CHARLES F. HILL, JR
Merchantville, NJ • May 23, 1910 – January 10, 2002

Six-time New Jersey ATA champion Charles F. Hill Jr. was born, May 23, 1910, on a farm in Delair, New Jersey. As was usually the case all the boys helped with the farm chores and every year after the slaughter of the pigs, they invited their family and friends to a wonderful barbeque feast, afterwards doing a little clay target shooting. It was from these affairs and the occasional trapshooting of his father that got him interested in shooting.

Charlie first started shooting at local clubs eventually joining the ATA at the Camden PR & R Gun Club, in Camden County, registering his first targets in 1939. For many years he competed in most of the state shoots on the East Coast as well as the Florida Chain shoots, winning many trophies over his 50+ year shooting span. He captured the 25-bird handicap championship at the Roxborough Club Shoot in 1944 shooting from the 24-yard line.Often he tied for high gun honors with such greats as Walter Beaver and Steve Crothers.

Charlie competed in his first state shoot in 1940, shooting in Class C and handicapped at
the 19-yard mark. He steadily progressed and by 1944 the “Big Guns” already knew of
Charlie’s skill. At the 1945 New Jersey State Shoot, Charlie was shooting at the top of his
game capturing the State Handicap Championship after a shoot-off with W. Holmes of
Merchantville and Paul Holloway of Pine Valley. He also took high honors by breaking
139 of 150 mixed targets for the All Around title.

In 1948, Charlie won the New Jersey State Singles Championship breaking 198 over the
traps of the Pennybridge Farm Gun club in Port Monmouth. State Secretary Walter Johnson reported that “Hill shot one of the greatest races ever recorded in the history of this event”, as he twice broke 99 jumpy, wind-swept targets.

Headlines in The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 25, 1949 read, “Hill Gains Gun Honors After Double Shoot-Off,” as it took two shoot-offs before he emerged victorious over Elmer Olt and Harry Bullock to win the N.J. Southern Zone singles championship held in Atlantic City. Charlie was an avid live-bird shooter who competed in many Flyer Championships.

He was the third place winner in 1944, the year Mort Haines Jr. won the championship.
On November 13, 1949 he won the New Jersey Flyer Championship at Chalfont, Pa. after defeating his friend Paul Holloway in the miss and out shoot-off. He won the N.J. Southern Zone handicap championship held at Camden P.R.R. Gun Club after a shoot-off with his old friend Harry Bullock. Hill was one of the top-flight shots of New Jersey and won the Southern Zone crown several times. He also shot as a member of the southern team when the Zone Team Race between the North and South was a feature at state shoots.

Hill was crowned state singles champ again in 1950, defeating the field during a raining
morning and very windy afternoon with scores of 99 and 97.

Charlie ’s love for trapshooting was evident not only by all the many friends he made over
the years, but he was one of the first shooters known to own a movie camera and often
filmed tournaments, always zooming in on “Old Glory.” The circa 1959 State Shoot held in Asbury Park, NJ was donated to the New Jersey Trapshooting Hall of Fame, in the memory of Mr. Hill, by wife Catherine.

Charles Hill was known to help several of his clubs. He owned a trucking business and used his trucks to pick up targets at the railroad siding and delivered them to the Pine Belt SC. He was very active in the affairs of the Pine Belt SC, often using his heavy equipment and work crews to improve the shooting grounds. One of Charlie’s top men, Charlie Downs sometimes stayed in a trailer on the grounds during the construction of Pine Belt. Mr. Hill was always generous with his equipment, he and Catherine often volunteering their services. Catherine (Sissy to her friends) still remembers helping clear saplings and feeling the falling force of one dropped on her head by Charlie. Sissy also ran the practice traps for many years. Charlie was a Trustee of the NJSTA in 1950 and was a Director for several years in the 1970’s. He also served on the State Shoot Handicap Committee in 1971. In 1974 Director Hill was elected Alternate Delegate. On June 7, 1975 he shot his one hundred thousandth (100,000th) singles target.

