Ed Headrick and his whippets

[Baroque]

Hello Everyone!

Is there anyone here that knew Ed Headrick and his whippets?

My first whippet was bred by Ed although I never got to meet him. Baroque was whelped March 7 of 1987 in Santa Cruz and imported along with his littermates to a frisbee player in Tulsa Ok who owned a full brother from a previous litter. It was in Tulsa that I purchased Baroque at 7 months of age and had him for the next 16 years.

This was before the internet and social media etc so I never was able to track down Ed Headrick although I regularly wrote out his name on entry forms for showing and coursing my whippet. Baroques' father was named Westley Wee Whippet Headrick and his sire was the famous frisbee dog Ashley Whippet owned by Alex Stein (who was the breeder of Baroque's father too)

Anyone here know either one of these guys and their whippets? I would love to learn more about the dogs

 

[the camera guy]

The guy from Tulsa you mention was Rick Neil. He was a founding member of the Tulsa Disc Sports Association. Sad to say he passed away a few years ago.

 

[fritothedog]

The guy from Tulsa you mention was Rick Neil. He was a founding member of the Tulsa Disc Sports Association. Sad to say he passed away a few years ago.

Is that Ed Headrick's connection to Oklahoma? Design of Will Rogers Park DGC in OKC (as well as Lions Park in Norman, apparently) is credited to Ed Headrick and Stan Korth. I thought there was a Tulsa course that was credited to Ed as well. Interesting.

 

[the camera guy]

I think the original Riverparks course was designed by Ed. The course was redesigned a few years ago. Similar to the original but with new poleholes and teepads.

 

[Baroque]

Thank you Camera Guy!

You are correct, it was Rick Neil that I got my whippet from.

I will never forget pulling up to his home unannounced looking to purchase a "baby greyhound" one evening and seeing all those beautiful whippet pups frolicking around at night under a spotlight. Beautiful!

When I knocked on his door, he invited me in and told me to pick out the one I liked the best and could take him home that night even though I didnt bring enough money with me and he trusted me to come back the next day to pay. My life forever changed right then, little did I know.

Previously I had been to the dog pound to ask to adopt a greyhound as a companion to my borzoi if they ever got one in. A few days later, the dog pound guy came to me at the barn I worked at and told me of a guy who had 8 "baby greyhounds" and was only suposed to have 3 and his neighbor was complaining. He gave me his address. Lucky for me!

Rick and his wife were very sweet and supportive of this young girl who ended up calling them many times over the years to report on coursing and showing wins of the dog they sold me. I think Rick got a kick out of it and even came out to a show one time to watch us!

I never could get Baroque to catch a disk though I did try. He was extremely athletic, healthy and was still winning at age 15 setting a record that still stands today as the oldest dog in history of any breed to finish his championship at age 14 1/2. Life got in the way and I had other dogs to show, but we finally got that last point. And, now its been 30 years of serious whippet activity for me all stemming from that fateful night and the dog that Rick sold me. He was my heart dog, my foundation, and a once in a lifetime wonderdog always by my side through every adventure.

Baroque's last grandson just passed away in June at age 14 but I still have frozen semen from Baroque so who knows....maybe one day....more "baby greyhounds"

I am sorry to hear of Rick's passing. We lost touch sometime early this century. I hope he would be proud to know, he left another legacy of different kind other than his beloved sport of disc golf

 

[the camera guy]

Thank you Baroque for the good words about Rick and the great story about your dog, he would be thrilled. He was a tireless promoter of all things frisbee (although i had seen him napping between tourney rounds!). Dogs, freestyle, and of course disc golf, he enjoyed it all. His disc collection was amazing. I still have some he gave me from many years ago, my favorite is a Kodak fastback molded in their signature yellow.He gave me that one during my film days! He also hosted the regional disc dog championships for a few years in Tulsa.

As for disc golf, he played for 20 years before he hit his first ace. It was at a mini on the riverparks course that Ed designed. I was a card behind him but you would have thought he won the lottery that day.

If I uploaded this right, this is him doing his freestyle toothbrush move. I looked but could not find any pics of his dogs.

 

[Baroque]

I have a few photos of the dogs that he gave me. Just typical kodak snaps. I will look for them and try to post them. I did take a pretty cool photo of his Dash when I went to visit him one time. It ended up in a book called Funny Dogs. Ill try to copy and post it here if you would like to see it

 

[the camera guy]

That would be cool