Los Angeles Roller Club

Darryl Wylie

        When I was in the seventh grade a friend of mine in school brought some homer racers to school and they caught my attention right away.  I really didn’t like the big birds, but it was just so amazing that he had pigeons.  The school I attended was Robert Fullerton Jr. High in the San Fernando Valley.   We were bused there, and from that moment I had the pigeon bug. When I returned home that day, I went to visit some friends of mine that I knew had pigeons, and the rest is history.  That was about 1972, so its been over thirty years.

Who are the breeders that most influenced your roller perspectives?

       When we were kids,  we use to love to stray in Norwood birds and any bird that had PRC on its band. So, first and foremost I have to say Mr. Pensom influenced my roll. I knew what a Birmingham Roller was, back in the day, and I always chased it.  Rayvon Hall was “the man” in my neighborhood, so all of us looked up to him for the best birds.

            Elwood brought me some birds back in the day that were very nice in type so he played a  role in how I think a bird should look,  and Byron Destout had some beautiful rollers that I purchased and the quality I saw in them became a focus for me.  I was informed later that Byron and Dick Stephens had the same pigeons.

            At seventeen in 1977 I worked at McDonalds on Florence and Crenshaw. I lived on Country Club and Crenshaw, so I would ride the bus from there down to Florence.  Riding the bus one day 1 saw a kit near Washington and Crenshaw and later I stopped by and met Cornell Norwood.  I used to visit Cornell every chance I could get.  The roll over there was outstanding. One day in his back yard we were looking at his bird in the show pin and  he told me “This is how roller is suppose to look!  Like a cobra!”.  Man, that bird looked like a snake, I’ll never forget the image Cornell showed.  That bird looked like it wanted to hiss at me, that’s unforgettable!

            So I would have to say that character and temperament is what Cornell influenced me with.  I wanted to get a kit from Cornell but I was a little short on money.  That’s when he called his buddy Paul Gomez.  I think Paul had given somebody or sold somebody a kit that they couldn’t keep, so I got the kit and that’s when I was introduced to Mr. speed, Paul Gomez .  Paul and I are still good friends til this day and yes, he is still Mr.speed.

            Getting back into rollers in the early 90’s I met Pete White and Hilly Flowers who were very helpful in getting me back in the game. Dick Neaur help me to understsand the Plona’s and I have to say Dick Stephens provided the seasoning I needed to really help me be well rounded in breeding and selection, as well as type.  After all, Dick a was apprentice to Mr.Pensom, so that’s make me a Jedi!

 Have you established your own family of rollers?

       Some say that once you have bought birds they become yours, so in that sense, I’ve established a family.  I would say yes and no.  No, because I didn’t take just two pair, line breed them and continue to keep them close.  Yes, because I received three families from two great rollermen, and they gave me the keys, so I’ll carry the families on. The Neaur/Plona family is just pure Plona. This is probably one the fastest families of birds I’ve seen. It has never been crossed into anything else and if you can handle the strength of the family and not fly them off, you got roll!

On the other hand, the Dick Stephens Continental family is just simply ball bearing smooth.  They are built very similar to the Plona’s.  In fact, the only difference is that the continentals have the Smith factor, that is J.Leroy Smith, and Hatcher added.   McVay blood was added later, but most he kept pure.  Upon Dick Stephens death his wife sent me the continental family, for that was Dick wishes.  I feel very privileged to have received this family of birds and the goal is to maintain the roll.

 Before establishing your own family where did you aquire birds to breed and fly?       As I had mention earlier when I got back into rollers in the early 90’s Pete and Hilly started me out with some of  their stock. I put the pairs I received from them together and came up with some nice little fast spinners, Hilly was high on the hen so he called it the sexy stuff, he now has that stock. At the same time I got pairs from Paul then from Dick Neaur. The stuff from Paul was about the fastest I had seen and I would put the Gomez stuff up against the Plona’s stuff.  I had  these two hens, one from Paul and the other from Neaur.  They would just go head to head, two of the best hens I’ve seen. Eventually Neaur retired from rollers and sent me the rest of his stock.

Where do you see your birds in five years?

Five years from now I want perfect harmony from all my birds, from the top from the bottom. My goal is to pull a kit of  short rollers out of my families to compete with the world cup guys and beat them, but to still stay true to the individual rollers.

 Where do you see the LARC in five years?

The LARC is determined to make changes, that’s something we all agree on and the flame still burns. In five years LARC will be one of the leaders if not the leader of the individual performer ..  The Ultimate Champion.