Thoughts about THE INDIANAPOLIS RACING PIGEON CLUB now called the CENTRAL INDIANA RACING PIGEON CLUB.

By Mike Radkovic

The club got its charter in the middle 30's and the Club flew the West/Southwest Course. Stations started in Marshall, Il and then Effingham, Il, Highland, Il.,

Rolla, MO. and then on to Joplin, Mo.

Birds were basketed at the train station and then shipped by rail to the longer races. The shorter races were driven by members of the club.

My earliest recollection of the Club was repeated mention of Sam Karabell who apparently dominated the club from the distance races. His loft was located in the upper portion of his garage and it was said the temperatures in his loft reached 100-110 degrees at times. He had to clean his lofts before daylight because of the excessive heat. Some say it was the heat that brought on the wonderful condition of Sam's Birds where he dominated the races.

Sam Karabell passed away in the late 40’s! Later the club held a 500 Mile Race and named it in his honor out of respect for this wonderful gentleman.

In the late 40's and early 50's the club was spearheaded by Charlie Herin and Fred Sauerteig. Charlie Herin moved to Cincinnati because of a company move and shortly thereafter became the National Secretary of the AMERICAN RACING PIGEON UNION.

Fred Sauerteig, who published an Insurance Digest that was subscribed to nationally, remained a strong supporter and a strong competitor until his passing.

Although the club was very small, it was very, very competitive with no single flyer dominating the race results. One of the very, very competitive flyers at that time was Al Unversaw, who after moving to Ohio, has returned to the local area and is a current member and flies both the Old and YB Series.

One of the more colorful flyers was a wonderful gentleman from England, Roland Hendley.

Roland came to this country in the 50’s and was a brick mason by trade. He had flown with the great Freddie Marriott in England before coming to the states. He spun many a yarn about the great English flyer! Roland must have been a pretty good flyer in England because he and Pop Myer won our Kellogg Klassic Futurity in 1963.

It should be mentioned that Marlin Reid, who was just one of the boys here, moved to the Chicago, IL area where he achieved national recognition for his results. He often said that Indianapolis was the most difficult place in this country to race pigeons. After moving to Illinois and achieving national prominence he returned to Indianapolis in the late 80’s, early 90’s and was just one of the boys. He took his turn in trying to win a race! He was tragically killed in an automobile accident while visiting friends in Chicago.

The club is currently sponsoring a race to benefit the Riley Hospital for Children.

It was started by a local Radio personality, Bob Kevoian of the Bob and Tom show, to benefit the Children’s Hospital with a sizable donation to inaugurate the event in 2004. Our plans are to continue to sponsor the race annually.

That’s a brief history of the club. We currently have about 25 dues paying members and welcome anyone who is interested in joining our club to contact one of our members or Wayne Gritter at 1-317-861-5503 or wjgritter@aol.com

SomeEarly members:

Sam Karabell

Fred Sauerteig

Dale Sare

Pop Myer

Walter Karg

Al Unversaw

Charlie Herin Later became Treas of THE ARPU INC

Marlin Reid

Fred Henke

Jay Carrier

Bob Essex

Some Later Members:

Ray Alcorn

Clint Bailey

Howard Beall

Mike Berkshire

Ed Blaesing

John Brinkman

Ken Bucci

Tom Calhoun

Carroll Castleman

Leo Cleary

Bob Clements

Alan Clouse

Clayton Cooper

Alex Cornella

Bob Creviston

Bill Davis

Curt Davis

Steve Davis

Leon Edwards

Denny Fackler

Ben Fechtman

Ed Ferguson

Bill Freeman

Ed Fruits

Sal Gatto

Marcello Graffitti

Debbie Hager

Sonny Hager

Bill Hardie

Richard Harper

Roland Hendley

Fred Hert

Paul Hundley

Dave Husted

Tom Kemph

Doug Kenney

Thad Kenney

Gib Lawrence

Jack Levy

Bill Linnabarry

Matt Matthias

Charlie Merrick

Charlie Mollenkoph

Deanne Mollenkoph

Jim Piepenbrok

Bill Pranger

Ken Pridemore

Jim Proctor

Kim Renfro

Fred Rising-Moore

John Rogers

Joe Rogers,(Jr Member)

Frank Rush

Hank Sabetti

Gary Sarver

Russell Scott

Maynard Soukup

Gary Tamo

Tony Venezia

Floyd Walters

Gordon Ward

Tim Waughtel

Bob Weber

Tom Wood

George Worland

Steve Yerich

John Zeigler

Dave Zierer

Rick Zirgibel

Current Members:

Don Adams

Charles Ballinger

George Bernier

Jerry Canady

George Chatman

Gary Dinkins

Don Edmonds

Wayne Gritter

Cliff Gerbig

Steve Hunter

Matther Kirkwood

Phil Lucas

Tim Lucas

Mike Maloney

Pat Maloney

Jim Payne

David Pennington

Bev Pranger

Kathy Prosser

Mike Radkovic

Mike Radkovic, Jr

Steve Richards

Denise Sanders

Dr. Carl Schwartz

Mel Thomas

Al Unversaw

Scott Watson

Steve Youngs