won in 35 minutes, He never showed tired, and after the 25-minute mark, he took control and finished. Soulman & Plumb Dave BIG RED (2X), Southern Kennels had taken 5 dogs to PR and won 4. We lost one game to Stone City Kennels Ch. NICO (4x)(ROM) with a son of Ch. Rattler at 1:13. The time before, we took 3 dogs to PR and won ALL 3. People in Southern Florida said that Southern Kennels was only winning in Puerto Rico and they weren't quality wins. Especially Soul man he was really being vocal. He said Ch. White heads toughest match was against a pure Red Boy-Jocko dog. Southern Kennels had lost to BIG RED before with a different son of Ch. Rattler who stood the line at 1:05. After that, BIG RED had won his second match in 1:25, and now he was ready for his championship. I had lost to BIG RED before and wanted a piece of him with Mayday so after many calls, it was hooked. Mayday's pit weight at that time was 60 but we conceded to bring him at 58 to make it happen. I was crazy about beating BIG red to prove that the previous wins in PR were the real deals and that the dogs in PR were also the real deal. As much as we tried, Mayday only came in at 58.5. We paid the forfeit and they gave me an hour to lose .5 pounds. We did and the party started. It was Mayday's easiest fight. He used big red like a punching bag. He mopped the floor with him. People watching wanted to change his name to PAYDAY. Others were calling him KILLING MACHINE. Havana Tito was screaming. "It's Gr.Ch. Rodney. Gr.Ch. Rodney, Gr.Ch. Rodney reincarnated. Big Red stood the line at 37 minutes and it ended with Mayday SCREAMING in the corner. He was just getting started. He wanted another hour. It was an impressive victory. Later Soulman called me and said that his dogs were still better than the ones in Puerto Rico but only 2 minutes better. After this 2nd win it was extremely difficult getting him hooked again. We had to change his name and so forth. He had won impressively and no one wanted any of Mayday. My GREAT friend Angel hooked him with the Gator Boys in NYC area against a supposed 4x winner. They ended up bringing Pete Jr. who was in my opinion half CROCODILE. This dog could BITE. He was more to the ground and thicker than Mayday. He looked like a typical Bullyson/Cowboy, but 60 pounds. hehe. That dog was a true killing machine. It was Mayday's toughest fight at that time. It was the shortest but the most SAVAGE. Mayday somehow knew that he had to kill this Croc before he got killed. He finished in 29 minutes BUT with TERRIBLE chest injuries. At about 2AM at the Vet's Mayday was cold and dying. The wound was only an inch from his lung. It was a miracle he lived. We worked on him long and hard and my friend Angel kept him for a few months. After that He was Southern Kennels Ch. Mayday. For #4 we didn't have to look for anyone, they came looking for us. We didn't have to change names or nothing like that. We hooked into Big Dust's Ch.Budda, (6X); he had won 6 but only had reported the last three to the SDJ. This time it was 65 pounds. In the first 5 minutes, Budda BROKE Mayday's Leg. Budda was a rough dog, after that Mayday stay there with three legs, and still coming and coming, it was a classic match. After 30 minutes even, they both slow down and pace themselves. At the 45-minute mark, Mayday started to take control and I urged him to finish. I would yell, and Mayday shook violently. at 1:05. Buddah stood the line.!! Mayday once again SCREAMED in the corner. After this match I retired him for a year. This is when I first bred Xuxa to produce Gr. Ch. Lukane. I never thought to match him again because he only walked on 3 legs after that. Then I met Cuban Missing Link who probably knows more than Vets do. He told me that Mayday walked on three legs only because he THOUGHT his leg was still hurt. I had seen the x rays and told him he was crazy. He replied that that break in the leg only made it stronger and that a pre-keep would fix the problem. I tried it and to my surprise, Missing Link was right. He not only fixed the leg, but Mayday looked 2 years younger again. The best match was Gr.Ch.Mayday against Tant's Cody, not only because of how good Cody was, who later on showed to be DEAD GAME, but also because of all the circumstances surrounding the contest. It was almost impossible for Mayday to win this match. The odds were stacked 99% against us. Mr. Tant didn't know that he was going into Mayday. My good friend Angel hooked Mayday into Mr. Tant for us. We respect Mr. Tant like as a good breeder and dogman, but we had to show that Mayday could handle any Red Boy/Jocko dog as well. So, we went into the main source of Gr.Ch.Yellow