ONCE IN A LIFETIME

EVERY NOW AND AGAIN YOU GET LUCKY THIS IS WHAT HAPPEN TO ME THE DAY I MET DON MAYFIELD.

IT SEEMS LIKE A LIFETIME AGO WHEN WE FIRST MET,AND WHEN I FIRST HEARD THIS HICKS TALKING I WAS THINKING TO MYSELF MAN, WHO IS THIS FELLA? I WAS SOON TO LEARN JUST WHO DON MAYFIELD WAS.

IT JUST SO HAPPEN THAT THE MAN I WAS TALKING TO WAS A LEGEND IN THIS GAME WE CALL THE GAMEDOGS GAME.NOT ONLY WAS HE A LEGEND HE WAS A TRUE TO GOD LIVING LEGEND.YOU COULD COMPARE IT TO A BASEBALL FAN MEETING BABE RUTH OR A BOXING FAN GETTNG TO MEET JACK DEMPSY OR SUGAR RAY ROBINSON.

MOST EVERYONE THAT WAS COMING IN AT THAT TIME WAS IN AWE THAT THIS OLD FELLA WOULD TAKE HIS TIME OUT OF THE DAY TO TALK TO US LOWLY FOLKS THAT WAS TRYING TO LEARN AND WANTING TO LEARN ABOUT THE GAMEDOG GAME.

WELL I SPENT COUNTLESS HOURS AND DAYS TALKING TO DON ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE BREED AND THE DOGS HE MATCHED AND HE GOT TO SEE. I WOULD GO FOR HOURS LISTENING TO HIM TALK ABOUT HIS UNDERSTANDING OF FAMILY BREEDING.AT THIS TIME I WAS SAVING EVERY CONVERSATION WE WAS HAVING ALONG WITH OTHERS THAT WERE JUST AS EAGER TO LEARN FROM DON.

NEEDLESS TO SAY DON HAD HIS FANS AND THOSE THAT WERE NOT SO FOND OF HIM ALSO..THOSE THAT WOULD COME IN AND HIDE UNDER DIFFERENT NAMES TRYING TO SHOW THEY WERE SOMEONE THEY WASN'T (DON WOULD TO REFER TO THEM AS DECIVERS).BUT VERY FEW TIMES DID THEY EVER FOOL THE HICK HE KNEW WHAT TIME IT WAS AND THEY WOULD GET THEIR CARD PUNCHED EVERYTIME.

IN ALL THE TIME THOUGH HE ALWAYS LET THEM SPEAK THEIR MINDS AND SHOW WHO THEY WERE..IT WAS HIS WAY OF FINDING OUT WHO WAS WHO.

PEOPLE WOULD HEAR DON START UP ON A CERTAIN SUBJECT AND THE YOUR CRAZY OLD MAN AND YOUR A LIAR COMMENTS WOULD COME FLYING FROM EVERY DIRECTION ..THEN THE MOST AMAZING THING WOULD HAPPEN ,DON WOULD START GIVING DATES TIMES REFERENCES EVERYTHING YOU WOULD NEED TO DO A LITTLE RESEARCH ON TO FIND OUT JUST WHAT THE TRUTH WAS..

ALL THE SUDDEN THE ROOM WOULD GO QUIET AND THE SUBJECT WOULD CHANGE TO SOMETHING THAT SUITED THE BOYS THAT DIDN'T LIKE THE TRUTH.

WELL MOVING ON ALONG AS TIME WENT BY DON NOTICED I WAS SAVING ALL THE CONVERSATIONS WE WERE HAVING AND TOLD ME TO KEEP THEM ALL THAT ONE DAY I WOULD NEED THEM, AS IN TIME STORIES GET CHANGED FACTS GET MIXED UP AND LIES GET TOLD.WELL I DID WHAT DON SAID AND SAVED 1000 UPON 1000 OF PAGES WHERE WE WOULD HAVE HOURS OF CONVERSATIONS FROM THE WEATHER TO BREEDINGS AND INTERVIEWS I DONE WITH DON YOU NAME IT..

ME AND DON GREW REAL CLOSE OVER THE YEARS AS I THOUGHT I HAD A KNACK FOR UNDERSTANDING JUST WHAT DON WAS TALKING ABOUT AND SAYING,ONE REASON FOR THIS IS DON WAS VERY MUCH LIKE MY GRANDFATHER IN THE SENSE OF THE WAY HE TALKED AND THE SAYINGS HE HAD..

IT GOT TO THE POINT THAT IN MANY CASES WHEN DON NEEDED SOMETHING EXPLAINED TO OTHERS IN A WAY THEY COULD UNDERSTAND IT HE W OULD ASK ME TO TRANSLATE IT TO THEM SO THEY COULD..

DON HAD LIMITED SKILLS WHEN IT CAME TO COMPUTERS BUT HE NEVER LET THAT STOP HIM HE WOULD PECK ALONG ON THAT KEYBORD TILL HE FINALLY GOT OUT WHAT HE WAS TRYING TO SAY.(LAUGHING).

DON ALWAYS TOLD ME "TIN NO MATTER WHAT ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH ON YOUR PEDIGREES" DON LIKE MOST OF US KNOW THAT REMEBERING THE TRUTH IS VERY EASY TO DO THEN YOU ONLY GOT TO REMEBER WHAT YOU DONE NOT WHAT YOU SAID.

DONE WAS AS SHARP AS THEY CAME WHEN IT COME TO THAT OVER THE YEARS AND ALL THE TIME I MET DON EVERY STORY HE TOLD EVERY BREEDING HE SAID ALWAYS REMAINED THE SAME NOT ONCE IN ALL THAT TIME CAN I SAY I EVER CAUGHT DON MAYFIELD IN A LIE ..

