Go pigeons .... go!

A Vienna resident is helping the sport of pigeon racing.
By MATT BIXENSTINE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LOYD HOUSE SPENDS MANY Saturday evenings outside, awaiting his pigeons' arrival home and hoping he is not part of a dying breed.
The Vienna resident has been training and racing homing pigeons for 56 years in the Youngstown area. Over that time, he has seen interest in his sport dwindle.
"Back in the late 1940s, 100 people in Youngstown raced pigeons, and now there's 21," House said this week. "Most of the guys [who race pigeons] today are pretty old, in their 50s, 60s or 70s."
Owns 80-plus birds
House, 74, who is known as Bud, owns more than 80 pigeons that he races as a member of the Original Racing Pigeon Club, which drives pigeons to locations hundreds of miles away to have them race home at speeds nearing 50 miles per hour.
He first bought pigeons at age 18, intending to practice taxidermy but instead developed pigeon racing as a hobby.
"I got about 30 pigeons in a crate for $3, and that's how I got started," he said.
House said club member John Radovich drives the pigeons to the various sites as far away as Wichita, Kan., for 18 Saturday races during spring, summer and fall. He then releases the birds to find their own way home.
Their purpose
Because of their innate ability, homing pigeons traditionally have served purposes other than racing, said Deone Roberts, sports development manager for American Racing Pigeons Union.
"During wartime [World War I and II], passenger pigeons delivered messages that saved thousands of lives when communication was cut off," she said.
However, just as telegraph lines have replaced pigeon's usefulness to the military, modern technology -- and increased governmental restrictions -- have impeded pigeon racing's growth among current the generation of youths, House said.
Still, House said he hopes to spread awareness of his hobby, which also teaches the responsibility of owning a pet.
"We need to get kids interested in the sport," he said. "I've been to [greater Youngstown area] schools talking to young kids, and they all love my pigeons."