blood, Mr. Tant. We conditioned Mayday in Fla, and flew into SC a few days before the contest. That match was hooked at 65 Lbs. We made a mistake on his last feed, and we were at 65.5 Lbs, just half pound over weight, so we had to pay the forfeit. Mr. Tant was OK with that and he still wanted to do it. At 65 Lbs, a half-pound would not make that big a difference. We paid it and started to wash Mayday. Toward the end of the wash, Mr. Tant started to look at Mayday, and he started saying "That is a nice looking dog, "He looks just like my Yellow dogs, "Is he who I´m thinking he is?????? ". At this point we were getting edgy. Then asked us directly, " Is this dog Ch.Mayday???? " Well, what could we say? We had to admit it. He was very UPSET. I couldn't blame him. He said, he didn't want to go into his dogs. I told him that "YES, Mayday is off of Gr. Ch. Yellow, BUT you weren't the breeder. The breeder was Mr. Hollingsworth who paid the stud fee. All you did was collect the money. He is only 50% your bloodline. The other 50% is Hollingsworth's careful blend of Bolio-Tombstone. "Any ways, after he collected our forfeit, he ran out of the place with his dog, and left us there with Mayday all wet. We didn't even have a chance to finish washing him. We were very frustrated. I told myself that was the last time, I will condition Mayday!! It was extremely difficult finding any dog able to go into him. A few friends like Cuban Missing Link were there in car, and I ask him to just take him (Mayday) back to Miami in his car that same night. Of course we didn't feed Mayday that night, he was in the car all night long, until they arrived home in the morning. At that time, they just gave Mayday a cup of dog food. Everything was gone. We already lost the chance to make the match. That Sunday's morning on March 1996, when I wake up, I was very hyper and disappointed. I decided to call Mr. Tant and have a meeting with him. I wanted to renegotiate the situation and make that match possible, after a 2-hour conversation, we agreed to the following terms.. Immediately I called my friends in Fla, and told them what I had decided to do. ALL OF THEM SCREAMED over the phone that I was crazy!! All of them told me that Mayday looked TERRIBLE. He was completely stressed, skinny, and under Pit Weight. ON TOP OF THAT I had to put him back on the airplane. My friends refused to send me my dog but I told them that he was MY DOG, and that I would take responsibility for him. I spoke to them firmly and they finally sent the dog. Dr. PEPE from the lab was the one who sent Mayday. After he shipped him he called and said Mayday was in terrible shape. He said he was very stressed, tired, and unrested, not to mention, way under pit weight. All my friends said I was crazy, and that all I was going to do was lose a great dog. They said it was impossible for me to win, especially against a seasoned dogman like Mr. Tant. When he arrived in SC for the second time HE WAS JUST BONES. I started to think that maybe my friends were right. The circumstances were too much for even the greatest dog of all time. He looked completely destroyed. I have a picture of him that day; He was a completely different Mayday. A package of Bones. My great friend Angel was the only friend I had left that was willing to help me in my task. He helped me try to recover Mayday in only 4 days. He stayed with me and worked alongside me. We had him on IV. Forget conditioning, forget the keep, all we were trying to do was recover Mayday from all the long hours of travel and malnutrition. Well, we arrived there Thursday night, and Mr. Tant brought Cody, at 72 Lbs, he was a horse. That was a smart move He gave Cody all rest he needed and very good food. On top of that he let him gain 7 pounds. Now, we had to go into a bigger, stronger and completely rested dog, Things were looking bad. Mayday looked a lot of smaller than Cody, and was all stressed out from the travel back and forth. RELEASE YOUR DOGS and the party started. As was expected, Cody led the contest early pushing and punching very hard into Mayday for the first 35 minutes. Mayday was just trying to keep that big strong dog out with defence. He held on to the nose, face and throat. A few times Mayday tried to go into the back-end but Cody was too strong and kept him out. Finally, Mayday understood that he was in front of a lot of stronger dog than he. So, he never tried to go into the back-end again. He just kept working up front...... nose, face and throat. After 35 - 45 minutes, Mayday started to show the lead a little bit!!! Mayday had got a good throat hold on Cody. He held that spot for a few minutes. At the 