Paul Gomez

  I built my first pigeon cage in 1960, at the age of 15.  My first pigeon was a “commie” (common street pigeon), that my aunt had rescued and nursed back to health following some injury.  Its name was Godfrey.  Soon Godfrey had brought back a little brown grizzle short faced tumbler.  I was excited, thinking that I might see their babies tumble.  But that was not to be.  they didn’t even tailset, just an occasional popping of their wings.

        Now I was on a search for real rollers, and I found that a couple of other kids in the neighborhood had rollers.  I was able to buy a couple from them.  Godfrey and his family had to go!  It  was to be rollers only, from that point onward, although I have to admit that at one point I tried the parlor cross. 

       I bought a pair of red mottles from a pet shop in Venice.  The store owner said that the man who bred them had paid a lot for their parents.  I flew them, and they were very fast, but short spinners.  When I bred the hen to a red roller cock I already had, it made the first rolldown that I had ever seen.  The bird rolled down in a neighbors’ driveway, and died on impact.  This left me with a permanent distaste for this fault.

     However, I also bred what was one of my best rollers ever, out of that pair.  I called it the Spangle Cock.  It rolled about 25 feet in perfect sytle, showing the hole.  It was stolen seven times, and flew back home each time.

Old Spangle Cock

      In the mid sixties I learned that Bill Pensom lived in Canoga Park, a short distance away.  I looked up his phone number and arranged to visit him.  On the first visit, he gave me an overprint copy of his book.  This treasured object was to guide me through the murky waters of hearsay and myth.  When my birds were stolen I returned to Mr. Pensom to buy more.  The second time, he went to a cage in the rear of the property, and brought me a small dun hen, and said, “Take this one.  She rolls like a bull”.  When I flew it,  she was the best performer I had ever seen.

      Mr. Pensom had the greatest influence on me…  by far…  in terms of learning and appreciating the breed.   Later, Cornell Norwood, who had been a friend of Bill Pensom, was to make a big impact on my pigeon breeding through his birds and knowledge of the Pensom birds.  Ron Dent also provided me with great assistamce by the extended loan of a great producing cock.

     My family of birds goes back the original Red Roller cock, and the “Pet Shop Red Mottle” I mentioned.  I have, of course introduced other birds throughout the years, in an effort to produce the best, but they have all been mingled with that original blood.

     My family of rollers has been bred straight, without a cross, for the past 24 years.  My birds are generally characterized by their speed, consistent body type and textured eyes, I would say.  My strain also includes birds carrying the qualmond gene, as well as a substrain of muffed rollers.

Gomez Strain of Rollers–Pictures

Posted in Breeding with tags paul gomez, legendary breeder, gomez strain, gomez family, birmingham roller on September 18, 2008 by larclub

Black and White Foundation Hen

 My Balck and White Foundation hen was the grandaughter of my Old Spangle Cock.  I didn;t fly her for the first two years, but flew her until she was 14 years old.  She lived 18 years.

The Old Spangle Cock

The Old Spangle Cock showed me what a roller was capable of.  A slow developer, he began rolling at one year, then developed into a solid 25 foot spinner which rolled in perfect form showing a clean hole.  This bird was stolen seven times and returned. 

Family Tree of the Gomez Strain

 I developed this tree in an effort to more easily see what I had been doing in my breeding.  I have found it to be a valuable tool for me, and It has helped others to understand my family of rollers. 

76 CRS #2705 Thunder

Thunder was produced from a large but active rolling  cock and a hen that rolled “the  distance” from what ever height she began.  My idea was to acquire the style in a safe stable offspring.  Six of the eight produced by the pair rolled down, but this bird spun right and was stable.  He was one of the main early contributers to my family.

77 CRS #90 Miracle

Miracle was tha half sister to Thunder, both produced from the large, “Big Daddy”, a blue checker bronze wing produced from an Odie Wright cock bred to a Jerry Higgins Hen.  She was the daighter of my foundation hen, and rolled fairly deep, up to about 40 feet.  She had a beautiful gravel eye full of texture with a strong inner “circle of correlation”.  I bred her to Thunder for about three years.  The occasional recessive reds produced by them were always hot rollers as well as good producers.  The dark checkers were also good, but were less frequent.

79 JCRC #62

62 was my faborite recessive red bred from Miracle and Thunder.  She was extremely reliable and would roll over 40 feet at times.  Day in and day out she would put on a show. 

80 CRS #2059

A daughter of my foundation hen and one of Cornell Norwoods’  top stock cocks, #47.  She did not roll until 14 months, but the first time I saw her roll she went at least 20 feet, hard and fast.  I had planned to use her for years, but lost her.

83 Gomez #131

I called this hen the 2 Second Hen because she rolled every 2 to 10 seconds.  She was probably the most active bird I have ever had the pleasure of flying.  She also had the stamina to go along with it, and was a good producer as well.

Original 119 Muff Pair

 This was the start of my muff roller project.  This sister and brother were my first muffs.  They were closely bred birds 3 generations (”great grand children”) of Pensom’s 119 cock.. each having that 3 times on their pedigree. 

78 Gomez Purple Band #96

  This hen was exceedingly fast.  She spun blood in her eyes, but only once.  I bred great hens from these birds, but never produced a cock that I felt was of value to breed.  My refusal to cross them into my main family led to their near extinction in my loft. 

88 Gomez #412

412 was one of my best producers ever.  I stocked her unflown.  On the ground she had all the quality I could ask for.   Great body, temperment and densly textured eye,

Quite a bit of roller evolution had taken place before I produced this hen.  Unfortunately I didn’t focus the camera on my birds.  Most of my photography involved my children.    My last two crosses led to this hen.  The first was a champion producer, 80 NBRC #234 from Ron Dent.  The other was the heavily muffed hen, 81 NPA KN #355, an outstanding roller that I called Showtime.

91 Gomez #695

This was one of the offspring of 412.  A bird having extreme velocity that would appear to shrink as it approached it’s maximum speed.  A half sister, #591 virtually a look-alike except for having orange eyes, rolled much the same, but was possibly my best producer ever.

90 Gomez #640

640 was a fantastic roller and was great in the stock loft.  His type was about as close to Ideal as any roller I ahve ever had.

94 NBRC GG 683

A reintroduction of the 119 muff family blood produced this bird and his full brother, which were the foundation of my current muff substrain.  This bird spun with blur speed, showing a small hole and with tips touching. 

92 IPB #306

This son of 591 stands out in my memory as one of the birds having the most beautiful,  smooth  style of roll that I have ever seen.  

08 Gomez #1993

This hen began spinning at blur speed with excellent style and very frequent, at only 4 months .   Due to the frequency of hawk attacks I was hesitant about flying her further, then, when the falcon appeared, it made my decision. 

Gomez #1430 a son of #640

Gomez # 1441 a son of #640

Gomez #1730