Richard Bates: A Different Principle in Chicken Do you still remember Richard Bates? He is considered as one of the legends in cockfighting. His name was already marked in the history of our sport. He was very closed to Filipino cockers. As a matter of fact, he lived in the Philippines for 30 years. He worked as a breeder for several cockers here like Paul Estrellado. This was an evidence that many people admired his expertise. Aside from that, he gained many friends; from ordinary cockers up to big time breeders. Richard became interested in cockfighting when he was only 9 years old. He always played the chicken of his father who also a cockfighter. From then, he didn’t stop from keeping chicken. Even when became older he didn’t stop from his hobby. Because he loved it so much and he considered this as a part of his life. Without it, he can’t imagine what life could be. He love all the aspect of this sport especially the competition. He was the kind of breeder who always love to win in cockfighting. This was the reason why he dedicated his time to chicken breeding. Even when reached the age of 76 years old, he was still active in breeding. When he was still alive, he got a lot of championships in derby. There were many people asking him, what was his secret by doing that. He answered that he has no secret. He only breeds chicken and followed his instinct. If it could not effective, then he tried again other material. For him, bloodline was not an issue. The important was the result would be impressive. But he believed that all the bloodlines were important. The only difference is how they would play in the arena. If he had a secret, that was having a commitment to his passion. For him, this was very important; without this everything will be useless. He believed that a breeder would be succesful if they didn’t put their heart in a right place. As a cockfighter, you should always sincere in what you’re doing. But the irony with Richard, he didn’t knew what were the bloodlines of his chickens. He don’t put his time to know that. He gained almost of his chickens from his friends. He didn’t even ask them what was the bloodlines of their chickens. All he knew that their performance were good, so, it means that the ancestor of chickens were winning lines. When it comes from selecting material, Richard like chicken who have a small head, have a long feather and of course, their body should be beautiful. If it was a cock, he make sure that it has a masculine look. He loved chicken with a good characterestics. Richard didn’t believe that there was a pure bloodline. For him, you could not duplicate a particular chicken. Once it was lost, you can never exchange it. It is not like a car that you can produce with the same car. For him, there were no throwback in chicken breeding. He laughed that many people stopped from breeding because they became depressed when they can’t maintain their bloodlines. Maybe his principle was very different, but we can’t ignore his ideas because he was very successful with his system. One thing weve always known here at Pit Games is that Richard Bates is invicibly powerful that its possible to green light all your money if hes fighting at the pits. Three years ago, many people went home with big smiles and even bigger pockets after he won the very first NFGB 7-Bullstag derby besting a total of 142 entries. So it is natural that people have asked us to ferret out his secret vitamins, secret injections, and his secret everything. But contrary to what most people think or hope about him, Richard keeps none of these and perpetuates no mysteries about what he does. He says so frankly, I dont have any kind of sophisticated breeding program like a lot of peo;le say thet have. There are no such things as line breeding his strategy. I breed roosters more like good horse people breed winners. he elaborates. Say, a horse can win a triple crown; its breeders dont make an issue of its bloodline and only breed it to a good mare, he explains. So what Richardprimarily, and sometimes only, bothers with is the birds grit as fighter, if it is good and game What the bloodline is dont make any difference to me because I can feel and I can see everything else, he says. The black blood that he used to win consistently is fine example. The fact that it fought well was important or he would never have thought of putting it in the farm for nearly two decades to give him more sons and daughters. Truth is, I started 18 years ago with the black rooster with a lot of unknowns about it and the only thing I really knew is that it was the son one of my green-legged straight comb roosters. Someone he knew paid him $2,500 to breed this green-legged rooster without telling him what he was going to breed into it. Even so the man put into it a black blood that came from reliable sources that much knew. Richard is the proud owner of many other birds the origins of which he did not know or had never bothered to find out. About everything he owns today came from friends or through trading. A lot of these roosters I never really knew what they were thats why today I feel like if I tell somebody (about their pedigree) I would be lying, he confesses. So if he is working on a bird that has not yet given him any pit victory, he will make sure that it came from a winning line and that it fights good. And of course, he has to see very specific things before a bird gets the nod. I love a rooster with small head, long feathers and a good conformation, he reveals and adds further, I also like masculine-looking rooster but with fine features. On the other hand, Richard has perfectly good reason for choosing not to dig up certain birth information. Like the time Mr. Walter Kelso gave him three hens for Christmas. It came with a card that read, These were good for me, and I hope theyre the for for you. Richard did not know their background and did not ask either. it was out of respect for Mr. Kelso who had given out of the