These stories are about great fighting dogs. We do not condone fighting dogs, these stories are printed so you get a sense of history about American Pit Bull Terriers.    

STP'S GR. CH. BUCK ROM

As a pup Buck was sold by Pat Patrick to a physician. He proved to be an unsatisfactory pet and was sold to the late Alan Waldman who matched and won two with Buck in the low 50's.  One over Aldo's Zeke, who later became a Champion, and the other over Winchester's Conan.  STP purchased Buck from Alan Waldman when Buck just turned 2 years old and campaigned him at his correct weight, 46 lbs. As soon as STP started to work Buck they saw he had incredible stamina.  In STP's hands, Buck demolished all of his competition, which included some highly regarded match dogs. Buck did not dazzle fanciers with ten-minute wins, but he had virtually no weakness as a match dog and always dominated his opponent, no matter what style.  

Buck's first match, with STP, was into Tito's Tonka, which was no match for Buck as Tonka stopped in less than :30 minutes.

His next was against Captain America's Jumbo Jim. Jumbo Jim was a double bred Gr. Ch. Hank dog, and was hand picked to defeat Buck. Jumbo made an incredible scratch at 1:30, but by 1:57 he collapsed in his corner unable to go.

In Buck's 5th he went into Rodney's two time winner JR, littermate to Gr. Ch. Yellow ROM. JR was handled at :52 minutes and could not go any further. Jr. later went on to win three more. 

For Buck's 6th match was against P. & H.'s Rocky, a rough son of Ch. Jeep and Gr. Ch. Miss Rage. Rocky was picked up in a little over an hour.  Rocky went on to win his championship after another loss to Super Gnat's Gr. Ch. Ace.

At this point Buck was retired as a 6 time winner and not yet 4 years old. I was conditioning Super Gnat's Gr.Ch. Ace for his 4th match, into P. & H.'s Rocky, when I received a call from STP.  He explained that after 2 years of retirement, his Gr.Ch. Buck was contracted into Ricky Jones and Gr.Ch. Sandman, at 48 lbs. Both dogs were exceptionally seasoned match dogs with similar styles and STP predicted that the match would be a long one. This was the first time in history that two registered Grand Champions were to meet.

Rebel Kennels Gr.Ch. Sandman was bred and raised by Ricky Jones from a Rascal / Jeep and Boomerang cross. Word had it that Ricky was able to take some of the unwanted dogs from some very good dogmen, and by sheer determination and good sense Ricky had bred bulldogs that could compete and win over the best in the country. Some of the best match dogs, at any weight, were either owned by Rebel Kennels, or were matched into Rebel Kennels.

There were about 25 fanciers waiting for the match to start. My friend Peter from Holland was betting on Sandman, while I was betting on Buck. This was the first time we were not on the same side of the betting. The dogs were released and Sandman shot over like a rocket and got a good hold. When Sandman got to the stifle, Buck slowly and deliberately got him out. Ricky got all excited and said that Bucks stifle was broken. For the first 20 minutes Sandman was all over Buck, but then Buck started to dominate the action. Buck was a little stronger and had a little heavier mouth. He was taking the match to Sandman, but neither could get much of a lead over the other.  Both dogs could hardly be held in their corner as they rocketed across on their scratches. About an hour and a half into the match Sandman got a good hold on Buck's neck. As Buck tried to twist out of this hold, Sandman held on and a stalemate ensued. Sandman would not release his hold and Buck could not get free, so the two Grand Champions were locked motionless and time dragged on. It seemed that both dogs were asleep. Buck started to vocalize his frustration at being unable to move. Ricky became even more excited, interpreting the noise as a sign of Buck wanting to quit. Nothing could be further from the truth as Buck finally extricated from the hold and resumed his dominance over Sandman. Ricky not only began to denigrate Buck but also STP. At one point he said that he was going to kick Buck's ribs in because he was such a cur. I encouraged him to go ahead and do it since the foul would leave Buck the winner. I think that Ricky began to realize that Buck was going to beat his Sandman dog and this was his way of dealing with that possibility. No matter how many times and how many ways Ricky verbally abused Buck and STP he never let it bother him. STP stayed with his dog and ignored all the outside shenanigans. STP gave fanciers a good demonstration of coolness and decisiveness in a tough situation. This was an even match until at the end when Sandman began to falter and it was clear that Buck was going to win. At three hours and 17 minutes, after 3 more scratches Sandman took the count. Buck's courtesy scratch, was a running one and he slammed into Sandman.

We hustled Buck into a nearby shed and I started an intravenous line. Buck received 10 cc's of Azium in about 800 miles of Ringers before he ripped the line out of his leg. In an adjacent shed, Ricky worked in an effort to save Sandman. I was told that he gave Sandman an injection of Epinephrine, which is often used by human rescue personnel. The shot of "Epi" as it is known to the members of the rescue squad, killed Sandman immediately. Buck would not be still so I stopped the IV, which had leaked into the surrounding tissue.  Buck stayed at my house for two weeks after the match, recovering from his ordeal. At 5:00 AM every morning, Buck would start his scream / howl, which echoed throughout the house. When I walked him outside, Buck would try to lunge at the other dogs in my yard, even though he could hardly stand up. It was obvious that his spirit had not been broken in spite of the lengthy battle with Sandman.  Once recovered Buck went back to STP's and the old warrior lived the good life, breeding bitches and eating good food until he died.

McGEE'S PANTHER

Barney Fife purchased a female pup from a Davis' Midnight Cowboy X Hand's Gr. Ch. Candy breeding and named her Sea Train, after the famous rock band. While still a puppy, Sea Train was sold to STP who raised her to maturity.

At the time Barney Fife was breeding Zebo dogs, as Zebo was showing exceptional pit dogs, when STP phoned to ask who he should breed Sea Train to. It was no surprise that Zebo was recommended as a stud. Tar Heel Matt purchased a pup named Margie, who whelped Panther.

During her younger years, Margie whelped two litters sired by Tar Hill Matt's Monzon, who had won two matches. Panther was whelped in the 2nd litter. Monzon was sired by Lonzo's Mike, who too was a 2X winner. His dam was also a 2X winner named Rick's Thistle, who was Big Boy and Bullyson breeding.

Tar Hill Matt had some good dogs from the first breeding of Monzon and Margie, so he repeated the breeding and produced several more pit winners. Some of these were Willie, Billy (1XW), Bonnie (1XW), Jimmy (who stopped Ch. Spike), Carlos (1XW, 1XL) and Monzon, Jr. Tar Heel Matt contacted Barney Fife to condition Panther and put his weight out at 55lbs., when Boss Hog picked it up.  Boss Hog came with a large boned, Red Boy bred dog, and weighed in exactly at 55lbs., Panther weighed in 2lbs. light. Panther came out fast trying for the shoulders, but the white dog was adept at holding out Panther. The pattern continued with Panther trying, but unable to get any good holds. At the twenty minute mark, Panther hit the front end and the white dog was in trouble. By the 40 minute mark, Panther was putting the finishing touches on the white dog, who took the 10 count in his corner making Panther the winner in 40 minutes. For reasons unknown, Panther's weight was never picked up again for almost two years.

In the mean time, Panther demolished several roll opponents with such speed, that his formidable reputation grew even more. At the age of six, Matt retired Panther and bred him to several of his bitches. After several years Panther was sold to Rich Cupo, where he died shortly after.

