BILL
PENSOM'S ABILTY TO JUDGE ROLLERS By Bruce Cooper
All roller fanciers who
can read and have the good sense to subscribe to the APJ and read Bill
Pensoms articles on rollers and the condition the fancy is in today. Before
every roller fancier dashes off into print and makes a fool of himself,
let me bring a few facts to light that may give some of you some extra
food for thought. First of all, it is easy to condemn what you do not know
or have not had the good fortune to see. Bill Pensom to me was a near myth
that I was sure was surrounded by more foolish tales of false ability than
any one in the history of pigeon culture. It was a stunning experience
to fine out the truth. Over the years, things that Pensom has said for
the sole purpose of enlightening the fancy have been misinterpreted, misunderstood,
misquoted, and used against him. Those he help educate in the roller game
and who became prominent, became jealous and turned against him. For the
benefit of the many roller breeders who have heard tales of Bills abilities
and doubt they exist, let me cite a few examples and you judge them and
me, the teller of this story. First, the thing that has got Bill into more
hot water than anything else is his insistence that you judge pigeons value
on the ground. This is so easy for him that he is beside himself to understand
why everyone cant do it. Oh, so you say he cant do it either. Listen friend,
you are in for a shock! He can do it so fast and so easy that it leaves
you blinking you eyes.
I was in Los Angeles
a few years ago for the Rose Bowl game. I had a crate of pigeons to send
to the National along with me. I was staying with my friend Dick Stephens,
and the local roller clan was in Dicks backyard. In the group of my birds
was a short, fine bodied, perfectly feathered, young badge cock. All who
viewed my birds were admiring this bird as one of the better ones they
had seen. Bill was late arriving and as he did, I was holding this young
cock in hand. As Bill walked up, I asked: What do you think of this, Bill?
He looked at it, shoved it back with: Blimey, Bruce, its rubbish. Surely
you breed better than that.Then, feeling embarrassed, he patted me on the
neck and said, Lets have a look at the rest.
Well Pensom, at a glance,
could tell what others couldnt by studying it, that the bird was a real
roll-down as I only, already knew. Pensom was in the Northwest this past
year and went through many lofts, picking out the good spinners while they
were perched. I've been all over the country and watched any number of
fanciers try this and they do no better than a good educated guess. Bill,
however went into my loft and lined up my stock. He put birds in order
of there worth. He filled the hen cages first and lined them up into the
exact order of their spinning ability. The many fanciers present were like
me, mouth agape and awed. But he had one miss I thought. She was a checkered
self he had in the twelfth hole. She was fast, light, and frequent as they
get and still fly. I question this pick. Bill took the bird and showed
us the lack of muscle on the back and said: While this is a good spinner
and still could be used for stock, she is lacking in muscle and, if flown
long enough, will give out and kill herself coming in. Also, she will be
a little slow getting back to the kit for competition. That about bowled
everyone over as they all knew the bird and knew I flew her for all visitors
in my #1 kit, but had pulled her on competition day. (A footnote to this
story is tragic, as she did later kill herself at the age of 2 years, three
months coming into land.) Bill then lined up my cocks and again in the
order that several years of flying had shown me to be their true valve.
Another time, while visiting in Los Angeles I was at Ralph Hiltons watching
his young birds go. Pensom, Hilton, and I were going to dinner. As I was
already dressed, Ralph left me alone to watch the kit. I had Binoculars
and was impressed with five birds that were exceptional. There was a sixth
bird that rolled as often as the five, but not as tight. They were of different
markings so I had it in mind to handle the five good ones and the lesser
roller when they came in. Pensom hadnt seen Ralphs birds go yet that year
and was going to try to make it for the fly. He was delayed and arrived
just after they had landed. The birds were extremely hungry and started
to trap in, but our greeting each other spooked a few of them up. The sixth
bird I described, as frequent but not tight enough, was among them. Ralph
who was coming out the back door as Bill was watching the birds, caught
a glimpse of the action and was asking how they look, only to hear Pensom
say rubbish, with his very English accent. Then Pensom dove into the loft,
good suit and all, and started catching pigeons and stacking them under
his arm like ears of corn. He emerged with five (yes, all five) of the
birds I had picked out of that young kit by 45 minutes of very close observation.
You can say what you like my friends, but to me this is a pigeon man.
Now to work myself back
to where I started with Bills statement that you must pick them on the
ground. I asked him about this during one of our talks. What can you see
in a bird on the ground that you cant see in the air Nothing! he answered,
except that occasionally a fairly good spinner will be a little lacking
and you can choose a better type. Now I didnt ask him if you mated them
in the air, only picking birds for the stock loft. It is obvious they must
be balance together in the coop. Really the reason this gets Bill in trouble
with the uneducated is very simple. One group goes off mating birds in
the coop for show type, not knowing what a good spinner looks like in the
coop. Another group says Bill is nuts no one can tell a spinner on the
ground. There is also the smaller minority that claim they can pick a spinner
in the hand. Usually a few tests show you that they are frauds. No doubt
there are others who can do it, but my experience shows they are few in
number. To me it is pretty obvious, Pensom is criticized and condemned
by a noisy few who do not know of the great ability with the pigeons the
man really has. Those who go to paper and pen to throw rocks will look
foolish to many of us who know the real truth about Pensom, who is no doubt
the worlds leading pigeon fancier.
Twenty five years ago
there were Birmingham Rollers in America that could spin, no question about
that. There were lofts of birds in this country for many, many years that
contained excellent birds. The fact remains unmistakable, however that
Bill Pensoms birds and words have improved the roller hobby as no other
breed has been improved by the influence of one fancier. I am not going
to try to present Bill to you as the Messiah of roller pigeons, or that
every thing he says or has said should be inscribe in stone. In his lifetime,
he has changed his views on certain aspects of the hobby and birds. This
is as normal and healthy as apple pie. What galls the very soul of a person
who has known Pensom, has seen his birds spin and compared the type he
keeps and advocates against the round, little dumplings being pushed by
some of the leading show men, is to be at a show like the Milwaukee National
and hear some drippy nosed idiot of a few years experience expound on the
lack of ability and merit of Bill Pensom and his birds. Most of the leading
Roller men in the United States today, who gained their reputation in the
flying game, acclaim Bill Pensom as the worlds foremost breeder of Roller
pigeons. Ninety percent of the countrys leading showmen claim he is far
less. That my friends, if you will think about it, ought to tell you something.