On April 10, 1954, Henry Duez, Sr. called his 6 year old grandson to his loft and gave him two racing homers. He put them in a bag and attached it to the handle bars of his bike. He peddled the long mile home and that was the beginning of the three Duez boys and pigeons.

The two young red grizzle racing homers eventually were named “Red King” and “War Horse”. The oldest brother Ron, second brother Den, and the baby of the family, Terry, and each had our own lofts. When Ron was in his late teenage years, he fell in love and out of pigeons. Den raced pigeons for many years and was one of the dominant fanciers in the history of the Pittsburgh Southern Combine, winning numerous Combine Average Speed awards. Several years ago, he decided to quit racing the birds and no longer raises pigeons.

Through the years, I raced pigeons with my dad as George Duez and Sons,
with my brother as Duez Brothers,
and by myself as Victory Loft. We won about every award possible in combine and clubs.


After returning from 4 years of the Air Force, I raced for a few years, held the office of Secretary of the Pittsburgh Southern Combine, and slowly started to have a second breed. At first, I had Modenas, and a variety of different breeds. Then, show rollers. Became the Secretary of the United Roller Club of America and published their bulletins. In the late 80’s, had baldhead show rollers. In 1990, I attended the NYBS in Louisville, Kentucky and watched these crazy people rolling parlors. What a site!! I just had to have some.

The following year, I began coaching high school girls basketball and within a few years, something had to go.. and it was the birds. Eventually, I coached 14 seasons of high school girl’s basketball but have since come to my wits and put all my efforts into the parlors.

In 1997, I decided that I want to get back into pigeons and pursue the parlor rollers. I wanted nothing but the best and did not care how much it costs. I first made a phone call to John Walsh of Maryland and ask him who had the best parlors. He referred me to Bill Mustin and Jay Trout. They both told me that the top man in parlors, at that time, was John Kirchner, who lived 4 hours from me. So, I contacted John and drove to his house. Initially, John told me two pairs for $300 and he let me pick from several pairs. While I was writing the check out, he gave me a third pair. I took these three pairs home, and breed exclusively from them for three years without introducing another bird.

The first year of breeding was quite an experience. I knew that this breed was special, but did not know how to handle them. So, I called and went to Bill Mustin’s house, which is another 3 ½ hours … one way!! Actually, I visited Bill several times. He taught me his ways and was extremely open about the methods of handling the parlor roller. I drove to the Cramers, Kirk Milnor’s and Jeff Shriver’s to see how they had their birds and loft. There were long talks with Jay Trout and Paul Gamino to try to understand their methods. Today, I use the same methods that these top breeders of parlors taught me, which is written in an article called “Preparing the birds for a roll .. my way”. (On this site, click on the conditioning button.)

During all this time of “playing with the birds,” I found time to have four great kids. Dave, 34, is married and lives in Houston with his wife, Norma. Katie, 32, is married and lives in Germantown, Maryland with her husband, Tim and two daughters, Mary Kate and Claire. Terry Jr. (25) is married and lives in Manor, Pa., with his wife Sue. At home is Aimee (23). Last but definitely not least is my wonderful wife. Fran, who puts up with all my crap. She has been an absolute great wife for 27+ years.

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