51-minute mark Mayday was on top of Cody and was really working his throat hold. Mr. Tant asked us to scratch to continue, Cody. Cody wasn't moving, wasn't breathing, or anything. He was like a dead dog. So we said OK. We didn't think there was any way possible Cody could scratch. Boy were we surprised when that CODY dog started to scream in the corner like a maniac. !!!!! We were in front of a DEAD GAME DOG! Cody worked Mayday over really hard for a few more minutes. Then, Mayday caught him in the same throat hold again at the 1:03 mark!!!!! Tant asked us again to scratch Cody to continue, and we said NO!! " YOU EITHER PICK THAT DEAD GAME DOG UP OR MAYDAY WILL FINISH HIM RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOX!!" Mr. Tant made the right decision and both boys made good hard courtesy scratches. Mayday was on fire!! He was screaming and pulling in the corner and looked like he was ready to party for another hour!! We were finally able to calm him down after about 15 minutes. This was his 5th match, and is also the greatest fight I have ever witnessed.
 CH GARNER'S CHINAMAN (4XW) 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. In 1981, V & B bought a dog from Kimsey Woods called Double Trouble, they had bought this dog to run in the fast lane with on the west coast and after rolling him out they found out they were pleased with his gameness, but disappointed with his ability and bite. They contacted Kimsey and he told them he had a good rough dog that had just rolled with Wood's Sundance and had crippled Sundance, it was Chinaman. So V & B decided to trade Double Trouble for Chinaman. Double Trouble went on to win two and lost one game in 2 hours and twenty minutes. He arrived full of hookworms and roundworms and weighed only 42 lbs., 4 lbs. below his eventual best match weight of 46 lbs. Rob kept him on a long cable run and tried to help him overcome his emaciated state. Chinaman thanked him by biting him, so Rob 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 Rob 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 champions and grand champions.
 GR CH ADAM'S ZEBO (7XW) 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 conatined 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 honors.
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. His most noted match was against Ch. Greaser and how both sides thought they had trapped the other side by running in an "ace" on their opponent's "average" dog. How wrong they both were. Champion Zebo was the black dog and Champion Greaser was the brindle. How they came to meet on a cool night in a barn in Ohio, is a complicated but interesting story. Champion Greaser was being campaigned at 44 pounds in and around Oklahoma and Champion Zebo was being matched around North Carolina at 40 pounds. "Greaser" was an extremely smart defensive type of dog that could really bite. He'd gained his deserved reputation by proving this in his first four matches against dogs that were not pushovers. Likewise, so had Zebo. The difference being Zebo's matches were short ones, lasting only 22,26,17 and 33 minutes, all kills. After his fourth win, a man named Adams bought Zebo and took him back up north to Ohio. Adams had a friend named Hudson who had matched a dog at 44 pounds into a father and son team from St. Louis. Hudson's dog was from Maurice Carver, and was a two time winner at 44 pounds named Tex. Hudson was a nice fellow but, could really get on your nerves bragging so much on his dog, because it was Tex this and Tex that, for as long as you would listen. I guess the team from St. Louis got tired of listening and just figured they would whip old Tex and shut Hudson up. Now, when you matched into this father and son team, you had better do three things, get a good dog, have the dog in good shape, and say your favorite prayer. As luck, or fate, or whatever you desire to call it goes, Tex got hurt in a chain fight and Hudson was going to have to pay the forfeit. Rather than give away money, he called Adams and offered Adams a deal. If Adams would take over the match with Zebo and win, Hudson would split the winnings with him and, if he lost Hudson would pay the whole bet. Adams had been walking Zebo and cutting his weight, for at that time there was a big convention in Mexico being matched up and Adams had turned Zebo's weight in. The Mexican Convention was supposed to be the biggest and best ever put on but, the law intervened and it never did come about. Adams didn't know the convention would fall apart, but he thought that as he had almost three months until the Mexican convention and Tex's match was only three weeks away, that he could