July/August 2026

25 – Purebred PIGEON After arriving in OKC on Thursday night, I was informed that the museum was not going to open on the weekend because of severe winter weather – lots of falling snow and temperature in the low single digits. Major disappointment. By Saturday, I was feeling desperate to find a way to visit the museum. I spotted John DeCarlo, Jr. at the show, walked up and asked if there was something he could do to help me on my quest, such as bring back the sun and make the snow go away. To my surprise, the man standing next to him was Jerry Black, holder of the keys to the kingdom in this case, The American Pigeon Muse- um and Library. Soon we were on our way to the museum. The roads were buried in snow and nearly empty of other cars. Jerry’s stealthy Tesla slipped around piles of snow, clumps of ice, and through a stop sign, just like a Wild West bank robber escaping from a heist in OKC. As we made the 20-minute drive to the mu- seum on the north side of OKC, I thought about how the highway had probably once been a trail where outlaws raced their horses to evade lawmen and a hanging judge. I tried to imagine what it would have been like back then, traveling half- way across the United States for a pigeon show, dropping my bags off at the hotel, and walking over to the local saloon for a drink. Maybe Jerry would have walked in, packing a set of pistols and a Giant Homer on his shoulder. The common folk would have trembled and cried out, “It’s Black Jerry!” Jerry would have looked around the room, weighed each person’s worth and said, “Donate to the pigeon museum or stand and draw!”• Mobile military pigeon loft Early pigeon racing clocks Passenger Pigeon taxidermy (extinct) The American Pigeon Museum and Library - Winter 2026