The Herb Parsons Trophy
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In 1960 the family of Herb Parsons donated a trophy in his honor which was to be awarded to the shooter with the highest combined score in the North American Clay Target Championship and the Grand American Handicap. The sterling silver trophy was made by the Stieff Company, an old manufacturer of silver in Maryland and the official manufacturer of ATA trophies for many years. The Herb Parsons Trophy consisted of a coffe pot, with engraving, and a sugar bowl and cream pitcher. Below the ATA official emblem , the engraved inscription reads:
1960 WINNER
COMBINED SCORE
NORTH AMERICAN CLAY TARGET CHAMPIONSHIP
GRAND AMERICAN HANDICAP
IN MEMORY OF
HERB PARSONS
WORLD CHAMPION EXHIBITION SHOOTER
1931 - 1959
DONATED BY NITA, LYNN, JERRY PARSONS
Article from October, 1960, issue of TRAP & FIELD MAGAZINE, written by editor Dick McConnaughey:
The BIGGEST GUN at the 61st Grand American Handicap -- ROY FOXWORTHY -- 100 X 100
The new 1960 Grand American Handicap winner's name is Foxworthy, Roy Foxworthy. 'Familiar', you say? Yes, it should be if you have a memory that extends back to the early '40s. Now thirty-one years old, Foxworthy won the sub-juniors titles at the Grand in both 1942 and 1943; 'but I quit trapshooting then and didn't return again until last January,' he says. (Trapshooting has not been far away from Foxworthy, however, during those years. While being interviewed by the press he dug into his wallet and brought out clippings from the Dayton newspapers of those years containing the picture which is reproduced elsewhere in the story. He has carried them for the past 17 years.)
Shooting on post 5, squad #24, Foxworthy began firing Friday morning about 8:30. By 9:30 he had shot at his 100 targets from the 20-yard line and had become the first man to break a 100 straight in the big handicap since Oscar Scheske Jr. did the trick back in the 1950 tournament. Eighteen thousand three hundred and fifty shooters had fired in the big handicap between those two 100s straight. In fact, since the Grand American Handicap started, only seven (including Foxworthy) of the 58,326 entries who tried have ever racked up 100s.
Foxworthy, a partner in Indiana's largest Ford dealership, is a native and resident of Indianapolis. Formerly active in private plane flying, Foxworthy again became interested in trapshooting this year when he got bored 'with the wild blue yonder'. His purchase of a new Browning over/under this past Spring , and the breaking of his first 100 straight 16-yard targets last April during miserable weather at the Carmel (Ind.) GC , 'got me hooked in this wonderful game again,' he says.
In 1960 the trap line had been increased to 40 traps and there was a record field of 2,429. It took a while before it was realized that George Snellenberger's 200 targets straight in the Clay Target Championship and 98 from the 25-yard line in the Grand American Handicap had not earned the Herb Parsons Trophy outright. But Roy Foxworthy had broken 198 targets Wednesday in the Clay Target Championship and ,of course, the famous 100 straight in the Grand American Handicap. (After many years, Roy admitted he had forgot to load a shell for a target during the Clay Target Championship!) The shootoff between the two men occurred on Saturday, the last day of the Grand American. The shootoff would consist of 50 16s (for the the 200 Clay Target event) and 25 handicap targets (for the 100 GAH event). Roy missed one of the 50 16-yard targets, while George broke them all. At the beginning of shooting the handicap targets, with Roy on the 20-yard line and George on the 25-yard line, George's gun malfunctioned. Everyone waited while George went to find Herb Orre to repair his gun. Upon returning to the firing line, George Snellenberger missed the first target out and another later in the event. Final score in the shootoff: George 73 X 75; Roy 74 X 75. Roy Foxworthy had won the GAH and the Herb Parsons Trophy.
THE REST OF THE STORY...as recounted by Betty Ann Foxworthy who became editor of T&F Magazine in November of 1960
'It was late Saturday afternoon, and all other trophies had been awarded. The shootoff had been held farther than the west end of the bleachers, and the trophy case was at the clubhouse and locked up. Little-ol'-assistant-editor-me was told to get the person who ran the trophy case, and I had to run up and down to find Helen Urban. She opened the case and handed me the three pieces, and I started down the line with them. The ATA photographer took a picture of Roy holding the three sterling pieces, with George having his arm around Roy's shoulders.
I had not met Roy before I handed him the Herb Parsons Trophy. So I got to hold it before he did! And who would ever have thought it would have ended up in OUR home three years later?! We startled them all when we got married, and I don't think anyone thought it would last -- but it has, for 45 years!!'
Roy Foxworthy(L) and Lynn Parsons with the Herb Parsons Trophy
Letter from Amateur Trapshooting Association
Invoice from The Stieff Company
Roy Foxworthy (L) and George Snellenber
with the Herb Parsons Trophy
Charley Young, left, and Roy Foxworthy
of Indianapolis, a “Coming Champion”
In 1962 a Herb Parsons trophy was donated by Willard Gause to be won at the Southern Zone Shoot at the Jefferson Gun Club in Louisville, Kentucky. The trophy was won by Frank Shropshire, winner of the Preliminary Handicap with a score of 96 from the 20-yard line.
Dwight Brown, Southern Zone vice president (center) holds the Herb Parsons Memorial Trophy which will be presented during the Southern Zone Shoot to the winner of the Preliminary Handicap. Brown, Kentucky state doubles champ, is showing it to Vincent Boarman, singles champion, and Helen Ryan, ladies singles champ. The picture was taken at the Jefferson Gun Club during the Kentucky State Trapshoot.
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