Panther sired 1 Grand Champion, 1 registered Champion, and many other winners. The best of Panther's offspring retained the signature trade mark of this strain. They would start fast and if a dog could not avoid their charge, the Panther dogs would win in short order.

O. STEVENS' GR. CH. VIRGIL ROM

Virgil was born in a litter of four and he was the last one to turn on. He was rolled at eighteen months, but he was not interested. Virgil finally turned on when he was at the age of two.

In his first roll he fought against a hard biting "Eli" dog, who hit two bleeders within four minutes. Virgil retaliated by destroying this dog within the next six minutes. In his next roll, Virgil came off the chain to fight against a big strong opponent of "Boomerang" breeding, who was conditioned, and thirty minutes later picked his dog up. Virgil had done considerable damage and was about to put him away. Big Brad contacted Ozzie and set up a match with a friend of his at forty-nine pounds. Ted and Frank used a dog named Harley, who was barnstormed from the start, and was picked up in :28 minutes.

Virgil's second came F. Rocca called to inform Ozzie that Mike So. had a two time winner called Cain that nobody would match. Virgil came in heavy and Mike requested the forfeit, but was later convinced by B. Bryan that if the match was still going on a :45 minutes, Ozzie would concede. Cain was counted out at :38 minutes in a fast paced match, which gained Virgil his second victory.

Next was Grace's Ch. Elmo, who was a litter mate to Gr. Ch. Mickey and Gr. Ch. Trouble. After a debate over the scale, the match started. Elmo hit a bleeder in Virgil's muzzle and another one in his shoulder. By :08 minutes Elmo had Virgil down. Virgil came off the bottom with Elmo's chest in his mouth and pressed Elmo over his head. After a flurry by Virgil, Elmo wouldn't fight back any longer and was picked up in :30 minutes, thus making Virgil a Champion.

His fourth was into Swango and Sears' Ch. Chisohm. By :40 minutes Ch. Chisohm was in bad shape and Swango conceded at :52 minutes.

For his Grand Championship, Virgil went into Phil's Little George who was a two time winner and a deep game dog. Phil conceded this match at :43 minutes, Little George later went on to win his Championship and also become a ROM producer.

In between Ozzie had contacted Brabham and Singleton, who at the time owned another dog that had made a name for himself , Grand Champion Snake, in hopes of hooking these two destroyers into each other. Unfortunately, this match never came to.

Virgil was six years old, when he was sold to Solo, formerly with STP, where he lived until he died at the age of 11. Before his death, Virgil sired Champions Beast, Becky, Bonnie, Brenda, and Jitney.

STEPP'S GR. CH. ANGUS

Some dogs can be recognized by titles they earn such as champion, grand champion and register of merit, Angus is recognized by the title of "Champion of Champions".

Angus' sire was a dog named Willie Brown's Nigger, who was a two time winner, sired by Clayton's Eli, Jr. bred to his mother, Boudreaux' Spook. Angus' dam, O. Stevens' Heidi, was bred by A. Steinberg from Sly Fox to Red Pepper (Ed Ritcheson blood) and was a litter mate to Ch. Prince. She was originally owned by O. Stevens' and matched once at twenty nine and a half pounds. She demonstrated the frustrating style of hanging on the bottom jaw and discouraging her opponent until Ziggy M. and Tony M. conceded the match in an hour. Ozzie then traded her to Big Brad and Keummerling, because he didn't have any use for her, as far as breeding. The bitch she was traded for was a cold gyp, at the time, named Geraldine.

Big Brad tested Angus and because of the fact that Big Brad had numerous winners already on his yard, he sold Angus to Billy Stepp as a game dog. Angus then went on to shake up the dog world by defeating Rixey's Coal Cat, Jay's Buster, Crenshaw's Ch. Otis, Keummerling's Ch. Freddie (brother to O. Stevens' Ch. Homer), Garza's Heman and Love's Tiger, all of which were great dogs. Angus was then hooked into, the then 3X winner, Ch. Jeep as a rematch for the victory over Stinson and Stepp's Ch. Black Glover. During the keep, Angus was involved in an accidental kennel fight with Ch. Ruby and was wrecked in the chest area, thus forcing Stepp to pay the forfeit to J. Crenshaw. After Angus healed from this incident, they hooked up with Crenshaw to try the Angus / Jeep match again. Unfortunately, Angus got loose once again and ran straight into Ruby. By the time Stepp got there, the damage was aleady done, because so much money was riding on this match, Stepp and Co. asked O. Stevens if they could borrow, the 4X winner, Ch. Homer as a replacement so as not to lose another forfeit. Which is how one of the greatest matches of all time came about, Crenshaw's Ch. Jeep VS Stevens' Ch. Homer.

Angus wasn't bred many times, but in his few breedings he sired good dogs such as Diaz' Ch. Mac, out of Torres' George. When bred to Stepp's Ch. Ruby, he produced Broadway Jack's Gee Whiz, Super Gnat's Guess (2X winner), Super Gnat's Ch. Butch, Suzy, and the 7X winner Racehorse. Also, there was Solo's Cobra, Big Brad's Loco, Patience, and Tara, Texas Ron's Major, Frankie, Sassy, Evil (who lost to O. Stevens' Ch. Zero), and Ralph's Prince (who was picked up at 1:57).

He was the sort of dog that would overcome, and adapt to any style that was put before him as his record shows. In competitions, he defeated many whom went on to become foundation stock for other breeding programs. From all accounts told he possessed smarts, mouth, ability, gameness (reason he was sold by Big Brad), structure, his only downfall was he was a man-biter, such as many of the best-to-be were ie; Gr Ch Art (ROM), Gr Ch Zebo (ROM), Dbl Gr Ch Tornado, Ch Honeybunch (ROM), and Ch Yellow John (ROM) just to name a few with very similar qualities.

BASS' TRAMP RED BOY

Red Boy was the result of a father/daughter breeding of Teal's Jeff and Mc Leod's Susie Q Gal. Teal's Jeff was off of Teal's Sarge bred to Teal's Lou. Teal's Sarge was a pure Colby dog out of Colby's Dime bred to Colby's Margie. This combination of Red Boy/Cleo had produced top quality proven brood females, who in turn were bred back to Red Boy or other inbred Red Boy studs to strengthen and improve the line. The gameness of this line is legendary, and is what has made the Red Boy strain so highly desirable. These are fast starting fiery dogs with tremendous wind. Some would say that the only draw back to the Red Boy line is the lack of mouth, this is not the case with all Red Boy dogs, but has pretty well been accepted as the truth by most. It really comes down to a list of priorities, gameness versus mouth.

His classic match against Cables Fang exemplifies that:
1st match: - Mr. Bass vs. William Cable - males @ 52 lbs. J. Adams - referee. J.C. Vincent is handling a red-red nosed dog that he been conditioned for this match by Howard T. He's called Red Boy. William Cable conditioned and handled his two-time winner Fang, a red dog black mask. Fang in Red Boy's chest and has a good hold and stays there. Red Boy trying to get him out with ear holds. At 9 minutes a turn is called on Fang, but he's in hold with Red Boy's leg in his mouth. Handled at 17 minutes Fang scratches good. Red Boy scratches at 21 minutes and comes to the top fighting the head. Fang evens things up fighting the back end at 28 minutes. Red Boy on the nose. 30 minutes Fang scratches. The dogs are handled again at 33 minutes and the referee makes an error and Fang scratches again. Three more scratches by Red Boy and two by Fang and at 1 hour 2 minutes Fang is to scratch. He wanders off to a neutral corner and is counted out. Bass' Tramp Red Boy wins.

