LAMBERTON LOFT HISTORY

Lamberton Loft began in 1961 when John Lamberton began attending a new junior high school in Tulsa Oklahoma and was invited home after school by Doug Wilson, a fellow student who had a loft of homing pigeons in his backyard. Immediately upon discovering his new friend's pigeons, Lamberton fell in love with these wonderful birds and wanted to immerse himself in the pigeon racing sport. After a short time raising common pigeons trapped in a local grain elevator, John purchased a pair of racing homers from local ace flier Keith Parrett who raced the demanding northeast race course with a handful of other fanciers. The Blue male and Silver female, primarily known as Bricoux and Wegge pigeons, were popular strains that could negotiate the demanding headwind course from Tulsa, Oklahoma USA  northeast to Chicago, Illinois USA on Interstate 44.

Although Lamberton Loft flew very well for years with these hard weather birds, other birds from outside the Tulsa pigeon community were added from Louis Koenig, Old Dominion Loft, Richmond, Virginia. Mr. Koenig also raised pigeons described as Wegges and Bricouxs which were prodigy of racing stock in England and Germany and introduced them to local fanciers through several local auctions in Tulsa.

In addition, Lamberton added speed to his basic Wegge and Bricoux breeding stock by purchasing the excellent Janssens pigeons of Mike Ganus. At the time, Mike was selling Janssens from Rene Truyen, a relatively unknown fancier in Belgium who just happened to perform personal tasks for the Janssen Brothers and was compensated for his efforts with Janssen pigeons. Although Rene was not a pigeon racer, he had super pigeons from the Brothers! There were many European fanciers who were amazed that the Truyen pigeons were popular in the U. S. since Truyen did not race and was not particularly respected as a pigeon fancier in Europe.

In addition to many Truyen birds, Mike bought the "048" female from Truyen and sold her amazing offspring all over the U. S with great success. However, Mike Ganus has a unique personal characteristic of never being satisfied with the status quo. Mike soon went to the Janssen Loft and began buying birds directly from the Brothers. Mike then sold his Truyen breeders to make room for the birds from the Janssen Brothers. Lamberton Loft bought several foundation Truyen breeders including a Ganus-bred son and daughter of the "048" female when she was mated to BELG 83 67000259, a fantastic blue male bred by the Janssen Brothers and down from the Young Rocket, the Zitter, and the Oude Merckx. The blood of these super Janssens still runs in the Lamberton racing pigeons today.

On a trip to Belgium with Mike Ganus in the mid 1980's, John Lamberton met Antoine Jacops. Since 1967, Jacops has been a excellent multi-distance flier with a super family of pigeons. In 1966, Jacops started with 50 young birds purchased from local fanciers. Jacops bought "only the best" At the end of his first season of racing, Jacops was left with 28 of the original 50 he had purchased. Because he only wanted the best, he kept one super racer, a white male which he aptly named, the Witte. The Witte had been purchased from the loft of Emiel Verhaert, a very successful fancier. Antoine went to the loft of Warre De Schutter of Pulle to select a blue female to mate with the Witte. The basis pair of the Oude Witte Verhaert and the Blauwe Witoog De Schutter would bring great fame and fortune to Antoine Jacops in the Belgian pigeon sport. This basis couple, the white male and blue female, gave many excellent racers. A super racer was the Gebroken Poot, 9 times first. The Gebroken Poot gave many excellent pigeons including the Cahors, the Vooruit, the 171, the 184, and many others. Jacop's basis breeders today include the "Diamond Couple" and their children - the most famous of which is the Super As. The Kleine Cahors is a grandson son of the Gebroken Poot.

Although these pigeons are excellent breeders and racers, Antoine strives to keep his family of pigeons 70% basic stock and 30% new strain. New blood is routinely introduced to the Jacops Loft to keep the hybrid vigor of the racers intact. In the 1980's, Antoine bought 3 males, Geschifte, Playboy, and the Wrong Willy, from Willy Van Berendonk which were grandchildren of Willy's foundation male from Meuleman's Golden Couple, Belg 6793014 - 77. This cross worked incredibly well perhaps, in part, because both the Jacop's basic stock and the Van Berendonk/Meuleman cross both had the blood of the super pigeons from the great fancier, Rene Maas, in their pedigrees. The cross between the Jacops and Van Berendonk pigeons may have been as much a line breeding as it was an outcross! Jacops pigeons descend, in part, from the Maas pigeons raced during the 1930s and 40s. (Many famous European lofts owe much of their success to the pigeons of Maas including Vandenbosch, Meuleman, Van Riel, Fabry, Janssen Brothers and William Geerts to name a few).

The story behind the name of Antoine's outstanding male, the Wrong Willy, is of particular interest. At a Van Berendonk auction, Antoine accidentally purchased the wrong lot number. He purchased a pigeon that he hadn't intended on buying. femalece, the pigeon's name - the Wrong Willy. The Wrong Willy has been an excellent breeding male.

Lamberton racing pigeons are based upon pigeons from Antoine Jacops crossed with pigeons bred or imported by Mike Ganus. Lamberton Loft has purchased many pigeons directly from Antoine's basis breeders. Jacops breeders in Lamberton Loft include Belg 6540162-90, a blue male, and Belg 6597995-91, a blue female, both from the Diamond Couple and full siblings to the Super As; and Belg 6602278-91, a blue daughter of the Super As.

Below is an Antoine Jacop's breeding card which pictures the Diamond Couple and 3 of their winning prodigy including the Super As. For further details on specific Lamberton breeders, click on Birds in the Navigation bar at the top of the page. Lamberton Loft owes all of its success to the friendship, expertise, and kindness of Mike Ganus and Antoine Jacops.