Handler: The Life of Fred Dileo ~ Chapter Four

How did Fred Dileo become a handler? From the bottom up, starting with nothing, fueled by determination and a desire to learn. He traveled to Texas after high school, worked in construction a while, then on a dude ranch. His mother had given him a Setter pup during high school. He trained it to hunt on pheasants on a state wildlife management area near his home and skipped school to hunt with it when the season opened. This planted the seed of desire to train pointing dogs.

He signed on to go North with Andy Daugherty and traveled with him for a time, gaining experience while being treated in the traditional way, with good natured abuse, same as Andy had been treated by Bud. Later he apprenticed with Texan Tony Terrell on the fabled Packsaddles Ranch in western Oklahoma and on the King Ranch.

T. Jack Robinson and Lee West judged a trial on the Packsaddle when Fred scouted for Tony. They loved to tell about an incident where Fred called point way off and when Tony and T. Jack arrived, “the dog looked like a hunting coat thrown over a bush, to quote Bill Rayl,” T. Jack would say. Tony began to berate Fred, “Why the hell did you call us to a dog looking like THAT?”

“He didn’t look like that when I called,” Fred replied sheepishly. “Why didn’t you waive us off!” Tony retorted.
Tony took the dog on to the front, Fred following. T. Jack reported to Lee, and the two said to Tony, teasing, “Remember you have several more dogs to run — better ease up on that boy or he’ll quit you.”
“Hell, he won’t quit. Don’t know the word,” Tony said.

Fred was gaining a reputation for wild, fearless riding. Mike Furcalow recounted two incidents. “Tony had an owner who loved gray horses, and so Tony was always looking for them. Picked up one outlaw that threw every rider that got on him, including Tony. So he put Fred on him. Fred could ride him.

“One day on the Packsaddle, a rattlesnake somehow bit into Fred’s boot sole when he was riding the Gray through thick shinnery. It wouldn’t turn loose, and Fred couldn’t shake it loose. The three put on a rodeo until the snake finally let loose.

“Tony had another called Yellow that only Fred could ride. Up in Alberta at the call of time Tony’s dog was out of sight to the front and he sent Fred on Yellow to get him. It was a show worthy of the Kentucky derby. Fred lit out on Yellow jumping badger holes and disappeared, but just when the judges were about to announce gone too long Fred appeared way off with the dog — Jumper Jim I think it was — on a rope.”

Then finally, Fred had his first trial dog; not to scout, but to train and handle. It’s breeder was D. M. Burton of Dallas, its owner Jim Simpson of Connecticut, a financial advisor who gave Fred his start as a handler. More of him later. The dog was Texas Hummer.

Fred broke into the ranks as a handler at the Vidalia Georgia Field Trial Club in the spring of 1984. Hummer won the Open Derby and the Open All-Age. He was barely two.

And Texas Hummer was not a flash in the pan. He and Fred went on to place Runner-Up in the Texas Open Championship in the fall of 1986 and in the Florida Open All-Age Championship in the spring of 1987. Texas Hummer would win first in the one hour Packsaddle Field Trial Club Amateur All-Age that spring, and in the fall of 1987 finished his career with a second in the one-hour Sunflower-Kansas Open All-Age Classic.

But it would be as a sire that Texas Hummer would do most for Fred. He sired Chicoan Hummer, whelped April 21, 1987, who would become Fred’s first Champion and a sixteen time winner including the Continental Open All-Age of 1990, the US Open All-Age of 1993 and the Masters Open All-Age of 1996.

Chicoan Hummer and Double Rebel Buck would prove Fred’s entitlement to a seat among the front ranks of Major Circuit handlers. He would apprentice no more.