The Red Boy dogs gained their fame in the Carolina's, but their main introduction into the fast lane came with the cross of Ch. Jocko. Jocko, a Carolina dog himself, was a pit intelligent dog with good biting ability, something the Red Boy dogs did not have. Red Boy dogs were extremely game soft mouth dogs, with the exception of Chavis Ch Yellow John. Yellow John was the first of the Red Boy breeding to earn the title of champion. He was a 43lb. buckskin dog that won three in th South in 1980-1981. Yellow John went on to produce some of the most honest bulldogs of modern times Tant's Gr.Ch. Yellow. STP's Gr. Ch. John Boy, STP's Ch. Sassy, Super Gnat's' Boots (who holds the record for the longest recorded match in history, going 4:52 for the win), Melvin's 5X winner JR. and others.

The Red Boy/Jocko cross continue to live on today and are exceptional fast lane dogs. Some of the most successful crosses with the Red Boy strain have been with: Red Boy/Jocko, Jeep/Red Boy, Jeep/Red Boy/Rascal, and more recently Red Boy/Patrick. These are all proven crosses that have taken the sporting game to a new level in performance. Some additional Red Boy dogs of note are Marlowe's Ch. Britches, Miller's Red Man a great producer in his day and the sire of Hoffman's Booger ROM, Marlowe's Rattler the sire of Ch. Britches, Marlowe's Mr. Bulldog the sire of both Peaches, Tabby Girl and Miret's Bud, who sired Ch. Gambler, and O. Stevens' Red Ape, who has produced Ch. Bear, Ch. Irish Rebel and many other winners.

 

ADAMS' GR. CH. ZEBO ROM

In the early 1970's, in North Carolina, was a young fancier named Lonzo Pratt who was just starting in th dog game and was purchasing and breeding some well bred dogs from known dog men. He had purchased a young tested gyp from J. Loposay by the name of Fay, who was sold because she turned cold and wouldn't start for Jack Kelly and was left on Loposay's yard by Pete Sparks. After numerous breedings Lonzo struck fame from one breeding that contained three males and two females. The two females were Lena and Rosie, the males were Crush, Vindicator, and Zero. Of the three males Zero and Vindicator would distinguish themselves as great match dogs. The better of the two was Zero, as Zebo was originally named, who gained his fame as a match dog and producer. In all, this black 40-44 lb. dog won a total of seven contract matches, thus becoming a registered Grand Champion, a Register Of Merit sire, and a member of the Bulldog Hall Of Fame, the only dog to be recognized by these three honors.

Zebo's career began on the yard of Lester Hughes, "The Mountain Man", where he won four times, all quick kills. After his fourth he was shipped to the yard of Grady Cummings and while there, Cummings' Red Fox made the mistake of getting off his leash and ran into Zebo and was killed. Grady then made Lester get Zebo off of his yard. Zebo was then sold to Dave Adams' of Ohio, of whom Zebo is best associated with. At first Mr. Hughes hadn't intended on selling Zebo, but Mr. Adams came up with enough money to change his mind.

His most noted match was against Ch. Greaser and how both sides thought they had trapped the other side by running in an "ace" on their opponent’s "average" dog. How wrong they both were. Champion Zebo was the black dog and Champion Greaser was the brindle. How they came to meet on a cool night in a barn in Ohio, is a complicated but interesting story. Champion Greaser was being campaigned at 44 pounds in and around Oklahoma and Champion Zebo was being matched around North Carolina at 40 pounds. "Greaser" was an extremely smart defensive type of dog that could really bite. He’d gained his deserved reputation by proving this in his first four matches against dogs that were not pushovers. Likewise, so had Zebo. The difference being Zebo’s matches were short ones, lasting only 22,26,17 and 33 minutes, all kills. After his fourth win, a man named Adams bought Zebo and took him back up north to Ohio. Adams had a friend named Hudson who had matched a dog at 44 pounds into a father and son team from St. Louis. Hudson’s dog was from Maurice Carver, and was a two time winner at 44 pounds named Tex. Hudson was a nice fellow but, could really get on your nerves bragging so much on his dog, because it was Tex this and Tex that, for as long as you would listen. I guess the team from St. Louis got tired of listening and just figured they would whip old Tex and shut Hudson up. Now, when you matched into this father and son team, you had better do three things, get a good dog, have the dog in good shape, and say your favorite prayer. As luck, or fate, or whatever you desire to call it goes, Tex got hurt in a chain fight and Hudson was going to have to pay the forfeit. Rather than give away money, he called Adams and offered Adams a deal. If Adams would take over the match with Zebo and win, Hudson would split the winnings with him and, if he lost Hudson would pay the whole bet. Adams had been walking Zebo and cutting his weight, for at that time there was a big convention in Mexico being matched up and Adams had turned Zebo’s weight in. The Mexican Convention was supposed to be the biggest and best ever put on but, the law intervened and it never did come about. Adams didn’t know the convention would fall apart, but he thought that as he had almost three months until the Mexican convention and Tex’s match was only three weeks away, that he could take over Tex’s match and win without getting hurt too much and still be healthy and set Zebo down in the Mexican convention. So, he agreed to take over the match, but told his backer that if Zebo wasn’t way ahead at 30 minutes he was going to pick him up, because he wanted to match him in the "Big Convention." Hudson agreed to this as with Zebo’s kill record…he would rather gamble and give up a few pounds to make it number 5 than give up the forfeit.

Meanwhile, out in St. Louis, the "team" had a dog that was considered to be the best 44 pounder of his time. This Greaser had started out being called Yuebanks’ Greaser. If my information is correct, Yuebanks’ campaigned Greaser in his first four matches. All wins over some highly regarded opponents. Greaser had given his fans real reason to call him the best 44 pounder alive, as his opponents were good caliber dogs like Moloney’s Alligator and Mayfield’s Go Devils. The "Team" purchased Greaser especially for the Tex match since old Tex was a good dog in his own rights and the "team" knew they had to have an above average dog in order to beat Tex (how and why the "team" got Greaser is only hearsay on my part, the point is Greaser was the best 44 pounder alive. And he was the dog they had to use on Tex.) So we have the stage set. The Ohio boys have an "Ace" named Zebo, which the "team" doesn’t know about. And the "team" has an "ace" named Greaser tuning up that the Ohio boys don’t know about.

Then it became time to put up or shut up for old Zebo, for Adams announced he was taking over Hudson’s match. The night of the battle of Champions arrived, with only Greaser’s side knowing now that they were going into Zebo. When they arrived, they wanted to see this "killer dog" they were matched into and laughingly said, "He don’t look like no killer to us." Adams, nor any of his backers, knew Zebo was going into a 4 x winner. They should have suspected something for fanciers from out west had driven all the way to Ohio to see Greaser knock off this killer dog. Jimmy Jobe, the editor of Pit Dog Report, a Mayfield magazine for bulldogs, drove all the way and didn’t even mention the match in his magazine. This match was one of the best kept secrets in the dog world and when the story of it taking place did start to circulate, the match was down played. The first report of it anywhere (that I am or was aware of) was in Richard Stratton’s book. When you read the account, it tends to make you believe Zebo "got lucky" and hurt Greaser bad at the beginning of the match. This is false as, Greaser was on all fours late in the fight.

