![Lloyd Felix, Martin Martinez and Drew Lesofski]()
Lloyd Felix, Martin Martinez and Drew Lesofski
The Loft Report was honored to be invited to visit Lloyd Felix, the one of the last Dons of the San Fernando Valley Racing Pigeon Club (FVC), at his home in Northern Hills during one of my visit to California.
![Very few fanciers have ever made it beyond this gate.]()
Very few fanciers have ever made it beyond this gate.
Lloyd Felix is a longtime member of the FVC club, the club that hosts the Snowbird race, which is precursor to all modern young bird futurities. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, the Snowbird race had more pigeons competing and more money wagered and won than any other futurity race in the USA. To win the Snowbird was an achievement equal to scaling Mount Everest or winning the Tour de France!
To enter was an honor, but to be a handler in the hottest and most prestigious club in the USA was something else. Handlers like Bill Traw, Art Hees, Suvit Asawasapornsnit, Paul Calabrese , Pete and Ed Lorenz, Danny Hinds, and Marty Laden—to name a few—ensured that the level of competition in the Snowbird and the FVC club was at the highest level. The FVC for all intents and purposes was a professional club. If you didn’t have the time, location, dedication, and money to race you just couldn’t compete. At its height, it was not uncommon for there to be $20,000 or more in pool money up for grabs on a weekly race. This was at a time (1985) when the average per capita income was $11,000! Fanciers in the FVC couldn’t afford to be second.
![Felix Mantle]()
To win and to stay on top you had to do all the hard work yourself. If you wanted a strain of birds – you created your own. If you wanted to win regularly you had work 10-times harder than the next guy. There was no other way, there was too much at stake.
![Snowbird Winner]()
Lloyd’s Snowbird Winner
Lloyd Felix is one fancier that flourished under these circumstances. Lloyd is probably one of the most underrated fanciers in North America – simply because he never sold birds, didn’t seek the spotlight, and didn’t care what your opinion of him is. He is a true grit flyer.
![Felix Racing Pigeon Bulletin]()
During the heyday of the FVC, Lloyd was running a large tile business that had the contract to build McDonald’s restaurants all over California. Lloyd didn’t have the time to mess around with average birds. He wanted to win. So, he had to keep his eye open for any opportunity to find birds that would excel under his system and keep him at the top the sheet. Lloyd struck gold not once, but twice, exactly at the right time. First, when he acquired Bekaerts in the early 1950’s down from Jack Kennedy’s birds and again in 1965 when he imported four pure Oscar DeVriendt’s.
![Through the veins of this "old timer" runs the creme dela creme of Lloyd's family of birds.]()
Through the veins of this “old timer” runs the creme de la creme of Lloyd’s family of birds.
Jack Kennedy was known to be a small team flyer and never kept or raced many birds. Jack acquired the first four Bekaerts from his friend, De Pau, from Chicago and after that did well in the FVC. The next year De Pau came back to visit Jack and brought him four more Bekaerts. Jack was committed to only having a few birds and refused them. As a result, Jack gave De Pau the idea to take these four birds to the clubhouse and see if anyone there might want them. Jack knew that they would be snapped up quickly because everyone was trying to get some of his Bekaerts.
![Felix Drew Outside]()
Word spread that Jack and De Pau were headed to the clubhouse with the Bekaerts. When they arrived, the clubhouse was full. It was decided that they would draw straws to see who would get the right to purchase one of the four Bekaerts. One of these cocks was a red check cock; the only red Bekaert at the time imported into North America and believed to be the foundation of all the red Bekaerts in California. This red cock was very large and not the racing type that was common in California at the time. The winner of the straw-pull for the red was Dan Lapree. The story goes that Dan was not happy with the size or color of his new pigeon so he gave it to his good friend W.W. Montee, known as the “King of the West.” Lloyd, knowing a good pigeon when he saw one, decided that he really wanted the red Bekaert blood and he went directly to Montee and obtained some. It wasn’t long until Lloyd had these new red Bekaerts dialed in and not long after that when Dan realized his mistake. Dan went back to Montee to get the red Bekaert back but by then too much of his bloodline had leaked out to the surrounding area. In the very capable hands of fanciers like Lloyd they became the cornerstone of many famous lofts.
