COLONEL CHARLES PAUL HEITZMAN
Methods of the Masters
by No Sweat

This complete eight-part article is copyrighted by the author, “Now Sweat, August 23, 2016. No material(s) or photograph(s) from this article or website can be used or copied in any way without the expressed written consent by the author.
© No Sweat R. Robbins.

PART I - Personal Introduction
 
          When the attorney and editor, Gene Yoes, a man who is now living in the beautiful country of Montana and an individual who has sacrificed much of his life for our sport in helping to hold it together, asked me to write a story for his time-honored series dedicated to the legends of racing pigeondom - many of the articles having been excellently written by him – Methods of the Masters - regarding my lifelong friend and mentor in the pigeon sport, Charles Heitzman, I was rather sunk.
          Not so much because I knew - from past experiences in creating novels - at the time it would interfere with my nearing the end of a thirty-one-year obsession with my latest book, Singer Island & Ernest Hemingway, which, incidentally, happens to be filled with new information and photographs regarding Charles Heitzman, but primarily because I knew if I began the task, it would have to honor Mr. Heitzman in the way he would have wanted.
          And in a lifetime after having received over 600 handwritten letters from Mr. Heitzman and many years of my monthly visits and weekend stays at his home, I knew the sort of article he deserved. To accomplish this, the story would have to go into a rather lengthy detail as Mr. Heitzman's complex and rich life in our sport was unlike anyone else's. I could repeat that a million times. He was not so much another master within our sport, he happened to be T-H-E MASTER in our sport. He lived, breathed and smelled racing pigeons 24-7 every day of the year whether near or far or awake or asleep. Never before had there been such a fancier so compassionate about every small facet within our sport. As similarly referenced in the Bible, he knew when a sparrow fell. In this case, a pigeon.
           I should clearly state, Charles Heitzman was quite truly the genuine Godfather of racing pigeons in America for many decades - gar more prominent and longer lasting than any other racing pigeon man in American history. Even those fanciers who thought they knew him, had no actual idea of his total commitment and world-wide involvements with racing pigeons. In every way, he was the man who broke the ground for the way most of the current top racing pigeon fliers now breed and market their pigeons. Arrogant to some mild degree, yes. Humble, certainly. He was a man of many colors and all of them connecting the very origins of our sport to its future. He surrounded himself with racing pigeons and the library he created and maintained on racing pigeons was the finest in the world.
            And I knew before I began the article, I would in no way be able to encompass all that Charles Heitzman accomplished. For to do so would easily fill an interesting and historical book well beyond thousands of pages.
            And yes, I weighted the introduction of myself in this article so you might appreciate just why I am the best person who could write this story. That large photo of Charles Heitzman now in the American Racing Pigeon Museum in Oklahoma - that person standing beside him - that happens to be me. I am one of the few remaining fliers to this day who still maintain a colony of his Sions. And probably the only flier who actually takes those young Heitzman Sions out to 500 miles each year. During the last thirty-five years of his life I wrote more articles on Charles Heitzman world-wide than all the other pigeon scribes put together. I am that person who wound up with many of the articles he kept in his famous library. I am the person who has retained his famous yearly AU issued “KY" bands and each year band my young birds in the memory of him. I even train my racers from his original wicker baskets. Yes, there are long stories behind all of this. But why I am the best person for this story simply revolves around one fact, I loved the man. Yes, there were many pigeon fanciers who loved him - but I loved him more. And yes, I am quite biased when it comes to Charles Paul Heitzman. If you had shared the experiences with him as I did you would be, too.
          I first met Mr. Heitzman when he was a flier's flier and a breeder's breeder in 1959. It is hard to place a thumb down on any given year as that year being his finest but certainly in 1959 he was at the top of his game and there was not a racing pigeon flier throughout North America and much of the world who did not know his name. I was eight years of age. My grandfather drove me to his beautiful home to see him and when they met I soon felt I had two grandfathers alongside me; the two men hit off immediately. They were much alike, laughing and sociable and each very successful in whatever they pursued. My grandfather bragged on me and Charles Heitzman took that to heart. 
           I have met many wonderful pigeon men; the best racing men in America and the best show men in America; and of them all, none have stood as tall as has Charles Heitzman. Not even close. By quirk of fate as that eight-year-old child - my returning one of his lost racers to him after it had been caught in a horrendous storm on its race home - I grew up somewhat his adopted "pigeon grandson." IT was simply unheard of for anyone to return a lost "KY" banded bird back to Mr. Heitzman - he laughed about it to me.  Everyone knew the "KY" bands and who had them. And if a "KY" banded bird happened into their lofts - it remained there quietly forever.
            As I grew older and began flying his Sions, writing pigeon stories and photographing his racers, it only endeared him more to me for Charles Heitzman was himself a writer as well, having written seven books concerning his pigeons; books I must add which were large successes and still are selling to this day. As much as he had admired my grandfather he later admired my wife, Chesteen, even more so. We had the very best of a relationship, mutually respecting each other and being fellow Kentuckians.
Mr. Heitzman was "Colonel Heitzman" because he was actually a "Kentucky Colonel," an honorary title which for many years has been given to citizens by the Kentucky governor. When I began going to college I swam long distance on one of the best swim teams in the nation, facing teams with Olympians, Mark Spitz, Frank Edgar and others. Heitzman was a strong and positive influence on my life and in swimming.  He was always one big smile when I would come to stay with him as I would bring two cases of those small bottles of Miller pony beer which we would place in his refrigerator inside his famous pigeon library located out on the back lawn of his home and close to his fabulous array of pigeon lofts - a more picturesque setting for racing pigeons - never equaled. When I received my Masters degree in college, Heitzman sent me a letter and inside the letter was a $100 bill and a note stating he had never graduated from college and how proud he was to have me as his dear friend.
          In his later years, I would sporadically be asked by Mr. Heitzman to visit him and live with him at his home in the country in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, usually for a few days; when his health began to falter and he had trouble finding help. At that time his wife, Agnes, had been dead for some time (we both missed her) and his daughter, Bernice, lived with him. It was a time - consuming and physical task to go around to some 41 different lofts and make sure his colony of some 1,000 racers, which he had at the height of his breeding season, were all amply fed and watered; and that every little matter pertaining to the pigeons was accurately recorded; nobody in pigeon history had ever kept such lengthy and perfect pedigrees. And such gorgeous pedigrees, most usually written in his unique, distinct and beautiful penmanship; they were, well, almost "paintings." In the 1980's he could easily, generation after generation, accurately trace any of his pigeons back for over fifty years. In the bedroom he reserved for me in his home, he kept a record file on cards, everything in neat and alphabetical order, which would have amazed any fancier or librarian. Many times, I would lay in that bed adjust the night lamp and pull out one of the oak drawers which went to his files and be dazzled by his attention to detail. Fanciers did not realize this, but it was nothing short of an honor to own one of his pigeons, simply because of the meticulous-recorded, genetic studies which had gone into the creative make-up of that racer. Mr. Heitzman raised 4-500 young birds each year and it was never enough to meet the sport's demand. Every November, he would place an ad in the American Racing Pigeon News, usually listing 45 to 75 different birds for sale and within two days every bird would be gone. And yes, he kept an incredible thorough record on where each of his birds went. Many times, fliers would make outstanding long-distance wins with his birds and Mr. Heitzman would later manage to wind up with them back in his lofts for breeding. His famous logo on all he did:  "FROM THE BEST COME THE BEST."  
          I have enjoyed an incredible life for a poor, ignorant hillbilly coming from poverty and alcoholic parents. My life has been such a strange dream. One day I am living with John D. MacArthur and laughing about his pet ducks. The next day I am wheel-chairing Rose Kennedy around her Palm Beach estate and listening to her stories about John. I was with Jacques Piccard when he lowered his Ben Franklin into the Gulf Stream. Arlo Guthrie and I shared an apartment for four months one summer. And. sadly enough, I was with Will Lang's daughter when she committed suicide. It goes on and on. All my writings, whether he is mentioned or not, are dedicated to my writing mentor, Guy Davenport. My next book which will appear by this time next year, Letters from a Genius to an Oaf, involves my fifteen-year relationship with him.  For me to have known Charles Heitzman the way I did has to also rank up there in another strange dream moment. He knew so many people in our sport. Why he took out the time he gave to me will always remain a mystery. I suppose, perhaps, it may have begun somewhat with his feeling a little pity for me and then later a true and tested friendship. Real friends are so rare. I hope this article to follow will entertain and educate you. And I hope Colonel Charles Paul Heitzman, looks down for a brief moment and smiles. No person is completely dead so long as he is remembered.
 
PART TWO – Charles Heitzman’s Beginning: Reflections in a Golden Eye
 
How do I start the beginning of Charles Heitzman? Should it be when his parents immigrated from Germany?  And how he forever kept that big trunk his parents used during that immigration, the one which once owned everything they had as they made their journey into America, forever tucked away under his main racing loft? 
         Or should I begin with his family giving up the last letter in their last name 0 HEITZMANN - in order to "Americanize" themselves to "HEITZMAN?"
         Do I go back to when he first bought his home in the country and began to re-model it into a show place, and in the doing additionally created the finest array of varied racing pigeon lofts ever assembled under the sky?
          Or do I simply go back to when he was but a small boy and holding his first pigeon?  
          Be patient. I will unfold his life. I will tell you the story of Charles Heitzman the best way a writer should and that is simply to tell it in the most honest and straight-forward way I know how.  To talk about a man's life, it is not natural to go straight to that person's beginning and then to chronologically follow it to its end. No. When you or I sat down to talk about someone we knew and loved we talk about them in many ways. We go back and forth in their lives. And so, you will find me doing this with my mentor, Mr. Heitzman.  I can only write about the man in one way and that is mine. How many racing pigeons did Charles Heitzman own in his Life?  Ten thousand?  One hundred thousand? The answer is clear, he owned them all. If not in his lofts, then in his dreams.
          I will start this beginning of Charles Heitzman when he was elderly and in his 80's.  My method of giving you his early life will be subtle and sprinkled with long-held secrets. I will continue to ask my reader to be patient for that is the mark of a great pigeon man and we owe Mr. Heitzman that much. I will be employing one of my modes of storytelling which goes back and forth in time. And in this doing, you will learn more and come to know Charles Heitzman in a way which has never been told. What fate it was I ever met him and fate more still I should write his story. 
         It was May 1, 1980, when I left with my wife, Chesteen; in my pockets were three ink pens and three note pads. I was once again headed in my Chevy van to visit my old friend, Charles Heitzman; he had written, asking me to please come, spend a full day and write his life's story. I sensed whatever I would write would somehow be important. But I certainly could not foresee it would be thirty-six years later. I was honored. Because certainly, he was quite particular about the way he presented himself, conducted himself and especially so when it came to whatever was written by or about him.
          It was the opening week of Churchill Downs, the horse racing capital of the world; a time when the blood of all Kentuckians runs high as the state of Kentucky blooms into a mad array of color and festivities; the pastures burn green, the dogwood trees wax white and the tulip poplar trees fill their branches with pale-green, yellow and orange flowers; the angels in heaven sing for all their worth; and on God's strictest order, the sun shines bright.
          That day, Chesteen and I drove across a small but handsomely arch-designed bridge over a trout-filled creek, upwards towards a small forested hill on to Mr. Heitzman's circular drive-way; his spacious countryside estate was located off Chenoweyth Run Road outside Jeffersontown, Kentucky. We parked beside Mr. Heitzman's Spanish-style home and there waiting for us stood the small man, neatly attired as usual in a dress white shirt and tie, smiling as he always did upon seeing us.  
            After handshakes and hugs, we walked a few steps which took us to the    
back corner of his home where a large bell was mounted in the air; for many years, Agnes, Mr. Heitzman's wife, had rang that bell to signal for when he should come in from the lofts and back down to the house; meal-times, important phone calls and other matters.  Agnes was now gone, having suffered before dying with a serious breathing dis-order, and now, Bernice, Mr. Heitzman's daughter, was the one person who lived with him and rang that bell.  
            We began our walk up through rows of stately eastern red cedar trees which Mr. Heitzman had planted on both sides of concrete walkway which he had put down soon after moving into his new home which had been some fifty years ago. It was a special walk through the trees as they offered that wonderful distinct-sweet-cedar smell and as we walked we could glimpse here-and-there between the trees his many lofts; Mr. Heitzman had come to name this area, "CEDAR POINT," and for a racing pigeon fancier it was nothing short of heaven. Angling to our right, we saw the one dominant and magnificent tree in the area; a giant tulip poplar, Kentucky's state tree, heavily laden in its distinct squared-off lime-colored green leaves and tulip-flower-like blooms which were now casting a shade over several of the Heitzman lofts. Just off behind one side to the tree stood a two-story, white-painted, concrete-block widowhood loft and away from it, a free-standing building recognized as Mr. Heitzman's library. This library was much the center of our concern on this day besides being close to one of the truest southern gentleman we had ever met; a diligent-working and very successful business man now retired, a Kentucky Colonel who had operated his businesses from two locations and America's most famous and most respected pigeon flier, breeder and international salesman of his own family of racing pigeons. In fact, Charles Heitzman had been buying imported pigeons as early as 1918 during World War One.
          As we continued to follow Mr. Heitzman from loft to loft, we were amazed at his brilliant memory; he knew everyone and everything about the sport. And when it came to his own birds, heavens, he knew all there was to know; band numbers, pedigrees, physical features, performances, and I swear, he could point out the smallest feature about a pigeon and leave you in in empty-wonderment as to how he noticed it first and you never saw it at all. He was, for all intent and purpose, his colony of racing pigeons, and they, him; each reflecting each other; there was not a single pigeon he owned in which he did not have an intimate relationship.         
         All around the estate, Mr. Heitzman maintained a well-manicured bluegrass lawn and as we continued to follow him around this lawn, near some of his many neatly-arranged and elaborately constructed purple martin boxes, he paused to show us on the poles which held the boxes the many years of dates he had written on them, marking the date each year the martins had returned back to him after    having flown away on their annual migration from these boxes; Mr. Heitzman was a bird lover in every way and he was proud of his martins which added grace to the skies and also helped in keeping mosquitoes away from his racing pigeons. Out in the center of the lawn was a mounted mirror-like-silvery sphere some three feet in diameter reflecting the sun's rays in every direction; "My racers can spot that twenty miles out," spoke Heitzman. "It is a good marker for them on race days."  As Mr. Heitzman paused, a flock of his veteran racers circled, their fast wings cutting the air and creating a whistling sound overhead. Drawing closer, we began to hear from his many lofts, and from the racers resting on the boughs of his shady tulip poplar tree: so many soft coos from so many feathered Spartans; gentle birds cocked their heads eying us while others conversed with their brooding mates in the most confidential of manner.
          The temperature that day was ninety degrees, it seemed to have little effect on Mr. Heitzman as he remained patient, continuing to treat us with grandfather kindness. When the birds circling above Mr. Heitzman's home entered the magnificent main loft he turned and said, "Just a first-class hobby, that's all. It is first class because it’s a breeding game and also because its right here at my home, Cedar Point. It's a hobby which has kept me young."
           
