Cecil Davis was born and raised in and around Dry Creek, a rural community in the hill country of northern Mississippi. It was probably economic necessity that prompted Cecil’s move to Tennessee. He lived most of his adult life in Jackson, Tennessee, and his fowl were always fought and advertised under the name “Jackson Club”.Cecil and his family lived at Westwood Gardens, an apartment complex. Cecil kept his fowl on various farm walks and at a packing plant in Jackson. The packing plant and the surrounding property were owned by Robert Caldwell, Cecil’s partner at the time. It was through Caldwell that Cecil first met Walter A. Kelso, a wealthy industrialist and cocker from Galveston, Texas.
In the 50’s, Kelso’s fowl were some of the most sought after in the country, winning in many major derbies and tournaments of that time. Cecil’s friendship with Kelso gave him access to fowl that were unavailable to the average cocker. It goes without saying that Cecil could have bred any of the stags Kelso sent him to walk. Kelso, and later Japhet, sent Cecil many cocks and hens to breed, as well as advice to how to breed.
By the late 50’s, Kelso’s health was beginning to fail. Much of each year was spent under a doctor’s care. Summers often found Kelso in New York’s Statler hotel to escape steaming heat of Galveston and to be close to the specialists that he required. During those absence from Galveston, Cecil’s letters were answered faithfully, by one of Kelso’s secretaries. In September, 1957, a letter on hotel stationery in Kelso’s handwriting says, “My doctor has advised me to curtail my activities, and therefore I decided to dispose of most of the fowl we raised, about 125 stags at Galveston and about 100 in Alabama… We will not have any stags to walk as will sell most of those raised at Galveston. Most of the brood yards have been sold, and lots of orders for young trios,” signed W. A. Kelso. Gilbert Courtois confirmed this information in a letter also dated September, 1957, saying, “Mr. Kelso had to cut down on raising and fighting cocks on Doctor’s orders, so he turned the fowl over to me to sell, he said it was about time for me to make some money for myself as he always gave the fowl away. Have sold most of the brood fowl already and have some orders will have to refund. The young fowl going fast also.” Kelso had given Gilbert permission to advertise his fowl in the journals. There would be no “Oleander” entry for 1957. Kelso’s health improved in 1958 and ’59 and he again used Cecil’s walks. By this time, Gilbert was gone and had been replaced by Frank Steele. Kelso’s recovery was brief, however, and again in 1960, he was forced to give up his fowl and retire.
In discussing the breeding of Cecil’s fowl it is important to remember that he, like most good breeders, placed little importance on the word “Pure”. Rather he bred to a performance standard: those fowl that conformed to his standard of pit performance were perpetuated in the brood yard. Often he used linebreeding – the use of an outstanding individual several times in one line – to maintain a particular family. He shied away from intensive inbreeding, such as brother-sister mating, for the most part, feeling that prolonged inbreeding would destroy a family by sapping its vigor and strength. To maintain a family, he would introduce small doses of new blood over the course of several years to keep that family viable. Since he raised a large number of chickens each year, he seldom single-mated, preferring to breed several sisters to a selected cock, trusting in culling to eliminate the poor individuals.
Cecil bred what he called “Kelsos” in five separate yards or families: Out and Out, Radio, Murphy, New Albany and Sweater. Each yard or family was maintained over the years in the manner I have described before. Each of these yards contained the basic bloodlines that came from Walter Kelso and Bill Japhet, with just enough outside blood to keep them strong and winning.
On March 10, 1960, at the Hot Springs pit – the big show run by E. T. Piper – Walter Kelso gave Cecil a three year old cock that would prove to be one of the principal foundation cocks for Cecil’s fowl. In breeding, the cock was an Out and Outand had won several good fights for Kelso in fast competition. In Cecil’s records this cock stands out among all the rest as prepotent individual. He was bred as long as he lived – until 1965 – often to his daughters and granddaughters. One of Cecil’s closest friends told me the cock was snow white: Whatever his color may have been, for years thereafter, Cecil had a small percentage of cocks to come white from this Out and Out yard. In the beginning, 90% of the Out and Outs came straight combed. Gradually, by breeding to the pea-combed side, Cecil reversed this trend. One of Cecil’s associates told me that the Out and Out yard carried a heavy shot of McClanahan blood. These Out and Out cocks made Cecil’s fowl famous for their scoring and cutting ability. Even today the blood of this “Hot Springs” cock runs strongly through the Out and Out yard. In the late 60’s, the Out and Out family began to come smaller and fragile, suffering more broken legs and wings. They couldn’t seem to finish off their opponent or come back in the drag. Cecil decided to add some new blood to increase their vigor and stamina. At the time, Johnny Jumper was doing real well with some Kelso cocks crossed on Butcher. He won an impressive derby in 1972 at Sunset with cocks that were 5/8 Kelso and 3/8 Butcher. Johnny had obtained this Butcher blood from “Big Red” Richardson around 1964. Big Red told Johnny, “This blood will help any family it’s crossed with.” That was certainly the case for the Out and Outs. A small dose (1/8 – ¼) of this Butcher blood gave the Out and Outs increased vitality and strength and improved their bone structure. Today, I would say, most of Cecil’s Out and Outs carry about 1/16 of this Butcher blood. Butcher-looking cocks often crop up in the Out and Outs, showing lemon-hackles and straight combs.
