Dr. John Lamberton began raising racing homers in 1961 at 14 years of age in Tulsa, Oklahoma USA. When he enrolled in a new junior high school, he was invited home after school by a fellow student who had a loft of homing pigeons. When he first looked at his new friend's pigeons,  Dr. Lamberton fell in love with these wonderful birds and wanted to obtain a few pairs of pigeons for his own.  After a short time raising common pigeons trapped in a local vacant grain elevator, he purchased a pair of racing homers from local ace flier Keith Parrett. The blue male and silver female, primarily what were locally known as "Bricoux" and "Wegge," were hardy strains that could negotiate the demanding north course down Interstate 44 from Chicago to Tulsa. (While Bricoux and Wegge were what the pigeons were called, they were probably very far genetically from the original pigeons of these two legendary fanciers in racing pigeon history.)

Although Dr. Lamberton flew well for years with these hard weather birds, other birds from outside the Tulsa pigeon community were added from Louis Koenig - Old Dominion Loft, Richmond, Virginia. Mr. Koenig raised what he referred to as Wegges and Bricouxs which were prodigy of excellent racing stock in England and Germany and introduced them to the Tulsa area through several local auctions.

Most importantly, Dr. Lamberton added speed to the basic "Wegge" and "Bricoux" breeding stock through the excellent Janssens of Mike Ganus, Ganus Family Loft. At the time, Mike was selling Janssens from Rene Truyen, a relatively unknown fancier in Belgium who just happened to perform personal tasks for the Janssen Brothers and was compensated for his efforts with fabulous Janssen pigeons. Although Rene was not a pigeon fancier per se, he had super pigeons from the Brothers! There were many Belgian fanciers who were amazed that the Truyen pigeons were popular in the U. S. since Truyen did not actively race his pigeons and was not respected as a important pigeon fancier in Belgium.

Joseph "De Klak" Van Limpt, Reusel, Holland with U. S. fanciers: Dan Van Lake, Mike Ganus, Bob Brumagin, Dr. John Lamberton, and Dominic Rappucci.

 In addition to many Truyen birds, Mike bought the "048" hen, a fantastic daughter of Rene Truyen's Foundation male breeder De Kleine, and sold her amazing offspring all over America with great success. However, Mike Ganus has a unique personal characteristic of never being satisfied with the status quo. Mike soon went to the Janssen Loft and began buying birds directly from the Brothers. Mike sold his Truyen breeders to make room for the new pigeons from the Janssen Brothers. Dr. Lamberton bought a number of foundation Truyen breeders from Mike including a Ganus-bred son and daughter of the "048" hen when she was mated to BELG 83 67000259, a fantastic blue male bred by the Janssen Brothers and down from the YOUNG ROCKET, the ZITTER, and the OUDE MERCKX. The blood of these super Janssens, GFL 146 blue male and GFL 225 blue check female still runs in the Lamberton racing pigeons today.

On a trip to Belgium with Mike Ganus in the mid 1980's, Dr. Lamberton met Antoine Jacops (See Ganus Family Loft Video #1). Since 1967, Jacops has been a excellent multi-distance flier with a super family of pigeons. In 1966, Jacops started with 50 young birds purchased from local fanciers. Jacops bought "only the best" At the end of his first season of racing, Jacops was left with 28 of the original 50 he had purchased. Because he only wanted the best, he kept only one super racer, a white male which he aptly named, the WITTE. The WITTE had been purchased from the loft of Emiel Verhaert, a very successful fancier. Antoine went to the loft of Warre De Schutter of Pulle to select a blue female to mate with the WITTE. The basis pair of the Oude Witte Verhaert and the Blauwe Witoog De Schutter would bring great fame and fortune to Antoine Jacops in the Belgian pigeon sport. This basis couple, the white male and blue female, gave many excellent racers. One such super racer was the GEBROKEN POOT, 9 times first. The GEBROKEN POOT sired many excellent pigeons including the CAHORS, the VOORUIT, the 171, the 184, and many others. Jacops' basis breeders today include the "DIAMOND COUPLE" and their children - the most famous of which is the SUPER AS. The KLEINE CAHORS, one-half of the DIAMOND COUPLE,  is a grandson son of the GEBROKEN POOT.

Although these pigeons are excellent breeders and racers, Jacops strives to keep his family of pigeons 70% basic stock and 30% new strain. New blood is routinely introduced to the Jacops Loft to keep the hybrid vigor of the racers intact. In the 1980's, Antoine bought 3 males, GESCHIFTE, PLAYBOY, and the WRONG WILLY, from Willy Van Berendonk which were grandchildren of Willy's foundation male from Meuleman's Golden Couple, BELG 6793014 - 77. This cross between the pigeons of Van Berendonk and Jacops worked incredibly well perhaps, in part, because both the Jacops' basic male, the WITTE, and the Van Berendonk Meuleman cross both had the blood of the super pigeons from the great fancier, Rene Maas, in their pedigrees. The cross between the Jacops and Van Berendonk pigeons may have been as much a line breeding as it was an outcross! Jacops pigeons descend, in part, from the Maas pigeons raced during the 1930s and 40s. (Many famous European lofts owe much of their success to the pigeons of Maas including Vandenbosch, Meuleman, Van Riel, Fabry, Janssen Brothers and William Geerts to name a few).

The story behind the name of Jacops' outstanding male, the WRONG WILLY, is of particular interest. At a Van Berendonk auction, Antoine accidentally purchased the wrong lot number. He purchased a pigeon that he hadn't intended on buying. Hence, the pigeon's name became the WRONG WILLY. The WRONG WILLY has been an excellent breeding male.

Historically, Lamberton racing pigeons are based upon pigeons from Antoine Jacops crossed with pigeons bred or imported by Mike Ganus. Dr. Lamberton has purchased many pigeons directly from Antoine's basis breeders. Jacops breeders in the Lamberton Loft include children from the DIAMOND COUPLE and full siblings to the SUPER AS; and BELG 6602278-91, a blue daughter of the SUPER AS. Below is an Antoine Jacops' breeding card which pictures the DIAMOND COUPLE and three of their winning prodigy including the SUPER AS, the DIAMOND ACE, and the WITPEN ACE.

In the 1990's, Antoine bought a full sister, KANIBAALTJE, to Dirk and Louis Van Dyck's KANIBAAL, perhaps the most famous pigeon world-wide over the last ten years. The KANIBAALTJE is in most of Jacops' pigeons and has been a tremendous breeder. Antoine also exchanged super breeders with the great fancier Flor Engels. Engels birds are well crossed into most of Jacops' pigeons.

Dr. Lamberton has purchased many pigeons from Mike Ganus over the last few years including birds from Flor Vervoort, Willy Ceulemans "Hercules All Distance", Louis Van Hove "Hofkens Middle Distance", Mike Ganus Performance Breeders "Speed All Distance", Golden Mattens "Speed All Distance", Gaby Vandenabeele "Speed All Distance", Norbert Sierens "Long Distance", and Record Breeders, i.e., "Saint Triden". Dr. Lamberton's breeding loft also contains excellent breeders directly from Antoine Jacops "Speed All Distance", Filip Herbots "Middle Distance", Denis Sapin "Soontjens All Distance", Oliviers-Devos "Long Distance", Lambrecht-Lismont "Middle-Long Distance", Emile Fourmanior "Speed Middle Distance", Romain Loozen "All Distance", Danny Van Avondt "All Distance", Gustaaf Cuypers "Middle Distance", Achiel Vangilbergen "Middle-Long Distance", Roger Lautermans "Middle Distance", and Record Breeders "All Distance." Please browse the BREEDERS LINK for more specific information.