PART THREE – Loving Life
 
           As Charles Heitzman grew from a youthful lad into to a spirited-young man he went into the bakery business. He was one of those happy-natured and smart people who simply loved life. And because of his inventive hard work he soon became successful, having available funds on which he could spend towards his life's passion--racing pigeons. He would advertise in American and English journals for older books and magazines; many of these older editions, some printed before his birth, were obtained from widows of pigeon racers who sold their late husband's books and journal collections to him. All of these early acquisitions I could see were now inside the Heitzman library.
          After collecting all the books and journals for nearly a quarter of a century, Mr. Heitzman then decided in 1942 to build his often dreamed about library. "My decision came at a difficult time," he informed us. "Because materials were hard to come by as the United States was engaged in World War Two." 
          Nevertheless, Mr. Heitzman began his effort to acquire material for the building: This tan-colored, solid brick-block-and-stone structure stands 32' by 20'; there is a small front porch with black-painted, wrought-iron fencing around it under a small, decorative roof; the windows on either side of the doorway are covered by awnings to help protect the materials inside from the hot southern sunlight. Outside, leading up to the library, is a long, narrow, paved walkway which also leads on up a slight hill to the breeding lofts as well as the flying lofts; A walkway then continues past a flowering urn and up to several chairs and benches appropriately placed outside the doors of the library.
          Over the many years, from day to day, from a single individual to groups small and large, several thousand of Charles Heitzman's friends and racing pigeon colleagues had relaxed in those chairs and benches. They would sit and stand in the area often watching his pigeons play near and atop their lofts as they would discuss in detail every subject under the sun involving racing pigeons. Mr. Heitzman did not begin to have any rival who owned such a complete and thorough knowledge of the sport over the world from its earliest inception to this very day as he did. None. And anyone who was afforded the pleasurable opportunity and given permission to spend a day with him at his lofts soon came to acknowledge ad appreciate that Kentucky did not only have the finest race horses in the world, but also, race pigeons. And all because of one man, Mr. Charles Heitzman. 
         Although solidly built, every brick and stone in the library had a defect in it. "The only way it was possible to buy brick back in 1942, " spoke Mr. Heitzman, "was for me to take rejects from the brick yard since the complete ones were used for military projects. The bricks were glazed on one side and unglazed on the other. I constructed this library so that all the small chips seen on the bricks were laid on the outside, so the inside stones were perfect."
          Inside the library, there were two rooms. The largest room, which is immediately seen upon entering the library, had several windows and contained a large stone fireplace. "I haven't had that fireplace working for a long time," continued Mr. Heitzman, "But I might have it back in good order if I decide to have a caretaker live here, some person who could organize this library and watch over my birds--you wouldn't be interested, would you?"  
           I smiled at Mr. Heitzman and he smiled back. And then, Chesteen smiled at us both. We all knew the impossibility of such a position. But it was grand knowing he thought of me such as he did.
           In more modern times, a heater had been added to keep the warmth of the building during the winter months of the year. To the right, was another smaller room, which housed his refrigerator. "I keep bottled Cokes in there, you know," he said, smiling. "And I also keep fresh cabbage too, for my pigeons---they love it--it is healthy for them and one of my secrets to winning. If I wanted, I could place a fold-up bed and a kitchen in here. My total cost on this building in 1942, was two thousand and three hundred dollars." 
           Around twenty years ago, Mr. Heitzman had built another a smaller building behind his library; this building primarily houses shipping crates, shipping labels and all the equipment and paraphernalia necessary to ship birds across the country and internationally in a fashion such as most fanciers have not seen done anywhere else; each crate is separately labeled, with feed and water present for every bird in the crate. In addition, a dressing is added to the bottom of the crates and they are constructed in such a way that if the birds are anything other than squeakers they are invariably separated and sent in individual compartments so that the cocks do not peck each other and the hens are protected during the trip. Many of the crates are so elaborately done that Mr. Heitzman usually has a loft man spend several hours a week constructing them to keep up these high standards.
           Another unique feature about this library building itself is a small pigeon cemetery just to the right of the entrance. There stands a small headstone and several porcelains, articulately-panted pigeon figures with the caption: "THEY FLY NO MORE."  Three of his most famous pigeons are buried here:  "Headwind," "HURRYHOME" and "HEATWAVE." The dates when these pigeons flew were in the late 1940's, but their breeding records have subsequently established them as well-known pigeons throughout America and the racing pigeon world. "Each of those birds had flown 504 air miles on the day," said Mr. Heitzman. "All the way from Vicksburg, Mississippi to here. I gave my champions names starting with "H." HEADWIND was the only bird in our club to make it home on the day. He had to fly over fourteen hours against a tough headwind in order to make it. His blood has been solid gold for me and many others."  
***AUTHOR'S NOTE:  A few years ago, long after Mr. Heitzman's death, HEADWIND'S dried up pigeon leg came up for sale on EBAY. As I remember, this one leg brought in a bid of some $2,000.
             While we were sitting on the benches just outside the library, the view was very captivating. To our right was the giant tulip poplar tree which was affording us shade as a pleasant breeze comforted our presence. And just below the tulip poplar, was a small breeding loft which owned a set of double-entry doors. Inside this loft, some of Mr. Heitzman's more recent famous racers had lived, including "HEI-SEIGER" and "HEI-IRENE," as well as "HEI-WODSIIDER"; all three of these pigeons over the past decade had bred winners for many fanciers around the country. Note: Charles Seiger of Donaldson, Pennsylvania had bred and flown "HEI-SEIGER" and "HEI-IRENE,” HEI-SEIGER won two 500 mile races in the Anthrocite Concourse and HEI-IRENE had won AU HALL OF FAME sprint champion; HEI-WOODSIDER was a hen direct from the English long-distance champion, "WOODSIDER."  Mr. Heitzman had inter-crossed these three pigeons and developed a sub-strain from them which proved their worth over the years. 
           The next loft to the right of the library was the very large flying-racing loft which Mr. Heitzman had used over the past forty years. This was the famous loft which so many racing pigeon fliers across the world had seen in magazines and secretly wished they owned. This loft had five large sections and over the years had held thousands of racing pigeons. Many memorable stories had come from this loft since over the years many of Mr. Heitzman's records and famous birds had resided here. This loft was built smart; beautifully constructed with wide steps leading up to the front, landing boards very high above the ground which the racers loved, multiple aviaries of all sizes on top for the  racers to observe the sky and their surroundings, and an extremely healthy ventilation system which had been employed throughout all the planning. In a few minutes, we were on the large roof of this main loft. At first, the pigeons there flew away but were soon back pecking and picking up handfuls of selected grain Mr. Heitzman had scattered on top of the loft. "These birds aren't nesting,” he said. "So they get out in good weather for exercise and plenty of sunshine. This is my flying loft to which birds return to from a race. Inside, I have a small electric trap which rings a buzzer inside my home when a bird returns. But it is better when I can sit in front of the library and watch for the return. It isn't hard to estimate about when to expect them, especially when they have taken several flights and begin to know well the return journey. I suppose I should have told you that if birds are not good fliers they are not kept. A bird has to be a good flier. A bird which does not return in good time from a race is eliminated automatically. We all continued to gaze at the surroundings as we stood on top of Mr. Heitzman's main racing loft. From here, I could survey much of his 35-acre estate and note the more than 400 soldierly-like cedar trees. A melancholy breeze continued as all around us we listened to the soft coo of so many gentle pigeons. "This loft cost me one thousand and fifteen hundred dollars in 1939," he informed. "I don't know what it would cost to build today? My guess-my guess...more than thirty thousand."  Once we went back into the loft, Mr. Heitzman proudly showed off a pair of seven-day-old babies sparsely covered with golden hair, ad deftly slipped his famous trademark, a "KY" aluminum band on one of the bird's legs. "In a week from now, the mother-hen of these two will lay a second set of eggs. Now days, I allow each pair to lay three sets of eggs per breeding season. I am retiring from the race game. I am getting up in years. I'll now be mostly a breeder." 
             The whole magnificent estate was surrounded by mature white pines and eastern red cedar trees as well as many native flowering trees; white dogwoods and red-buds, which were just to the South. Tucked away at the distant end of the yard was Mr. Heitzman's original breeding loft; a large, walk-in aviary was ornately-built and attached-present there with a roof to shade the birds from the hot sun. "The floor is solid cement and is washed down daily and allowed to dry long before allowing any birds to enter," spoke Mr. Heitzman. "It is a loft built to make the birds smile," he continued, smiling himself.  "A happy pigeon has a better chance of being healthy. Pigeons are just like us, they enjoy relaxing. Many racers saved for breeding have lived here all their lives. And many of my best fliers have spent their later years here intermingling their bloodlines."
           Throughout the day as we visited Mr. Heitzman, and as I continued to write notes, the bell at his house would ring. Mr. Heitzman receives an average of six to seven telephone calls per day from racing pigeon fliers all over the world asking him about his breeding stock, the ability to purchase a few birds from him, the availability of his birds, or questions about the health and vigor of their own pigeons and what advice he might give them. Mr. Heitzman is such a friendly and interesting person and he owns such exuberance for racing pigeons that many fliers call up simply to talk and pass a little time with America's recognized leading expert with racing pigeons. Mr. Heitzman has thousands of books and magazines on racing pigeons and he is the one man who has read every word in each of them. In fact, it's incredible how he can pull books off the shelf and quote information contained on certain pages from so many of them. He has absolutely studied these books diligently over many decades. If ever any man truly knew all there was to know about racing pigeons, as mysterious at times that can be, it had to be Charles Paul Heitzman.   
 