When the dogs were weighed, Zebo weighed just over 40 pounds. Greaser hit the scales at exactly 44 pounds. As Adams circulated among his backers before the match, he reminded everyone that he was giving up 4 pounds and was going to pick Zebo up at 30 minutes because he’d only worked him for three weeks and 4 pounds was too much to spot. As they released the two champions, you could bet all you wanted on Zebo and get odds of 3 to 1 or three hundred against your one hundred. As bets were laid and odds were taken, the name Greaser started to finally slip out. Zebo’s backers were aware finally that this was not going to be a walk over. People started to worry about their bet because Adams had warned that he was gone at 30 if Zebo wasn’t way ahead. Adams said later, "When Dogman and Johnson called me to the side of the pit at about the five minute mark, and told me they recognized the brindle dog as CH. Greaser, any thought of picking Zebo up at thirty minutes was gone. I knew I would let him battle as long as he had any chance to win. I realized that I didn’t have to go to Mexico to prove that Zebo was a great dog, the chance had come to me." As the match progressed, it could be basically reported in two sentences…."Greaser is extremely smart on defense and punishes Zebo bad about the head. Zebo is extremely smart on getting to the brisket and punishes Greaser bad in the chest." That is how close the match was. You would think that the four pounds would tip the scales in Greaser’s favor, but Zebo was ever so gradually getting a little bit deeper in the chest and even though Greaser was as smart as ever relying on defense, he was forced to allow Zebo in more often as the match grew older. The following is an accurate account of the match as can be made but, remember as you read this excerpt from Mr. Stratton’s book, that in this writer’s opinion ( and I was there), Zebo took Greaser down a notch at a time over the entire match, where here it tends to make you think that Greaser was destroyed early.

Unfortunately, Zebo attacked Mr. Adams' son and nearly took his son's ear off. After the request of Mr. Adams' wife, Zebo was sold again, this time to Mr. Johnson who fought him twice more. The last time to a son of his litter mate brother, Vindicator. Mr. Johnson hoped to get another match in, but was unable to find any takers, despite the fact that Zebo was past seven at this point.  Thus, Zebo was retired to stud, and lived to the age of 13, siring his last litter days before his death. He had lost sight at the end, due to the extensive damage he sustained, for no dog was ever able to get to his rear.

During the time of Zebo's career as a match dog, there were two other dogs in his weight class that too was making names for themselves: Stinson & Glover's Gr. Ch. Art and Giroux' Ch. Gunner, 4X winner. It was planned to have a "round robbin" for the title of the greatest match dog.  Each dog would go into each other to prove who was the greatest match dog. Each of these great dogs where relatively close to each other in regard to location. But, for whatever reasons, and hearsay has provided many, the matches never materialized.

Vindicator, was a red/red nosed dog that many, who had witnessed him matched contend he was a better dog than Zebo. He was a two time winner, winning each in identical times of 1:30. One of those victories was over Finley's Ch. Bo. He lost his third to Cutchin's Ace. Vindicator died at a young age of heart worms.

Rosie, like Vindicator, was also red/red nosed, but was never formally matched, though she was tested for 1:10. She simply was considered to ge too valuable as a brood bitch. She lived to the age of 10, dying also of heart worms a month after her last litter.

Zebo produced Stepp's Ch. Willie and Adams' Ch. Katy when bred to Tomsic's Spider ROM. Ch. Willie was, as said by some, to have the same destructive force of his sire, by killing each of his opponents in times of :27, :54, and :29 minutes. Others produced by Zebo were Ch. Ruby, Ch. Abuelita, Ch. Zipper, Ch. Diamond Jim, Clemmon's 2XW Z-Boy, Nigger Tobe, Super Gnat's 2XW Blackie and Hughes' Gator just to name a few of the good dogs he sired. He is the grand sire to some great ones like Doc's Ch. Moe who was a Grand Champion until he ran into Red B's Ch. Charlie. Many said that Moe went to the well one time too many in his loss against Charlie. After his victories over Ch. Fargo and his brother Basket, too much was taken out of him to go into a much younger dog like Charlie.

The breeding that produced Zebo and his litter mates was one of those outstanding litters that come only once in a while. Basically this breeding was a Dibo/ Old Family Red Nose/ Colby cross, which explains why all of Zebo's litter mates were red or red/ red nosed. But where did this one black dog come from? Many speculate Zebo wasn't bred as represented, for one Mr. Hughes purchased Zebo from Lonzo without any papers. Some claimed Mr. Hughes sold many different Zebo's. And a lot claim Zebo to be a half brother to another famous pair, Eli, Jr. and Bullyson. Although, Lonzo's Andy was a black dog himself and Zebo through nothing but black dogs, even when bred to various, different colored females, it still remains a question in a lot of people's minds.

COY'S GR. CH. BANJO ROM

In 1990 The Texas Iron Man Coy D. and a friend purchased some dogs from the yard of Joe Hoskins and Tony McCool. They left with some very good prospects and a 10 month old male, who was whelped in April of 1989, out of McCool's Sack and Hoskin's Betty Joe. Since the litter was out of Sack, who had quit in 1:42 against a good dog of Bo Well's, for this reason the litter was not high on Mr. McCool's list and wasn't worth much to him. As a matter of fact, the whole litter of six was offered to L.G. for $300. The 10 month old male was sold for $100 and was called Banjo.

After a quick roll, at the age of 12 months, Banjo was then purchased by Coy from his friend for $150. At this time, The Texas Iron Man also returned to Hoskins and McCool's yard to purchase three more litter mates of Banjo $100 each. Two of these yearlings were culled and one female was kept, her name was BB Red.

Still young, Banjo was matched into Wilson's Wolfy at 45 lbs. Wolfy couldn't scratch back. for number two, Banjo was matched into Anderson's Slick and it was over in :29 minutes. For his championship, The Oklahoma Boys brought their 2X winner named Grunt, it took Banjo :33 minutes to disperse of the 35 lb. black dog, who couldn't stand at that time and was believed to be dead. His fourth was into W. River's Ch. Vito, who was picked up at :43 and made a dead game courtesy scratch. For his fifth and grand championship, Banjo went into Raul's 2X winner named Sonny Boy. It ended with Sonny Boy being picked up to save his life at :25. In an attempt to get Gr. Ch. Banjo matched once more, The Texas Iron Man and M.A.D. futilely petitioned R. Hall to use his Gr. Ch. Andy Capp in a battle of grand champions, unfortunately Mr. Hall declined these advances.

Banjo and his litter mate sister, BB Red, both made grand champions at the young age of three and a half years old, and became the first brother and sister, registered grand champions. Banjo went on to become a Register Of Merit before his death, while his sister died in the summer of 1996.