goodness of his heart and would not have parted with them if he did not think they were good enough. So I never asked, I just thanked him, Richard says. In essence, the incident displays how Richard works on his breeding all these years. If he has already been satisfied by what he has seen then all else is immaterial. Some of the best roosters that he ever got but without being clear on their ancestry came from Kearney. He represented Thomas W. Murphy, a very wealthy man who wouldnt sell or give. But Kearney was a real nice man. He had a partner and they bred the same roosters as the bred for Murphy, he tells the story. Richard was about 19 when he got a trio from Kearney and was given a letter written inlong hand that said the bloodlines went back to as far as the 12880s and mentions 30 or more bloodlines within the rooster. But he was still fairly a greenhorn and did not think much of it back then. That was all he knew of these birds. Richard goes against type when he refuses to even use the word pure to describe his chickes. Instead, he will tell it as it is, admitting the unfamiliar and without being glitzy about the things he know. He has been around so long he realizes he can get away with purely glowing descriptions of lineage but he wont go there. At this juncture, it becomes obvious that Richard is a man who will be as straightforward and as forthright as he can. To me things about pure this, pure that, he says bluntly. Once a broodcock is lost, he asserts, there is no way you can make another one that is exactly like it. There is no doubt to him about these things and he does not hesitate with his words either. It doesnt make any difference, you can never duplicate a rooster, he says and to emphasize, adds, Its not like a BMW---they can just make another one tomorrow. So what about trying to get a line back, we ask him. I have never in my life seen anybody get a fowl back, he drawls with a mild note of intolerance for thosse who try what he deems impossible. He points out, Once its gone its just gone. For those who have taken up breeding unprepared for such drawbacks, this is the ultimate test of patience. Ive seen people go broke or quit because of the frustrations to maintain or preserve a line, he says as a matter of fact. His words are easy enough to understand yet those who seem desperate for breeding advice would like to believe theres just some cocktail of vitamins or the like behind his success. Richard calmly points out that if there ever was such a thing, it wont be half the reason why anyone would find success in the business for as long as he has. As you know, the 76-yrs. old respected cocker and breeder started learning the ways of birds as early as 3 yrs old from his own father. And around the time he was in 9th grade, he could already send himself to school with his own earnings. But that is not to say he was all that good right away. He went through those shaky beginner years, too, before he made something more stable from his work. Today his dazzling reputation precedes him wherever he goes. I dont have secrets, I really dont, he begs. Quite often he gets pressed for an answer on how he manages to win again and again. He only says, Maybe in my experience with roosters over many years Ive known some things thatll take people a little while to learn but I have no deep, dark secrets like people think we de. There is nothin he knows now that other breeders wont eventually understand in due time, he tells us. Instead, Richard likes to anchor his staying power on his passion for all the right things. He loves everything about the sport: the game, the competition, the roosters and most of all, he loves the part where he gets to win, win, win. If he has been successful this is what Richard attributes it to. But then again I, mabe devote more time to it than a lot of people, he ventures. I enjoy the winning so much that at my age I might still go to work at 4:30 in the morning and work until 7:30 at night. Surprisingly, afterwards he can still go to the cockpit, stay for 24 hours and then come home. The real secret is commitment. It is what you bring to your work as abreeder. What if any pill or injection were the answer then anybody would be the greatest, he says. He goes on to mention the people who wont be successful if the did not have their hearts in the right places. He satys he likes them for their durability with roosters, being just gentlemen and because they are people that you just naturally respect and look up to. Mr. Walter Kelso is one. Richard describes him thus, One of the greats not only because of his roosters but because he was a man of principle and unlimited values. He goes on to say the names of Billy Ruble and Johnnie Jumper. Billy and Johnnie Jumper are very competitive people with high standards. he points out. And in the same breath, thewere people with moral values and they were people you love to ve around. he adds. They were Richards closest competitors back in the US. Still he only has the fondest and happiest memories of them. He remembers, We all wanted to win but we would all be in the same restaurant having dinner and then breakfast the next day. They tried to adjust weights to avoid a clash but nobody be grudged the other it happened. As Richard gladly put it, These people you have a competitive spirit with no animosity. Harold Brown is yet another competitor who is also well spoken of. Richard remembers the fight when he had won 7 straight while Harold had won 6 & lost 1. Of course we both wanted to win but (there) we were sharing the same hotel room and using one common car to commute to the pit, he recall, smiling at the happy contradiction of things. William McCrae is also a favorite albeit he was only into breeding. He became famous for his Black McRae. William, Richard says, was the Don Ramon of the people. Of course, he is referring to Don Ramon Lacson, to him the most respectable Filipino he has ever known. He was a mans man, he