Homer Clark Sr. on the left and Homer Clark Jr. on the right at an early Grand American.

These guys could pick your pockets clean at any tournament. This one was held at the old Port Angeles Gun Club in Port Angeles, Washington. Left to right were George Young, Guy Chiesman, O. N. Ford, Ned Lilly, Bob Coffey, Frank Troeh, Joe Hiestand and Ted Renfro. Photo dates to very early 1930s.

A remarkable photograph of the National Cash Register Club near Cincinnati, Ohio. The event was the 1914 Grand American. Woolfolk Henderson made a clean sweep of the major titles when he won the GAH with a 98x100 from 22 yards, the Clay Target title with a 99x100 and the doubles championship with a 90. He was a 1970 Hall of Fame inductee.

A young puller at work at the Grand American. Each trap had three employees working, a trap loader inside of the trap house, a scorer and the puller. Times have changed. With automatic traps and voice activated releases, there is now a need for only one worker, a score keeper. 

Sparrow Young of Springfield, Ohio, at the 1926 Grand American. He won the big title with the first 100 straight in the event at the new homegrounds, which opened in 1924. The first 100 straight in the Grand American was shot by Riley Thompson of Cainesville, Missouri in 1919 at the South Shore Country Club in Chicago. He shot from the 19 yard line. 

Hall of Famer Joe Hiestand of Hillsboro, Ohio is shown here relaxing and reading the sports page between events at the Grand American. 

The "Shell House" at a very early Grand American. Note the vintage cash register plus all the two piece shell boxes. Notice all the wooden shell crates. They are all wooden crates. The Peters crates in the lower right hand corner of the photo sell to collectors today for $150-$200 each. The two piece boxes sell for hundreds of dollars, perhaps even thousands of dollars. 

This 1935 photograph shows Elmer Shaner of Slippery Rock, PA burning the ATA mortgage. Looking on is Mayor Charles Brennan of Dayton. Shaner gave the opening address at the Grand every year from 1900 until his death in 1939. He is the father of modern day trapshooting. He never shot a registered target.

So you thought trapshooting was not a spectator sport? This early museum photograph shows the huge crowds that gather at shootoff time at the Grand American. Even today, large crowds still show up at current Grand American shootoffs. Crowds this large and more are common, even today. The only difference is today most shootoffs are held under the lights, after 9:00PM.

Hall of Famer Walter Beaver set a record in winning the Grand American Handicap—becoming the first to win it from so far back. In 1933 he broke 98 from 25 yards, then was perfect in a one-round shootoff over Hall of Famer Ned Lilly to capture the big title. This historic photograph shows one of the great shootoffs in Grand American history.

F. D. Kelsey of East Aurora, NY was a drummer boy during the American Civil War. He shot in the very first Grand American in 1900 at Interstate Park in New York City. Kelsey won the first three Vet titles at the Grand American in 1930, 1931 and 1932. He attended many New York State Shoots and Grand Americans. Mr. Kelsey was a jeweler by trade and shot at the Buffalo Trap and Skeet Club just two days before his death.  In 1921 at the age of 66 he captured the Midwinter Handicap Championship at Pinehurst, NC AND the Consolation Handicap. He was the only person to win both events at the same shoot. And 66 years old to boot.  
 

Here is a small ATA "Life Membership" booth at the first Grand American that was held on the new homegrounds in Vandalia, Ohio in 1924. Located on the front porch where you enter today's ATA Hall of Fame.
 

The United State Marine Band at the 1985 Grand American. Why were they performing at the Grand? Well, John Philip Sousa was inducted into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame that year. This was once his band. 

Cashiering line at the Grand American in the late 1930's. This photograph was taken in what is now the first floor of the Hall of Fame. The picture insert shows how these historic cashiering windows have been retained.

Early photograph of Marie Kautzky Grant of Fort Dodge, Iowa, 2002 Trapshooting Hall of Fame enshrinee. One of the great early women's trapshooter. She once held the highest yearly average recorded by a women.

"Johnnie" (Johnny Roventini), the Philip Morris Cigarette Boy, visits the Grand American in the late 1940's. Note the beautiful Model 31 Remington in his hands and the wooden shell crate his foot is on. Johnny Roventini died in 1998 at the age of 88.

1927 Grand American Handicap winner Otto Newlin with his trophy, a General Motors Delco refrigerator.

Evelyn Primm of Los Angeles. First women to ever shoot from the 27 yard line. She earned her last punch on April 16, 1955.

Nash Buckingham, famous author from Memphis, taken at the 1935 Grand American.

Col. Roscoe Turner, famous early racing aviator and the first to ever photograph the Grand American grounds from an airplane, probably in 1926.

D. A. Upson, Cleveland, Ohio, 1909 Grand American Amateur Singles Champion, 188x200

Rufus King, Wichita Falls, Texas, winner of the 1930 Grand American Handicap. At fourteen he is the youngest to ever win this prestigious event. His father, Fred King is a 1997 HOF inductee.

Earl D. Parker of Waverly, Ohio, shot trap with one arm and quite successfully during the 1930's and 1940's.

Mrs. Julius Petty, Stuttgart, Arkansas, 1948 Grand American Handicap Women's Champion. with a 98x100. She is the wife of Hall of Fame inductee Julius Petty.

Nine year old George Andrew Miller of Brenton, Alabama,. the youngest shooter at the 1918 Grand American held at Chicago.

The one and only Jimmy Robinson, at the 1971 Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. Robinson, along with  Steve Crothers, Gus Payne, John Taylor and Sam Vance were inducted in 1971.

This fantastic photograph of Annie Oakley at Pinehurst, NC recently surfaced on eBay. The year was 1918 and shows Annie giving one of her shooting demonstrations.

Remember the old chalkboard in front of the clubhouse? It was here where shoot personnel would list high scores in each event as the were happening. The GAH official photographer would take a photo of this leader board and would place them on sale on the grounds. Very popular and a great souvenir of the Grand American if you were lucky enough to get your name on the big board. Can you pick out the four Hall of Famers in this board?  Hint; All of them had 100 straights.

The shell house at the 1930 Grand American consisted of many five-hundred-round wooden shell cases. Prized now by collectors, wooden cases were used until the early 1950s when they were replaced with cardboard containers.

Charles Newcomb of Philadelphia (left) won the Clay Target title in Chicago
in 1915 and is a 1999 HOF inductee. On the right is Ora Atherton of Bondurant, Iowa. He pulled at the Grand American from 1924 to the early 1950's. He always wore white gloves and pulled for all the major shoot-offs.

A remarkable photograph of the new ATA clubhouse in Vandalia, Ohio.  The photograph was taken in the spring of 1924. The first Grand American in Vandalia was still several months away.

Shown in this 1945 Grand American photograph is a service team competing at the Grand American. The war in Europe is over and Japan surrendered only days before this picture is taken. Tennille, Hiestand, Doughman and Braun are all Trapshooting Hall of Fame inductees. The shooter in the middle is Major Buddy Jones of Florida. 

View of the 1926 Grand American in Vandalia, Ohio. Sparrow Young, HOF inductee won the GAH with 100x100 at this shoot. This was the third shoot held on the new homegrounds of the ATA.

This wonderful color view of the homegrounds of the ATA shows the
entire trapline, and was taken in the early 2000s. You are looking west.