Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-12-30 | Page 79 | Wisconsin Man Best Trapshooter

Wisconsin Man Best Trapshooter- Charles Larson of Waupaca, Wis., winner of fthe Grand American shooting handicap, which took place at Chi-' Chi-' cago, 111. Competing against him wore some of the test shots in the country, both men and women. '. ' ' ' ' ''f'k?. T ?:-t-:v': of :;.. vfey :::. . :' -. . -. ' ' .: fSVi I IlliilM Classic Event Has Never Been Won Twice by Same Shooter. By PETER P. CARNEY. FOR eighteen years the Grand American Ameri-can handicap trapshooting race at clay targets has been staged, and in that period no trap gun artist has been fortunate enough to annex an-nex tho event twice. , In the days when tlie Grand American handicap was at live birds, Tom Marshall twice proved the winner, but in those days there was only a handful of entrants en-trants compared to the number that now participate in the event. A field of fifty was quite a large one in the days of live bird shooting. Nowadays we are accustomed accus-tomed to watching 700 or more shoot In the trapshooting classic. It is possible, but highly improbable, that any individual repeat in such a field. Thre are hundreds of shooters of equal ability, and with the classy shots going further back on the handicap marks each year any one of several hundred is apt to prove a winner. Elvery shooter who has won the event comes back year after year In the hope of again bringing home the bacon. In the recent Grand American handicap race, nine of the seventeen winners were shooting with the amateurs, In the hope of once more landing the major honors of trapshooting, while two other winners were firing at the clays with the professionals. pro-fessionals. The winners, who were on the firing line, were 'Fred Hav'.ov, Newark, Ohio; Jeff J. Blanks, Nashville, Tenn.; Riley Thompson. Calnvllle,- Mo.: "Harvey Dixon, Oronogo. Mo,: VV. K. Phillips, Sr., and L. B. Clarke of Chicago. 111.: Woolfolk Henderson, Hen-derson, tjeximrton, Kv. ; Mark Hoot man, Hicksvllle. Ohio, and Jack YVulf of Milwaukee, Mil-waukee, Wis. Thompson is the only one that ever scored 100 straight breaks in winning the event, and Henderson Is the only present day amateur who won the race from twenty-two yards. Three times has tlie event been won by men shooting from sixteen yards; three times from seventeen yards; three more from eighteen yards; five times from nineteen yards; twice from twpnty and twice from twenty-two ya,rds. This record rec-ord includes the win this year bv Larson, Lar-son, from twentv yards. Mark Arie tied for f f rt pbce this venr. and lost on the shootoff. He was shooting from twenty-two twenty-two yards. This Fort o' puts the damper on the talk thrt the twen(v-two-yard shot hasn't a chanrp. Arle proved that the twenty-two-yard man still ficrures as long a a he shoots to form. The trouble !n these handicap pvents. like all other handicap races, is that few run to form. snmo since he' won tho championship in 1915 from Jack .1 oh n s n n at H a v a n a . Joss lis; ,iust one contest of the no-decision kind with Frank Mr.ran in New York. He has been challenged repcat-edlv repcat-edlv by many heavyweights, the most locicaTone being Fred Fulton of Minnesota. Min-nesota. Fulton on November 20 deposited de-posited $5001) with 'the writer to be turned ft-vcr to John Mor::cnroth of MU-v.-aukee as final stake holder for a title match wi;h Willn!. - lie announce! at the time that unless Willard accept e 1 tlie proposition and according to rinj rules. Fulton has a rili t to lay claim to the title and advertise himself a champion. There are many who will claim he can not do this, but there are many others who will rerounizo it without with-out a doubt, in view of tin; fact, that Willard has persistently refused to make a mat'-h for the championship. It has been the custom in the fig h t i n n game for centuries, that a man n usl - defend his title if properly challenged at least once in e ve ry six m o a h s a n d ; Willard has certainly violated this rule hf-a flagrant manner.