take over Tex's match and win without getting hurt too much and still be healthy and set Zebo down in the Mexican convention. So, he agreed to take over the match, but told his backer that if Zebo wasn't way ahead at 30 minutes he was going to pick him up, because he wanted to match him in the "Big Convention." Hudson agreed to this as with Zebo's kill record.he would rather gamble and give up a few pounds to make it number 5 than give up the forfeit. Meanwhile, out in St. Louis, the "team" had a dog that was considered to be the best 44 pounder of his time. This Greaser had started out being called Yuebanks' Greaser. If my information is correct, Yuebanks' campaigned Greaser in his first four matches. All wins over some highly regarded opponents. Greaser had given his fans real reason to call him the best 44 pounder alive, as his opponents were good caliber dogs like Moloney's Alligator and Mayfield's Go Devils. The "Team" purchased Greaser especially for the Tex match since old Tex was a good dog in his own rights and the "team" knew they had to have an above average dog in order to beat Tex (how and why the "team" got Greaser is only hearsay on my part, the point is Greaser was the best 44 pounder alive. And he was the dog they had to use on Tex.) So we have the stage set. The Ohio boys have an "Ace" named Zebo, which the "team" doesn't know about. And the "team" has an "ace" named Greaser tuning up that the Ohio boys don't know about. Then it became time to put up or shut up for old Zebo, for Adams announced he was taking over Hudson's match. The night of the battle of Champions arrived, with only Greaser's side knowing now that they were going into Zebo. When they arrived, they wanted to see this "killer dog" they were matched into and laughingly said, "He don't look like no killer to us." Adams, nor any of his backers, knew Zebo was going into a 4 x winner. They should have suspected something for fanciers from out west had driven all the way to Ohio to see Greaser knock off this killer dog. Jimmy Jobe, the editor of Pit Dog Report, a Mayfield magazine for bulldogs, drove all the way and didn't even mention the match in his magazine. This match was one of the best kept secrets in the dog world and when the story of it taking place did start to circulate, the match was down played. The first report of it anywhere (that I am or was aware of) was in Richard Stratton's book. When you read the account, it tends to make you believe Zebo "got lucky" and hurt Greaser bad at the beginning of the match. This is false as, Greaser was on all fours late in the fight. When the dogs were weighed, Zebo weighed just over 40 pounds. Greaser hit the scales at exactly 44 pounds. As Adams circulated among his backers before the match, he reminded everyone that he was giving up 4 pounds and was going to pick Zebo up at 30 minutes because he'd only worked him for three weeks and 4 pounds was too much to spot. As they released the two champions, you could bet all you wanted on Zebo and get odds of 3 to 1 or three hundred against your one hundred. As bets were laid and odds were taken, the name Greaser started to finally slip out. Zebo's backers were aware finally that this was not going to be a walk over. People started to worry about their bet because Adams had warned that he was gone at 30 if Zebo wasn't way ahead. Adams said later, "When Dogman and Johnson called me to the side of the pit at about the five minute mark, and told me they recognized the brindle dog as CH. Greaser, any thought of picking Zebo up at thirty minutes was gone. I knew I would let him battle as long as he had any chance to win. I realized that I didn't have to go to Mexico to prove that Zebo was a great dog, the chance had come to me." As the match progressed, it could be basically reported in two sentences.."Greaser is extremely smart on defense and punishes Zebo bad about the head. Zebo is extremely smart on getting to the brisket and punishes Greaser bad in the chest." That is how close the match was. You would think that the four pounds would tip the scales in Greaser's favor, but Zebo was ever so gradually getting a little bit deeper in the chest and even though Greaser was as smart as ever relying on defense, he was forced to allow Zebo in more often as the match grew older. The following is an accurate account of the match as can be made but, remember as you read this excerpt from Mr. Stratton's book, that in this writer's opinion ( and I was there), Zebo took Greaser down a notch at a time over the entire match, where here it tends to make you think that Greaser was destroyed early. 