G. K. Dunning, Master in 1912, gives him high praise, but every bit of it is deserved.
“You asked me in your letter about G. Champion. His position as kennel huntsman to the E.C.H. was, I think, rather a unique one, as in most cases the Master’s knowledge of kennel management was negligible,[6] and a great deal of responsibility thus fell on Champion’s shoulders.
“Champion knew his work thoroughly; the Master generally did not (but thought he did—I speak from my own experience), and small wonder if Champion was apt to lay down the law to the new Master. He always did well with the bitches and their whelps in the summer, and had hounds fit by October, taking them for road exercise on a bicycle with his boy ‘Gidge’ to whip in. After Christmas, when we hunted three or four days a week, it was no easy job for him to bring out a pack of ten-twelve couple from a kennel of well under twenty couple. Yet we never seemed to have a ‘short pack’ out. Champion knew the country and the run of the hares, and was on good terms with the farmers. He was not a great runner, but always seemed to be there when really wanted. Especially was this the case when hounds crossed the railway line. He was not a man of polished manners; his style being more blunt; and any one who did not know him would think him sulky. And I remember his invariable way of taking an order was with the words, ‘Ooh, ah!’
“I think you would go a long way before finding a better man for the job than George Champion.”
Certainly George Champion is not sulky. Blunt he is, but it is his Yorkshire way, and he is always pleasant. Only the other day a little incident occurred at the kennels which illustrates this bluntness.
Champion was sitting by his fireside, enjoying a well-earned rest and planning his daily “doubles.” Hearing what he imagined to be a young Etonian after eggs (which he always has for sale), he called out, “Hullo, what do you want?”
“I’ve come to see the hounds,” said a voice.
“Well, go on through then; they ain’t worth looking at.”
“I walked two of them as puppies,” said the voice, this time obviously that of a lady. Of course Champion was up immediately, only too keen to display his hounds to the best advantage and full of apologies for his apparent rudeness.