says. Then with a voice unmistakably filled with admiration, he adds, He was a wonderful man; great with the chicks. Not surprisingly, Richard who has beenb in the country for more than three decades, names more Pinoys, at this point. mr. Silverio for bringing him to the Philippines, a place he instantly warmed up to. it turns out that Mexico was a favorite haunt back in his younger days and the Philippines, of course, is very similar in temperament and culture to the old country. He says he wont be here if the did not like the place. Born and raissed in the hillbilly state of Tennessee, Richard says he has no intentions of going back notwithstanding all the brothers, sisters and children back there. To visit, why yes, of course, but, Returning Nah, I like it here, Im happy heere, comes his answer. To him, the Philippines is home. Down the line there were many more he ran into, those who have helped him in so many ways such, Jorge Nene Araneta, my compadre; Toto Samonte, he was the man of Mr. Enrile; Atty. Rudy Salud; and the man Im with right now, Col. Katy Katigbak who has been a friend for about 18 years. Richard had to recall his beginnings in the country, far in the wilderness of Silang. When I first came here I was in what they call the badlands of Cavite. It was forbidding territory and people rode no cars there after dark. Along the way there I needed Filipinos that knew the ways, that had to help me and evn protect me, he acknowledges. These were mostly the who have helped him. Today Richards farm has already grown out of the so-called wastelands, a thriving 4 1/2 hectare aland that he has seen flourish for the last 30 years. Through time he had formed some arrangements with other people for the use of his land as well as his services. But his property is hardly used for ranging. It is used to make the matings, hatch the chickens and train the roosters. The place is not quite big enough for the number of roosters that he raises for certain people. So when he worked for Paul Estrellado, they had used a lot of the latters property in San Pablo, Laguna. At another time, he had used a lot of property in Calatagan, Batangas when he worked for Mr. Silverio. In spite of it all, Richard is not one to call himself a rich man. He was just luckier that most to find a way to make money with what he love doind. On this note he cautions the beginner about turning breeding into a get-rich-quick-scheme. Dont look at it as merely a moneymaking thing like some undesirables in the industry do. Be leery of these people, he counsels. Work hard. And Richard wants the novice to never forget to conduct himself like a gentleman. It all sounds so simple yes, but it will take you places. In the end, no pill or injection determined your success and longevity in this business. Richard promises one thing, Your conduct will determine what you become, for sure. He is right when he says, The true sportsmen in this industry they are still alive. They are proof that, indeed, a mans character, if its coming from a good place, can take him a long way. REMEMBERING RICHARD an interview with Atty. Rudy Salud Atty Rudy Salud admits to being overcome with emotions when asked about old friend Richard Bates. After being taken seriously ill for quite a time, Richard succumbed to sickness in November of last year. But even before his untimely in the cockfighting industry have rallied to support Richard and his family. Richard has been a cocker since he was a young boy of three spending close to 50 yrs of these in the Philippines where he met his wife Bernadita Bates, For a very long time, Richard was partners with Atty. Salud and they have shared a lot both in and out plead with him to fight saying that wed do it for the sake of the promoter whos a personal friend of mine and hed only tell me, Attorney, our cocks are not ready. Please dont force me to do that. Eventually Atty. Rudy and Richard had gone their separate ways when the former started training cocks for Danding Cojunaco but they had what was a cordial parting and have remained friends over the years. Atty. Salud only has glowing praise for his friend. I think hes the most honest (American cocker), heavers. Unlike other Americans who are quick with the name-dropping, Richard will simply put everything in his farm under his name. Richard would tell you that this is my bird and thats it, say Rudy. I believed him because Ive seen it with my own eyes that some breeders will only tell you a lot of cock-and-bull (stories), he adds. Its almost inevitable that he should be asked to share the most memorable time he had with the late American cocker but Atty. Salud only replies almost sadly, Theres just too many of those because we were together for more than 20 yrs, he says. In the course of 2 decades, they have fought derbies all over the Philippines, from Luzon. Visayas to Mindanao. First, their tandem was known as R&R, in reference to their names, changed it to Balayan and then Winning Time. But just after a brief moment, Atty. Rudy Salud hastens to add, The most memorable thing about him was that he was a consistent friend and Im proud to be one of his friends. When he was still alive, Richard had some reluctance owning up to himself being one of the cocking industrys legends. But his friends. But his freind, Rudy, and all those who had known him in this life know that Richard is far from ordinary and fittingly deserves the accolades. He had feel for roosters. Though you and I have a good feel for roosters, Richard was special when it came to getting the feel of the rooster. I dont know anybody who was better than him in doing that, he declares. At this point, Atty. Rudy chooses to put the interview to a close, unable to go on any further about the friend he had lost, but says in conclusion. He rightfully should be idolized by many Filipinos and Americans.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:43:50 +0000
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