![Lloyd's widowhood boxes.]()
Lloyd’s widowhood boxes.
In 1965 Lloyd decided that he needed a strain of birds that could dominate in Southern California in both the young bird and old bird races. He looked long and hard and finally, after talking to Roger Vereecke, he settled on importing a few quality pigeons from Oscar DeVriendt from Belgium. The four birds that were imported were: Belg-95-3233685 a blue bar cock, Belg-65-3233621 a blue bar white flight pied hen, Belg-57-3462140 a blue check pied hen and “Fellon” Belg-61-3343977 a blue bar white flight cock.
For the first time, and in a Loft Report exclusive, Lloyd Felix is allowing the publishing of arguably the most important pedigree documenting the foundation of the DeVriendt strain in North America.
![192 Ped]()
These four birds, two cocks, and two hens set the world on fire! The pair Belg-65-3343977 “Fellon” and Belg-57-3462140 bred the “Pie Ball Cock.” Even Campbell Strange of Oak Haven Farms was enamored with Lloyd Felix’s DeVriendts. In his 1994 breeding catalog he had this to say about the “Pie Ball Cock”;
“He sired 19 Diploma birds including three combine winners in three years with three different hens. Young bred from the “Pie Ball Cock” have won up to 600 miles and won over $6,000 in three years (a lot of money in the Sixties).”
![Drew holding one of the key hens.]()
Drew holding one of the key hens.
Campbell bought the “Pie Ball Cock” for a king’s ransom from Lloyd Felix in 1969, because he saw the destruction the DeVriendts were waging in the FVC against many of the top fanciers in the country and he knew to win he needed what Lloyd had. The Lloyd Felix DeVriendts stood the test of time in Campbell’s loft. At the time of his final sale in 1999 he still had the DeVriendt family that he built from birds from Lloyd Felix! He asserted, “this line is still a strong line in our loft.” This is quite an endorsement from a guy who, at the time, had access to every top loft in Europe and had lofts full of many European National and International winners! Even today birds down from those bought from Lloyd Felix by Campbell are still winning around the country, in Canada, and in the Gulfcoast Homing Pigeon Club (GHC) Classic.
![Felix Landing Board]()
Lloyd’s loft is very large in comparison to most North American lofts I’ve visited. His loft is built out of brick and is approximately 65’x45’. The front half is divided into two old bird sections, a feed room, and two young bird sections. His breeding loft is on the back side of his loft, has three sections, and is open to the California air. All his lofts have concrete floors and internal lights. Each of the old bird sections are fitted with large boxes with hand crafted wood nest fronts. Each section is well ventilated with large open windows that can be opened or shut, thru a large, false ceiling and mechanically with venting fans.
![Lloyd Felix's impressive loft. The Old Bird section is on the left, Young Birds on the right and his Breeders in the rear.]()
Lloyd Felix’s impressive loft. The Old Bird section is on the left, Young Birds on the right and his Breeders in the rear.
In the 80’s and 90’s, Lloyd raced a large team of old birds on the natural system and for years has used a young bird motivation system. Lloyd mentioned that many members in the FVC were flying either a ‘light or ‘dark’ type young bird system well before they became all the rage in Europe. This would make sense because of the high level of competition in the FVC had during this time.
![Lloyd's Old Bird race section. Notice the small nesting box high up close to the ceiling.]()
Lloyd’s Old Bird race section. Notice the small nesting box high up close to the ceiling.
Lloyd and I chatted about how he motivated his old birds to tear up the skies and drive his competitors crazy. He was a big believer in tossing his team from 200 miles two weeks prior to the big race. The birds that made it home first were always the birds he would enter in the big race. Tossing is one thing, but bringing your desired bird(s) into a highly motivated state in order to race home in front is another thing. Lloyd would do little things to achieve this. He would open up a nest box that had previously been closed or he might put a ‘sawhorse’ into the loft a few hours before shipping. The bird that owned it was his pick bird. Sometimes he would install a small shelf right above the top of his old bird boxes and let the bird fight it out over this new piece of territory. To reach the level of competitiveness and to stay there you have to try lots of things to motivate your birds. Over the years, Lloyd has demonstrated that he understands how to motivate his birds to the detriment of his competitors!
