RACII1174 wrote:
DOES ANYONE KNOW IF ANY OF THE BIG NAME DOGS GO BACK TO WAGNER STOCK IF SO WHO?
Basically all UKC registered B&Ts go back to Hans Wagner bred dogs. He was really the "godfather" of the registered B&T coonhound. He was registering dogs with the UKC all the way back in the teens and his hounds were a force in the breed through the 40's and 50's at least.
Your question is kind of hard to answer because so many years and generations have passed even to Hans Wagner's last famous dogs like Wagner's Rebel Gunsmoke....much less all the way back to his most famous hound, Wagner's Nightrider who was whelped in the 30's. Bill Boatman was key in keeping a lot of the old Nightrider blood going in the 60's and 70's.
A few men really concentrated on line-breeding and preserving the Wagner stock though. Some of the well known ones were/are Art Hunziker in IL, Alan and Marshall White in IA, James Headrick in GA, Vince Murphy in WI.
Even though they are not the super-sized, super long eared, AKC style of dog, the dogs that are pushed as "wagner" types today are on the large side for UKC dogs. Tall rangy hounds with a good bit of ear to them and advertised as bawl mouthed types with good noses.
Here are some old photos of some EARLY Wagner hounds (around 1915-1920).
The most famous Wagner Hound...the original Nightrider (1930s)