PART FOUR – From the Best Come the Best

          Once back inside Mr. Heitzman's library, he continued to answer my questions. "That ceramic statue, he explained. "I paid an artist to create it. He modeled it after HURRY HOME.  A woman in Texas sent me the painting of OLD 51. I named him that because he was hatched in 1951 and banded AU-51-KY-51051. Old 51 was a magnificent red Sion cock with slight little frills on his coverts. Many of my best breeders have that characteristic. It says to me, they have a lot of feather, almost too much.  A Chinese gentleman reproduced OLD 51's photo made from small, colorful seashells". Yes, I thought, as I continued looking throughout the library, pigeon fanciers from all over the world had sent him all sorts of gifts, including a hand-knit sweater owning a pigeon knitted in the center of it as well as a hand-painted pigeon tie.
           One of Mr. Heitzman's top-prized books was THE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF PIGEONS, (AUTHOR’S NOTE: I believe this book and many of the materials mentioned are now housed at The American Racing Pigeon Museum in Oklahoma) which was published in 1876; it's color plates were still quite vivid. Among his collection, were every monthly issue of the American Racing Pigeon News from 1898 to the present. Some of the pigeon books went as far back as 1858. In the back room, was a highly regarded box he rarely produced for anyone to see. This box had seen many years and Mr. Heitzman handled it with greatest of care. "I have some of my most important and precious letters from the well-established racing pigeon men of their time in this box," he divulged. "I still have, for example, much of the original correspondence from John W. Logan, from whom I bought some of my original birds. As a matter of fact, at Logan's close-out sale in 1925, I purchased two birds for a total price of more than $700.00, which was an incredible price for that day and time. But during that time, I was selling pigeons off imports and good imports they were, as early as the 1920's. I was always earning money from the sale of my babies from imports and then re-investing. It is really hard to believe, but true, that I was paying such prices for imported pigeons and then selling them to the American fancy at prices the working man could afford. I may have had more to do with establishing the pigeon sport and disseminating well-bred youngsters all throughout the United States than any other pigeon man who lived."
           Also in the box, were many letters from Paul and Robert Sion as well as those from Mons Guillame Stassart of Anderlecht, Belgium, who Mr. Heitzman had bought pigeons from over the years on several different occasions. In the book, STASSARTS, by Charles Heitzman, he reminded his reader of the many imported Stassart pigeons he bought, and the difficulty he had in first convincing Mr. Stassart to sell pigeons to him. "Those letters," mentioned Mr. Heitzman, "Not only describe the birds which were imported by me but also the birds' performances, and pedigrees, all in handwritten form by Mons Stassart himself. I value these letters the most of any letters I own. In these letters, Mons Stassart gave me instructions on the mating of his birds, which he eventually shipped over, as well as his recommendations in training and racing them. I followed Mons. Stassart's instructions explicitly. And because I did so, I was able to develop a very formidable strain of Stassarts here in America. Some of my most famous Stassarts were, IBRAHIM, MODESTA and DIAPREE. They were birds I imported from Mons Stassart himself. I developed his strain here in America to fly 500 miles on the day. And as I developed a number of birds who had performed that task--admirably, I might add--I then went on to proceed with crossing them with some of my family of Sions, which had also been performing in the same manner. It was through these crosses that I developed great performances all throughout the 1940's, 50's and 60's. It was also through these crosses and through selling line-bred, pure-strain birds to fanciers who then crossed them themselves, that the Sion-Stassart blood spread throughout America. In time, thousands of fliers were racing them and winning thousands of race-day victories." (AUTHOR’S NOTE: soon after doing this interview, I received my June 12, 1980 RACING PIGEON BULLETIN; the issue showed the only two day birds to come home from 600 miles in the New York Concourse; both birds were bred from Mr. Heitzman's Sions and Stassarts.)  
            I asked Mr. Heitzman about breeding methods and he replied, "I developed a mating technique whereby I retain several youngsters from each of the most reliable breeders, and then I cross them back onto the reliable breeders of the same strain or out-cross them with the other strain. I keep my pigeons very healthy and well. Some of my birds which were great racers live here beyond twenty years of age. For example, HEATHER, HEI-TIME and HIS-TWIN are all three sons of HEADWIND and HEATWAVE in the 1950's. Those three birds flew over 500 miles 20 times between the three of them and went on to produce a long line of winners for many people." In 1977, Heitzman had presented me with the last daughter of HEI-TIME, who was then herself about eight years of age.  HEI-TIME was over twenty years of age when I last saw him in Heitzman's loft in 1978. "Through excellent care, I am often able to breed a little longer with my pigeons than are most fanciers. I often have cock birds which are fertile at fifteen years of age. One, bred babies for me when he was seventeen. I have noticed over the years, that quite often, an excellent racer will also be a pigeon who will live a long time.  When I mated the children and grandchildren of these racers together, I was able to sell relatives of these birds to anyone in the country who wanted them. At any rate, I must put my box of letters back up. I really need to have them in a lock box."
          Heitzman watched as I continued to write. "I became an author myself," he said. "Around 1928. One of my booklets, YOUNG BIRD TRAINING METHODS, is now in it's seventh re-print. All my books, especially the ones on Sions and Stassarts, have sold thousands of copies."
          Another interesting feature of the library is a very large, metal filing cabinet which houses many of his sales brochures.  These go back well over a half century.  It is very interesting to read and notice his early attention to Logans and to see sale's brochures which were published in the 1920's. His success with the sales brochures spread the word of the birds he had available to all corners of the world. Logan was one of the strains he was first into in a big way. I noted, some of the birds were being sold at the price of $30 in the 1920's. And this was his selling price for young birds even into the late 1970's, prior to our recent wave of inflation. These, in many ways, were the birds of the day and that a fancier could import, back in the 1920's. By the early 1930's, however, he was looking for greater accomplishments with his racing pigeons and became interested in the Sion and Stassart strains. His interest also grew because he realized that Mons Stassart and Paul Sion exchanged birds themselves in order to strengthen their bloodlines. And it was through this idea that he developed separate Heitzman Sion and Heitzman Stassart strains here in America for the ability to cross them with each other. Mr. Heitzman's sales lists go on through the 30's and 40's in a never-ending stream showing beautiful photographs of his champions as well as listing their remarkable flying records. "I never missed a single year in producing those sales lists," spoke Mr. Heitzman. "Those sales lists are now a part of the American racing pigeon history. They show many photographs of pigeons, either famous for their racing performances or for their proven breeding ability. Sometimes, I would place a photo of a young bird in the brochures which was special in appearance, though not proven, but of perfect conformity. Pedigrees were always carefully kept on each pigeon and sometimes I would put these pedigrees in the brochures. Occasionally, a great pigeon of my blood would be brought back and given to me as a gift from some flier. This was always a special moment for me. And I was always happy to use the bird later on in my breeding program. Proven fliers, especially champions, have always been prized by me for breeding.  From the best come the best. An apple never falls far from the tree." 
          In the library on special tables, desks, shelves and counters are scattered pigeon memoirs. On one table, there are over thirty trophies won by him back in the days when he was in competition These trophies represent individual wins at any and all distances, as well as average speed wins. Bird of the year wins and all wins imaginable. These are in every individual size and shape imaginable with marble bases, walnut bases, and silver and gold-colored pigeons atop most of them. On the other side of the room are three large bookcases with cabinets above them. The cabinets house an extensive variety of trophies and awards, including an interesting collection of plates with pigeons on them. Other items were porcelain figures which reflected the pigeon or pigeons they were crafted after; all had been kept and maintained in these cabinets for many years for protection. Above the fireplace is an extremely large photograph of Mons Stassart; his arms are crossed and his bald head and beard look sternly over the library. "That expression on Mons Stassart's face has often reminded me of the absolute regularity a successful pigeon fancier must go by," spoke Mr. Heitzman. "Something in a pigeon's life seems to make it want to perform better, if that bird always knows what to expect." 
          Some of the paintings on the walls were watercolors and some are oil paintings and some are photographs in frames. Mr. Heitzman over the years has had many people send him photographs of the birds they were winning with which were of his blood-lines. An oil painting of HIS-TWIN, one of the famous three Stassarts from HEADWIND and HEATWAVE hangs on the wall to the left of the fireplace.  He was twenty-two years old when I handled him in 1978. He is a beautiful blue checkered cock with very strong shoulders and back. He is making pigeon history around the world. Hanging around and near the fireplace are multiple plaques and trophies and citations concerning his racing pigeons. On the fireplace mantel, is a large photograph similar to the ones that are sometimes seen in Belgium and other countries in Europe with a [picture of Charles Heitzman himself surrounded by eight of his famous pigeons all on the same portrait.  Above that, is a plaque that has eight first place ribbons in it reflecting eight racing homers he entered in a large pigeon show in 1947. In another corner of the room, are several mementos from Japan, China, and other Asian countries. Odd, but very few people in America begin to realize just how popular Mr. Heitzman is throughout Asia and how many birds he must reserve in his breeding every year to be shipped to his Asian friends. This foreign demand on his birds is one of the reasons why he retains 50 pair of breeders even after his 1979 illness and almost complete sale, so that he might at least satisfy the needs of these fanciers. In addition, he has so many requests nationally for his birds that he said to me:  "I sold over 500 pigeons in 1979, for a total of $65,000." (AUTHOR'S NOTE:  About two years ago, I started a website, "HEITZMAN SIONS."  During this time, I have had some 150,000 hits; a testimony to Heitzman's fame and popularity,)
          Another interesting an unusual item within the library is a small-scale replica of a pigeon loft. It has a sign over the top of it: "RACING PIGEONS. CHARLES HEITZMAN. JEFFERSONTOWN, KENTUCKY."  This model loft is made to scale and actually has perches in it as well as feeders and grit containers. A couple of dozen small, nicely painted porcelain pigeons dot the roof and landing board of the replica loft. This pigeon loft is a pride of the library. It has several doweled windows and doors which makes it a true work of art. Hanging on the wall above the model pigeon loft, is a plaque from the American Racing Pigeon Union, awarded to him in 1975, voting awarded for Charles Heitzman's contribution to the development and breeding of racing pigeons in America. In addition, he was awarded another plaque from The National Pigeon Association in 1964, as he won THE MASTER BREEDER AWARD. As a tribute to Cher-Ami, the World War One pigeon hero, Mr. Heitzman has a book which is now out of print written about Cher-Ami, by Marion B. Cotheran.  Also, in one of the cabinets is a plate which has a picture of Che-Ami on it with his damaged leg and the medal awarded by the French Government for the message which saved several hundred lives. "See these," spoke Mr. Heitzman, showing me some old ticket-like pieces of paper. "These are gasoline-ration stamps which were given to me during World War II by the government; I received them for my contribution of racing pigeons both to England and China."  
          Throughout the day, I was given permission to catch and handle many of Mr. Heitzman's racing pigeons. Each bird had its own Heitzman qualities. There were many reads, silver mealies, blues, blue and black checkers, very few white flights or splashes, no grizzles. "I never keep a bird with white on him unless he is exceptional. Every now and then you will see a chocolate or two. Everyone thinks they are Bastins, but they are Stassarts; I breed some great Stassarts which are chocolates which fly exceptionally well."  
          Heitzman looked down at my hands. "Do you have dry hands?" he asked. "A good pigeon man should always have dry pigeon hands when handling pigeons. Here, take this block of magnesia. Rub on that. It will dry your hands like powdered-chalk."  Mr. Heitzman then handed me a wide-barred blue cock with dark violet and green eyes and remarked: "Remember that eye, that is a breeder's eye. I have bred a lot of great racers out of such an eye." 
  
