Salt Lake Tribune | 1916-12-24 | Page 23 | Trapshooting

rWirrilTmrWiTlrMrTllMlMMl j : "'r M By PETER P. CARNEY. ! rpHE South Shore Country club of Chi- ; ca&o. 111., will stage the Grand American Trapshooting tournament the blue ribbon event of the trapshootins world in 1917. This will be' the eighteenth i running of the famous handicap, and it will be the fifth time that Chicago has j been honored with the event. j Several weeks ago we predicted that ! the 1917 Grand American would be held in Chicago, and we are glad that our prediction pre-diction came true. Right at this time Chicago has more to offer than any other City, and at this particular time the Interstate In-terstate Association for the Encouragement Encourage-ment of Trapshooting feels that more good can be done for trapshooting by having hav-ing the event in Chicago than anywhere else. It was a. pleasant surprise to the officers offi-cers of the interstate association to have five cities bidding for the "trapshooters world's series." In the years gone by one or two cities usually put in a hid, but this time there was keen competition for every ev-ery tone of the subsidiary handicaps, as well as the Grand American. Tills competition com-petition is the best proof of the great interest the sporting public has in trap-shooting. trap-shooting. The Chicago Interurban League of Gun clubs was an applicant for the tournament, tourna-ment, too, and the league officers announced an-nounced It would support the South Shore club in its effort to make this the greatest trapshooting tournament of all time, that there was no dissension in the ranks of the Chicago trapshooters. The Interurban league wanted to stage the event at Grant park, where the classic of 1915 was held. The other bidders were the Indianapolis Gun club, the Park Gun club of Kansas City. Mo., and the Toledo To-ledo Power Boat Gun club of Toledo, Ohio. When a decision was reached that ten or more traps would be needed for the 1917 tournament, Indianapolis withdrew its application, tbelr offer being five trnps. Three times has Indianapolis been favored with the Grand American handicap, and on a five-trap competition, no doubt, would have landed H in 1917. The South Shore Country club is seven miles from the heart of Chicago, on Lake Michigan, adjoining Jackson park. It has a membership of more than 20ro, $ the wealthiest and most beautiful country club in America, and promised the interstate inter-state association that it would spare no expense in making the 1917 classic the greatest trapshooting event the shooting fraternity has ever attended. The club has 1600 feet of lake front, and the targets tar-gets will be thrown over the waters of Lake Michigan, which will give the trapshooters trap-shooters a sky- background. During the ; week of the tournament .the country club will throw Its doors open to the general public. So much interest was centered in the 1917 tournaments that mayors, presidents of the chambers of commerce, tourists' bureaus, commercial clubs and boards of trade of several of the interested cities appeared before the interstate association and urged the selection of their cities. They all look upon the trapshooting tournaments tour-naments as city boosters, because of the class of men and women they attract. Cities have awakened io the merits of trapshooting as a business as well as a i sporting proposition. St. Joseph. Mo., was awarded the Western handicap over the gun clubs of Omaha, Neb. ; Waterloo, Iowa; the Badger Bad-ger Gun club of Milwaukee, Wis. ; the Toledo Power Boat Gun club of Toledo; the Park Gun club of Kansas rity, Mo., and the Starved Rock Gun club of Lu Salle, 111. Hartford Gun club of Hartford. Conn., will stage the Eastern handicap. The Southern will be staged by the Roanoke Gun club of Roanoke, Va., and tho Pacific' 'Coast handicap by the San .Tosc Gun club, San Jose. Cal. The Riverside Gun club of Rochester. N. Y., and the Oriole Gun club of Baltimore, Md.. were the other applicants for the Eastern handicap, and the Los Anseles Gun club of Los Angeles, Cal., and the Spokane Gun club of Spokane, Spo-kane, Wash., were ttie othpr applicants for the Pacific Coast tournament. Memphis Mem-phis Gun club of Memphis, Tenn., nffonM to take the Southern handicap If no oilier club applied for it. The Grand American handicap in 1916 was staged in St. Louis, Mn., nnd the subsidiary handicaps were held in Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, Pa.; Memphis, Tenn.; Omaha, Neh.. and Portland. Ore. They wore all successful; had moro shooters out than pver before, and the general fooling is 'that the year of 1917 will be the biggest J 1 ever.