They can't do this. They don't have the passenger pigeon DNA, not one copy, apparently, 100% intact, and you'd need dozens at LEAST to give you anything LIKE enough genetic variability for successive generations of the resurrected species to reproduce and create healthy, viable, not horribly deformed due to extreme inbreeding specimens.
Except that they do. It just takes a pinhead size portion of tissue to get the DNA. There are about 2000 species currently in museums, all with intact DNA.
The obvious other example is in sports---is there any sport which has a professional league where a substantial number of amateurs are seriously competitive? I'm unaware of any. In fact, professional sports teams are enormously better than even the best amateur clubs.
I think you will want to look at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Specifically, take a look at football, basketball, maybe even baseball. I'm usually hesitant to call the college football and basketball amateur, but they are generally considered still amateurs. In the article below, 40+ athletes were drafted to the pros. Most of these draftees contribute to the team by the very next year, some star. Ohio State has had the most players drafted from a single team at 17. http://www.sbnation.com/nfl-mock-draft/2013/4/27/4275658/2013-nfl-draft-results-breakdown-college
Today is a good day for information-gathering. Read someone else's mail file.