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. During the time of Zebo's career as a match dog, there were two other dogs in his weight class that too was making names for themselves: Stinson & Glover's Gr. Ch. Art and Giroux' Ch. Gunner, 4X winner. It was planned to have a "round robbin" for the title of the greatest match dog.lj yjy[jl]yt]jjljld, were as each dog would go into each other to prove who was the greatest match dog. Each of these great dogs where relatively close to each other in regard to location. But, for whatever reasons, and hearsay has provided many, the matches never materialized. 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 ge 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.  WALLING'S BULLYSON (2XW) (1XL) Bullyson was whelped sometime in the late 1960's. He was just one of the many well thought of pups from the breeding of Eli to Spook. At one time Floyd Boudreaux gave a nice red puppy to Jerry Clemmons. He took the pup, kept it for 6 weeks and then sold the pup. He came here and I gave him another pup I had here in the blacksmith shop. I called that pup Spook. She was out of a litter that had killed each other when they were very young. He kept her two months at most and then she came in her first season. He brought her back and I bred her to Eli. They had 4 pups, 3 black and one brindle. two males and two females. One of the black males was Bully, the other was Eli, Jr., the brindle female was Brendy. She bit the hardest of all of them and she was the biggest. She could break a dog down in less then three minutes. Brendy was awesome, a bad bulldog. As bad as a man has ever seen. She beat a dog one time like she was eating breakfast. I've never seen anything like her again. The other female in the litter out of Eli and Spook was a black named Lady. She was my kind of dog and I think the best from that litter. Both Bully and his brother Eli, Jr. were exceptional Bulldogs. They were the cream of the crop, top-notch Bulldogs and went into some tough competition to make history. When this litter was being raised on Jerry's yard he took a special interest in Bully. Jerry walked him three miles a day and ran him 15 minutes each day on the mill. Also, while he was schooling him he had taught the dog to go where he was pointed in combat and also trained him to work with a ball. One day Bully was rolled with Boudreaux' Napoleon and Boudreaux' Paco, a son of Blind Billy. He smoked both of them quickly and then was bred to one of Floyd's bitches. All this in one hour in the noon July sun. The bitch later had 13 puppies. When Bobby Hall owned Bully he was attacked, when he walked his run. Bobby had a large mouth shovel in his hand and he went upside Bully's head and put Bully on his backside, then was just able to get out of Bully's run before he came to his feet and came for him again. This occured numerous times until the last when Bobby put the shovel in one hand and held it beside him and said "Come here Son." "Bully son come to me" and Bully then walked over to Bobby's feet and waged his tail. Bobby said he stuck out his hand to him and he licked his hand, then Bobby walked over and shoveled up his dung. From that day Bobby changed his name from Bully to Bullyson. When Bobby Hall matched the dog for Maurice Carver, who refereed, when he went into Bert Clouse & Becker. At weigh in Bert's dog weighed in at 46 3/4 lbs. and Bullyson weighed i at 49 1/2 lbs. When Bobby came over the pit wall with Bullyson you knew something different was going on. This dog acted like a crazy dog or a maniac of the devil in disguise. When they turned them loose all hell came with it. Everybody there was at attention. Clouse's Red dog was out of it in five minutes as Bobby sent Bullyson to the scrotum of Clouse's charge and that was the cue for the fat lady and she sang. At :10 minutes, the final scratch, Bobby could hardly contain the dog in the corner. And he was scared the crazy son of gunwas going to bite him. This was was the worst kind of man-eater when conditions are normal, and they sure weren't normal then. Sometime later Bobby sold Bullyson to Red Walling. Mr. Walling decided that Maurice Carver was his man with his dog. Again, this dog was known on several occasions when someone was moving him in a car and he was looes to go off his rocker. Despite these problems, they often hauled him loose, I think because it was too hard to put him in a sky crate. On the move from Hall's in Houston to Carver's place in San Antonio, Mr.Raymond Holt was elected to carry the dog. As usual Bullyson was carried loose in the car. Raymond said the only way he could keep Bullyson from jumping on him during the trip was by playing with his