Just for fun Dead Eye Dick true or not!

[Rich Stearns]

Dead Eye Dick
While trying to find information about my fathers shooting, I was reading in the History of the Star Class and after reading about all the sailing he had done it also included he loved to fly airplanes (he had a commercial license) Then it goes on to business and there it was he was a member of the Illinois Pheasant hunting team. The site is listed below but the paragraph is below.
https://starclass.org/history/richar...star-champions

Dick co-founded Lands’ End with Gary Comer and Robert “Buck” Halperin. In the 50’s he was part of the Lord Calvert Canadian Whiskey “Man of Distinction” ad campaign. In the 60’s he lent his name to an upstart life jacket company.
He was part of the Illinois Pheasant hunting team, where they gave him the most shells because dead eye Dick didn’t miss. He was a skeet shooter his entire life starting in his teens when there were gun clubs on Lake Michigan. Normal scores of 23 to 25 (perfect score) were common for Dick. He was a long-time board member of the Sea Scouts and was a member of Chicago Yacht Club since 1942.

I am making the next part up so I hope you enjoy. All in good fun. If you have never heard of the term Dead Eye Dick don’t read on. I was only wondering where the team got the name 60 some years ago.
There is not much you can find about Dead Eye Dick on line. There is a Rock Band of the name and it is a restaurant on Block Island. Deadeye is an American slang for a sharpshooter or an expert shot and is from the late 19th century. The addition of the name Dick is purely alliterative and was added later. Deadeye Dick is also on of the characters in a ribald rugby song called Eskimo Nell, which dates to 1930’s.
However, Kurt Vonnegut did write a book named Dead Eye Dick in 1982. Kurl was 5 years older than my father and served in WW2, was a POW and sent to Dresden. He was born and raised in Indianapolis. We know that The Illinois Pheasant hunting team in the late 50’s or early 60’s called Richard “Dick” Stearns Dead Eye Dick. What are the chances that the Illinois Pheasant hunting team competed against the Indiana team? What are the chances that one of the members of the Indiana team was a Vet and being a vet and from Indiana knew Kurt Vonnegut? Could a team member gone home and talked about a guy on the Illinois team they call Dead Eye Dick? Could that name have stuck in Vonnegut brain for 2 years until he wrote his book. Who knows and we will never know but the gun below could be Dead Eye Dicks.

All we know is he was know in hunting as Dead Eye Dick in the late 50's and early 60's.

[Mike Franzen]

Cool story. Tell us about that Parker.

[Rich Stearns]

Check it out. I posted a bunch of info on the thread general discussion, determine the value of a gun

[Rich Stearns]

Here is a picture of his Parker. He didn't use it much but owned it.

[todd allen]

That is a very cool story! Thanks for sharing.

[Rich Stearns]

Wrote a song about him. But had to post it on You tube instead of just pasting it on the site. The file was to big. Seems no one wants to click and check it out. To bad it is a nice song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jwAGLrbV9U

[Phil Yearout]

I would but it wants me to sign in.

[Kentucky Bird Hunter]

It shows up as “Private”…..

Dave

[Cold Spring]

Nothing to do with Dead Eye Dick, but the picture brings back some great memories. Over several years a long time ago I hunted geese and ducks along with friends on James Bay, the southern end of Hudson bay. Also with Indian guides with their freighter canoes, and camping out in the hunting area. Access was by train to Moosonee which took a whole day each way and then with the canoes on the Moose River. The guides would hand call with their voices, no manufactured or homemade calls. Decoys were upturned sod with white necks and heads made with box packing styrofoam from the local Canadian radar station. Great hunts all! I'll try to scan and post some pics when I get a chance.