PATRICK'S TOMBSTONE ROM

Tombstone was bred by the great breeder Don Maloney. Maloney sold to R. Petronelli as a young dog, who then sold or traded him to Don Mayfield, where he was raised. His sire was Maloney's Toot, who was a son of Tudor's Spike out of Carver's Black Widow. Toot was a devastatingly hard biter who had produced dogs that passed that trait to their progeny. another son of Toot who was a great producer of hard mouth dogs was Maloney's Davis, who sired Ch. Our Gal Sunday, Ch. Cobra, and Ch. Black Sabbath. Tombstone's dam Speedy Alan Jena, was a scatter bred bitch containing dogs from P. Sparks, H. Heinzl, J. Corvino, and E. Tudor breedings.

Tombstone was matched one time and after that one victory he was retired to stud, after being available for a second match with no takers. This match was against Bobby Hall and a 2X winning son of Bullyson, named fittingly Bullyson, Jr. Ed Weaver was putting on a show and notified Bobby Hall that Don Mayfield had a 55 lb. male open, so Bobby Hall accepted the challenge. Ironically, Mr. Hall conditioned Bullyson, Jr. at Mayfield's house, at the same time, Don was conditioning Tombstone for this match. The match was one sided for the first hour with Tombstone on defense and Bullyson, Jr. on offense with stifle holds. At the hour mark it appears about even, at 1:09 both dogs are down and at 1:14 an out of hold is called with Tombstone making a hard scratch. Bobby Hall concedes the match at 1:25 making Tombstone a winner in a game, come from behind effort.

Shortly after that match Pat Patrick paid a visit to Mayfield's in hopes of purchasing some good dogs, he was offered Tombstone. Pat purchased Tombstone, but left him there until, he was matched again, which never happened. After the 14 months that he remained at Mayfield's in hopes of another match, Mr. Patrick requested Mayfield to send him his dog. Upon arrival to Pat's yard, Tombstone was then bred to about 15 bitches. Due to the fact that he was a long legged, rangy looking and scatter bred dog, he wasn't in high demand as a stud. Of his few breedings, one to a daughter of Indian Bolio named Red Baby, he produced champions Tonka, Crash, and Uptown's Snubby. He also produced Ch. Reno, Dozer, and Gr. Ch. Hope just to name a few of his progeny.

Tombstone died a few years later from heart worms, as back then the cure was sometimes worse than the malady.

CRENSHAW'S CH. RASCAL

Champion Rascal was born in 1972 on the yard of Maurice Carver and was later owned by James Crenshaw. Rascal won 5 contracted matches, 6 off the chain and suffered just 1 lost, and that was his first. His first match was at 52lbs. against C. Sykes' Sampson, and took the count a 1:52. At this same match Ch. Honeybunch won her second match in :28. In 1974 Rascal met Wood's Snooty, again at 52lbs. and this close match ended in 1:57. For his third match and second win, he defeated Irish Jerry's Soldier in 1:30. For his championship, he won over Baxter's Booger in 1:16 at 48lbs., which turned out to be his ideal weight. He then had wins over Hughes' & Hick's Big Boy in 1:45 and Langston's Satan in 1:19.

Champion Rascal wasn't noted for possessing a devastating mouth, as some would have had many believe, but he was a very game dog as all of his matches went over the hour mark. he fought any style, but preferred to work the head. Not many dogs could put Rascal behind. Even in his loss to Sampson, Sampson died within an half an hour after the match.

His ability to produce is evident in the likes of Gr. Ch. Pedro, Ch. Rascal, Jr., Demon, Sugar, Bandit, Polly, and Krypto just to name a few of his offspring.

Rascal died at the age of 11 in 1983, but will be remembered as one of the best.

WILLIAMS' CH. PALADIN

GARNER'S CH. CHINAMAN ROM

Chinaman was born on the yard of R. Abernathy on November 29, 1977. He was one of three pups born to Abernathy's Molly and sired by Wood's Trouble. Molly always seemed to have 3 pups. This time there was Chinaman, Boy and a female who would be named Onyx Lady (who went to the owner of Trouble, Dr. Wood). Boy would end up in the hands of G. Wright, where he would win three matches. Chinaman was raised by R. Abernathy and when he came of age he was placed with Dr. Wood to find out what he was made of.

In 1981, V & B bought a dog from Kimsey Woods called Double Trouble, they had bought this dog to run in the fast lane with on the west coast and after rolling him out they found out they were pleased with his gameness, but disappointed with his ability and bite. They contacted Kimsey and he told them he had a good rough dog that had just rolled with Wood's Sundance and had crippled Sundance, it was Chinaman. So V & B decided to trade Double Trouble for Chinaman. Double Trouble went on to win two and lost one game in 2 hours and twenty minutes. He arrived full of hookworms and roundworms and weighed only 42 lbs., 4 lbs. below his eventual best match weight of 46 lbs. Rob kept him on a long cable run and tried to help him overcome his emaciated state. Chinaman thanked him by biting him, so Rob shipped him to Vince. It was love at first sight. Vince wormed Chinaman and scheduled a roll for him. After a 3-hour drive Chinaman was nauseated and dehydrated. He was pitted 10 lbs. uphill against a powerful red dog named Ch. Caesar who proceeded to mop the floor with him. When the big dog tired, Chinaman went to the stifles and punched very hard. Even though he was still nauseated and underweight he came up from the bottom to bite down and stop Caesar at: 28. Chinaman's next roll was into Doc, a highly respected wrecker. If he could hang with Doc for even 10 minutes, Chinaman would be worth a bet. Doc came out hard and slammed Chinaman into the corner and tried to trade with Chinaman. Big mistake! Chinaman hit the gut and killed the Doctor in his own living room in 17 minutes! It was clear Chinaman was something special.

For his first two matches, Chinaman was hooked into respected head dogs that some expected to weather the storm and challenge the killing stifle and gut dog. Like their predecessors, neither lasted to the half-hour mark with Chinaman. For his third, a match was made with the highly renowned Gray's Hubcap who had dispatched the famous Red Danger dog in a classic 2-hour encounter. Vince and Rob traveled 7 hours with their dog and when they arrived, odds of 5-1 were being offered against Chinaman. The betting line changed dramatically after the dogs were released. Chinaman drove Hubcap into the corner on his back and this is where the match ended 18 minutes later. Hubcap was a memory and Chinaman was proclaimed a champion and best in show.

Suddenly no one had a 45-46 lb. male. Respectable dog men avoided him like the plague. Finally, when he was 7 years old, some determined fellows bought an expert head dog from R. Jackson, just to take out the aging Ch Chinaman. The dog from Jackson showed a lot of ability, but it wasn't enough to keep out an athlete of Chinaman's caliber. Chinaman worked past his defenses and curred him out in 38 minutes. This had been Chinaman's longest match, but the outcome was the same as always: he destroyed everything in his path.

For all who witnessed his matches, Chinaman became known as one of the roughest ever and a true finisher. According to scientific tests, he had the air of a greyhound. According to all who saw him, he had the mouth of an alligator. He was very clever. He would outsmart slick ear and nose dogs and cur them out. He would finish straight-ahead dogs even faster. Swapping-out was his game. Like all the truly great ones, Chinaman's build was like a sleek, muscular thoroughbred.

