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18 – Purebred PIGEON
Rudy Strnad –
The Father of the Short Face
Breeds in America
By Michael Seiler
I was only 16 years old when I had the privilege of meeting Rudy
Strnad. A Flying Tippler breeder in my area knew Rudy from the local
shows and feed stores and gave me his address. So one Saturday after-
noon in 1968, I rode my bike to Rudy’s house. I found him in his back
yard sitting in a beach chair, hand feeding some youngsters and so I
introduced myself. We struck up an excellent friendship that lasted 15
years until he passed away at age 75.
Rudy was fortunate to have retired at age 50 after he sold his
brother his share of a successful drop forging business, so he had
plenty of free time to raise and develop his Budapest. He specialized
in the dark beak Budapest and he raised Storks, Blues and Grizzles
from the time I met him. Prior to my meeting Rudy, he had raised
Vienna and Vienna Ganzels.
We traveled together all over the New York metropolitan area.
We attended many shows during those years - Nassau-Suffolk, Gar-
den State Variety, Empire, NPA Nationals (Atlantic City, Lancaster,
Philadelphia-South Jersey) NY Combine, Reading, Philadelphia-
South Jersey, York, Pa, and Faircount, Conn. We visited all the feed
stores on Sunday mornings and Tuesday night’s were dedicated to
visiting Sam’s Bird Store and Nursery on Boston-Post Road in the
Bronx. Many Friday nights were spent between the Empire Club
meetings, the Garden State Variety Club and the Bayshore Variety
Club. We spent a tremendous amount of time together and trav-
eled with many well-known breeders of the time. We shared many
adventures and every trip was a learning experience for me. It was a
true happening!
Rudy was a short face judge and, also, an all variety judge who
was in great demand. I very readily became his chauffeur and wher-
ever he wanted to go, we went. The height of the “Pigeon Game” in
America was during this time frame. We still have many of the same
shows, but the bird stores are gone except for the two in the Bronx
and one in Long Island. The bird stores had so very many fanciers
running around exchanging birds. Everyone was always looking for
a bird for their program. The bird stores were a very good place to
exchange and buy birds. These were the days before PMV-1. We usu-
ally ended up in a diner for breakfast or lunch which gave us all a very
Rudy Strnad judging with assistance from Michael Seiler