Evening star., 1939-08-27
Con1dr. Williams Recalls Thrills
Of Winning Army and Navy
7ropshoot;ng Crown
BY ROBERT HENRY.

Twenty years ago today Comdr
F.. P. Williams, retired, we'll known
in Washington business and sport
ing circles, became something of
service hero by winning the Army
and Navy tropshooting title in the
Grand American Handicap held at
Vandalia, Ohio, scene of the current
championship competition. 1t re-
mains to this day his biggest thrill in
cratic in the country.
Apparently ever ready to talk
about trapshooting, Comdr. Will
liams yesterday pulled himself away
from bridge game at the Army
and Navy Club and reminisced about
his connection with the sport that
has changed and grown since he first
took it up in 1912. He recalled VIM
ming the service tournament and
spoke as though it had taken place
only few days ago
Il felt that 1 had to win he said.
1T was restricted to those who had
served in the war, but we who were
Regular Army and Navy people
didn't want the title to be won by
some one who perhaps would retire
from the service. We wanted to feel
that the winner was a real service
man, and with this point in mind
several others and myself took great
pains to see that we did win.
Trained Carefully for 1t,
I'VE trained for the event. BY
that l mean we watched our diet and
got plenty of sleep so as to be in
the best possible shape when the
shooting began. After the first
round of 100 l was tied with Tracey
Lewis, a first lieutenant from New
York We both had 99X100 AS luck
would have it, and you do need bit
of luck to win big tournament,
scored 18x20 in the shoot off and
won incidentally, Walter Eckersall,
the great football player, was work.
ing on newspaper at the time and
he interviewed me. He had quite a
task, though, for I asked him more
about his career on the gridiron than
he asked me about trapshooting."
Not satisfied with that triumph.
Comdr. Williams also won the Glass
B event and with the same score that
had brought victory in the bigger
match In fact, since he started COM
petition he has won countless
matches. many in and around
Washington. until i'll health forced
him to stop a few years ago
One of his more important trl-
umphs was scored in the District of
Columbia championship seven years
back. At that time he was secretary
of the Washington Gun Club, posi-
ton he held for five years. The year
before that. 1881, he won the Mary
land State doubles title.
Stiff Wind Tough Hazard.
"That doubles is tough shooting, y
he said. ITS bad enough under
ordinary conditions. but when I
won the Maryland title stiff wind
was playing havoc with the discs.
They were whizzing away before
you could get good sight on them,
and if you weren't pretty quick they
would disappear behind hill be-
fore you could fire.
Williams remembers many of the
old-timers who never missed a Sat-
urday at the local gun club. Such
members as James N. Greer, DR.. w
D. Monroe, R. D. Morgan, Joseph
Hunters, DR.. J. c. Wynkoop and
Walter Wilson who was one of the
real top-notchers, all came to mind
I'VE had a lot of fun in those
days" he recalled. Every week end
we held tournaments. In fact, the
club did so we'll that it actually paid
dividends to it's stockholders one
year. That's quite unusual, you
know"
Soon after he had his first taste
of the sport Williams went in fol