John Phillip Sousa

[Stan Hoover]

This article appeared in our local newspaper last summer and I thought some might find it interesting.
John Phillip Sousa was an American Trap shooter also and was actually the first president of the American Amateur Trapshooting Association, forerunner of the Amateur Trapshooting Association.
He had Ithaca build him a Flues model SBT to his measurements, which had no inlays.
Ithaca then went on to name their highest grade guns, single & double barrel models, the Sousa Special, these had gold inlays, most notably the gold mermaid inlay on the trigger guard

[Drew Hause]

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18779

https://photos.smugmug.com/Trap-Skeet/Trap/i-hfgHkkX/0/898611c7/L/Screenshot%202020-12-17%2016.29.09-L.png (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Trap-Skeet/Trap/i-hfgHkkX/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/Trap-Skeet/Trap/i-qDgtfK5/0/372aac0d/L/Screenshot%202020-12-17%2016.29.17-L.png (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Trap-Skeet/Trap/i-qDgtfK5/A)

Ithaca Flues at the ATA HOF

https://photos.smugmug.com/Trap-Skeet/Trap/i-srhBtjp/0/79172e0f/L/Sousa%20Flues-L.png (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Trap-Skeet/Trap/i-srhBtjp/A)

[Bill Murphy]

Stan, thanks for that great article. The Daly single in the picture is still in my collection and I shoot it on a regular basis. More information on the three Sousa guns in my collection is included in the PGCA forum thread that Drew linked. In my quest for more Sousa information, I was able to purchase the last Sousa grade Knickerbocker trap gun made at Ithaca. It is one of approximately ten made, according to Walt Snyder, and apparently one of maybe two in original, unrefinished condition. Drew, thanks for dating the articles that picture the Sousa Daly single and the Remington 10F.

[Kevin McCormack]

The picture of him with his Flues looks like he is wearing a soft Milanese cabasette.

[Bill Murphy]

Not the Flues, but the Lindner Daly single trap.

[charlie cleveland]

the man had a great taste in guns.....charlie

[Alfred Houde]

One of the reasons I wanted his two L.C. Smith guns held in the collection placed on display, was to show visitors that he was much more than the "March King" and long-time Director of the Marine Band.

As posted earlier, he was a world-class Trap Shooter who also enjoyed hunting quail on his private property. His other sporting pursuits included horseback riding. In fact, he rode a horse to many trap shooting events.

In addition, he boxed some, and was the Pitcher for the Marine Band baseball team.

Quite the man.

[Garry L Gordon]

I had a School of Art musician colleague who had done his doctoral thesis on Sousa. He was surprised when I told him about Sousa's shooting accomplishments and that Ithaca named a high grade of their guns after him. Needless to say he was chagrinned to learn this. He took lots of teasing from me about having to rewrite his thesis or returning his Ph.D.:)

The world was so different then.

[Garth Gustafson]

My wife and I were lucky enough to be invited to the 1st Marine Division Marine Corps Ball in CA. on Nov 10, the 248th birthday celebration of the Corps. There were over 1,000 Marines and guests in that ballroom, all in their dress blues. The Marine Corps band played a collection of marching tunes immortalized by Sousa including my favorite, The Stars and Stripes Forever. When they played The Marine Corps Hymn every Marine in that room stood up to sing it. It was quite a night.

[Ian Civco]

Talk about someone I would love to have met!

[Randy Davis]

A little better photo of Sousa`s Ithaca in the ATA HOF at Sparta...

[Randy Davis]

Sousa`s Hobby... Trapshooting

[Bill Murphy]

One former Marine Band member whose name we may recognize is Gabriel Gitman. He plays or played the French horn.

[Randy Davis]

Sousa with the SBT, cover of Sporting Life...

[Bill Murphy]

Randy, is this gun a Daly or an Ithaca? I can't tell from the picture.

[Randy Davis]

Bill, It`s the Ithaca...

[Larry Stauch]

A very rich and entertaining thread.

[Phil Yearout]

It's awesome to know that someone so accomplished in "the arts" was also a shooter; seems those disciplines are too often juxtaposed. Working on my MFA in the late 60's-early70's it wasn't exactly "cool" to be a western-Kansas pheasant hunting boy (Garry will probably know what I mean). If I'm totally honest, I succumbed to the stigma for a time. But cooler heads prevailed, and I came to my senses, even if it took my wife's family to get me there :rolleyes:.

[Ian Civco]

Can anyone recommend a good biography of John Philip Sousa?

[Arthur Shaffer]

It's awesome to know that someone so accomplished in "the arts" was also a shooter; seems those disciplines are too often juxtaposed. Working on my MFA in the late 60's-early70's it wasn't exactly "cool" to be a western-Kansas pheasant hunting boy (Garry will probably know what I mean). If I'm totally honest, I succumbed to the stigma for a time. But cooler heads prevailed, and I came to my senses, even if it took my wife's family to get me there :rolleyes:.

There have been a lot more than is commonly known. The man that relatively early on built a Sporting course in our area was an artist and loved shooting. He had a rather prominent wildlife artist who was a friend of his from Lexington shot there regularly. He later moved to Missouri to be the commercial artist for Sam Walton.

Don't forget the beginnings of Double Gun Journal.

[Alfred Houde]

A very good read:

"Marching Along - Recollections of Men, Women, & Music" - By John Philip Sousa

[Phil Yearout]

There have been a lot more than is commonly known. The man that relatively early on built a Sporting course in our area was an artist and loved shooting. He had a rather prominent wildlife artist who was a friend of his from Lexington shot there regularly. He later moved to Missouri to be the commercial artist for Sam Walton.

Don't forget the beginnings of Double Gun Journal.

Of course lots of "wildlife" artists are and have been involved in shooting etc. - makes sense. But it's interesting to hear of people who are successful in a much different artistic discipline who are also hunters/shooters/etc.