Johnny Jumper also played a major role in the development of another family, the Radio yard. The name “Radio” was given to them by Jumper’s brother-in-law because of their extremely talkative nature, always chattering and clucking. According to Johnny, the foundation cock was basically a Murphy Whitehackle, one of many cocks sent to Cecil by Japhet to put out on walk. Japhet told Cecil to choose one to breed. The one Cecil chose had been walked in Arkansas and was an ordinary-looking cock with a short tail. When Johnny asked him why he had chosen that particular cock, Cecil replied, “Hell, he was the best looking one of the bunch!” Whatever his looks, he turned out to be an outstanding brood cock when bred to Kelso hens. His offspring, mainly straight-combed with yellow legs, proved to be dynamite knife cocks, and were eagerly sought after in both the Philippines and Mexico.
When Cecil received the Murphy yard from Kelso, they were about what one would expect from Thomas Murphy fowl, yellow legged, straight combed Whitehackles. The fact that they have received an infusion of new blood since then is undeniable, since an occasional green legged individual is not at all uncommon. It is likely that the Murphy yard today carries William McRae’s green legged Hatch blood, since it is known that Cecil bred more than one of McRae’s cocks. In 1963, McRae gave Cecil a cock of Blondy Rollan bloodlines to breed. Also, in 1966, McRae gave Cecil a cock he called the “Four Webber.” One of two brothers, the Four Webber cock had been an outstanding battle cock and was bred extensively by Cecil. In addition, Cecil also bred a couple of Harold Brown Hatch cocks and the Murphy may contain some of this.
The name “New Albany” is misleading. One could assume that this yard carried Albany blood. It was called New Albany because the chickens were raised on a farm walk in New Albany, Mississippi! Some of these came spangled with yellow legs and straight combs. One of Cecil’s friends thinks they carried Bruner Roundhead crossed with Murphy blood. Johnny Jumper doesn’t think so, though. He told me he though they were bred out of a yellow-legged Duke cock from Ray Price over Murphy hens. This cock carried a lot of Hatch, Johnny said, and some of them would come green legged.
What the Sweater yard actually consisted of when Cecil got them is anyone’s guess. Naturally, we suppose they carried a big shot of Hatch from when Sweater McGinnis worked for Kelso, as it is widely known that he added Hatch blood to nearly everything he bred. When Cecil began breeding the Sweater yard, he infused some Boston Roundhead into the family by way of hens that were half yellow-legged Hatch and half Boston Roundhead. Most of the Sweaters that Cecil bred came lemon hackled pea combs with yellow or green legs. The Sweater yard is well-known for power and gameness, winning many seemingly impossible fights with their determination and smash.
There you have the breeding of five “Kelso” yards as bred at Oakdale farm. This is by no means all of the Kelso fowl Cecil Davis bred, only the ones bred as families for several years. For example, in 1958, Cecil bred a yard of six hens given to him by Kelso to a Claret cock also from Kelso. The hens were half Madigin Claret and half Clipper. In a letter dated September 4, 1962, Kelso gives the breeding of ten pullets he has sent Cecil, “Five of them are marked Left Out and five are marked Both Out. These Left Out pullets are from the Ruble cock that he gave me at Hot Springs and bred from hens that were single mated from the Both Right hen and the Right In Clipper cock. These Both Out pullets are from a two year old Sweater cock that I saved for breeding purposes before the old cock was stolen, and they were bred on one-half Ruble hens and one-half All Four Split hens, which we fought at Hot Springs and tied Ruble for the last time that I still had Frank feeding for me up there. They are the best, I think, that I have on the yard.” Later, after the stags were trimmed Kelso sent Cecil a Left Out stag and a Both Out stag to cross over these yards.
In a letter dated February 29, 1966, E. C. Japhet describes a cock be sent Cecil, “I shipped you the cock this morning and hope he gets there in good shape. You may not like him, but the blood is there. Have fought quite a few brothers and they have done well for me. And the gameness has been tested. He is out of some hens Ray Leach raised, like the cock we walked with you, half Murphy and half the Hatch blood he got from Piper. The daddy, a cock Mr. Kelso bred several years. We called them Griffin (because Griffin raised them for Kelso – and had very good luck with them. Kelso sent the yard to Griffin, some half-Pipeliner hens and a Henie cock.”
What may lift some eyebrows is the amount of Hatch blood that went into the Kelso fowl. Examine these three breedings I’ve just described: Ruble, Sweater, Heinie, Piper –all of it carrying Hatch! And we still have people who insist pure “Kelsos” always come yellow or white legged!
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