A Tribute…to a man I have never met

There are aspects of our lives that seem to stay with us. Regardless of where we go, who we meet, or the things we do, we always carry these special things with us. Oh, we may not realize they are there. They may not be known to our conscious mind. They may lie dormant in the back of our thoughts for years, even decades, only to come flooding back with all the passion and vigor they held for us all those many years ago. Such is the case of pigeon racing for me.

Thirty years ago, at the ripe old age of 13, I was introduced to the sport of pigeon racing by a middle school teacher in upstate New York. He set me up with some birds and supervised the construction of a small loft in my back yard. He was diligent about teaching me the correct care and management of the birds. When the birds were old enough he showed me how to train them and race them. I enjoyed those birds for a short two years. At that point my family had to move to western New York and I was forced to give up the birds. Of course around that time the hormones started kicking in and I became more interested in cars and girls than anything else. The birds became a distant memory in the back of my mind. There they stayed for 30 long years.

Fast forward to 2005 and that 13 year old is now a 43 year old husband of 20 years, parent of 2 boys, and ironically…a teacher, just like the man that gave me my start. I am not sure what rekindled the spark in me. I just remember finding myself on a website reading about the latest and greatest the sport of pigeon racing had to offer. I was hooked all over again. About this time, through the course of my research, I stumbled across a website by a man named Warren Smith. His opening letter on his site was almost like reading a page out of my own life. I very timidly typed out a letter to this man. I explained my history and how I was looking into what it would take to get back into the sport. That was all it took.

That was all it took to begin an ongoing series of correspondence that totals well into the hundreds of e-mails and phone calls. He has patiently answered every question I could possibly imagine. Everything from acquiring stock and breeding, to loft construction and feeding. Nutrition, young bird racing, futurity racing…you name it. He always helped me find the answers I was looking for. I think the thing that has drawn me closer and closer to this man has been the manner in which he has guided me. He never said this is the way it is and that is that. He always encouraged me to find answers on my own. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, that is his approach.

Warren Smith is a man that has had a life long dream. He has seen some success and he has seen some frustration and failure but he has never lost sight of his dream. His tenacious commitment to produce the very highest quality racing pigeons in the world is what continues to inspire me in this sport. I think it says a lot about his character and a lot about what he stands for. Someday, I hope to own some of Warren Smith’s birds. I hope to be, in some small fashion, a continuation of that dream he has had all his life. I hope to raise and race pigeons that Warren would be proud to call “his birds”. But you know what, if that day never comes, if for whatever reason I am never able to acquire any of those outstanding pigeons he has managed to produce, I will forever be indebted to Mr. Warren Smith for the knowledge and patience he has shown and shared with me. I only wish that as a professional educator I had the insight and the natural ability to teach that Mr. Smith has.

Warren, I thank you. I thank you for sharing with me your knowledge. I thank you for letting me peer into the life of a man so committed to his family and to his passion. I thank you for all these things, but most of all I thank you for being a friend. Someday I hope to meet this man. Yes, that’s right, I have never met Warren. Being on opposite ends of the east coast has prevented that. However, this has not prevented me from developing a deep sense of gratitude and respect for this man. In many ways, he has given me back my dream…all from a man I have never met.  DAN DETWEILER