FRENCH CONNECTION LOFT Bob French (French Connection loft) entered the sport of racing pigeons in 1981. At that time in the Boston area there were a large number of flyers, and the sport was highly competitive. Bob joined the North River Club, which dissolved in a few years, and the remaining club members melted into the Plymouth Club. Bob asked around for some support in getting started and was given the odd birds from many lofts. Bob's uncle, Bob Brandi, gave him some birds to help him get established. Brandi's birds were a combination of various tough families that did well in the New England courses. Of course, Uncle Bob Brandi was influential on Bob and helped him with advice whenever he could. The dominant flyer in the club back then was Steve Cappellini. Bob respected Steve and learned from him. He felt if he could beat Steve in "just one race," he would be satisfied. Bob worked towards that end. When he was able to get the first club win, he just wanted more. Before long he and Steve Cappellini were almost taking turns winning the club races. He found a great rush when the birds came in from the race. He knew he was addicted to the sport ....for life! In the first year of flying Bob heard of the term "one loft race" and investigated the concept. He was told of a race in Las Vegas where a few of the local flyers were sending birds. So he sent a couple of birds to the Silver State Classic Race in Las Vegas, the birds were sent to a young sixteen-year-old flyer and his father. The young mans name was Thomas Liming, and his father was Pastor Buel. The Pastor helped as much as he could but Thomas shouldered most of the work. Thomas worked very hard and spent after school hours training the birds. He was very concerned about the job he did, and it showed in his results. Bob flew to Vegas for the race along with a few of his pigeon friends. As the race crowd grew, Bob was introduced to Thomas, the young handler. The Calcutta came along and the young man could not afford much, so Bob bought the Calcutta and pooling. To make a long story short ...the birds came home and Thomas's efforts paid off. Bob's bird won the race! First place! Needless to say, Bob was very surprised, and the young loft manager was out of control with hysteria. Bob said of Thomas, "There was a glow on his face that I could not describe." After they spent some time handling the winning bird, and complementing each other, Bob took the winning bird turned to Thomas and said, "Here you go, you deserve this bird." Bob felt like Santa Claus! It gave Bob more joy to give Thomas the bird than to keep it. They both won that day. After things settled down, Bob was introduced to other flyers in Vegas from all over the nation who had come to the race. A short time later an older gentleman came up to Bob, put his arm around Bob's shoulder, and said "That was a very admirable act in giving the winning bird to that young man. I would like to send you some birds in the spring." The older gentleman was Ben Guggenmos of Anaheim, California. All of the older flyers will remember him. He was president of the combine in Anaheim, California, and a quality human being. In the spring Bob got the first of many birds from Ben. They were down from Waterhouse Bekaerts and Calia Janssen. Ben had molded them into a family of tough middle distance birds. Bob gives Ben credit for helping him understand the art of crossing families to maximize toughness. He was a father figure to Bob in many ways, not just in pigeons. Bob uses the words WISE and WISDOM when he talks of Ben. "Ben could almost see into the bird's soul and see the inner drive that a bird must have to keep coming home into the head wind. That is the type of birds he taught me to breed." We have all heard the old pigeon saying that ...... "any bird can win a tail wind race, but it takes a SPECIAL bird to win a tough race". Over the next six to seven years Ben's birds were the foundation of Bob's loft. They won dozens of club races for him and numerous combine champions. Bob gives Ben credit for most of his knowledge of racing pigeons. Ben passed away in 1999. In 1983 Bob and his wife had two additions come to their home at one time-TWIN BOYS!!!! Twice the work and twice the fun. Bobby and Mike were born, and the sleepless nights were many in the French house. But before long Big Bob was able to return to his pigeon loft after work and continue the training of his family of birds. The twin boys loved to go into the loft with Dad and help. Bob recalls how their mom would put their snow suits on and let them toddle out with dad to do the feeding of the birds. He remembers well the time the twins came to help him early in the breeding season when his breeders were on the first round. Bob was concentrating on the birds, and let the boys wander through the loft and admire the birds. He was trying to complete the feeding before it got dark. The boys were about 24 months, and loved to help dad! Bob finished up, locked the loft door and helped the twins back into the house. Inside the house both boys were so proud to reach into their coat pockets and show their dad all the pigeon eggs they had gathered! They held up both hands full of eggs and said "DA DA" The expressions on their faces said "LOOK DAD ...... WE HELPED TOO!" They took all the eggs from the bottom two rows of breeders and put into their pockets. They were so proud to help, Bob couldn't get