testicles. That's a helluva a deal!!! Anyway, Maurice got the dog. He was scared to death of him all the time he had him. At the time Maurice would move his wife in the other room and bring the dog in the house with him, watch TV with him and such and just become the very best of friends when a dog is in a keep. Maurice had a feeling that if he was going to the pit with a dog he wanted to be his friend. He said often, "If I am going to get down on my knees and ask a dog to take a killing for me, I want him to be a friend of mine." Eventually, Bullyson was matched into Ed Weaver's Sir. Again it was the same old story, Sir was helpless in :05 minutes as Bullyson defeated him with the same barnstorming type style used against the Red dog. Don Mayfield made a comment right after the match that Ed Weaver should be commended for even going into Bullyson, as most people were already spooked of him. Bullyson VS Benny Bob was the big match of the day as there were people from all over the US, Canada and Mexico to see this event. The convention took place in Fort Worth and it was a big show. The had bleachers up around the pit and a canvas over the whole thing. It was wonderful until the bleachers collapsed and the canvas cover came crashing down during the Bullyson match. Carver conditioned and handled Bullyson and Haliburton did the conditioning & handling for Benny Bob with help from Don Mayfield. Benny Bob was out of Bullyson bred to a bitch out of Boudreaux' Boze bred to Clemmons' Brendy. The dam of Benny Bob was known as Clemmons' Jesse and her name was later changed to Wikerson's Tina. The breeding of Bullyson and Jesse was done while Bullyson was still on the yard of Jerry Clemmons. At the match, Carver made a deal to enter the pit last as he didn't want to stay in his corner for an extended time with Bullyson. When he entered, Rick was ready, the ref was ready and that was Floyd Boudreaux. Maurice didn't even set Bullyson all the way down he dropped him 3 inches above the floor and the match was on. Don Mayfield reported it was pretty obviousquickly that if Bullyson was going to get there today, it was not going to be a blowout. After a while, Bullyson turned. He scratched well. Then Benny Bob scratched good. After this Benny Bob started getting faster and Bullyson slower. Everything Bullyson did, Benny Bob came back and did it better. At thed end, their stifles looked like you had shot them with a buckshot. At :40 minutes into the match Bullyson's ass end collapsed completely and Carver offered Haliburton a scratch to win, Haliburton would not take the offer as it was hot his turn to scratch. Finally, at :48 minutes, Bullyson's turn to go. Maurice faces him. When released, Bullyson turned his head a little to the right. His tongue is out, he doesn't move! At the end of 6, Maurice stepped over the dog and threw in the towel. He then asked Floyd to see if he could get him to go since Floyd had a part in raising him. The reason Maurice did this, I suppose was that everyone was in shock that this dog stood the line. Floyd took him, straightened his head, shook him and released him. The results were the same. His head tilted a little to the right and he stood there. After this Floyd picked up Bullyson and handed him over the pit wall to Maurice, who turned and walked off with the dog. Jerry Clemmons, who was working as a lab technician, did the blood work the day before the match, said Bullyson's blood count was at 33 when it should have been at 50. In addition, Carver bred the dog to practically every bitch he could in the Southwest. They took Bullyson out to the field and anyone that tried to touch his ass end had him trying to bite them. He was given medical treatment, but it was to no avail. He lost control of his body and died shortly there after. This 48 minute match with his son had brought an end to Bullyson's life. Benny Bob went back to Willie Brown's yard and was later matched into Ralph Greenwood's Jimmy Boots. Which was said to have been the most vicious match ever seen. R. Haliburton and W. Brown did the conditioning on Benny Bob and Greenwood the same for Jimmy Boots. It was said the match was like watching two grown men with icepicks and you knew it just couldn't go any further, but that five minutes would pass and then you knew for sure it was impossible to go another five minutes. The whole match was like that...because no two dogs could take that kind of punishment. After the match you could have bet that it didn't last longer than 20 minutes, that's how exciting it was, but it lasted nearly 2 hours with Jimmy Boots being the winner. |
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