He did have very beautiful birds and cared for them well and SHOWED them often.   He often won many Best Round Head awards at the Empire and Central Short Face shows. He did have all colors, but his yellows and reds were his best.   Heubel had better kites and almonds.   They did work together to give the breed notoriety.

 

He and Wil helped re-write the standard.   I do believe that the English Short Faced Tumbler was the first breed to equal their standard followed by the Budapest.

 

Jim's passing has had a very serious impact on the short face fancy and this breed.

 

Mike Seiler

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Jim Zerbo, Truly a great pigeon man and  a friend....... It was early 90's that I show my first pigeon in a couple of decades Jim was the judge. I can say that Jim was a wealth of knowledge on anything pigeon. He really helped me on all levels when I lived in Fla. He was a true gentlemen. His knowledge on short faces was over flowing. We talked about many short face breeders of the past. Hubie Reith, Frankie Garcia, Harold Stengle, being a few, but he enjoyed other breeds and when he came to a show he was prepared to judge his assignments of the day.............The short face fancy lost a great when Jim passed.

Mark Berkel

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I was introduced to Jim in I believe 1997.

I had some rollers at the time and had no inclination to become a short face fancier.

At his home I was shown his birds and saw how friendly the English Short Face Tumblers are. I decided to raise and show the bird. Jim helped me out with two very nice birds, an Almond cock and Dun hen. The cock was missing a portion of the beak due to pox, but it was an excellent young bird. My foundation was established by the Almond (Beakless) and the Dun. The produced beautiful Almonds in both sexes.

Jim from time to time gave me birds for my group. He was always open to visits and answering questions. Over time we became very good friends and I spent much time with him and his wife Reggie.

I will never forget the time we had return to St Pete from the NPA Myrtle Beach show. We stopped for Jim to call Reggie and I kept hearing him repeating his name. We made a joke that Reggie had forgotten him and did not know his name. We all laughed.

During Jims later years he became less able to maintain his beloved birds, so we became partners with the ESFT. Jim later gave me all of his wonderful birds.

One day he asked me to tear down all of the lofts as they wanted to sell the property and move into an apartment. Tearing down his lofts was a very hard for me to do, and I am sure very hard on him.

I visited him in his new home and we talked pigeons and from time to time I would bring over a couple of the birds for his critique. He enjoyed this contact.

Eventually Jim had to be hospitalized. I visit during his short stay and will never forget the last visit. I entered his room and he appeared to be sound asleep. He looked very peaceful. I touched his hand and departed. A couple of hours later I was notified he had passed away.

He had a very nice funeral. I received permission from Reggie to place a box of tooth picks with him and a fan of  his beloved English tail feathers in all colors were placed in his hands.

Periodically, I take Reggie to his grave site. It is still hard to believe of his passing.

He is missed in the pigeon world as a great short face fancier and by me as his friend.

Bill Burnside
 

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