Hecker, Richard

First name mentioned in the 1951-02-13 Minutes of the Pima County Medical Society, 1904-1954: “Mr. Richard Hecker was presented by Dr. E.M. Hayden, who spoke of Mr. Hecker's trip to California obtaining material on Alameda Plan and his experience in public relations. Mr. Hecker is a retired attorney.”

Sports Illustrated, December 05, 1960: How To Bring 'em Back Best: That was the problem for handlers of the top retrievers at the 1960 national championship field trials: ... Smoke in the cactus. The 12th and final test required the dog to fetch a hidden pheasant 125 yards away while ignoring a marked bird lying just a few yards off in the opposite direction. Only four dogs remained in the championship stakes to face it. One was Mrs. George Murnane's defending champion, Spirit Lake Duke, handled by Joe Schomer, and one, surprisingly, was Mrs. Heller's companionable, gold-dentured Chesapeake, Baron. But most surprising was the exhibition of control and responsiveness being given by a small, lightweight (55 pounds) dark horse Labrador called Dolobran's Smoke Tail, who was handled by his owner, Richard Hecker, a Tucson lawyer. "I was afraid old Smoke was getting a little too far along for this sort of thing," said Hecker at the end of the trial when his dog ran off with first prize, "but I guess I was wrong." Smoke's victory made his owner the first amateur trainer ever to win the trials. "We've been together for nine years -- I paid $125 for him as a 10-week-old -- which accounts for how well we work together, but I figured our chances of winning this national, our fourth, were pretty darn slim. You see, old Smoke has spent most of his life dodging cactus on the Arizona desert, hunting quail and doves." It seemed pretty clear that a dog that had learned to dodge cactus in the desert wasn't likely to make any mistakes -- anywhere.
Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1072090/index...