PART FIVE – KY Banded 
                            
          Leaving the main racing loft, Mr. Heitzman, Chesteen and I journeyed to his two-story block loft. "I flew widowhood out of there," he mentioned while looking upward towards the steps to the second floor of the loft; beside us, near those steps which lead to the second floor, was a large, walk-in, chain-linked fence constructed aviary. "Everyone knows my famous 'KY' band... You know, I've NEVER had a lost bird EVER reported to me." he smiled. "There might have been a half-dozen pigeon breeders in the United States with anything approaching my setup," he continued. "But they have not been quite like what I maintain, or for as long. Maybe one or two others who have put in as much money and time as I have....maybe. The way I go about banding my birds every year is routine and simple. One matter, I normally double band all my birds; on one leg, I have my name and address band. On the other leg, I place my 'KY' band. I order five to seven hundred bands every year.  When I do, I start the band numbers off with the year in which I am ordering. This way when I am handling any of my bird, I know what year they were born and about what month they were born by just looking at their bands. For example, in 1951, all my bands started out with '51.'  Since I ordered 700 bands, the first bird banded was AU-51-KY- '51001." The last bird would be AU-51-KY-'51700.' In 1970, my bands would begin with the number '70.' And my first bird banded would be AU-70-KY-'70001'. This banding system has always worked well for me. "Do you see up there on that top step of the loft? I once fell off that. Not have a happy landing. Hospital for a while. I loved the loft when I built it. But I would not recommend this type loft to anyone.  Block lofts are not healthy for birds compared to wooden lofts. The concrete blocks sweat. Moisture in a loft is detrimental for pigeons. The air is different in a block loft. You can smell it; you can taste it. It is never as good as it is in a wooden loft. People spend too much money on building lofts. Lofts need not be heavily built. Or expensive. Pigeons do not care if you have new lumber or old boards. My birds love those small army lofts I have as much as any. As long as the loft stays bone dry and there is plenty of fresh air and nice aviaries affording them enjoyment in the sun and rain, that is all you need."
          Pushing a stick which in turn pushed a piece of plastic in place which also in turn prevented the birds in the loft access to the aviary, Mr. Heitzman entered the bottom of the two-story loft. Just like the head some unseen rattlesnake, his hand suddenly struck out of nowhere. All in one motion he came down and grabbed and then gently held one of his magnificent Stassarts. "Ah-h-h, hold this body," he said, contentment painting entire body. "Feel how strong this bird is, feel how tight his vents are. and the perfect depth of that keel---No Sweat, remember this pigeon well---THERE is a RACER."
          "How many pigeons do you have right now," I asked.
          "Around five hundred. After the breeding season, maybe 1,000. But I will easily sell well over half of them before next year."
          "What strains?"
          "Mostly Sions. They have long been my most popular strain. Not only are they great long distance champions, they are also beautiful pigeons. There are many variations within them. A very identifiable strain once you learn them. And they had such a history in World War Two. Paul Sion gave his birds to the French Underground. At the end of the war, he got what he wanted back. But I have many Stassarts, too, and several Vanbraunes. You could call what I have, a Heitzman strain. I can trace any bird I have back at least ten generations, all with my breeding." 
           All throughout the day, Mr. Heitzman's phone would periodically ring. With no exaggeration, I am certain at least twenty different fanciers from all parts of the world were calling, asking for his birds. I could only wonder, how many calls he received in a year, not to mention the correspondence. Charles Heitzman certainly was in strong demand. In demand like no one could imagine.
          And always, however, Mr. Heitzman had to communicate, it has always been done with his own special style, his own straight-forwardness and Heitzman-German class. In speech, he is modest and low-toned, patient and precise. In matters pertaining to records and handwriting, no one match him more than they could match his birds. His handwriting is quite unique; artistic, flowery, eloquent, expressive, creative and unique--like him. He writes with a flare of style as easily identifiable as is a Van Gogh painting. In an imaginary life, I could have seen him writing as some Trappist monk hidden away in the mountains, concerned only, in the beauty and craftsmanship of the writing itself as well as the message. Everything Mr. Heitzman writes is in-depth, articulate, and exact. And to read Mr. Heitzman's handwriting is genuinely a reflection of the man himself: handsome in both it's neat and gentle manner. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the last years of Mr. Heitzman's life, he maintained his handwritten correspondence as best as he could. But I began to notice his beautiful handwriting to falter and be somewhat shaky in its structure; Mr. Heitzman's internal beautiful self was still in his handwriting but I could see, his age was creeping in and influencing his writing as it was Mr. Heitzman himself; it hurt me to see this, knowing the fate of us all; I happen to treasure the last letters from him the most of the more than 650 hand-written letters he wrote to me).
          "I have a double-door-system leading into most every loft," spoke Mr. Heitzman. "Each door owns a device geared with springs and weights always forcing each door to quickly re-shut itself once it has been opened.  Many of my prisoners are very valuable. It is quite rare for any pigeon to escape."
           Heitzman was generally soft-spoken and most-always serious, especially about his pigeons. But not so serious that he did not seem to constantly carry a smile. His personality was forceful, upbeat, and every way, positive.  I was sure all these characteristics were in large part why he was successful in whatever he pursued. Without telling me, over the many years I knew him, I slowly discovered just how loving and grand a person Mr. Heitzman had always been to his family; during the last year's of Agnes' (his wife) life, she had horribly suffered from Emphysema; she had required a good deal of attention. And in all ways, Mr. Heitzman had devoutly remained close to her side until the end. And Charles Heitzman's son, Charles, Jr., had been given the family privileges of working with his father in the bakery business. (AUTHOR'S NOTE:  As of this very day, the HEITZMAN BAKERY business throughout Louisville and Jeffersontown, Kentucky remains the premier bakery). Before retiring to Stuart, Florida, Mr. Heitzman informed me, his son had done very well in the business, even better than he had done, both being millionaires. (AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Mr. Heitzman was a devout Catholic. Very active in church. Every time I came to Mr. Heitzman's he would eventually take me out for dinner. We would always have a fine meal. And always, he insisted, he paid the tab. He would have it no other way. Mr. Heitzman was proud of his German ancestry, fondly remembering and always reflective about both of his parents being immigrants. I remember one day when we were under the floor of his main loft in a dark place where he kept some large wicker training baskets and a few odds and ends...there, leaned up on it's end was an old wooden chest. "That was my mother's chest," spoke Mr. Heitzman. "When she came over from Germany." As I was given permission to open its door-like top, I noted it's crude wooden drawers and deteriorated state. "This is all my mother owned when she came to America. Her whole world was in that trunk").
          As I continued to walk and converse with Mr. Heitzman I looked at this small man with white hair and blue eyes and realized I was in the company of greatness. He was not a man who talked about politics, although I did notice in the library where Ronald Reagan had sent him a birthday greeting He was not a fancier bent on one-upmanship. He was the most honest fancier I had ever known; a fancier in his own quiet who had proven beyond question his breeding and racing prowess; a fancier who had given up quality after quality and yet somehow had always carefully managed to breed back even better pigeons with each successive year.
          One of the things which Charles Heitzman has done over the years has influenced the racing pigeon sport has been contribution to literary works. Namely, the five books on racing pigeons which he authored.  These books were the first books of their kind concerning the racing pigeon sport in America, and several have been revised over the years due in large part to his beautiful documentation of the Sion and Stassart strains. These books also showed detailed pedigrees as well as photographs and race records of many of the original Stassart pigeons and those of Mr. Heitzman's Stassarts. This Stassart book was first written by Charles Heitzman in 1939.  Guilame Stassart died in 1939 from a suicide, but his reference work and strain of pigeons lived on through the Charles Heitzman effort. The Stassart Strain was then self-published in 1944, and revised in 1964.  It is 72 pages long and is now a collector's item since it has not been reprinted in almost 20 years. Mr. Heitzman himself only has a couple copies left in his own library.
          In addition to the Stassart strain, the SION REFERENCE BOOK was published in the seventh addition in 1977.  The first edition was published in 1932 and for almost 50 years now this book has been the major reference book on the Sion strain in America. It was re-published in 1935, again in 1942, and again in 1945.  It was then in its fifth edition in 1959. Although the first Sions were imported by L.F. Curtis, the fame of this strain has been greatly propagated through the publication of this book.  The photographs of the classic reds, red-checkered, and silver pigeons have become the favorites of many fanciers throughout the country. In addition to these two major works on the two strains of racing pigeons that Charles Heitzman so successively bred and crossed, and flew even more successfully, were followed up by three other books.  
           Mr. Heitzman's YOUNG BIRD AND TRAINING METHODS has been used by hundreds of fliers over the years. Mr. Heitzman first wrote this book back in 1932 and had it republished seven times. It is estimated that this book has been sent to thousands of fliers throughout the world, because for many years Mr. Heitzman included it with all orders of his pigeons which were sent from his loft.
           In addition, to the YOUNG BIRD TRAINING METHODS, two other books were printed; LOFTS FOR RACING PIGEONS was printed by Charles Heitzman and shows diagrams of many lofts on his premises. The diagrams are quite detailed and allow fanciers to either design lofts of a similar nature, or use concepts to build into their own lofts. Through this book, many of his ideas which he has incorporated for successful racing over the years have been well established in lofts throughout the country. Mr. Heitzman has championed such issues as good ventilation, sky lights, special traps, cleaned feed, as well as internal hardware such as specially designed nest boxes and perches for the convenience of the birds; their comfort, as well as ease in the cleaning and helping to maintain a clean loft. Mr. Heitzman also believes strongly in large aviaries so that birds have plenty of room to fly around for exercise even within their own loft
          Over the years Mr. Heitzman tried many different ideas in many different lofts. He has so many different types of lofts on his estate (41); there are some with dowelled windows, some with cement floors, some with wooden floors and one with a metal floor. Of these, he prefers a wooden floor. It was almost inevitable Mr. Heitzman would come to author such a popular book.
          In 1956, Mr. Heitzman was designing lofts for stock birds and he spent great time and effort putting glass sashes in front of open doweled doors which had water-proofed concrete floors and roofing tar which allowed for as much dryness in the loft as possible. In addition, roof overhangs of fifteen or more inches were commonplace. In 1969, a sixty-foot-long loft with large aviaries fitted with one inch by one inch welded sparrow-proof netting as well as running water was built.  Soon thereafter, the seventh edition of LOFTS FOR RACING PIGEONS was published.
          The next book which Charles Heitzman also frequently sent to fliers who purchased his birds was a BREEDING RECORD book. In this book, up to thirty or more pairs can be registered with columns for the dates of their eggs, when hatched, band numbers, color, sex, and their paternal remarks concerning the children outlined. In addition to that, space at the top is left for important data such as pair number, dated mated, strain, and pedigrees.  All of this information is considered in a very handy and useful breeding book which again has become very popular with fanciers throughout the country.
            "Charlie," I asked, "Didn't you tell me, you sold birds to the movie star, Andy Devine," I asked. "I loved Devine in the movie, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE."
            "No Sweat, Andy came here several times. A very fine person. I have a photograph of us with a Stassart he bought. That picture is here in the library. Andy told me that when he was a boy he grew up out in the country --Texas, I think--near a mine. He said that when he was a boy and had pigeons he was playing around near that mine and stole four sticks of dynamite. He kept the dynamite hid for a while. And then one day, he caught a cat which had been sneaking into his loft and killing his pigeons. Andy told me, he tied all four of those sticks of dynamite together and then tied them to that cat. He lit the dynamite and then he threw the cat down on the ground. The cat ran straight towards his pigeon loft and hid. A few seconds later the dynamite exploded, blowing up the cat, his loft and every pigeon he owned."
 
PART SIX - Observations
              
          "Here at the Heitzman loft," spoke Charles Heitzman. "I get many visitors from all parts of the country and Canada as well as many foreign visits. I am amazed at the many questions asked regarding training, breeding and genetics, all of which could never be answered in just one conversation. I will accordingly deal with color laws in sex linkage, line breeding and thoroughbred race horse pedigrees, if you would like, No Sweat."
          "Please do."
          "Some twenty or so years ago, a prominent fancier visited my loft and he wanted five SION hens all squeakers that could be settled. I told him this would be an easy matter, if he left the selection to me. I then proceeded to select Blue Bars and blue checkers, all of which were bred from either red or silver hens. He was astonished when I told him the sex was guaranteed. So, I fully explained this sex linkage law to him, showing the mother of each of his five birds as red or silver on their pedigrees. Many other visitors were given the information, so to save time explaining it to them, I prepared a small sheet which is now given to all visitors.
          It is as follows:
          1,) Blue Bar mated to Blue Bar will produce Blue Bars only, of both sex.
          2.) A Blue Check cock and a Red Check hen will produce Blue Bars, Blue Checks, and Black Checks, all of which will be hens. All Red and Silvers from this mating will be cocks.
          3.) A Blue Check cock and a Silver hen
 , will produce Red and Silver cocks. All Blues, Blue Checkers and Black Checkers will be hens.
          4.) A Blue Bar cock and a Silver hen will produce Blue Bars and Silvers. All the Blue Bars will hens and all the Silvers will be cocks.
          5.) Two Reds mated together can produce both hens and cocks of their own red coloring. But all the blues, Blue Checks and Black Checks will be hens.
          NOTE---All Red and Silver colored birds having Black Ticks or as I have seen them, Black Splashes are always cocks. Hens can carry brown in their tail feathers but never black.  (AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Over the years since Mr. Heitzman's death, I have had a great many fanciers remark that all of the Heitzman Sions should have black ticking or be black splashed. That, they continue, in fact, is a "trademark" of the famous Heitzman pigeons. Normally, I allow such remarks to pass. But now for my reader I will explain why many of the Heitzman Sion cocks did at one time carry so much black ticking and why some never did. And why the few which now do honestly exist to this day are often found with little or no black ticking whatsoever. It all primarily began with the selections which Mr. Heitzman often made when mating two of his pigeons together. So many times, he bred a red gene male to a black gene female, or vice-versa.  Mr. Heitzman did this over and over again for half of a century. Why?  Because he believed it would produce a strong feathered pigeon and mainly because he knew by mating as he was doing, he could definitely sex the babies from such nests, thus being able to guarantee to his potential buyers the exact sex of a young bird as they so desired. Mr. Heitzman was not a person who wanted to receive feedback from some disgruntled buyer who eventually told him he had sent him two males or two hens when he had ordered a pair. This was not a good business. So, Mr. Heitzman bred as I described. Not always, for certain. For he bred many pairs together in which both the male and the female were of the same color. I saw this done with many of his silvers. But he also did it with all the colors. What evolved out of all this was this:  by continuously mating the red gene with the black gene for twenty generations or so, he was mixing colors in the process. Red and black, black and red, over and over. The end result did in fact have many of his silvers and reds owning a lot of black ticking or black splashing. And in many of his black checks and blue checks you could inspect a wing and sometimes see some red coloring in the flights. But certainly, not all of the Heitzman birds were this way.  Many of the reds which were mated together over many years took own a "clean red" coloring with very little black ticking whatsoever. And this, to some extent, is the actual reasoning why some of the surviving reds and silver Heitzman Sions to this day have their "clean" coloring. Of note, Mr. Heitzman did in fact once import one red cock from Robert Sion which was heavily splashed in black color. This particular bird's lineage spread throughout parts of his colony. And some of the birds down from this linage were almost a grizzle-like pattern mixed with red and black coloring. Heitzman noted to me, generally speaking, he had observed, the older a red male with black ticking aged the more the black coloration spread with each successive moulting. Like a man slowly growing older and accumulating grey hair, these red and silver male Sions slowly grew in more black. AND while I am now on the subject of Mr. Heitzman's pigeons' colors, I must emphasize, not once did Mr. Heitzman ever breed a solid black or solid black velvet pigeon. This was also true of grizzles. And only twice did he ever breed a solid white pigeon. Both times the solid white had dark eyes and was bred from two Sion red checks and both times the white was a female. Mr. Heitzman described them as "true albinos." Mr. Heitzman did breed chocolate colored pigeons which were always down from his Stassart bloodlines. And on rare occasions, he bred some very dark-dullish colored blue bars which could have been classified as "slate" colored; these came in both Sions and Stassarts. As for the lace pattern, I noted this on rare occasions in both black checks and blue checks. But generally speaking, Mr. Heitzman rarely had a pigeon in his colony which was a "lace.” It was always hard to pick out which of the colors in Mr. Heitzman's colony that attracted me most. I fell in love with all of them. But certainly, I saw so many magnificent blue bars as to keep anyone dazzled. And here and there, I would sometimes spot one of his powder silver bar Sions with dark eyes and certainly it was the same as if looking upon some diamond.)
          "Mr. Heitzman, what about line-breeding? How do you feel about it?"
          "This is just another form of inbreeding which will enable one to keep a family rather closely related to some ancestor of great racing quality. In my loft, I have mated father to granddaughter, also half-sister and half-brother, with great results. In rare instances, I have mated son and mother, but only for reproduction purposes.
          Dealing with half-brother and half-sister matings, I am always line breeding toward a particular winner in which to get this blood in my colony. The method is simple. If it is a cock, I will mate him with my best hen, providing she is not too closely related to him, to get a round of babies. Then I separate the pair and mate this cock to my second best hen for a pair of youngsters. Assuming that the two matings produce a hen from one pair and a cock from the other, the following year they should be mated together and your selected pair bred from half sister and brother will have as their grand sire your best cock on both the father's and mother's side. This is line-breeding. Many of the hens selected for one such mating could be a cross which brings in one-fourth new blood in the second generation.
          Many outstanding racers as well as stock birds have been the result of such matings. I well remember in the early twenties the late J. W. Logan won the San Sebastian Grand National with the famous red hen "1826." She was eighth, the previous year, and sold at Logan's final sale for $1,086.00 when the English pound was at its highest. She was bred from a half-brother and sister.
          Mons. Stassart's famous "Imposteur" Belge '31-2405083 won second Pau National 600 miles with over 3,000 birds competing; he was the result of a half-sister brother mating being line-bred to the famous stock hen "Ecailee" R. P. '22-246298 Blue Check hen. If I may mention, two of my own birds, a Stassart called HEAD-TO- HEAD was line-bred to my famous "HEAD-WIND."  '47-531, he being the grand sire on both sides.
          My good Sion hen, 64029, Red Check, was line-bred to one of my best Sion cocks, "SION-LEW," 52059, on both father and mother's side.
          In line-breeding or inbreeding, it must be remembered that the birds selected must be sound in every way, without any defects and in the best of health. If any weakness exists in either of the two birds, please bear in mind that by inbreeding closely, we multiply the good as well as the bad characteristics. Many great racers have been produced by mating half sister and brother using one of the birds from another well tested strain or family. This form of line-breeding is very popular in Belgium.
          "What about race horse breeding? Has the way race horse breeding influenced you any?"
          "Being a Kentuckian and a Kentucky Colonel it has been my good fortune to meet and discuss the breeding of race horses with many noted thoroughbred breeders. So I want to pass on to you, No Sweat, my observations.
          In 1956, I had the pleasure of a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Rex Ellsworth of Chino, California. They bred "SWAPS" the great Kentucky Derby winner, "CANDY SPOTS," a half-brother to SWAPS and "TERONG," also a great winner. Mrs. Ellsworth called for an appointment to see my racers because their fourteen-year-old son had a small loft in Chino. They knew very little about pigeon racing. But they had made millions with their "Ellsworth Ranch" of thoroughbred race horses. I presented them with several of my young birds, including a daughter of "HURRY-HOME," which flew 504 miles for me seven times. The young boy wrote and thanked me.
          During the afternoon visit to my home, library and lofts, Mr. Ellsworth asked if racing homers were pedigreed, to which I replied, just as much as your horses are. We then proceeded to my pigeon library and he was amazed at my pigeon pedigree records. He was shown pedigrees of most of my winners going back ten generations. And some of my birds are actually my own strain in that they have 125 to 250 ancestors that were bred kin the Heitzman loft. My extended pedigree blanks are of my own design, and he was given a few dozen, so that he could further trace back the ancestors of his horses, because a race horse pedigree shows only four generations. He could see at a glance the amount of inbreeding that took place by pedigrees.
          A question that I asked him was this---how much inbreeding do you resort to in race horse breeding?  He replied, very little. I try to avoid close inbreeding, he said. My greatest stallion was KHALED, the sire of SWAPS, my Kentucky Derby winner and forty-eight other United States stakes winners.
          A year or so later another man visited who said the large year book entitled AMERICAN RACE HORSES, which gives a review of the breeding and performances of the outstanding thoroughbreds of the year. He supplied me with three years of books covering the winners to 1941, 1944 and 1947. Here, I found four generation pedigrees of every stakes winner. And after a careful recap of the 112 horses listed for the three years, only 15 had the same ancestor showing twice in a four-generation pedigree. This certainly confirmed Mr. Ellsworth's earlier answer to my question concerning inbreeding. This is quite different from most of our racing pigeon pedigrees, because we all practice some inbreeding after producing a pair of birds that produced winners." (AUTHOR'S NOTE: Since the years after Mr. Heitzman's death I have continued to study the pedigrees of winning thoroughbreds; over the past twenty-five years, there has been a much stronger inclination for horse breeders to now practice some form of line-breeding.)
  