![Excellent ventilation is a must and is one of Lloyd's "secrets" to his success.]()
Excellent ventilation is a must and is one of Lloyd’s “secrets” to his success.
Only a few fanciers that have been able to gain access to Lloyd’s loft, and even fewer made it into his breeding loft. Needless to say, I was more than flattered to be given full access. His three breeding sections all have concrete floors each with their own drain in the middle. Each section has a water spigot and is fitted with the same type of boxes and nest fronts as his old bird section. While I was there, Lloyd had a very special pair in an individual pen that is reserved for the very best. The unique aspect of Lloyd’s breeding loft, which you really don’t see duplicated anywhere else because of weather, is that his breeding sections are almost completely open to the elements. The health of his birds was evident. With so much California sunshine and even temperatures, there really is no need to close up one’s breeders. His breeding sections are as close to nature as you can get.
![Lloyd's hens and a few young birds ready to rock!]()
Lloyd’s hens and a few young birds ready to rock!
My visit to Lloyd Felix started with his protégé Martin Martinez picking me up and driving me to Lloyd’s house in Northern Hills, California about an hour’s drive from where I was staying in Costa Mesa. Martin lives in Huntington Beach, which is in Orange County, and keeps a very small loft with 100% of Lloyd’s bloodlines. Just like Lloyd, Martin works in the building trades and is a hard worker. He, too, does not have time to mess around with good birds. He only wants the best. When he was a young man he lived in the vicinity of the FVC and knew many of the greats—and Lloyd was one of them. Martin would try and bend the ear of the guys at the club but many of them then didn’t have the time or patience to listen or teach a ‘kid’ how to fly pigeons. After all, they were racing for money and they were in no position to ‘teach’ their competitor how to beat them.
![Lloyd made good use of the louver windows in the front of his loft.]()
Lloyd made good use of the louver windows in the front of his loft.
Martin, being persistent over time, was able to win the trust and affection of many of the FVC legends, including Lloyd. He was able to pick up a few of the secrets of the ‘big boys.’ Unfortunately, like many young fanciers, life got in the way and Martin moved away from the FVC to work and start a family. Martin decided to get back into pigeons. He called a few fanciers that he had relationships with to get a few birds to start with. He was told by one of the most well respected fanciers in California, who also sells pigeons professionally, that he should call Lloyd Felix and see if he could get a pigeon or two from him. Martin was warned at the time that Lloyd absolutely does not sell pigeons and if he was lucky to get Lloyd to agree to sell him one, Martin couldn’t afford it.
![One of Lloyd's breeding sections. Campbell Strange founded his DeVreindt family out of this breeding loft.]()
One of Lloyd’s breeding sections. Campbell Strange founded his DeVreindt family from birds bought here.
It wasn’t long until Martin made his way to Lloyd’s house to see if he could acquire a few. It took a lot of persuading, but over the next few months, Martin and Lloyd solidified a friendship that led to Lloyd sharing invaluable information about his families of pigeons, racing, training and medication methods.
![A view of Lloyd's breeding boxes.]()
A view of Lloyd’s breeding boxes.
I had the opportunity to handle just about every bird at Lloyd’s, including his remaining breeders, and almost all of his old race team that he intends to fly in 2013. His birds are small and light-framed with perfect wings, bright eyes, and silky feathers. They do not feel like the new type of pigeons coming in from Europe at all. The first time you handle one of Lloyd’s pigeons, you can tell they are something special. I was amazed that after all these years Lloyd has been able to keep these two families ‘pure’ without losing the unique qualities that made the DeVriendts and Bekaerts household names throughout North America.
![Pure class racing cock!]()
Pure class racing cock!
Nowadays, Martin visits Lloyd on the weekends and brings his two small sons who scamper around Lloyd’s yard making a mess of things. I really enjoyed my time with Lloyd Felix and look forward to having the honor of visiting him again.
Drew Lesofski
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