05/21/2025
Lawshe Blues
Mr Tommy Lawshe Jr sent me this picture today and told me a good story about him. This rooster was made out of a concoction of a βSmith Dirty Blueβ c**k from a man named Norwood Myles, and a blend of bloods Tom Lawshe had using Griffin Clarets and Roundhead (Allen?).
The rooster pictured won 16 fights in 17 pittings before retired to be the patriarch of the Lawshe Blues. He was retired in 1964 after a fight in Little Rock Arkansas. Tom Lawshe had a backer named JB Dukes who talked his way into a $20k match fight. The fight was short and sweet. The 2 roosters come together in a flurry and when they stopped, both roosters were hung in one another. When handled, Tom took the blue to his corner and he was rattled bad, head going purple and gasping for air and blinking rapidly. The crowd cheered and started chanting βbye bye blue!β. Tommy Jr peeked over in the other corner and told his father βkeep him alive and get the count, that other rooster wonβt make it.β. When the referee called for the 2 roosters to be pit again, the opposing rooster was cut to shambles and couldnβt stand. Once the blue rooster was turned loose, he flew across the pit and killed the other rooster. And that day is when the βTom Lawshe Bluesβ were born.
The rooster was yellow legged, straight combed, and a dark blue body, with red back, shoulder, and shawl feathers, and white streaks/specks all throughout his body. Tom reffered to the splash/streaked ones as his βspangles.
Tom Lawshe bred the 20k rooster and had great success with his offspring until 1968. Tom had some commitment problems and his wife Doris found out about some adulterous behavior. Tommy Lawshe Jr told me he got home from school one day and seen his mother sitting on the porch crying and told him that she done something she regretted that day, she turned all his dadβs roosters loose. Tommy jumped and ran to the yard and said there were dead roosters from one end of the yard to the other.