The Chinaman name appears in many of today's pedigrees. His contribution as a producer equals, or exceeds his dominance as a performer. Among his better known offspring were Ch. Eightball, Ch. Cotton, Ch. Chinabuck, Ch. Chinagirl, Ch. Stormy, Ch. Missy, Ch. Chinarose, Ch. Ninja and Ch. Crock. He had three sons (Brodt's Boar, Cottingham's Cotton, and Shockley's Header) go over the 3-hour mark on the same weekend! Perhaps his greatest contribution is as a producer of producers, as his son Frisco ROM has produced champions and grand champions.

O. STEVENS' CH. CHOLLY BOY

Cholly Boy was a product of the Geist's Easy / O. Stevens' Old Charlie breeding. Cholly Boy was a well put together dog that seemed to favor Ozzie's old Homer stock.

Campaigned by Ozzie Stevens into some of the very best from the North. None of his matches were walk-overs as all of them went over the hour and a half mark. In his first match, he went into Captain America and his dog Herman. This match lasted 1:33, and Herman proved to be a dead game dog. For Cholly Boy's second, he went into Buffalo Soldier's Mister, who was from Rebel Kennels' breeding. Mister won a few before this match and was highly regarded. Cholly Boy won this match in 1:32. Ozzie was a little worried before the match as Cholly Boy had gotten a serious kidney infection towards the end of the keep, but went through with the show and even at 60% healthy, Cholly Boy came out with the victory.

The third match was into STP's Revenge. It was set in a private location, outside on a cool autumn night. Both dogs weighed in at 46 and at "release your dogs" they met in the middle with Cholly Boy coming up with an ear hold and Revenge getting in and driving for the front end. This was the pace for a while with Revenge only getting the chest every now and then and would throw Cholly Boy and get in the throat. But, whatever Revenge would do to Cholly, Cholly would come up and do it back, but harder and longer. Then he would land back on the head with Revenge driving and Cholly steering. Both dogs were real pit smart, Revenge was trying at every chance to run Cholly into the walls to get a hold of something, but just before he would get there Cholly would steer him around to the middle of the pit. The pace of the match was real fast for two 46 pound dogs, both were moving fast and were on their feet for the first 1:20. When it seemed they took their first moment of breath, one dog was always in hold and it usually was Cholly Boy with Revenge constantly trying to get in and go to work. At the point of the fight, it seemed that Cholly knew it was time to go in and finish Revenge, so he started working the throat more and more and Revenge was becoming less effective in keeping him out. It was at this point that Cholly started to bite harder and popped a bleeder in the shoulder of Revenge at 1:27. Revenge turns at 1:30, a handle was made and Revenge goes over straight and true. Now Cholly Boy is in trying to finish Revenge in the throat and it was obvious that Revenge had no chance and Cholly Boy wasn't going anywhere. At 1:39 STP asks if Ozzie will scratch to win, it is agreed and Cholly Boy goes open right back into the throat of Revenge. Then Revenge gives on hell of a game courtesy and was picked up by STP to go another day.

This was Cholly Boy's third, but I'd say his most famous match was into Jesse Rod's Whitefoot, down from J. Rod's Gr. Ch. Midnight blood. This was one of those classic matches that sort of mirrored the Ch. Homer vs Jeep match as it went three hours, with Cholly Boy the victor. Unfortunately, Cholly Boy passed shortly after the match.

Ch. Cholly Boy would not expend any more energy then he had to, to wear his opponent down and when he felt it was time to finish one, he did.

When Ozzie was asked who he ranked as the best dog he has owned, he replied Ch. Cholly Boy. This coming from a man who has owned the likes of Gr. Ch. Snake, Jr., Gr. Ch. Virgil, Ch. Homer, Ch. Tammy, Ch. Zero, Ch. Suzy, Ch. Rastus and many others.

STONE CITY KENNELS' GR. CH. YELLOW BUCK

Here is a little bit about a fine bulldog named "Destroyer". His registered name was "Yellow Buck" and was bred and raised by Jesse of Stone City Kennels. Yellow Buck was sired by Gr. Ch. Buck ROM out of Stone City Kennels' Awesome Baby ROM. Yellow Buck was dark brindle, with a red nose and he weighed about 53lbs. conditioned.

His first match was at the age of two and a half against Tension Turf Kennels from ST. Croix. and their dog David Koresh (a half brother to the famous Gr. Ch. IBM) battled with Yellow Buck for 1:05 and was picked up game. For his second match he went into Dennis and Hector's Brick at 52lbs. Yellow Buck finished Brick right in the pit with only one hold, deep in the stifle. That match only lasted seven minutes, Dennis and Hector picked Brick up, but it was too late.

From there on he never looked back. For his championship Jessie had to look off Puerto Rico for another opponent, because none wanted any parts of Destroyer. Death Row Kennels answered the call with their 2X winner Predator, so Stone City and Co. traveled to South Jersey for this match. This proved to be Yellow Buck's toughest match and he wasn't supposed to come home alive. The dogs swapped it out for about :45 until Death Row decided to pick up Predator, thus making Yellow Buck a champion.

After about a year off with no takers, some dogmen from Florida stepped up with Bulldog P.'s Tere, a 1X winner out of Havana Boys' Sandal and Rebel Kennels' Gr. Ch. Shady Lady. They Flew down to Puerto Rico, but Yellow But was on the warpath and he made Tere stand the line at :27.

For his fifth, they hooked up with Work Kennels and their dog Buster, also a 4X winner. Work Kennels also flew down to Puerto Rico and after 1:30, they picked up Buster making Yellow Buck an official Grand Champion.

He was the second Gr. Ch. to come from the yard of Stone City Kennels out of Awesome Baby.

INDIAN BOLIO ROM

Bolio was bred by Maurice Carver and Eddie Klaus in 1969. His sire was the famous pit ace Klaus' Zeke and his dam was Klaus' Goldie. Bolio's pedigree is very heavy in the blood of a bitch named Carver's Judy and her sister the great Carver's Black Widow. In fact he carried fifty percent of this blood in his breeding.

Bennett Clayton of Texas bought Bolio from Carver and sent him to Floyd Boudreaux to be matched, he was hooked into a dog that had killed both of his previous opponents. This dog's name was Rowdy. Bolio was contracted into Rowdy twice. The first time Floyd was not content with Bolio's conditioning for the fight, he knew that Bolio must be perfect to fight a dog of this caliber. After Floyd paid the forfeit he set up a new match with Rowdy for the big night of a southern convention. This time Bolio was in great shape and when they hit, it was a real war. Bolio killed Rowdy in about two hours and was voted best in show! At this same convention, there were many champions being shown and among them was Davis' Grand Champion Boomerang. I was not at this fight and I got my information from other dog men and the sporting dog magazines.

Sometime after the fight Bolio was sold to a fancier in southern California. The new owner of Bolio was not interested in matching him again, even though I felt he was the best 43 lb. dog alive at the time. He decided to use him as a stud dog and that was the best use for him. Bolio was so talented he never got hurt in rolls. I was lucky enough to see him roll many times against all kinds of dogs including dogs that were up to 15 pounds larger than he. He handled ALL his opponents with ease.