angry. The Boston Combine had clubs and flyers spread over a 100 mile stretch. It consisted of over 150 lofts. The races were flown from the west to the east with a 100 mile front.. In French's final young bird season he was able to take first place in three major combine races. Those races were the Andy Adams Futurity, the JJS (Sharples) race, and the South Shore Futurity. All of these races were against the best lofts in the combine with a 100 mile front. That was the French Connection loft swan song. The French's decided they wanted to move to a warmer climate. They were tired of the cold!! After thirty years of the snowy winters, the French's investigated several locations but decided on ARIZONA. The twin boys were six now, and they had grown out of their snowsuits, so it seemed like a perfect time to move. Bob boxed up the birds and the house, and off they went. They settled in Glendale on the northwest side of Phoenix, Arizona. After the French's got settled in Phoenix, the twins still helped Bob feed each day. They moved a little quicker without the snowsuits to weigh them down. The older the twins got, the more time Mike wanted to spend with the birds. As the twins neared the teen years, they made their normal teen adjustments. Bobby still enjoyed the time with his Dad, but girls didn't hang around his dad and pigeon lofts very much. So, off went Bobby to find the girls. Now, Mike enjoyed the girls too, (just ask him) but he spent more and more time in the loft. Before long he was asking his dad for his own fly team. Bob told him that when he could care for them in a proper manner, he could have his own team. AND HE DID! He started flying his own team at age 13. He had to feed and water them, basket the birds, and clean the lofts. At age 14 he was very competitive in the club and combine. He started winning club races at age 14. Mike is very competitive by nature. When his birds would win a club race, some of the club members would give credit to Big Bob. Now this did not sit real well with Mike. So it would motivate him to win by a further margin the next week. If Mike would be beaten on a race day, he would be frustrated and mad at first, and then he would ask his dad what he thought. He and Bob would brainstorm the problem and try to find a solution. Then he would train even harder for the next race. When the French's originally arrived in Phoenix they found 8 to 9 pigeon clubs. Most of them flew from the Northwest. The course was northwest to Las Vegas, then up the middle of the state of Nevada. It was, and still is, an extremely tough race course. The family of birds Bob brought with him from Boston needed to have some fine tuning to be able to fly successfully on this course. The Arizona courses go from hot dry deserts near sea level to 7000 foot mountain passes. In a race last year they let the birds go in 1 degree above freezing temperature, and they flew home to Phoenix at 75 degrees. The Rocky Mountain range runs north to south. If the birds need to fly in a west or east direction they have to find the passes to fly through, and sometimes they fly through the wrong passes and end up in Mexico. They had to really think their way home. Bob needed to make some adjustments to his breeding stock. About this same time a veteran flyer moved into the area from California. His name was Lyman McCray. Lyman was a very successful pigeon champion in his own right, having flown for over 20 years in Southern California. He experienced the same trouble with his birds as Bob did. It took Lyman 20 years to create this marvelous champion family, now in Arizona, they were not giving him the same results as the west coast. (At present time Lyman is the man to beat in their club.) Bob, Mike and Lyman put their heads together to try to find a solution. French's already had the solution in their loft ..... They just needed to prove them. Now let me back up a little in our story of the French loft. In 1986 while Bob lived in Boston, Toni Melucci invited him to go to Belgium with him. Bob said, "Sure, I WOULD LOVE TO GO." Since that time Bob and his son Mike have been to Europe on pigeon trips over a dozen times. Now, Bob and Mike French go EVERY JANUARY for 10 to 12 days. Bob started importing birds from Europe a couple of years before he moved to Arizona. Often times it takes more than a year to receive the birds you order from Europe. The Imports were just getting use to the Arizona climate and starting to breed. The first birds he imported were sons and daughters of Invincible Montauban, and Grote Barcelona from the loft of SILVERE TOYE. After their eight to nine month adjustment period he started to breed them. In the very first round he could see the difference. These produced some very tough birds. They would come home into head winds and on hot days. They produced all around quality flyers. Here are some of the results.......... 2004 Spirit of Colorado one loft, 300 miles 2nd, 3rd, 18th, 2004 Grand Canyon Classic, 300 miles 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 2005 Spirit of Colorado, 300 miles 2nd, 23rd 2005 IF Convention race, 300 miles 12th Overall, only 28 day birds 2005 AU Convention race, 300 miles 38th Overall 2005 Grand Canyon Classic 300 miles 2nd, 15th, 17th, 20th, 22nd 2005 Colorado Gold Rush race, 300 miles 2nd drop 7th overall 2005 Vegas Classic 300 miles Equal 1st 2006 Europa Classic one loft 330 miles, 3rd, and 85th, flown in Wales, only 12 day birds, 6th overall after 6 races. 