LINES FROM LINDA: REMEMBERING AKC FIELD REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAM HAROLD HOLBROOK
1959 – Eight-year-old Nancy Holbrook with mature and beautiful Blazer.
1963 – Eleven-year-old Nancy with Blazer. She was the only child handler in the 1963 CCA specials ring.
Bill’s Collie love affair began in 1958 with Ch. Sir Ree Bob of Buffington.
1978 - At his first Collie Club of America National judging assignment, Holbrook’s choice for BOB over an entry 938 Collies was Ch. Tartanside the Gladiator, co-owned, handled, and bred by John Buddie - Tartanside Collies.
2010 Collie Club of America - Judge Bill Holbrook awarding WD to Arrowhill Swords Held High handled by Laurie Jeff Greer. Trophy presented by CCA former President Robert Futh.
Feb. 1969 - Al Forthal wins the Arz. Collie Clan Futurity Stakes with future great Ch. Shoreham Desdemona under Bill Holbrook. ”Dede” opened doors for future Collie bitches to win BOV and BOB over male specials. Al and “DeDe” were a phenomenon thanks to Bill Holbrook’s guidance and mentoring. Later in 1969, Bill was AKC licensed to judge.
CCA Best of Breed win! The total entry was 938 Collies, which was unheard of during the 1970s. Certainly no one can tell Bill’s story better than he did in the 2010 Collie Club of America catalog upon his second CCA assign- ment, held in his “old stomping grounds,” Southern California. William Holbrook, 2010 CCA—Dog Classes: “I met my first purebred show Collie, Count of Buffington, when I was a junior in high school in Lincoln, Nebraska. His mistress, Janet (call-name “Jidge”) began a long-standing love affair (that included the Collie breed). Together we owned and showed some wonderful dogs, with our first co-owned Collie being Pleasant Hill D’ Ebon Rhapsody from Billy Aschenbrener. A longtime friendship developed with Steve Field who used “Buff” to sire his first litter of Collie pups (born in 1940). I received my all-breed handler’s license from AKC in 1964. I would like to extend a big THANK YOU to all the Collie people who let me show and finish their dogs—they made me a good handler! When I stopped handling, I obtained my license to judge Collies and Shelties in 1969. I was the District Director for Southern California as well as First Vice President of the CCA. Then, in 1980, I was invited to be an Executive Field Representative by the American Kennel Club. I then had to resign as an AKC judge. I spent the next 29 years as an AKC Rep. When I retired in 2007, I again began judging. I am now approved for Col- lies, Shelties, Malamutes, Samoyeds, Siberians, and the Toy Group and Best in Show. My prior highlight in judging was the 1978 CCA where I judged dogs and intersex in Louisville, Kentucky.” He calmed my fears from a California earthquake. It seems the only thing Bill Holbrook didn’t do during his life was wear a red cape and leap tall buildings in a single bound. Instead, for nearly 70 years, he crossed our paths, touched our lives, and left a lasting impression. He is absent from our world, but will remain in our memories.
Janine recalled to me, “I met Bill Holbrook for the first time in the late ‘60s, during my teen years. He was handling and won with a rough-coated Sable and white Collie puppy bitch at Silver Bay KC, held at the corner of 6th Avenue and Laurel Street in Balboa Park near the San Diego Zoo, which is the same beautiful location where the San Diego Collie Club held their first puppy match in 1949. I attended the Silver Bay KC show that summer without an entry as it was a time in my life that I preferred to watch and study some of the best handlers on the West Coast such as Frank Sabella, Lina Basquette, Terrie McCullough Parker, Roz Durham, Patricia Craig, Tony Gwinner, Fon Johnson, Barbara Humphries, and Bill Holbrook. Bill was very gracious when I stopped him outside the ring after judging to ask him a few questions. I told him I thought his handling was “precise and very smooth” and would he please give me some pointers? With a smile he told me to always show well- trained Collies and don’t “fidget around” with the dog in the ring because judges don’t like to see “fidgety handlers.” I will never for- get that day; Bill’s smile, his good advice, and our laughter. What a treat it was, later on, to correspond with Bill and Jidge and visit with Bill as the AKC Rep at dog shows held in the Northwest and at various CCA nationals where he was “our” AKC Representative. A few years previously, I watched Bill handle Blazer, with Nancy assisting, while I sat in a bleacher seat at a February Silver Bay Ken- nel Club show held in the old San Diego Convention Center. I was awestruck watching such a calm, stable, and glamourous Collie come ringside with his head held high. To impress me more, Blazer won Best of Breed that day.” Bill’s first Collie Club of America assignment at Louisville, Ken- tucky, in 1978, is historic on two levels; his Best of Breed winner and the total size of the entry. Bill judged a portion of the dog classes and all intersex, awarding Best of Breed to Ch. Tartanside the Gladiator from the Veteran Class, making it “Buster’s” third
74 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, JANUARY 2021
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