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In the early years of the 1970’s in North Carolina there was a young Pitbull lover called Lonzo Pratt. With his savoir faire and charm he managed to win the respect of two great breeders of that time, J. Loposay and Pete Sparks from which they bought a Pitbull bitch called Fay that took him to notoriety. But the fame of Lonzo Pratt started thanks to a coupling between two great Bulldogs Lonzo’s Andy and Lonzo’s Angie.

This fantastic litter bore 3 males and 3 females. The 2 females were Lena and Rosie; Lena did not make history as she was sold to a simple family of factory workers. Rosie however had two matches winning them both in 50 minutes and soon after retired from fighting to be better served in breeding. She died at the age of 10 in Lonzo Pratt’s yard three months after giving birth to her last litter. The males were Crush, Vendicator and Zebo. Crush was bought by a father who wanted a companion for his children. Crush then died at the age of 11.

Vendicator and Zebo remained in Lonzo Pratt’s kennels. Vendicator was a tremendous red nose Bulldog a three time winner. One of these victories was against Ch Finley Bo R.O.M beating him in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Unfortunately Vendicator died at a young age with worms in the heart, and the breeders that worked the matches insisted that he was a better dog than his brother Zebo.

Gr Ch Adam’s Zebo R.O.M was a Pitbull weighing in at 42 pounds with a devastating bite, winning a total of 7 fights becoming a household name Grand Champion with Register of Merit R.O.M and Producer of Record P.O.R, not to mention the member of the Bulldog Hall of Fame. Zebo was the only American Pitbull terrier to be honoured with these three awards.

Zebo’s career started in the courtyard of Lester Hughes, alias Mountain Man. The very which went to Lonzo Pratt’s asking him to fight Vendicator against Zebo to then know which is the best to buy. The match between the two brothers’s was spectacular and very intense with continuous strikes and was interrupted after an hour without a winner.

Lester Hughes the man of the mountains chose Zebo who then remained for 2 years at his kennels giving him four matches. Zebo won all the four matches and killed all four of his adversaries in 22 minutes, 26 minutes, 18 minutes and 34 minutes respectively. After his fourth match Mountain Man sent Zebo for a period to Grady Cummings Kennels and who had a Pitbull with the killer name of Cumming’s Red Fox. During the night Red Fox came off her chain and had the brilliant idea to venture towards Zebo who in turn killed him instantly. The next morning Cummings called Lester Hughes to inform him of what happened and that he should come and pick up his dog immediately. In the meantime Mountain Man had received many offers from potential buyers.

Hughes had no intention of selling but a man called Dave Adams from Ohio made him an offer he could not refuse. From that day Zebo became associated with the name Gr Ch Adam’s Zebo R.O.M. Dave Adams had a friend in Ohio called Hudson that had bought a dog from Maurice Carver by the name of Carver’s Tex weighing 44 pounds and was a two time winner. Hudson was a good man but boasted far too much about his dog. Tex did this, Tex did that, Tex went here, Tex went there….They decided to challenge Tex and a fight was planned and was to take place at a convention in Mexico. One week before the encounter Hudson called Adams and offered him a deal that consisted of sharing the winnings but the loss would be forfeited by both. The match never took place because the convention was banned by the Mexican authorities.

Zebo’s most memorable match was against Ch Greaser the best 44 pounder in all of Oklahoma. Greaser was extremely sly, defensive and had a powerful bite, winning himself a reputation as victor against Maloney’s Alligator and Mayfield’s Go Devils. There is a saying that goes: when you put two dogs like Zebo and Greaser against one another the respective owners need two things: a great dog in splendid condition and to recite their favourite prayer! The fight took place one cold night in a barn. Zebo weighed 40 pounds and Greaser 44 pounds but Adam’s decided to proceed making sure all knew he was allowing the 4 extra pounds. The majority of the bets were in Greaser’s favour. Richard Stratton’s account was that he had never seen anything like it. Greaser for an hour continually struck Zebo at the head closing himself to defend attacks to the chest from Zebo. Bit by bit Zebo started to have the upper hand succeeding to sink into Greaser’s chest destroying him and ending the match victoriously after 2 hours and 55 minutes.

Unfortunately one day Zebo attacked Adam’s son removing his ear and Adam’s wife made him get rid of Zebo so he sold him to Mr. Johnson. Johnson got Zebo to take part in another 2 fights and then retired him undefeated from fighting at the age of 7 and put him to stud. Zebo died at the age of 13, blind and lame due to so many fights but no Pitbull managed to get his hide. During Zebo’s time there were two other dogs that were making great names for themselves and they were Stinson & Glover Gr Ch Art a three time winner and Ch Giroux’ Gunner a four time winner. They were never put up against Zebo and no one knows the reason.

Some of Gr Ch Adam’s Zebo R.O.M famous offspring were: Ch Adam’s Katie, Tomsic’s Spider R.O.M, Ch Ruby, Ch Abuelita, Ch Zipper, Ch Diamond Jim, Clemmons Ch Nigger Z-Boy, Clemmon’s Ch Nigger Tobe, Clemmon’s Toby R.O.M, Super Ch Gnat’s Blackie, Hughes’ Gator R.O.M, Ch Ratliff’s Trap, Rocca’s CH Blobo, Patrick’s Gr Ch Sinner and Stepp’s Ch Willie that was said to have the same destructive strength as his father Zebo and killing all of his adversaries in 40 minutes. Zebo was also grandfather to Doc’s Ch Moe that was a grand champion up until he lost against Red’s B’ Ch Charlie.

The coupling from which Zebo, Vendicator, Crush, Lena and Rosie came from made history. A perfect combination of bloodlines Tudors’ Dibo, Old Family Red Nose and Colby Heinzl which explains the Red Nosed litter. But then where did this all black Zebo come from?

For many breeders, theoretically Zebo is not Vendicator’s brother and that Lester Hughes bought Zebo form Lonzo Pratt with out a pedigree. There are those that say Zebo was sibling to Bullyson or that Mountain Man even though sold many Zebos only Dave Adam’s bought the true Zebo. This will always be an unanswered question.

Online Pedigrees Gr Ch Adam’s Zebo (7XW) R.O.M