Cliff, it was actually the ABA who recognized Ameraucanas first. ABA recognition came in 1980, the APA not until 1984. The large fowl Ameraucanas came in on the coat tails of the bantams, the LF without even a qualifying meet. We in the Ameraucana Bantam Club at the time were surprised to say the least. After the announcement was made, I worked with John Skinner of the University of Wisconsin, then chairman of the APA Standards Committee, to re-word the bantam Standard for the APA. John did the primary work, but submitted it to us for comments and revisions. He got a bad rap from Don and a few others, but he was as impartial as anyone could be. Prior to the APA qualifying meet for bantams (Ohio National, 1983) John had encouraged us to work with Tom Lippincott's group based in Ohio to form a unified Ameraucana Standard, but we had already been approved by the ABA, and Tom would not cooperate with us. His birds had mostly yellow and willow shanks, so I suppose that was the main reason.