I have not seen a large number of the famous foundation dogs fight and maybe some of them were better dogs than Bolio. I have seen many fast lane dogs in action since these foundation dogs faded into the past and I can say that Bolio is the best dog I have ever seen pound for pound. He was not an extremely hard biter, but he could shut his mouth. He was very skilled at keeping his holds and sometimes it would appear that he was glued to his rivals head, he liked to fight the head. He was very strong and fast wrestler and would quickly get his hold and then use his body weight and muscle power to wear the opponent down while punishing him the whole time. He would move in such a way that the other dog would be carrying most of Bolio's weight with him. When the other dog would slow down from the head holds, Bolio would go into the throat. If a dog did happen to get Bolio off his head, Bolio would go toe to toe with him, but not for long. Bolio would work his way back to the head and again be in total control. He was the fastest, smartest, and most effective head dog that I have ever seen. He had natural air and I never saw him slow down. He was a very intense dog and he loved to fight. When in the corner he would scream with rage until he was released into the other dog. Occasionally, he would bite you if not released quick enough.

Bolio as a producer was the best stud dog that I know of that ever lived. He was bred to some poor cur bitches and produced excellent pit dogs from them. When he was bred to good bitches, those results were amazing.

Some friends of mine had a dispute with Bolio's owner and ended up taking the dog while he was at church. I had no part in the taking of Bolio from his owner's yard and do not know the details of the dispute between him and my friends. I don't use his name because the purpose of this article is to praise Bolio, not to put down his former owner. Bolio's former owner had stolen dogs from me and so I feel that I owed him nothing. When the people who took Bolio offered me breeding rights to the dog, I accepted immediately. Bolio remained on my yard until he died at the age of thirteen. He would sire litter after litter of good dogs and I would rate him as a better stud dog than my Tombstone dog, who was also a great stud in his own right. Bolio produced fine dogs from all his breedings, no matter what the bloodline was. His pups carried the same traits that made him such a great dog.

When I bred a daughter of Bolio's, Red Baby, to Tombstone, the result was thirteen very good dogs. Eight of these dogs won 20 matches. The other five was used as brood bitches. Champion Tonka, Champion Snubby, Champion Crash, and Creamator were some of the better known dogs I sold from this breeding.

One of the first bitches I bred to Bolio was Faith, a Clouse bitch. This breeding produced eight game and talented dogs, including Chen Leng and Champion Princess. Red Baby's mother was a sister to Offer's Crazy Babe, a pure Clouse bitch. Red Baby's litter was a bunch of great dogs.

I had a bitch named Tuffy that was heavy in Clouse blood. She was by Tater and Faith, and when I bred her to Bolio, I got some very good dogs including Bull Boy Bob ROM and Champion Dugan. Bolio worked well with good Tombstone and Clouse bitches. He also sired good ones to great dogs out of bitches from the bloodlines of Eli Jr. and Ironhead. This reminds me of a statement made by Ricky Jones. He said, "My favorite bloodlines are the Eli / Ironhead cross dogs that came from Maurice during the early and mid seventies. Percentage wise these dogs will get you to the pit more times than any other bloodline out there. There are a lot of good dogs from other bloodlines, but over all you will get more dog for your money and time from the Eli/Ironhead line." Ricky Jones can run any bloodline he wants and he has a right to his own opinion. I don't think any bloodline is so superior to the other top bloodlines that it wins every time. However, Ricky stated very clearly that his dogs will win more that any other, now how in the hell would he know this to be a fact, he never used anything except the Eli blood and did 99.9% of his winning in his own back yard! I say his opinion is weak and wrong! I owned and saw dogs of Bullyson, Eli Jr., and Ironhead when Ricky still had his hound dogs. I say the Bolio blood is superior and I sold my Bullyson-Eli Jr., dogs to make room for the Bolio blood that I breed. I talked with Carver on many occasions and he told me more than twice that the Bolio dogs are his best without a doubt. In the whole article he never spoke about two of the best dogs he owned, Chome and Chocolate Soldier. These two dogs won 4 matches for him and they were bred by Diamond Jim out of a Bolio bitch bred to the great Luther dog. The mother of Chome and Soldier was Patrick's Rose. I understand that Jones had a lot of wins to his credit, but the fact is that a puppy I sold as a pet beat Grand Champion Sandman even though Sandman outweighed him by 3 lbs. I am talking about Grand Champion Buck, a Bolio dog. If Ricky can make a statement that his dogs are the best, I can tell you that the people with Bolio dogs aren't losing any sleep over his "Honest Dogs." I would not trade one good Bolio dog for any of his dogs. I quess most serious dog men run the line of dogs they like the best.

Bolio's blood is by far the biggest part of my yard. Almost all my dogs have some Bolio blood in them and many are 60-70% Bolio blood. I don't think you get the best results by just inbreeding on one good dog. You need other good bloodlines to cross them with and to keep them strong. I am without a doubt the biggest Bolio fan in the world and i have been bragging about him for twenty years. Maurice Carver told me that "all the Bolio dogs will do for you is win. Lots of people don't like them after they win, but they get the job done!" Eddie Klaus and Maurice Carver deserve the credit for breeding Bolio and his great litter mates Mendicino, Andy Capp, Daisy, and Leggs Diamond. All I did was realize his potential as a stud dog. I am sure I would still have bulldogs if I had never heard of Bolio, but I know my yard is a better yard because of him.

If I could have any dog that lived in the past, today, as a two year old dog, I would take Bolio!

CAROLINA KENNELS' CH. TERMITE ROM

In the late 1970's and early 1980's, Mr. Fletcher Chavis bred some dogs that any dogman would be proud to own. Much of his original stock was from that grand old dog, Champion Yellow John ROM and for years Mr. Chavis campaigned with that inbred Red Boy dogs that he had gotten from RT Bass. He was rated one of the best.

During the mid 1970's an outstanding discovery was made. Vernon Jackson had a dog that he had gotten from Don Mayfield that he called Hank, inbred from Mayfield's Lightning II blood. Hank never started until he was three years old, but when he did, he not only turned out to be a phenomenal performer but an excellent producer as well. He was bred to a bitch of Bob Rast's called Queenie and from that litter came Jocko, Argo, Pearl, Apple, and a few other good ones. Mr. Chavis ended up with Jocko and that was the beginning of the famous Red Boy/ Jocko bloodline.

Mr. Chavis campaigned with Jocko and he looked to be unbeatable due to the inherited trait of Hank's backend style. Jocko became a champion and was retired to stud. Jocko was bred to his sister Apple and several inbred bitches that he sired. These bitches were bred to Yellow John, a triple inbred son of Tramp Red Boy, and that was the beginning of Jocko's fame as a producer. Out of these breedings came Tant's Gr. Ch. Yellow ROM, Gainey's JR., Chavis' Roho, STP's Gr. Ch. John Boy and his littermate brother Ch. Toro, alnog with Super Gnat's dead game Boots and a host of others. However, there is another side of this story that few people knew about.

Mr. Chavis had a bitch by the name of Lady Sassy Mead. She was half Red Boy and half Lonzo's breeding. He bred Lady Sassy Mead to Champion Jocko and created a whole new strain of dogs. In that litter came Dangerous Dan, Thor, Margarett and Rose. Rose was the grand dam of Gr. Ch. Yellow and Jr. However, these dogs were black in color and were thought not to be up to the standards of the original stock and were sold as pets.