PART SEVEN – A Treatise on Heitzman Sions
 
         Charles Heitzman's first loft started when he was able to locate a large old wooden crate that he customized into a racing loft. It was 3' by 6" deep and 4' by 6: high. By 1912, he had developed his first race team which consisted of eight pigeons. In that year, Charles was the youngest person ever to join the Louisville Racing Pigeon Club. He won the first race and on the 200, he sent eight pigeons and got all eight back in good race time. After the Armistice in 1919, Mr. Heitzman imported a pair of pigeons which he paid $150 for from Mr. J. W. Toft, Liverpool, England. They were bred in 1919, and produced outstanding racers, among the birds was the winner of the 1926, 500 Mile Buffalo, New York Championship Race won by Dr. L. Reu.
           It was before and during this period of this time, Mr. Heitzman met Agnes Heimbrock and on January 21, 1920, they were married at The Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Louisville, Kentucky by Rev. Beresheim. This devoted couple. eventually had four children, one son, Charles, Jr.  and three daughters; Mary Agnes (she and her husband eventually purchased the bakery in 1959; today, there are still four locations in operation for the famous Heitzman Bakery throughout the Kentucky-Indiana area), Bernice Modesta "Aunt Bea" (his daughter who lived with him during his later years), and Dorthy May. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: Mr. Heitzman's father was Jacob Heitzman. He was born July 27, 1861 in Hausach, Germany; he came to America in 1883 and died January 19, 1956; he is the person In the Heitzman family who started the bakery in Louisville in 1891. Mr. Heitzman's other grandfather was Frank Heimbrock; he was born in Germany on November 8, 1868 and died on December 27, 1933. Mr. Heitzman's son spent much time around the birds and grew very well in understanding them, even eventually being assigned with racing pigeons in the signal corps during WW2, meeting Winston Churchill's daughter and others; But Charles, Jr. never wanted to have a life devoted to racing pigeons and after WW2; he eventually gave up all interest in them.)
          In 1921, the first 1,000 Mile long-distance event was accomplished by a pigeon bred by Charles Heitzman and flown by Mr. C. P. Bills, who obtained the pigeon from Mr. Heitzman as a gift.  This created a new record in the annals of long-distance racing for Louisville, Kentucky.  Never before had this distance been accomplished, although many good birds went down trying to fly this stretch from Pearsal, Texas back to Louisville, Kentucky.
          In 1922, Mr. Heitzman imported a number of racing pigeons of the Logan strain and this strain worked splendidly for him as well as for fanciers over the entire country. In 1924, another long-distance record was made by Mr. Heitzman's Logan Blue Check cock, 2236, which he named, "ALL ALONE."  This racer put on an outstanding performance flying 500 Miles on the second day - single tossed - flying from Vicksburg, Mississippi back to Louisville, Kentucky in August, the hottest month of the year. ALL ALONE went on to breed five young birds the following year that all went 300 miles on the day of the toss.
          In 1924, Charles Heitzman commissioned a London, England fancier to attend Jon W. Logan's retirement sale, and he bought a pair of birds for $720, the cock being number 575, a red and the only son out of J. Logan's champion hen, "1836", which was sold for the world record price of $1,080. The other bird bought at Logan's sale was "222", black checker hen, own sister to 69, the San Sebastian 640 Mile Champion, that sold for $760. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: John W. Logan Esquire, died on May 25, 1925, in his 80th year.) 
          A truly great champion long-distance racing pigeon flier, named F.W. Marriott, Esquire, who lived in Birmingham, England, during this time was earning fame as being the best long distance racing pigeon fancier in the world. And because of this, Mr. Heitzman had to own some of his blood. The Marriott strain was recognized as one of the finest and oldest strains in the United Kingdom; a strain which had been setting long distance records for nearly three decades. Mr. Marriott raced from a small loft and yet won more classic races than any other two top England champions combined. He won the San Sebastian 633 Miles, two years in succession against the entire country of England. And on top of this, he won second San Sebastian, 633 Miles in 1929, losing first place by on 7 YPM. He was the Premier Prize Winner pulling down over $800.00 and four Cups, all this, competing with only one pigeon competing against 2,000 other birds. By 1930, Charles Heitzman was sending out his twelve page booklets all over the world which was his MARRIOTT MATING LIST. On the front page of this sales booklet, Mr. Heitzman stated the following: "After deciding to introduce the Marriott strain I have determined to have at least one bird each directly from each of Mr. Marriott's champions. This necessitated the importing of seventeen pigeons, the very cream of the Marriott strain. One pair of youngsters from each of these thirteen pair of Marriotts is being preserved for my young bird team. These thirteen pairs of Marriotts will breed more youngsters than required for my young bird team. Therefore. I take the means of offering to the American fanciers a limited number of my April. May, June and July hatches. My high regard for this great English strain, also compliance with the many requests for a 1930 Marriott mating list, prompted the issuance of this one. It will also benefit the readers of the MARRIOTT REFERENCE BOOK who may be desirous of introducing a pair or two of pure Marriotts into their loft. You have here a rare English strain, with twenty-five years of careful breeding and racing behind it, and Charles Darwin tells us, LIKE PRODUCES LIKE. Surely, the Marriotts which have been line-bred to champion after champion are more than qualified to produce winners."  
         All throughout this period of time, Mr. Heitzman was seeking the finest long distance racing pigeons in the world. For several years, he had been following the long-distance records of a man in France called, Paul Sion. Mr. Heitzman's initial information which first came to him regarding Paul Sion came via of F.W. Marriott, who highly regarded Paul Sion's abilities with long distance racing pigeons. The more Mr. Heitzman began to read about Paul Sion and see pictures of his pigeons the more Mr. Heitzman began to fall in love with them.
         *Now then, before I proceed any further with this story, allow me to say, yes, I am well versed and aware there are many different Sion fanciers throughout the United States who have their own stories to tell about Sions. And granted, many of these stories deserve attention, amen. I must pause here to mention a fine friend I once admired who is now deceased. He was a great Sion enthusiast which I was able to happily live with on three different occasions only because of my life-long friend, Gary Stone, a great racing pigeon flier, Cincinnati, Ohio, who so generously financed my "Sion trips." The man I am speaking of was a physical-giant of a man, but wonderfully friendly to poor No Sweat, appropriately enough, a pro football player who lived in California, Mr. John M. Garzoli. John believed, from the early importations of the old original Paul Sions beginning in 1925, all the way up until their last importations in 1946, they were the finest long-distance racing pigeons in the world. Of the over 150 birds that were imported from Paul Sion into America, John believed that LE ROI, '22 FRANCE 153233 Blue Bar White Flight cock was the best of them all. John told me, "No Sweat, the finest birds which Paul Sion sent over were the ones related to his bird named, ROUGE MACOT. Some of the finest Paul Sions went to Fernandez in Cuba, and John Mahaffey (AUTHOR'S NOTE; John Mahaffey is another one of Charles Heitzman's excellent racing associates which was famous for crossing Sions with Stassarts and dominating long distance races) was able to get some of those. When I talk about LE-ROI as being the number one Sion this is because I am including all of LE-ROI's progeny, THE FALCONESS, his granddaughter, and the great "1104," his son.  Right now, there are more Sion champions that go back on to those two than any I know. Why was LE-ROI such a great breeder?  Well, I think it went back on the fact that Paul Sion started his strain based on the WEGGE strain, with one or two important crosses, namely the GRISS DUGNIOLE MALR and a red male from Delatower. By crossing the Wegge male with a Wegge hen, which was a granddaughter of ROUGE VEKMAN, he obtained a blue bar hen with black eyes. When this hen was paired back with the product of the Wegge-Delathower cross, she bred him the red Sion hen with black eyes. When this hen was paired back to a product of the Vekam-Gris line, the Grey hen of 1910 was produced. It was this hen that really founded the strain of Sions. It is this hen from whom LE-ROI is closely descended; In fact, I believe the closest that Paul Sion ever sent to this country from the old GREY hen's line. And because of this, the American fancy, and in particular, L. F. Curtis, was getting the best that Paul Sion ever sold. I have spoken with many of the top European fliers such as Pete De Weerd, Tom Buck and others and they all tell me the best Sions are in America, not in Europe; the war had a lot do with this. And by the best, they are speaking about the "GRIS" Sions which are few and far between in Europe. And one reason the best Sions wound up here is simply because Americans were willing to pay more for them than were the fanciers in Europe. Heitzman was one of the top Sion lofts ever. And a big reason is because he had the bloodline down from Lew Curtis which was down from his GREY hen. But I believe Mr. Heitzman fell short of really getting use out of this family of birds because in 1943 he sold most of those birds. He saved 451818 male and a female GRIS which he kept. The great hen, 833294, was one of those sold, herself a great racer and a granddaughter of ROUGE MACOT. Mr. Giovannoni had a grandson to that hen which was his greatest racer, called TRUCKEE KING. which won in 1964, 1rst 500 on the Day Combine, and 3rd on the Day Combine 600 miles two weeks later.  Curtis told me, one of the interesting things about his imported Paul Sion's pigeons is that many of them are big and raw-bone, and this in itself is not what most American fanciers desire. But when I cross them back into the GRIS family, the result is a small compact bird which Americans love." (AUTHOR'S NOTE: John's opinions were his. But I have to absolutely dis-agree with his assessment of Mr. Heitzman's handling of the LE-ROI bloodlines; Mr. Heitzman was acutely aware of the superior homing instincts being passed down through the LE-ROI blood.)
         NOW THEN....
         How do I go about giving you the complete story of Charles Heitzman and that of Paul and Robert Sion?   How did a small boy from Kentucky ever find himself buying racing pigeons from the world's finest racing pigeon flier, and in the doing, entwine a half century of his life perpetuating them all over the world? I will attempt to give you this story through Charles Heitzman's own words for he alone should know it best. It is true that Lew Curtis imported many fine Sions, as did many other prominent fanciers in the United States, but no other fancier ever came as close in making the Sions as widespread and popular as did Charles Heitzman. Of all the many different strains of pigeons he bought, flew and sold, it was his beautiful Sions, so often known for their reds and silvers, which turned out to be his "bread and butter." As I sat in his library, he handed me a notebook and told me to start witting. "My colony today," he said. "Comprises primarily of two strains, the Sions and the Stassarts, each a strain deriving its name from the original founder. For now, I will deal with only the Sions, a strain founded by Mons. Paul Sion of Lille, France. He and his birds were a class act, like none other.  
          It was in the winter of 1930, that I first introduced Sions. My first Sion was NURP-'28-48 Dark Check cock, bred from the original pair sent to Mr. F. W. Marriott by Mons. Paul Sion in 1926. I then imported, at great cost, four direct Sions of STERLING QUALITY; they were as follows:
          FRANCE  '23-181751 Blue Check White Flight cock
          FRANCE  '23-693955 Blue Check White Flight cock
          FRANCE  '26-161199 Red hen
          FRANCE  '26-161106 Black Check hen
          All four of these pigeons were bred and flown by Mons. Paul Sion of Lille, France. Only one of the four failed as a great producer in my loft; the bird was 181751. The other three bred good birds the blood of which is winning today.
          In 1931, Mr. L. F. Curtis sent me two wonderful Sions from HIS VERY BEST BLOOD. these birds were IF '29-W-1104 Red cock from "LE-ROI" '22-153233 Blue Bar cock with one white flight and "LA-REINE” ‘20-3117 Silver hen. As a mate for 1104, he sent IF-'29-W-1033 Red Check hen from his original Sion imports 309144 and '24-687336. This pair made history in my loft and many parts of the United States, England, Canada, Japan and so many other countries. I later named them as "PAIR-H." In 1932, Mr. Curtis sent me his famous 1,000 mile Sion pair---'27-3230 Blue Bar cock, son of "82402" and "'27-3255" Red Check hen, daughter of Paul Sion's "CHAMPION DES CHAMPIONS" ----"6253" Red Check cock. This pair produced in heir first year of breeding my "'32-D-3276" Blue Check hen, a great producer and the mother of"40016" my Combine 504 Mile winner. In 1932 Dr. Anderson of Scotland sent me his original Sion pair"86746" Blue heck co and "44284" Blue Bar hen; They too, bred a hen of remarkable quality, " 32-D-395."Dr. Anderson won over $1,250.00 with a silver hen bred from a son from this pair.
