The annual event was held in Vandalia from 1923 until 2005, and more than 5,000 participants would compete each year. Here’s a look at that history.
How it started
The tournament started in 1900 at the Interstate Park in Queens, New York. That first event attracted 74 shooters.
The year 1900 marked the first season of registered target shooting and a Grand American with clay birds. Grand American live bird shoots were held annually before that.
The first 24 Grand Americans were held in various cities along the East Coast and Midwest.
One of the big draws each year is the Grand American Handicap competition. It is fitting the first Grand American Handicap held in 1900 was won by R.O. “Pop” Heikes, from Dayton. The handicap is considered the premier event in the tournament. It features a handicapping system to even out competition between superior and less skilled competitors. This means every shooter has a chance to win.
Permanent move to Vandalia
It took a great deal of work to prepare for Grand Americans when they were being shifted from city to city.
When Amateur Trapshooting Association president George McCarty decided in 1923 that the Grand American should find a permanent home, bids came in from all over the country.
One city stood out. Dayton, home to the National Cash Register Co., had hosted two prior successful Grand American events at the NCR Gun Club.
Fred Patterson, the dynamic president of NCR; J.M. Markham, one of the most experienced trapshooters in the country; Col. Frank Huffman; Dr. Bill Ewing; R.R. Dickey and several other prominent Dayton boosters canvassed the city of Dayton and raised $20,000 in cash and 62 acres of land to start the campaign.
McCarty put together a deal with the Dayton contingent, stipulating that the clubhouse and grounds must be completed for the upcoming Grand American, which was six months away.
The construction was completed in time, partially funded by the sale of lifetime memberships to the organization. The first year in Dayton was a success, and the event grew every year after.
A plaque was placed at the foot of the flagpole in front of the ATA headquarters building where you would find the names of the people who built it in 1923 — Frederick B. Patterson (NCR), Col. Frank Huffman (Huffy) and Charles F. Kettering, among others.
Cowboy actor Roy Rogers participated in all but one day of events in 1959. Annie Oakley, the great exhibition shooter from Darke County, is said to have shot in an event in 1925.
The Amateur Trapshooting Association Hall of Fame (HOF) was founded in 1968 and held its first induction banquet in 1969. Its purpose is to preserve the history and artifacts of trapshooting and to honor outstanding persons in the sport.
The Grand American’s economic impact was estimated to be more than $10 million annually in its final years in Vandalia.
Leaving Vandalia
Trapshooting, which at one time had the only world or national championship held in the Dayton area, left its Vandalia home when the Grand American Trapshooting Championships moved to Sparta, Ill. in 2006.
The Grand American moved to the World Shooting and Recreational Complex. The facility there features 120 trap fields extending for 3.5 miles in the 1,600-acre park, making it the world’s largest trap line.
Credit: Bill Reinke
Credit: Bill Reinke
In 2012, the ATA moved its last remaining offices in Vandalia to Sparta, Ill.
In 2014, the City of Dayton made the decision to demolish the former headquarters building for the ATA. The Dayton International Airport, which was built after the trapshooting grounds, wanted the land for expansion.
Credit: CHUCK HAMLIN
Credit: CHUCK HAMLIN
In 2016, items that had been stored from the ATA Hall of Fame Museum in Vandalia were moved to a new museum in Sparta.
Credit: Marc Katz
Credit: Marc Katz
Former Dayton Daily News outdoors writer Jim Morris contributed to this story.
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