Slidell, Louisiana

Club President, Byron Williams is a native of New Orleans and moved to Slidell, Louisiana in 2002. Since then, he has seen the Slidell Racing Pigeon Club go through many changes, due to Hurricane Katrina.

Tough birds can handle the heat and the head winds and the Slidell Club members proved to be no different. By pulling together and with the help of generous fanciers and the AU, we were able to fly again.

Pigeon racing has many avenues, but we feel that the most important aspect of the sport is to preserve its history, include our families and pass it on to the future generation. Our club tries to include the whole family as much as possible. Our club is also highly competitive. At a club level we will compete with an average of 150 - 200 birds, but at the combine level races can average 300-700 birds depending on the race. So, winning a combine race is quite an ambition.

We have an outstanding group of members and club officers that are really making things happen. The club members are a diverse group of people. Our members range from 9 years old to 50+. Some are retired, but the majority are working and raising families. It is not uncommon to see our flyers get together to help each other out with training, building and club functions.

The officers of our club are very passionate about this sport and some have been in this sport since childhood. It is the heart of this club to have committed active flyers.
Our club president and vice-president work together to come up with ideas for recruiting new members and raising money for club functions. Recently, it was decided that our club would use the proceeds from our annual Slidell $Dollar Race to fund our New Beginner Program. We have also put the word out about this sport and our club in the local newspaper. To our surprise the ad sparked interest of the reporter and it turned out to be an interview with our Vice-President, Vick Corso.

Our newest member Mo Williams, who is possibly Slidell's first lady flyer is a recent convert to pigeon racing. Mo retired from the work force and became a full time keeper of her home and a loft manager. Her husband Byron couldn't be happier. She is our club secretary and public relations person. She is a key factor in coordinating many of our activities. She does quarterly newsletters for the club members, makes up the phone lists, beginner packets and makes sure that everyone receives a birthday card each month with the help of one of the hennies (wives). We can count on her for everything. Mo is also busy recruiting. It is not uncommon to see her hand out the AU brochures at the post office and local feed stores. She likes to take every opportunity to talk about how exciting pigeon racing is.

We also have the race secretary, John Miller and the treasurer, Mike Dupree. These two guys do things by the book and can be seen at every function working very hard. They are great assets to our club.

Our club prays that we never go through a moulting season with our members because we'd like to keep all of our feathers.......But we always have a place for new birds. If you live in our area, we'd love for you to come fly with us!

The SRPC - Slidell Racing Pigeon Club.


We have listed a few things that we have done as club.


March 2007 SLIDELL RACING PIGEON CLUB FUNDRAISER AUCTION


What started out as a simple idea turned into a miracle. Our club thought to have an auction among ourselves to raise money for things like awards, banquets, etc. We were each going to either donate a bird or buy a bird and that was as far as we got with that idea. A few members decided to make a few phone calls and the most incredible things happened. John Abraham in Florida asked his GHC pals if they would help us out and these great flyers astounded us by donating 29 birds and other well known fanciers such as Mike Ganus, CBS, Alex Bieche, and Gerald Hebert donated birds as well. This was a true blessing. Some of our locals were also very generous in donating birds. We had other services that came through for us.... Vick Corso donated his business warehouse to hold the auction, Valerie Minnick with the Pigeon Place did our shirts and hats to sell, Bunny Bread supplied free buns for our hot dog combos and most of our club members and their wives volunteered their time and purchased birds. It was a great task to put on such an auction but it was worth every penny of it. We raised over $5000.00. After expenses we still cleared a great deal of funds.
We feel that club fundraisers are very important. The club should always have money in the bank to meet the needs of the club.



Great Southern Classic 2006

Several Slidell Racing Club members participated in the annual "Great Southern Classic" in November 2006. Roy Necaise and the Mississippi Racing Pigeon Club put on the race. The pay out is for the 1st - 39th positions. Our very own VP Vick Corso was the winner. He and Byron both secured places in the money. Breeders and handlers were happy that day. On race day, Byron and Mo extended their hospitality with food laid out for kings including some good ole Cajun gumbo!

September 2006 - SLIDELL'S $DOLLAR$ RACE

We sponsored a Fundraiser a week before the 1st yb season race that would include all area flyers. We asked everyone to put up an entry fee of $1.00 per bird for a 100 mile race. With only a trophy to win, we were overwhelmed at the response. We had 383 birds competing. Vick Corso won and the club won. We were able to purchase a much needed club unit. This was a great warm up for the birds before their first race and it really showed us how supportive our fellow fanciers can be.

On left, Club Treasurer, Mike Dupree, and on right, Club President, Byron Williams

Club Vice President, Vick Corso

 Junior Member, Brandon Williams

Club Secretary and Publicity Person, Mo Williams

Club Race Secretary, John Miller

Our club