AND LORD KNOWS I TRIED I WOULD ASK DON QUESTIONS THAT I HAD ASKED HIM 3 TO 4 YEARS EALIER AND WOULD GET THE SAME STORY AS HOW IT WENT DOWN EVERYTIME I ASKED HIM. SO THIS ALONE TELLS ME THAT THE TRUTH IS WHAT DON WAS TELLING NOT A FAIRYTALE TO THE WAY HE WANTED IT TO BE BUT IN FACT JUST THE WAY IT WAS.

THERE WERE MANY TIMES THAT ME MYSELF DISAGREED WITH DON OVER CERTAIN ASPECTS OF BREEDING AND SUCH BUT AS TIME WENT ALONG AND THE MORE WE GOT TO SEE AND DO WITH HIS FAMILY OF DOGS NEAR EVERY SINGLE THING HE TOLD ME AND BLACKSHINE WAS DEAD ON.

HE KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN BEFORE WE EVER DONE IT HE TOLD US THINGS AND SHOWED US THINGS THAT YOU WOULD THINK WOULD BE NO WAY COULD HAPPEN IN THE WAY HE SAID IT COULD.BUT IT DID WITHOUT EXCEPTION EVERYTIME.

I ALWAYS TRY TO TELL PEOPLE AND TRY TO FOLLOW MY OWN ADVICE ABOUT FOLLOWING PEOPLE BLINDLY.ITS NOT A HEALTHY THING TO DO NOT TO MENTION IT DOESN'T ALLOW YOU TO THINK FOR YOURSELF.BUT ON THE OTHER HAND I HAVE SAID IF YOU WANT TO BE SUCESSFUL AT SOMETHING YOU LEARN FROM SOMEONE THAT WAS SUCESSFUL AT WHAT YOUR TYING TO ACHIVE.AND IN THIS CASE IT IS THE DOGS.

I MOST ALWAYS AGREED WITH 95% OF WHAT DON WOULD TELL ME AS MOST WAS JUST SIMPLE COMMONSENSE.AND IF I DIDN'T AGREE WITH THE OTHER 5% I WOULD LET HIM KNOW BUT I WOULD ALWAYS GIVE IT CREEDENCE BECAUSE I KNEW THERE WAS A VERY GOOD CHANCE HE WAS PROBABLY RIGHT ABOUT WHAT I MAY HAVE DISAGREED WITH.

THERES AN OLD SAYING THAT GOES "HE HAS FORGOTTEN MORE THAN WHAT MOST WILL EVER KNOW ABOUT ___________(FILL IN THE BLANK" WELL THIS HELD TRUE WITH THE DOGS AND WHAT DON KNEW ABOUT THEM,FROM MATCHING TO CONDITIONING TO BREEDING TO TAKING CARE OF THEM YOU NAME IT, HE HAS BEEN THERE AND BEEN SUCESSFUL AT DOING IT WITH THESE DOGS.

NOW YA'LL AS GREAT AS DON WAS WITH THESE DOGS AND THIS GAME IT PALES IN COMPARISION TO HOW GREAT HE WAS IN LIFE HE WAS A TRUE FRIEND ONE THAT NO MATTER THE TIME OR THE PROBLEM HE ALWAYS HAD TIME FOR ME. HE WAS AS GREAT A HUMAN BEING THAT I HAVE EVER HAD THE HONOR OF KNOWING.

AS A MENTOR HE WAS A STEP ABOVE I COULD CALL HIM I COULD VISIT HIM I COULD TALK TO HIM ABOUT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS LIFE AND ABOUT THE DOGS AND I ALWAYS GOT A HONEST AND FAIR ANSWER FROM HIM ABOUT IT.HE MAY NOT HAVE ALWAYS TOLD ME WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR BUT HE MADE SURE HE ALWAYS TOLD ME WHAT I NEEDED TO HEAR.AND HE ALWAYS MADE SURE I TRUELY UNDERSTOOD WHAT HE WAS TELLING ME.

MANY HAVE LOST TODAY, PHYLISS A WONDERFUL HUSBAND,HIS CHILDREN A CARING FATHER,HIS GRANDCHILDEN (JUSTIN) A TEACHER AND A FRIEND.THE DOG FRATERNITY A ICON THAT WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED IN OUR HEARTS AS WELL AS OUR MIND.AND ME I HAVE LOST ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MADE ME WANT TO BE THE PERSON I AM, AN HONEST MAN WITH CHARATER AND MORALS AND ABOVE ALL A TRUTHSEEKER ONE THAT HOLDS THE TRUTH DEAR AND ALWAYS IN SEARCH OF THE ONE AND ONLY TRUTH.

DON WE WILL MISS YOU WITH ALL OF OUR HEARTS WE WILL NEVER FORGET THE IMPACT YOU HAVE HAD ON OUR LIVES NOR WILL WE FORGET ALL THAT YOU HAVE TAUGHT US.

YOUR WITH GOD NOW AND YOUR TRUTH HAS CAME HOME, I FEEL WE HAVE HAD YOU FOR QUITE SOMETIME AND HAVE ENJOYED EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU NOW GOD IS THE LUCKY ONE HE GETS TO ENJOY YOU LIKE WE DID.

REST IN PEACE DON AND DON'T FORGET TO LOOK DOWN ON US FROM TIME TO TIME TO MAKE SURE WERE DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY...AS FOR ME THIS WAS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME GIFT TO KNOW YOU AND TO CALL YOU MY FRIEND.