Carolina Kennels purchased a son out of Dangerous Dan and a friend purchased a male and a female. The male Carolina Kennels purchased was called Termite. Termite's first show was in 1983 with Hargroves. Termite came in over the weight and had to pay a forfeit. Later on in that year, Termite got hooked into Tant. Tant he had reputation of being one of the best dogmen in the south and many of Carolina's friends thought they was being too cocky going into him. Termite was declared the winner in :38. Next, Termite won over Jacky S. in :20 minutes and was ready for his Championship match. Crenshaw and Tugboat had won several matches and both had outstanding reputations. Carolina Kennels couldn't resist the opportunity of going into the best. Tugboat lived up to his rep for the first :30, then those Jocko traits started kicking in and Termite was the winner at :58.

Well, by this time Carolina Kennels was satisfied with Termite's performance and was considering his retirement, but again couldn't resist another challenge. This time it was the grand old man himself, Fletcher Chavis. Terms of the contract couldn't be agreed upon, so Mr. Chavis sold the dog to Rastaman and said that Big Joe had the perfect style to beat Termite. Rastaman's Big Joe put on a great show, but at 1:17 Termite won his fourth. Termite was retired after this and was put out to stud. He has produced some very good dogs among the best is Gr. Ch. Cirus. Cirus won 5, including a victory over Solo's Champion Thunder.

Termite died in November of 1995.

GARRETT'S CH. JEEP ROM

Throughout the history of the sporting American Pit Bull Terriers, no single dog has made quite the impact as Garrett's CH. Jeep, and that being the combination of not only his worthiness as a supreme pit dog, but the ultimate supremacy of his reproduction. Jeep was bred by James Crenshaw and sold to James Garrett as a young dog and was campaigned and brought to notoriety by James Garrett assisted by James Crenshaw. Jeep achieved his fourth win over Ozzie Stevens' Ch. Homer. This fight making history, for the caliber of these two dogs meeting in the pit is unusual in itself. Although, Jeep the victor, Homer, in his own rights, had proved to be just as good a combat dog and both dogs were truly entitled to the legacy that they have earned through this match.

Now that the formidable worth of Jeep has been established, we will go on to the greatest asset this dog ever possessed and that was his ability to reproduce a staggering figure of Champions, one Grand Champion and numerous one and two time winners. The conversation at many conventions always leads to great dogs and a dispute of which bloodlines are the best to utilize to get the highest percentage of game and winning dogs. I have often heard this one statement being passed when Jeep's name is brought up as to his high figure on the R.O.M. (Register Of Merit) list and that is, well look how many bitches JEEP was bred to to create the amount of Champions he has sired. My answer to those dogmen is this. Take three major pit dogs that are from outstanding bloodlines such as STP's Grand Champion Buck, six time winner, STP's Champion Toro and Burton's Grand Champion Hank, as these three were considered exceptional pit dogs and many utilized these three different bloods for the sole purpose of producing or establishing new lines from them. All three lived approximately to the same age which was ten years. Two were campaigned approximately the same time and died not to far apart, that being, Ch. Toro and Gr. Ch. Hank. Hank made his pit history prior to theirs, but was bred as many times as Jeep, if not more. Gr. Ch. Buck, probably second to Hank in the amount of his breedings and Toro, who was bred to 23 different bitches during this period. The fact is all three of these great dogs combined together, produced about half the number of Champions as Jeep has. So common, sense will tell you how many champions doesn't hold water. In retrospect, dogs like Ch. Homer, Gr. Ch. Art, and Tombstone who was bred limited amounts of times and was still able to produce high quality dogs should also be considered.  Certain dogs should be on the ROM list considering the number of times they have been bred, like: Jeep, Buck, Yellow, Frisco and Mayday to name a few.

Some of the crosses which are well known where Jeep created some great dogs and the blood seems to click the best with are Jeep / Red Boy and Jeep / Rascal.

Ch. Jeep was born in August 1976 on the yard of James Crenshaw, in the famous litter of Finley's Ch. Bo ROM to Crenshaw's Ch. Honeybunch ROM. That produced four champions. The most famous of the four was Ch. Jeep ROM. But there was also Crenshaw's (Super Gnat's) Ch. Charlie, who has been said to have been a better pit dog than Jeep. Ch. Missy who is seen in a lot of pedigrees today, and Swetman's Ch. Holly, who was said to be a terrible biter with lots of ability. This was a great litter that was made once, for reasons that I don't know.

CH. Jeep is believed by many to be one of the best match dogs of his time.

Defeated Pylant's Ch. Kato at 43 pounds in :28 minutes. Cooper's Weenie also at 43 pounds in :58 minutes. Stinson & Stepp's Black Dog, who was said to be a three time winner at 42 pounds in two hours and five minutes. And, for his fourth and final match we went into Ozzie Stevens' Ch. Homer, at 43 pounds and won in 3:45. This was one of those classic matches, that history is made from. Two great game dogs met, and only one could win. One created a legacy and the other a dynasty.

DEAD SERIOUS KENNELS' CH. EL DIABLO NEGRO

In March of 1995 a young black male dog called "Tex" was brought to MAD's yard.  The dog was owned by Smokey of Texas and was obtained from Chicago Mike by buying a pregnant bitch that had been bred to Well's Ch. Oscar.

Tex was your typical Eli, Jr./ Bullyson bred looking dog.  His body was long, muscular and big headed.  He had big cutters to match.

When Tex turned 14 months old, Smokey was concerned if the dog would even start.  So, MAD agreed to help school the young dog.  At the time Dead Serious was looking for match dogs and MAD had a proven one-time winner the size of Tex for sale.  After only :15 mins, he had killed his first opponent at an early age.  The first :08 minutes Tex buried deep in the shoulders, teeth sunk to the gums.   For the remaining :07 minutes, he laid deep inside the kidney area until the one-time winner laid dead.  Dead Serious was convinced and bought Tex from Smokey and changed his name to better suit him.  "El Diablo Negro", which translates to "The Black Devil".

Diablo was later rolled about 6 or 7 times in their yard with none of his rolls going over 8 minutes without being stopped.

After witnessing Diablo roll, their friend Mr. Woods told them something that molded their philosophy.  He said, "Son, put that black dog into shape and I'll find you a roll to see how game he is.  You bring the dog and I'll bet the money!  If you still don't know what to do after that, let him heal up and put him back into shape again.  I'll find you a roll, bet the money and you bring Diablo!!"  Well, needless to say, they found the roll and they bet the money.

For Diablo's first match, we were hooked up into Aries Kennels at 47 lbs.  At this time, Diablo was twenty months old and was headed south of the border to their backyard, Mexico.

On the morning of the show, Diablo weighed in at 51 lbs, some 4 lbs overweight.  But, by 9:00 PM that night, after being walked, rubbed and emptied, Diablo made weight which was somewhat hard on him.  The show was definitely still on!!

Upon arriving on location we discovered that Aries Kennels had gone out and borrowed another kennel's dog.  The dog was Espy's Joker, a two-time winner and a two-time best of show.  Diablo dominated the Joker dog from start to finish and by the :33 minute mark Joker sat the line.

For Diablo's second match some 5 months after his first win, they was hooked into Norman K.'s Drexal, him also being a two-time winner and a truly deep-game bulldog.  Only this time they traveled east to "Cajun Country" Louisiana with Diablo now being 25 months old.

this match was being used as a measurement of where they stood with Diablo.  Being matched into Mr. K., a legend and one of, if not the most well respected and honored people in the gam