The Foot of
the Rockies Cat Club (FRCC) is the successor to a club by the name
of the Rampart Range Cat Club which existed in the Denver area in
the late 1960’s. In
the early 1960’s, the Colorado Cat Fanciers, which was an
American Cat Fanciers Association (ACFA) club in those days, was
the only allbreed cat club in Colorado. There were no Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) clubs in
Colorado back then.
During the
late 1960’s, several other cat clubs were organized in the
Denver area for the purpose of staging cat shows. In addition to the Rampart Range Cat Club, which was also
an ACFA club, these other clubs included Crown Cat Fanciers,
American Cat Association (ACA), and TICA clubs. With the exception of the Rampart Range Cat Club, all of
these clubs affiliated with associations other than ACFA demised
after one show.
The
Rampart Range Cat Club was organized by a group of younger, more
nationally active, breeders and exhibitors than belonged to the
Colorado Cat Fanciers. After putting on successful ACFA shows
annually in Denver for several years in the late 1960’s, the
members of the Rampart Range Cat Club decided that CFA was the
premier cat association nationally and decided to form the first
CFA club in Colorado. This
group adopted a constitution for the Foot of the Rockies Cat Club
on May 9, 1970 and applied to CFA for membership. The FRCC was accepted by CFA in May 1970 and was chartered
as CFA club No. 362. The
FRCC acquired all of the show cages and other supplies of the
Rampart Range Cat Club for the price of $1.00, and the Rampart
Range Cat Club disbanded.
Original
members of the FRCC who are still active are Betty Kirkley (Colorado
Springs, Colorado)
and Chuck and Mary Reich (Hathaway Pines, California).
The
first CFA show in Colorado put on by the FRCC was held October 16
& 17, 1971 at the Adams County Fairgrounds and had 211
entries. The judges
for this show were Blanch Smith (AB); Richard Gebhardt, then
President of CFA, (AB); Donna Jean Thompson (LH/SH); and David
Mare (LH/SH).
In
these early years of the FRCC, the more popular breeds which had
the largest entries in the shows were the Persians, Himalayans,
Birmans, Abyssinians, and Siamese. Japanese Bobtails, Egyptian Maus, Maine Coons, Longhair
Manx, Ocicats, American Wirehairs and Bombays were not eligible to
be shown in the early 1970’s. Several other breeds being registered by CFA in those days,
but which were not eligible to be shown, were Leopard Cats,
Manxamese, and Harlequins.
C.
Reich
09/28/99