          To the above were added four splendid Sions from Senor Amadeo Fernandez of Cuba, notably "'31--1008" Blue Check hen from Paul Sion's "82030" and "309110" Blue Bar. The imported Sion pair "327617" Silver cock and "327648" Blue Hen produced "32-D-3203" Silver female. The best bird he sent me was the original Paul Sion hen "'23-18176" Blue Check hen, who had flown 500 miles four different times for Mons Sion. I paired "18176" with the Lew Curtis cock, "1104." My "3251" is a son of this pair who sired many winners and his nest mate proved most valuable as one of the very best birds in Japan. My"35-2732" Blue Check hen flew 500 Miles on the day five times, is a daughter of "3251," and grandmother of "4346" my 600 Mile Day cock, which also flew 1,000 miles in 1943.
          After the death of Henry Beach in 1935, I selected, through the executor of his estate, my good Sion hen " "AU-31-D-962" Blue Check pied hen. She was selected as my only choice from the entire sales list because of her performances as a yearling in winning the 514 Mile race. She proved to be the best investment I ever made in a Sion. Although I paid enormous sums for many of the original Sions, the hen "962" only cost me $10.00 and she produced six 500 Mile Day Birds and eleven winners in four years. Her four grandparents were all bred by Mr. L. F. Curtis from his direct Sion importations. A daughter of "962" became the progenetress of my "GLORY FAMILY."
          In 1938, Dr. Earle Mortimer, mated the Curtis Sion cock "HUB--3177" Blue Bar cock, a son of LE-ROI, with my Blue Check hen"3492" who was out of "1104" and "1033."  From this mating were bred several outstanding birds, notably "209--259". All of these birds were Blue Var Pencil in color, and have left many good birds in my loft with the dark color Sion eye. I must not forget Dr. Mortimer's famous hen "SYLVIA. 208" which was first on the 625 Mile Concourse and a winner many times. Her mother was from "28-3177" a son of LE-ROI. SYLVIA was mated with my good racer "3829" Red cock "4420" Red Check cock, sons of "1104" and "1033" and again this blood scored in the long races. Another good bird was "659" Red Check cock, a son of Paul Sion's "82042." The cock, "659" certainly left his mark in my loft.
          At Paul Sion's sale in 1939, I bought "'37-451818" Red Check cock, ""'34-833294" Red Check hen, "'38-339460," Red Check cock, and "339455" Red Check hen. These four birds turned out to be truly great breeding and long distance stock. The last original Paul Sion pair introduced was my FRENCH-SION PAIR, FRANCE"'38-339388" Red Check cock and FRANCE " '38-339343." Silver Bar hen, granddaughter of ROUGE MACOT, "'27-327684," the greatest racer ever for Paul Sion.
          In 1945, I exchanged a Stassart for a Sion with Dr. Louis A. Perras, and the "10398" Blue Bar hen he sent was mated to a son of MORNING GLORY. The result of this mating was my champion "HIS GLORY," "7128," 1rst. 500 Day of Toss in 1946, 14 hours and 27 minutes on the wing.
          This was the base of the Paul Sions used in producing the present day Sions which I now own. These Sions are long distance birds and they are great reproducers. Just to cite a few performances, the old pair "1104" and "1033" bred a pair of red check cocks in the first nest in 1931, namely "3105" and "3106": both proved to be great racers as well as stock birds. In the second nest two hens were hatched; "3111" dark red check hen and "3112" dark check hen. The hen "3111" produced my "3694", first on a 504 Mile Young Bird Race in 1936. In the same year, they bred "3168" dark check hen, a producer of dozens of winners the country over. In 1934, they bred "3401" and "3402, also,"3492" blue check hen. In 1936, they bred "4420," "3699," "3700," and "3829," all great birds. "3105" made 504 Miles Day of Toss and produced "3372," also 504 Miles Day of Toss and sired "KENTUCKY LAD 3694" red check cock. He won our 500-mile YOUNG BIRD race in 1936 and in 1937, bred "VICKSBURG LADY," 5066," again a 500-mile day winner, who in turn bred a 500 mile second diploma winner in our 1938 500-mile young bird race, when I clocked six of an entry of ten birds by noon the second day. My racer, "HEI-PURE," a 500 Mile young bird winner, in 1948, is closely descended from "KENTUCKY LAD."
          The old red Paul Sion hen, "161199" when mated to "693955" in 1932, produced "'32-3207," a deep red-colored cock, who as a racer, who flew 500 twice, and as a stock bird he rarely bred a bad one. He was mated with the BEACH HEN, "962", and they bred "5015" and "5016," both were 504 Mile Day birds. In 1936, the same pair produced "3615" and "3616" which were once again two 500 Mile Day birds. "3616." named "GLORIOUS," is the base of my "GLORY FAMILY." The later is the morning of "MORNING GLORY" "38084," first on a 504 Mile Young Bird race in 1938, and became one of the best stock birds in my loft. His sons always raced better than the hens. Among his winning progeny I bred "4176," "SON GLORY," 40016," blue bar who was first combine, 504 Miles day of toss.
          The original Paul Sion"'24-693955," was paired with "'26-161106," Black check hen in 1931, and they bred ""3103" and "3104," a great pair of 600 mile hens. As it turned out, they proved to be key birds in my "HEITZMAN SION FAMILY." Another noteworthy pair was "5015" Black Check cock when paired with "3700," a daughter of "1033" and "1104." They produced my game hen "3803," First 500-mile day of toss in 1939 as a yearling---14 hours and 21 minutes on the wing. They also produced my "2093" which was unusually colored Sion, being almost bronze in color.
          The pair "659" red check cock and the imported Paul Sion hen "339455," gave me "39124" red check cock, a sire of dozens of winners, but always paired with "39126" mealy hen from Paul Sion's "451818," red check cock and "3700" red check hen, from "1104" and "1033."  I tried to avoid mating birds too closely, but I found some of the "key birds" mentioned in every other branch or line. I doubt whether I would produce a great Sion winner without the blood of the Curtis Pair, "1104" and "1033" appearing several times in their ancestry.    
          In 1948, a nest pair of hens were produced, "AU-48-OKY-111" and also "112," both were red checkers. One flew 100,117,150 and 313 Miles Day of Toss. The other, "112," called "HEI-PURE," was flown 100, 150, 200 and 504 miles as a young bird in late October when the days are short. Her pedigree for six generations is set out to show she is really IS a bird of MY own design, and truly, what anyone should term as a" HEITZMAN SION," a strain which I have developed. Checking this pedigree, you will find several 500 Mile Young Bird Winners in her ancestry. "MORNING GLORY," is mentioned in two lines or branches. Also, "KENTUCKY LAD," is mentioned in two different lines or branches as well.
          I actually bred thirty-six of her ancestors and there are another forty birds in her pedigree that passed through my hands and Mr. L. F. Curtis'.  This is conclusive proof that our best birds---so why not take are those bred down from our best long distance racers. A very dear friend of mine on the west coast recently told me he rarely breeds from his old bird racers and yearlings. I told him, his best birds were in the Race Team; They are the results of "Survival of the fittest"--- so why not take the first round of youngsters and let this comprise the young bird Race Team? The direct offspring of one's racers will make much better racers than those bred from prisoners with long pedigrees of fashionable strains.
          In breeding from racing stock the feeding of squeakers must be transferred to "feeders," because the burden of feeding will prove quite detrimental to racers.
          In my early days, during the period from 1912 to 1925, I had the good fortune to meet and visit the late Mr. Charles Ellsworth of Cincinnati, Ohio. This man was a wonderful writer, breeder and flier of long distance racers who served as the president of The International Federation and the president of The American Racing Pigeon Union; his loft was an example never to be forgotten. He raced only eight pairs of old birds in a small loft. He would rear a dozen nice youngsters in March and this would constitute his young bird team, bred from the racers. His loft was the last word in perfection. It had running water, perfect ventilation and was always perfectly clean. His ambition was to perfect a strain in which all birds for six generations would be 500 Mile Day birds. He achieved his ambition to the extent of four or five generations of 500 Mile Day birds before his death in 1931. He created a family of 500 Mile Day birds but it took him an entire life-time.  More of the younger people now getting into our sport should follow Mr. Ellsworth's example. By possessing fewer and better birds one has less work, and the overall expenses are also considerably less."              
"Mr. Heitzman," I asked. "What happened to the Sions during World War Two?  And what was your relationship to Paul Sion's son, Robert, after the war?"
           Mr. Heitzman paused. "No Sweat, not many fanciers ever ask those questions. As you know, France declared war on Germany in September 3, 1939, following the German invasion of Poland on September 1. The German invasion was called the "Blitzkrieg." Paul Sion actually lived on the northern border of France which was not a good place to be living during this time. The Germans knew all too well about pigeons being able to carry messages; In fact, during the battle of France Sion's home was besieged by German forces for several days and those French citizens who lived in the north and western areas of France fled to the south and east. That eventually became known as Vichy France, and was the region of the country where most of the French Resistance kept themselves hid. The Germans issued a proclamation stating, ANYONE IN FRANCE IN POSSESSION OF A RACING PIGEON IS SUBJECT TO FACE EXECUTION FOR SPYING. I have a letter from his son here, I want you to read. No other person besides myself has ever seen it."
            I took the old and yellowed letter which Mr. Robert Sion had written to Mr. Heitzman; it read as follows:
 
           My parents used to live at Tourcoing. in 1919, my father, having constructed a new pigeon house, gave me the old one and I made my debut in the breeding of carrier-pigeons. I was 21. Two years later, at my marriage, I left my father's home to establish myself in Halluin near the family mills (factory). Halluin is little city ten kilometers (about 6.2 miles; one kilometer is 1093.6 yards) from Tourcoing. In 1922, I set up a new pigeon house there. Three years later I already carried away (had) great success and won the championship of the long-distance contests with fifteen prizes from fifteen pigeons entered 600, 700 and 800 kilometers in 1930, before resounding success, the carrier-pigeon breeder's society of Tourcoing made the decision to reduce the zone (radius) of admission of amateurs in order to exclude me from the contests. The same year it happened that I moved and returned to live at Tourcoing, one kilometer from my father's home. The pigeons that were accustomed to this new pigeon house won that same year disproportionate successes: in the first contest I had three firsts; in the second contest, four firsts with nine pigeons; in the third contest, five first ....in 1931, seven times I took (down) the first prize in contests as far as 500 kilometers, including the first prize in the international contest with Belgium over tours, 410 kilometers, and the first prize in the international contest over Angouleme, 610 kilometers. My success continued, and, in the biggest competition that was organized in 1938, a contest over 410 kilometers with 7,000 pigeons entered, I got the first and the third prizes. When the war arrived unexpectedly in 1939, my and my father's pigeons were requisitioned by the French army and sent to the military pigeon houses in southern France to be reared (bred). At the armistice in 1945, the pigeons were sent back to our disposal (care). A selection composed of my father's thirty best pigeons and the thirty best from my pigeon house were preserved. In 1947, after the death of my father, I merged the two pigeon houses. Until 1940, I had obtained the greatest success in middle distances, my father specializing in long distance contests. Since the end of the war, I have exerted myself as well to succeed in long distance contests.  My list of honors of 1851 that I am adding to the present note seem to prove that I have managed to do it. It seems to me that there is no better way to end this short note than in quoting this passage from a letter of Dr. Bricoux', the raiser and unequaled champion of Belgian pigeon racing, a letter that I found in my archives:  "The best pigeons that I have ever introduced into my colony are the pigeons of your father and yours. I’ll never again introduce any others," and this other passage from the letter he wrote to me June 8, 1928: "I have entered fifteen pigeons of which thirteen (are) two-year-old in the national contest of Montlugon, result: thirteen prizes of which twelve up to the 40th I 150 prizes (??). Among these thirteen two-year-old pigeons are four of yours."
 
