Having flown with the recently passed Jay Robbin Sparrow in the MTZ and the
OHC, I can fervently attest that Jay was just “not another flyer”, but a
Champion in every sense and meaning of the term.
Like fellow MTZ Member, the late Hank Vernazza, Jay possessed what can best
be described as an amazing magnitude of simplicity coupled with an
absolutely incredible will. Very, very, very few possess this combination
which seeming verges the oxymoron.
As a Champion, Jay not only possessed the will to win with the concomitant
skills of observation and fox like craftiness that such champions possess,
but the desire to live. And, I say AND, a family as well as a network of
friends who supported his efforts, wanted him to win, and helped him along
his life’s path. They provided the net that he needed to not only survive,
and to race, but to evolve as a pigeon racer. And as President Manny said to
evolve to the greatest honor of all, one we all seek, to be known as “a
threat in the long ones”. Jay won the six, he won the five and it all
started with winning the four.
When Jay started flying, he was not the Champion that he was when he left
this world. His introduction to pigeons was with rollers after he was
involved in a nearly fatal automobile accident at age 19. No one thought
that Jay would make it. He came home from the hospital very depressed,
physically very dependent. His father remembering the little shed he had
built behind the house, got an idea.
Jay, he thought, needed something to live and care for. So Jay’s Dad, who
grew up as a farm boy in North Dakota, picked up some rollers. Every day,
they would wheel Jay up that hill, and park him in front of the loft: to
watch, to smell, to hear, to Dream.
As things will sometimes happen, it caught! Just so happened that his
neighbor was none other than mi hermano en Christo, hard working Dan
Hermasillo. Dan raced pigeons, he loved to help people. You get the idea.
Shortly after I met Jay which has to be a good twenty-five years ago, I was
so impressed with Jay’s courage that I told him that I was going to make him
famous. He scoffed at the notion, but famous he did become.
At the time, I was into writing articles for the ARPN. So I wrote up a story
with some pictures of pigeon racer Jay Sparrow, dba Rockin Robbin. A little
while later, a local newspaper got hold of me and wanted to write a story on
the sport of racing pigeons. I suggested that the reporter visit Jay to see
if there was a story there.
The reporter visited Jay and found her story. So impressed was she that she
discussed her story with one of her friends who had been at the bite to film
a documentary. But just hadn’t found a subject with the potential to become
nominated for an Academy Award in the under thirty minute category.
She met Jay and realized the potential. After her visit, the film maker
called me wanting to make a documentary on Jay flying pigeons, but didn’t
have all the money she needed. I suggested that she contact the AU, who
helped to support her effort.
A couple of years went by. I moved from El Sobrante, north of Richmomnd, to
Santa Rosa. Raising a young family, plus being self employed, I didn’t have
time for much else One day, out of the Blue, Jay calls me and invites my
charming wife, Sue, and I to the opening of “his documentary”. It was shown
in an artsy theater in Marin County. And there I saw Jay, in person and on
the screen. But he wasn’t alone. There was the Master himself Hank Vernazza
on the big screen, as well as several other outstanding Bay Area flyers.
I don’t know if this all went to Jay’s head, being with all those Champions
and being interviewed like a Champion, but something happened. Through that
experience there was a transmission that few get to enjoy. Jay was on his
way to becoming a Champion.
I don’t recall where Jay’s original stock came from other than from Dan and
former young bird great Rick Johnson, now of Cordelia, California. But I am
sure that he also received birds from the guys in the MTZ club, who
generosity is only exceeded by their flying skills. Probably something like
this: “Hey Jay, ah I was looking at my birds the other day, and darn, I had
an extra hen that was going to waste. You have any interest in trying her
out? Her dad won the Combine at the six and her mother was the Club Hall of
Fame winner for young birds last year”. You know what I am talking about. We
have all been blessed in a similar way.
There are a couple more things that I haven’t told you. Jay’s loft was very
small: 10' x 10', or so. He didn’t have room for many prisoners, and bred
from his racers. He flew double widowhood. He would spend hours watching his
birds, as those masters of old did.
What else? Jay had a major health issue several years ago, and had to be
placed on a breathing machine. When this happened, I heard from His Mother
that he gave his birds to a new flyer, who, reportedly, eventually sold them
to another flyer for a tidy sum of money.
Now I know what I am forgetting. When Jay broke his neck in that automobile
accident at age19, he became paralyzed. Yes, Jay was quadriplegic. And, so a
hero to me. I love people who meet the challenges of their lifes head on,
not running away, saying I can’t do it!
That was Jay!! The one who had to continuously move the back of his wheel
chair so that he could breathe, hence the origin of the handle “Rockin
Robbin”.
Rest in Peace Little Brother.
Respectfully Submitted,
Storm C. Goranson, PE, REHS
Environmental Engineering Associates, Inc.
446 Beaver Street
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
eea@sonic.net
707/575-5851
707/480-4166 (Cell)