2006 Central Jersey Combine 1st Club, 1st combine 3,495 birds 2006 Southwest Special one loft, 330 miles 1st 2006 Colorado Gold Rush 2nd drop, 7th and 8th 2006 Vegas Classic one loft 100 mile 1st drop, 9th 220 miles 1st drop 3rd, 300 miles 2nd drop 17th 2006 Snowbird Classic 240 miles, 3rd place 2006 Grand Canyon Classic, 300 miles 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 14th, In January of 2006 Bob and Mike invited me to go on the pigeon trip. I was elated and honored to go. The entire trip was special. But to me, nothing can beat visiting the home and loft of Silvere Toye. To me it was almost like entering a holy shrine. Silvere and Rita were very polite and very humble. We handled literally dozens of National Ace Champions, not only at Silvere's but throughout Holland, Belgium and Wales. We made Bob's normal stops at Silvere Toye's, Henk Kuijlaars, Frans Labeeuw, Ken Darlington (Wales Grand Champion), Leo Van Rijn (Kiezer), Martyn Mitchell (Holland 2nd National), Maurice Casaert, Anton Van Den Houvel (Aviator Breeder), Robert Venus (Super Crack), Jan Ouwerkerk (the Holland Legend), Verkerk, and Wilam Van Rij. Bob and Mike usually travel to Europe with their friends Phil Calerich (Colorado), Roger Salvi (Florida), Lyman McCray (Arizona), and John Lucchese (New Jersey). Bob and Mike often invite one or two others to attend each year. Having visited the best lofts in the world, of course, the French Connection loft has some of the best birds in the world. When they needed the tougher birds to fly the desert, they turned to the long distance champions in Belgium. They have multiple children from many National Long Distance Ace Champions of Belgium. At this time they have birds in their loft from all the above mentioned breeders. Many birds from Gaby Vandenabeele, children of De Kannibal who is from Dirk Van Dyke. Just to list a few of the main breeders. French's have sons and daughters of three FIRST NATIONAL ACES from Belgium. This includes multiple sons and dauthers of Montauban (Toye/Casaert), Nasdaq (Caeaert), Siblings of the Aviator, Son of Titi (National Ace Long Distance) stichelbaut, children of Red Opium, Black Devil, inbred kiezer, I could go on and on. They have imported champion birds for over 20 years now, literally hundreds of quality birds. Bob and Mike French fly from all the birds they import. They don't just try to sell the children. THEY FLY THE CHILDREN AND PROVE THEM. They are very selective of which birds they keep and breed. The Phoenix Sportsman Club hosts the Grand Canyon race every December. I sent birds to the race last year and this year. Mike French had the first four on the drop in 2006. Their entire club flew the race, and it was a wonderful event. Everyone had a great time. Henk Kuijlaars, from Holland came for the race also. At present time the Phoenix Sportsman Club (PSC) racing pigeon club has over 21 members. They normally fly north over Prescott, over the Grand Canyon, and right up the middle of the state of Utah, flying from Salt Lake City on the 450 mile race. Bob and Mike French love to fly pigeons. The thing that impresses me the most about Mike French is that he seeks out information and knowledge wherever he can. I have seen Mike and Lyman McCray talk for an hour about mid week training. While I was in Belgium with them in January, I saw mike on every possible occasion ask the master breeders in Europe how they do certain things. Mike spent over one hour talking with Martyn Mitchell (National Champion) about how he crosses certain lines of pigeons onto other line of pigeons. Martyn Mitchell is a name you will all be hearing more and more. He is a master pigeon man. He is originally from England. He lived and races in two different federations in England and was 11 times winner of 1st National. In 2003 he moved to Kortrijk (West Flanders) to the heart of the top competition. We were able to be with Silvere for two and a half days. Mike asked Silvere questions the entire time. Silvere offered Mike the job as his loft manager two years ago. Mike did not want to be away from home and his girl friend, so he politely turned it down. This year, Mike and Bob French have teamed with Silvere Toye to send a joint team to the Europa One Loft Race in Cardif, Wales. Mike has extensive first hand experience as a trainer and has a great thirst for knowledge. He is a very good pigeon man, with a God given avian perception. Even better than his dad! And better looking I might add. After all is said and done we are involved with a wonderful sport. There has been quite a controversy this last year as to the honesty and integrity of certain aspects of our sport. We might all ask ourselves ...... DOES MY PARTICIPATION IN THE SPORT ADD TO THE INTEGRITY AND HONESTY OF OUR SPORT OR DETRACT FROM IT? After flying birds for nearly a quarter of a century, the French Connection loft has added to the sport of pigeon racing. I met Bob and Mike French about eight years ago at The Spirit of Colorado One Loft Race. As Bob French stated then, "It's about the people and seeing your friends at the races."The birds will come and go, but the friendships will last a life time. The French's have a host of friends throughout the United States and through Europe. They exchange weekly calls to Henk Kuijlaars, Silvere Toye, and many others as a testament to their friendship. |