          I turned to the next page of the letter and to my surprise it was all written in French. I could not read French and so wished that I could. There was wonderful information in this letter. I just knew it. And what was written in French intrigued and teased me ever so much. I could decipher remarks about many of the racing pigeon men in the late 1800's and also notes about Monsieur Dugniol and “LEROY."  Resting the letter in my lap I looked back up at Mr. Heitzman. "You hold the history of our sport in your hands," I said. "So much so many people do not know."
          Mr. Heitzman smiled. "No Sweat, my son was in the signal corps during the war. My Sions were right there with him, not only in England but also in China, our allies against the Japanese. In 1942, The Signal Corps issued a call to civilian pigeon fanciers for young, healthy birds of both genders. The army offered to purchase the birds for $5 each. I donated nearly a thousand pigeons during the war. Often, I was able to receive gas-rationing stamps instead of money. The gas helped me in training my pigeons. I have several photographs of my son with Winston Churchill's daughter, if you would like to see them.  She is holding one of his racing pigeons with gloves. I laugh every time I see that photo.  Who ever heard of anyone holding a pigeon with gloves! The army developed a special cage and parachute for homing pigeons for aircraft to supply isolated troops with a means of communication. The device was also used to drop thousands of pigeons, 16,500 pigeons to be exact, over the countryside of France during June, 1944 because of the Normandy Invasion. French civilians were to send back information about all they knew regarding German troop movements. Over 2,000 of these birds returned back to England with the questionnaires answered.  The German intelligence found about the pigeons and were able to sabotage some of them with bogus messages which came back to England. And there were also trained German snipers stationed along the coast, called "HAWK UNITS" who shot any pigeon they spotted. How many of the Sions were in actin, we will never know. But they were certainly there."   (AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have written several fictional short stories for the RP DIGEST involving the Sions during WW2. Some can now be found on my website, "HEITZMAN SIONS." Of additional note, just a couple of years ago, a family in England, while cleaning out their old chimney, found the skeleton of a homing pigeon; attached to its leg was still the original WW2 message holder and also the original message in code which the bird had been carrying from France; this making national news, and today, still, the message has not been able to be deciphered.)   
 
PART EIGHT – Colonel Charles Heitzman’s Letters and Legacy
 
          AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Throughout my friendship with Mr. Charles Heitzman from 1960 to 1987, he sent me over 650 beautifully hand-written letters. While creating this article for Mr. Gene Yoes and the RACING PIGEON DIGEST, it occurred that I should condense some of these letters and offer my reader a glimpse of my Mr. Heitzman. Not only in pigeons which were intertwined in all he did, but also in his life. When we speak at length about anyone we know in pigeons we eventually converse about who the person is beyond their pigeons. In this, we get a feeling of somehow fully knowing the person. I hope in doing this, I have somehow made Charles Heitzman once again come back to life. And now, you can sit back and almost listen to him speak. I have many interests and pursuits in life as anyone who knows me would agree. And one of my interests has always been in letters. I have owned and sold many letters having been written by Abraham Lincoln, Ernest Hemingway and others. And my next book which will likely appear in 2017, is, LETTERS FROM A GENIUS TO AN OAF. This book is based up on the correspondence between Guy Davenport, my old writing mentor, and myself. Letters are always interesting as they sometimes tell us more about a person than they would ever state themselves. I have grafted exact quotes from various Charles Heitzman letters and now present them to you for your interest, education and enjoyment:

"You might almost say that I train winged athletes; a homing pigeon which can fly back your loft over a distance of 300 miles is a good bird. But when you strive to rear a bird which will be able to fly twelve or fourteen hours on a stretch and cover something like 500 miles, then that bird must be handled as carefully as are the men who enter the great athletic contests."     CH

"Yes, there must be care in the feeding of these fast flying birds. And that care must start as soon as the squab is out of the eggshell and ready for its first meal. For the first eight days of the little naked bird's life, it is given nothing but an abundance of perfect pigeon milk.  I thought, of course, you knew pigeons didn't feed their young as most of our other birds do. It isn't the dame kind of milk that the higher animals give their young; but it's a secretion of the membranes of the crop. Pigeon milk is slightly yellow and about like cream cheese in consistency. The old bird pushes its bill down the squab's throat and the parent bird pumps and the baby sucks. I suppose that's the reason old Shakespeare said something about somebody being as gentle as a sucking dove in one of his plays. Then when the squab gets its seven days’ ration of this unusual food, the old birds stop their secretion. At the time they fill their crops with ordinary pigeon food like grains and seeds plus an abundance of water. When this mass has become soft enough for the delicate digestive organs of the growing young pigeon, it is given to the squab by its parents. Yes, both of the old birds help in the rearing of the young. Even the cock bird secretes the pigeon milk as does the other bird. When the squab is eight days old is where the fancier has to look out for the old bird's choice food that the young may grow properly. I suppose the everyday person has an idea that we feed pigeon grain. We do. About one-fourth of the food is either corn or wheat or a mixture of both. To this, we add seventy-five percent Canadian peas, vetch seeds and tick beans.  These latter seeds are all legumes. In other words, they are rich in proteins like the beans and peas which come to our table. What I am trying to explain is that wheat and corn for a homing pigeon are the same as potatoes and bread for us. No one could produce an athlete on such a starchy diet, could they?  And don't fail to remember, when a squab is twenty-eight days old, it's about big as it ever will be and is otherwise quite well developed. So, during that short period, the fancier has to care and feed for it properly or it will ever be a fine show bird or outstanding racer. Even with all the attention which an expert fancier can give his squabs, a great many of are not good enough to be kept I should have told you, too, that improper food or even a poorly balanced ration in our pigeon lofts will open the gates to many diseases. We build a good bird with its food and at the same time we build its resistance to disease that it may help well and be a good racer l sometimes think that those of us who are developing birds with fine bones, strong muscles and perfect feathers for flying don't use nearly so much care in what our own children eat."   CH

"The article you wrote has a few corrections. I am not a "kid" at 76. So, use "Colonel, etc."  CH

"Do not write to anyone of my ailment. John Roberts put it in his magazine last fall when Mrs. Heitzman was sick and we received several hundred "Get Well" cards and we acknowledged over 100 of them. I spent $5,00 and put a "thank you" note in the Bulletin rather than continue sending letters of thanks.". CH

"I hope that in your article that has to do with yours truly, that the reader knows who "Charlie" actually is. With a man that has spent his entire life with one breed of racing homers, he should be referred to at the least as "Heitzman."  There are thousands of Charlies but few Heitzmans in the U.S.A."    CH

"Oh yes, I sold "HIGH-POCKETS" to a Canadian. Have some good offspring from him. He fetched a good price (or he would not have left my loft). The next time you come to see me you will also have dinner with Mrs. Heitzman. She will be 79 on January 21 and our 54th Anniversary (had a heart attack in November). I ordered 100 pounds of long grain rice from our wholesale grocery and it cost me $46.36 for the 100 pounds. WOW! Inflation is here if Nixon lasts through 1974, we will have trouble in the U.S.A. The working man cannot exist and accept such a government as he is trying to make us believe is " A HEARTY STATE OF AFFAIRS." I wish they would impeach him, or somehow get him out of the DRIVER'S SEAT. "   CH

"Did you see the September 24, 1973 Racing Pigeon Bulletin where the "BIG ALL AMERICAN AWARD" for both old bird and young bird went to Charles Seiger and his wife.  They fly my Sions and Stassarts and HEAT-WAVE crosses. In these 9 old bird races (see the Bulletin re-cap) over 23,000 birds participated in the young bird races (7 only) over 18,800 youngsters were entered. THIS IS REAL COMPETITION!  I am enclosing a sheet of some of my 500-600 and 700 mile winners with my stock which I trust you will study."   CH

" Our son and his family will be here for Christmas, The first time he has been with us at Christmas since 1950."    CH

"Dear Friend Earl, Yours of March 1st was a surprise to us and we hope your injury will show fast improvement. You have always been a close friend of the Heitzman family as is Chesteen. We will remember you in our prayers and in speedy recovery. Let me know if your birds were taken. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Your old friends, Charles Heitzman, age 88,  and my daughter, Bernice, age 55. Our love to you and Chesteen."   CH

"I do no care to show birds in the National Show. I do not have any single compartment shipping crates. Just sent a wicker 6-bird basket to Canada. There is a wicker 4-bird crate which Stassart sent to me in the thirties and it will never be sold or given away.  The Racing Pigeon Bulletin is not a weekly as I understand it, until the new management gets all details worked out. John Roberts deserves more credit than any of us could shower upon him in all the years (29?) he published America's only weekly racing pigeon magazine.  When you visit try not to come until after 1:00 PM because my loft boy is attending college and I have so much to look after. I always look forward to seeing you and Chesteen."    CH

"Monday-Tuesday and Wednesday are normally my days for shipping pigeons. It is always best to visit me on another day. We have 2 great  grandchildren and 2 more due in March and September. This Heitzman strain is really prolific."   CH

"Pedigrees are enclosed. They are well-bred Sions.  3* of snow Saturday and a few sub-zero nights. WOW.  Can't wait 'till spring gets here."   CH

"The red cock 874 is not for sale.  The silver cock which you handled is a 1970 hatch Sion.  He has a good body and a show head. Another of my best '70 Silver Sions. Not for sale  I told you this when you were handling him (see his brief pedigree I have enclosed) I have always held you in high regard but I simply cannot sell these pigeons to anyone. I wish you great success with your new 32' by 12' two-story loft on concrete peers. This must have cost you a lot of money at today's prices. Saying nothing of the labor cost alone.  I pay my loft man $3.00 an hour. He attends college five days a week after helping me from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM. 7 to 8 hours on Saturdays and also on Sundays."    CH

"We returned from West Palm Beach on the 24th, Had a nice time except for Mrs. Heitzman. A wheel chair had to be used to get her from the WPB plane to the Louisville, Kentucky plane at Atlanta. The same on our way to Florida. She is 78 and her traveling days are numbered. As for me! I can walk any distance within reason. Your pair of July squeakers out of HEI-POCKETS" 62051 silver splash cock and 71431 dark red hen are about two and one half weeks old. One is a dark red check and the other is a red check white flight splash. Glad you are going to Graduate School this fall. I am very proud of you as a good pigeon person more more so as an outstanding person. A good education is priceless. Our son's youngest daughter is spending two months in Europe. She wrote me from England and Germany.  Spent a week in Italy and Holland. She is attending Bary College in northern Miami, Florida. Only Nuns allowed. Catholic Nuns teach them."   CH

"Shipped 12 birds to Quebec, Canada yesterday and 20 to Japan last week. "     CH

"Thank you so much for the photo of my loft man, John L. Knoer, age 79. I will treasure this.  I sold the pair 69669 Dark Red Cock and 70648 Black Check Hen to a man in Japan for $250. The hen is my Peg Leg hen. A great pair of producers. The hen I asked you about was a pencil blue hen (almost a light blue checker) her number was AU-59-TAC-4446 bought from Jim Suleness when he retired from the sport. Paid $600 for about seven of his best Concourse Winners. She (4446) was 1st at 600. And I gave you the diplomas. She is pure Heitzman. Do you have anything from her? "     CH

"My old loft man has not been here since early December. I do it all myself with the aid of a high school lad. I tried to hire a part-time worker but seems no one out here will work once Social Security money is available. Will sell most of my birds in November and keep a few and discontinue selling so many. This is too much work. And as you well know I do not need the money."    CH

"Merry Christmas to you and Chesteen. I want to give you a pair of 1971 birds, so if you get in our vicinity sometime in January '72 please stop by. But let me know the exact date so I will be home.  All of our children and their offspring will be here Christmas. 16 coming for the greatest Birthday of all. The Birth of Baby Jesus over 1,900 years ago. Calendar enclosed."    CH

"Give a pigeon at least two to three weeks rest before shipping to the 500 for the best results. The day I ship to a 500 I take the birds out to 30 miles very early and release them. I fly both cocks and hens on the 500.  I have found my hens fly best to eggs 12 days old. Some say to remove grit before a race but I NEVER do. It is best to fly at least two separate teams. Alternate their races from week to week. Birds getting good rest is extremely important.:   CH

"I have no eggs to spare. Just mated last week and eggs are as valuable to me as they are to you. Re 3092, when you visit here I will show you the diplomas 2092 won. I have a lot of her offspring and would want to keep all this data in my files. I am not really anxious to part with the offspring of the 1972 imported red Sion male. He is getting up in years now. Since when is Miller High Life Beer called booze? I drink a bottle per day and the liquor stores would starve if they depended on me for whiskey. Only drink it as medicine if I have a cold.  Our anniversary, 1070, we bought a case of Old Granddad and Fitzgerald and still have two quarts left. Showing pigeon films is a great way to promote the pigeon sport."    CH

"The enclosed card is the most expensive I have ever sent out. It was my card to fancier friends in 1963, I found 14 of them and want you to have one. With the color pigeons on each they cost me 58 cents each. At today's cost of paper and union printers wages, it would cost over a dollar per copy. Have had many visitors although do not advertise visitor days. (Too many come as it is). My 6-C feed is costing me over 16 cents a pound. Have bought a lot of whole corn at $5,75 per 100 pound and this brings down the cost a little. Your letters are always interesting so please write to me when you can find the time. One of our small county papers, The Jefferson Reporter, had an article about my pigeons and my library last week; received already over 600 Christmas cards from fancier friends including some from England, Africa, Nova Scotia, Japan, Formosa, Mexico, South America, also Puerto Rico. I try to return the compliment if they give their address. So, you know I am kept busy."    CH

