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On January 5, 1991, the American Pigmy Pouter Club will once again be hosting their Annual Show in Fremont, Ohio. This show will be a special event as it has been dedicated to a man who has been the glue that has held our club together since he was voted in as Sec-Treas, in 1974. Sidney Earle is the man responsible for the prosperity that the APPC has enjoyed during his service to the club.
I recently asked Sid to send me some information about his life and career so that I could make him a living legend. He was kind enough to do that, so this article will not be on Pigmy Pouters, but on a man who has had a very interesting and varied career. I hope that this article will encourage all of those people that have been influenced through the years by Sid to come to Fremont, Ohio and help to make this a very special day for him.
Sidney Earle began raising pigeons when he was 12 years old. They must have been, good ones as someone stole them while he, was away on vacation. Undaunted, about a year later, he again acquired some pigeons going into partnership with a classmate, this fizzled out after they got into high school.
After graduating from high school, he enrolled at Penn State in September of 1924. Majoring in Animal Husbandry. His fist year in college he won a $200.00 Scholarship caring for sheep on an Early Lamb experiment. In 1927 the Penn State Livestock Judging Team, of which Sid was a member along with four others, competed at Springfield, Massachusetts. This was an Eastern States Exhibition with several teams, all coming from Eastern Agricultural Colleges. All five members of Sid's team finished in the top seven places including 1st and 2nd. The 2nd place man just happened to be Sidney Earle. He earned this judging Draft Horses and was beaten out by only one point in Beef Cattle for 1st place. After having cleaned house in Springfield ,they competed in a National Competition at Chicago, in an International Livestock Show and failed badly against Mid-Western Agricultural College Teams.
After graduation from Penn State, Sid worked on a 1,000 acre farm near West Chester, Pa., caring for 200 ewes on early Iamb production. In November of that year Sid accepted a job at Virginia Polytechnic Institute as an instructor in Animal Husbandry. As an instructor, his senior students, during his last semester there, made the highest scores in a yearly spring contest, these scores being conducted over a teen year period.
Sid left there in July of 1930 and later accepted a job at thc University of Maryland at their State Livestock Sanitary Laboratory. In 1934 he transferred to thc USDA Disease Laboratory in Bethesda, Md. He spent six years there working on a white turkey experiment. When the war started he quit thc turkey project and went to work in a war plant in 1942.
In 1932, he started to raise white Kings hoping to sell the squabs, but due to lack of d time was never able to develop a market. In 1934, Sid began to raise Pigmy Pouter's obtaining two pair from a Mr. Pelzar and a black hen from John Wittasek. He then joined the National Pigmy Pouter Club. In October of 1934, he attended a Young Bird Show at Allerton Hotel helping to tear down cages and clean up after the show. It was here that he made a lasting friendship with John Wittasek and Louis Haurin.
He later attended a combined Pouter meet in Sturgis, Michigan., helping to set up and tear down cages after the show. In 1936, C.L. Spence sent him six pairs of Pigmy Pouters express paid. In January of 1938, he attended the NPA show in St. Louis, Mo., winning several firsts and Best Young Bird on a brown bar hen. He continued to show locally and occasionally away untill 945. After the war he got a job working a squab plant for Walter Chrysler Jr., son of the auto maker at Warrenton, Va. By that time he had become friends with Harold LaBoon and sent all of his Pigmy Pouters to him. The squab plant turned out to be a disaster. It was all put together by people who knew nothing about pigeons and Mr. Chrysler was never able to develop a market. With starlings coming through the poultry netting of the fly pens to roost every night and about 50,000 mice in the nest plus a chronic Paratyphoid infection; the plant was closed down. There were 4,500 breeder pairs and it took almost a year to get them pair banded.
After this a good friend called, a man by the name of Elisha Hanson. Elishaand Sid had been friends since they had met in 1935. Mr. Hanson was able to get him a job as a helper on the National Geographic Society Annex maintenance department. He started out doing painting, carpentry and pipe work. In 1950, he received his license as an engineer on low pressure boilers and air conditioner installation. He worked there until he retired in 1970.
In 1949, Mr. Hanson gave him a job working weekends on his estate, caring for his pigeons and chickens. This lasted until Hanson died sometime around 1963. In 1965, Sid worked weekends at a gas station and after retiring in 1970, worked five days a week the Maryland book exchange. In 1972 his daughter bought him 2 pair of Reverse Wing Pouters, which meant that he had to build a loft. He then got back into Pigmy's through the help of Russ Mowry and Al Roberts. In 1973 he attended the Atlantic City National Show and there joined the American Pigmy Pouter Club.
Sid became the secretary-treasurer of the American Pigmy Pouter Club in 1974 at their January meeting and show. This continued until 1989 when health reasons caused him to reluctantly turn the job over to someone else. During those 15 years Sid put out a monthly bulletin missing only two or three months in that whole time. In September of 1988, Sid was diagnosed as having one or more small strokes. He felt that in all honesty to the club that it was not fair to them to subject them to the sudden demise of their most important officer, when he was on the edge and could tumble off any time (his words).
When he took over as secretary-treasurer, he was given $60.00 from the former secretary. Since then through Sid's conscientious handling of the club's resources, the APPC has prospered and has been able to give out cash awards as well as trophies and plaques at our annual meets. All of this was done on $5.00 a year dues. Sid's final words on his letter were typical of the kind of man he is .."I hope I kept everyone happy"..
Speaking on behalf of all of the members of the APPC, THANKS SID, FOR A JOB WELL DONE.
Sidney Earle receiving his A.P.P.C. Plaque of Appreciation.
Presented to Sid by A.P.P.C. member Warren Reitzel. |