"My birds had open loft from 10:30 AM until sun down. And they conditioned themselves in addition to my tosses as mentioned. I always liked to toss my birds the day of the club shipment because on the 500 they were in the crate or baskets for two to three days. This is also true of the 300. Glad to hear the 500-mile trophy carries my name. I know you will win it and again beat the LKY. I may have a squeaker from the old red imported Sion cock for sale in June. I get $30 per bird for his offspring.  I have a lot of futurity bands from friends in various parts of the U.S.A.  I still contend you should take it easy with those yearlings. 500 miles is too much for a yearling when you are establishing an old bird team. You will drop many of your good birds past the 300-mile race.  The picture of the blue white flight cock was taken by my photographer on September 3rd.  It is not one you took of him. We photographed 18 birds Sunday and the proofs came yesterday. They are the best we have ever taken. I changed the background to off-white from jet-black. Always feel free to ask me any questions."    CH

"Last week fanciers from Mil., Ohio and Illinois were here for 6 hours. And again, much mail and pedigrees--were not taken care of--that day.”    CH

"Dear Earl and Chesteen or should address you (and preferably so) as Mr. and Mrs. Robbins. Enjoyed your long letter re your father's success and many good instructions. Even though a man is not a college graduate if he works and plans intelligently and honestly he need not be a well-educated person. I always told my four children, all of you must go through high school and they did. Our youngest Dorthy (mother of four children) had two years of college. The richest man in the USDA in my early life --- the 20's and 30's was quite often referred to as the multi-millionaire with only six years of Elementary schooling. A drop out after the 6th grade. He was Charles Schwab of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation He had far-sight and a lot of imagination, plus a hard worker who knew how to handle people. You know, education is a MUST in my book. But many high school pupils go through high school, but the high school does not go through them.  Congratulations to you and Chesteen on your marriage. We celebrated our 53rd Anniversary. yesterday at Louisville's Balands Restaurant with a dinner for our three daughters and their families and we had a great celebration, many gifts, etc." I hope your days and months and years are as happy as ours on the sea of matrimony. We were married 11 months and along came Charles, Jr.  (Our only boy). He is now 52 and retired  Married life is an empty shell without a child or two. It is rather difficult to preach to a young couple to have children in this day and time , this day of the pill, but this great country of ours is doomed in less than a century unless our young population keeps increasing. If every young couple vow they will not have any offspring, why should we build more schools and college buildings?  The colored people are now 20% of our population and the manner in which they are multiplying---they will outnumber whites in many states at the present colored birth-rate. This is something no one writes about but it is simple mathematics. Enough of this. Eh. End of sermon. I had no visitors in the month of December due to our son's family being with us. He lives in Stuart, Florida, not West Palm Beach. One matter which puzzles me is this! You and Chesteen are energetic high class young people, but what are you doing to earn a living? And have the required amount of this world's goods?  It costs a lot to live in this day and time, I do not know how you do it? Please do not feel offended by this high "epistle" but I mention all this because of my high regard for you both.  It is very seldom that the old codger takes time out to write an eight page letter  but you two are very dear to me and there is much good sound advice in what has been written. I wish I could be a cricket and sit on top of the door jamb and watch you two kids scraping off the wall paper and beautifying your home-sweet-home. Be honest and true to one and other and you will enjoy long years of happiness."    CH

“I rarely let the young birds out with the old birds because  they had separate traps to g through, as you know, 4 sets (see photos of my loft in the LOFT BOOK). As to the number of birds I raise each year, 500 to 600. Some years. In 1971, it was less due to my late mating after my trip to the hospital.  "HEAD-WIND" 531 was my greatest racer that left a lot of progeny in my colony. The Gibbs Inman Ptg. Company, 819 West Market Street, Louisville, Kentucky, printed many of my books. The Sion Book was printed by Slater Printer Company, East Ormsby Street, Louisville, Kentucky. "HIS-TIME" 55052 , son of Head Wind, flew 504 miles ten different times. 615 miles tree times. This is the best record in my loft.  Several of my hens have flown 500 miles eight times.  As for futurities, I am only entering a few this year. Mostly those that bought a lot of my stock. I have frequently sent a pair both cock and hen to a race together. Of course, all sex are separated in the shipping crates, so he knows nothing of her being in the flock. In 1947 "HELEN" 21078 Black Check Hen and her mate dropped on the loft together (a mated pair off yearlings), They came about 7:45 A.M. the 2nd day from 615 Miles. This was unusual.  Eye sign has NO VALUE UNLESS the bird has a strong back, long primaries, short secondaries, is extremely healthy and bred from good stock. Common pigeons also have eye sign. But they lack the rest."    CH

"Dennis, my high school helper, was in the hospital for 10 days and this put additional work on me.  I started to call you and ask if you would stay with me to help with the birds while he was in the hospital. In fact, my son helped feed and water the birds for several days.  Sure, sorry to hear you lost the hen from the red imported Sion cock. I have the nest mate. Did you hatch the eggs given to you on August 10th?  They are from my top Sion pair. Will be selling about 200 of my old birds this spring. Will start on a big illustrated list. The Japanese fanciers want copies of this list sent air-mail a week in advance of U.S. mailing. So, they have for one time to select what they want. My colony will be drastically reduced to cut down on my work. I am now 76 and want to be in Florida two or three times a year with our son and his lovely family. This is just another reason why Mrs. Heitzman has asked me to do this. She frequently warns me that I work too hard for my age and this is of course true. The lady loves me beyond words and if you could see how she is always preparing meals (to suit me) you would have to admit she is a one in a million with true love."    CH

"Remember the nice photo you took (in color) of my field lofts (JAPAN) with the white fence? Could you make a gloss print in black and white from the color negative? Let me know. I gave you a great pair of young birds straight from "HEI-POCKETS and I hope they are doing good."    CH

“I started with my bands AU-'73-KY-7211 instead of 7300 this year. Have banded 37 so far. Some are on order. Enclosing '69 list. The '68 Brochure is scarce. Have only 2 copies left. And need them for my records. Wish I had more. Glad to hear you are planting a lot of cedar trees and white pine. They save a lot of leave raking in the Autumn. Glad t hear you are running for mayor. Do I address you as THE HONORABLE EARL LOWELL ROBBINS, JR? Am having the lady to type a pedigree for your red pied hen from the red imported Sion cock France '64 569624 (see photo enclosed)."    CH

"I wrote a long letter to the 2 of you last month and wondered how you could buy a house and feed yourselves and the pigeons without being employed. Please pass on the secret. Earl, I had to work hard in my first three years of married life, after we started the bakery it began showing high profits in a short time, We were out of debt with a $27,000 Building ( a lot of money in 1924) and a growing establishment. Our four children were well-educated and I have all the others to mate by March 10th. When is your spring vacation?  What dates?  I would like for you to visit me here and stay for several days. I have a nice bedroom for you. If you noticed in my 1972 Ad in the American Racing Pigeon News there is no mention or welcome to visitors. It has been taking up too much of my time. This last summer fanciers would barge in on me with their children, wife and friends. I had to be on constant alert, so they would not open doors on the prisoner's loft and so many more other matters. My wife said, "you are marking a public park out of your place here." It was all OK until one day four young men with mustaches and beards knocked at the door ( I was away at the bank). She told them to leave and come back in one hour. Exactly to the minute they returned.  I spent two hours with them. I just cannot see who they are imitating with all this hair. It looked unsanitary and unkempt.  My high school helper boy (the son of a barber) has long hair. Mrs. Heitzman complains but this lad does his work 100% so I have to put up with it.  He knows nothing of pigeons, except that he gets $1.50 plus 10% an hour ( I pay him 10.4% Social Security and O.A. Pension out of my own pocket) It is just plain work to him."     CH

"Re a treatise on training for 500 Mile Day Birds. (1.) Teach them to fly late in the evening by tossing at 8   PM just before dark in May. (2) Train them several days a week down the road 20 to 30 miles. (3) Rear one round from racers then put dummy eggs under them (4) I contend that the best way to condition old birds is to give them open loft from 11:30 A.M. until dark. This is as close to nature as once can get. They get to exercise all afternoon and of course my birds went up into the 15 acres in the back of my lofts and just pecked-around in the short-cut grass lawn.  don't know what they were eating but they were always healthy. In my 32 years in Jeffersontown, we never once put any chemical fertilizer on our place. Only limestone and lime in October every three years . Here is why. Chemical fertilizers contain harmful ingredients and can make a flock sick and even kill some of them. I read of this so often in two monthly papers I get from England. You can't beat following natural bird habits. The open loft is the answer and many times I had 8-9 birds which flew 504 miles on the day from an entry of 10 birds. Sorry but at 78 years of age I am not interested in the incubator hatching of eggs. There are too many other breeding and color experiments I want to work pout. Nature promises that an egg will hatch in 18 days, I can tell from the egg and shell if it is a good healthy hatch. In this subzero weather an egg can easily get partially too cold ( or next to freezing ) if we fool around in the loft too much during the time of incubation. Such chilled eggs will never produce a CHAMPION as F.W. MARRIOTT once wrote. He was the real editor of The British Homing World. A champion pigeon must be perfect from the time you feed the hen before she lays the egg (a perfect diet ) then no chilling of the egg. A clear breaking shell and perfect feeding of the  baby by both parents from the first to the 28th day. Only this cycle produces what all strive to breed in  "The Champion." One who can go 504 miles year after yea. Maybe ten times in 6 or 7 years of racing. I am watching the Sapporo Japan Olympics and writing in between so expect my handwriting not to be up to standard but more scribble."    CH

"Yes, I read where WOODSIDER the mealy cock returned He is safe in Massaralis Loft. I will be glad to see you when Art Selter's birds are delivered. I called Art the other day. He said the large water reserve saved his house during the April tornado. A tree hit his loft and had to be repaired on one side. He lost six youngsters, killed by the roof falling on the birds after the tree fell. I have known Art Selter since 1964. I am anxious to get a color eye picture of four of my great birds with unique records. Got a letter from your friend, Carl Daigrepont and told him I could see him on Thursday or Friday.  My parents were both born in Germany. Dad's name "Jacob" ( a good Biblical name ) . My mother's name is "Theresa" born in 1860.  We had a very close knit family. I had two brothers and two sisters. Also a sixth child which died at two years of age. My father lived to be 95."    CH

"I never look at a bird for eye sign at 6 weeks old.  The eye of a racing pigeon changes from 4 weeks to 6 months of age. My best racers have had the yellow circle (not all had it complete) I refuse to answer your question on how many birds I have and sell. This is like asking a man "How much money do you make?"    CH

"We attended Mass at 7 PM on Saturday instead of going on Sunday. Regarding the Dordin catalog--It was sent to me and much enjoyed. Also have Massareli's lists. I send for them to add to the library. In many cases a dollar is enclosed and I usually stipulate that the lists are for my Library in reference items. I have lists of all the greatest in England dating back to the early 20's and before. Regarding the white pine seedlings. Yes, I would appreciate the gifts. I would give them great care. I like the southern pines but only a few are in our area. Do not bring me any more Millers beer for a while. I drink very little beer now since being hospitalized. As for "whiskey,"  we still have a 5th of Fitzgerald left from The Golden Anniversary. No one drinks the D---- stuff unless I get company who prefers it over beer. Yes, the $50,000 California win is quite a record. The only bird home on the second day! The mealy show cock that you love is mated to a dark red hen with real dark eyes. She laid today. The bird "WORKMAN" , a blue white flight splash cock, sold in England for $9,200. Wow!  Did you see the article by Tom Smith about the Sions  which appeared in the Bulletin? He made an error by calling the "Gris" (meaning silver)  GRIZZLES! Several inquiries came in asking for Sions in the grizzle color. I told them in all my years (since 1920, I have never seen one single grizzle Sion. "Gris" is the French name for silver or mealy as we and the English call them, but certainly no speckled grizzles, he referred to."    CH

"Dear Earl, After you left my place Saturday I went to after my daughter and it was two and half hours later before I returned. Upon opening my mail, Mr. Robert's had sent me by 1st Class Mail a copy of the 25th Anniversary Number of the Racing Pigeon Bulletin. To my great surprise I came across the pictures you took and the article you wrote for his paper. CONGRATULATIONS on a well written article!  Send me a futurity band and I will band a baby for you as a gift for the splendid article you wrote. It is much appreciated."    CH

 AUTHOR'S FINAL NOTE....

            This story on Charles Heitzman has  been a pleasure for me to bring to you and I hope that you have enjoyed it. At some point in the future, if Mr. Gene Yoes asks me to do such, I will be most happy to go into great detail concerning Charles Heitzman and Mons Stassart. I have all their interesting and now--historical-- original correspondence.  I also have all the correspondence from many of the now historical legends or icons which were instrumental in the formation of our current sport; letters which were received by Charles Heitzman and should also be of interest to many readers.
          I could tell you about the day Heitzman died. About the release of pigeons over his grave. His now resting beside his wife.  I am not interested in doing all that. As some of you may remember, just a year or so ago, I went back to Charles Heitzman's estate in Jeffersontown. It was all I could do not to cry when I saw that everything was gone. I was compelled to write an article about that experience which Gene Yoes published, RETURN TO NOTHING. I hope in some way I have managed to honor Charles Heitzman in this story. We never know just how we touch those around us while we are living. Certainly, Mr. Heitzman left his mark on me.
          Last year, my loft partner and I had eight day birds come home from 504 air miles. They were all YOUNG BIRDS.  And this year, we had six return --again--YOUNG BIRDS. Only these young birds were basically untrained, late hatches which were released in dark clouds and head winds. I value their worth even more than those that came home on the day the year before. And what is even more remarkable, these are all 504 Mile YOUNG BIRDS solidly down from Charles Heitzman's old Paul Sion's bloodlines. I know this would have placed a smile on Mr. Heitzman knowing that his spirit continues to live on so close to where he once lived himself. For me, he will never die and I will always maintain his Sions for as long as I live.


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© No Sweat R. Robbins.