In 1976 he retired to South Carolina. However, he and Sissy still made the annual trek back to New Jersey in their Airstream trailer before the State Shoot and stayed at the club to help get the grounds ready. This also gave them the chance to visit with old friends.
In his younger days, Charlie loved hunting quail and small game. In his later years, after
retiring to Lake Marion, he enjoyed taking friends on his boat for fishing excursions.
He was a life member of Pine Valley and Pine Belt Gun Clubs and maintained membership and shot regularly at many others. Charlie became a life member in the ATA in 1939. He was a member of the Atlantic Indians. He wouldn’t miss the opportunity to compete at the Grand American and attended this tournament for 25 years.

Charlie left a lasting impression to all who knew him and was truly admired by all his
shooting friends. Sissy remembers Winchester Rep Charles Hood driving up to Pine Belt
from Virginia to present Charlie with a plaque for his 100,000th registered singles.
Unfortunately, Mr. Hood discovered that he had forgotten to bring the accommodation.
Proof of admiration for Mr. Hill was exemplified when the Winchester Rep drove back to
Virginia and returned to Indian Mills to make his presentation that same day.
Mr. Hill fired at his last targets in 1993 before a stroke ended his shooting career. The ATA life member had registered a total of 108, 880 singles, 55,675 handicap and 42,262 doubles targets. Mr. Charles F. Hill, Jr., one of New Jersey’s great shots from the past, left for the Great Hunting Grounds, January 10, 2002, at the age of 92.

EDWARD YANCHOK
ATA No. 35-14283

Ed Yanchok, started shooting “Ten Bird” trap at a local club in his hometown of Warren,
several years before being introduced to registered trap shooting by Andy Ott, in 1968.
From that point on, he has always been very involved in every aspect of the sport.
Ed was born in Newark, N.J. in 1940 and moved to Union in 1951, where he became active in both wrestling and track at his Union High School. In 1959 he married Mary Ann and they moved to Warren, where Ed soon joined in vitalizing the Township Protection Association.

From 1975 to 1980, Ed was trap manager for Somerset County Fish and Game Association. He also managed Quail Ridge Gun Club from 1979 thru 1980. Ed’s longest service to shooters, nearly 20 consecutive years, was from 1981 to 2000 when he managed Bucks County Fish and Game Association.

During that impressive run of 25 straight years of managing trapshooting clubs, Ed was also involved with the New Jersey State Trapshooting Association, serving as President in 1984- 1985, elected Alternate Delegate in 1986 and in 1987 shooters elected him ATA State Delegate, a position he held until 2003.

Ed became a member of the Cavalier Sportsmen’s Association in 1985 and once again,
he did not shy from becoming involved, serving as President in 2000 thru 2001, finally
winning their prestigious Rose Ring in 2002. Ed has also been a member of the Atlantic
Indians organization for many years.

It is easy to see that Ed has contributed much of his time to the sport he loves, though we
know in his modesty he would claim to have gotten much more from trapshooting than he
gave. With all those years of serving shooters, you would think that he hasn’t had much time to do any shooting himself. Well, he has been able to register a few targets and some may remember the year 1980 when he set a record, shooting more registered singles in one year than anyone had ever shot up till that time. Amazingly, Ed registered 60,500 singles, holding a very respectable .9544 average. The next closest shooter to Ed was Abram Suydam with 28,600 singles. Adding 3600 handicap and 3400 doubles targets brought Ed’s registered annual total to an unprecedented 67,500.

In competition, he has won numerous trophies in the Northern and Southern N.J. Zone
shoots as well as the state shoot, where in 1998, he was the High All Around winner of
A Class and also was 4th high in the HOA. Ed has competed in many states as well as major tournaments. He won the All Around Class B trophy at the 1987 Eastern Zone tournament and was A Doubles winner in 2000.

Attending the Grand American for thirty-five of his thirty-seven years of registered shooting, Ed has been fortunate to bring home trophies from this highly regarded championship. In 1989, he was the 3rd Place Class B Doubles winner, posting a score of 98. Ed earned the David Long Class B Singles trophy at the 1998 Grand after posting a century in the program and another 100 straight in the carry-over. At last year’s final Grand, Ed posted a 99 in the Parliament Handicap, winning the 15th place trophy after the shoot-offs. He also brought home the Preliminary Class B All Around trophy that year. Ed recently started competing in the Veteran class and is currently a 27-yard shooter with a ‘AA’ average.

Though last year was Ed’s first time qualifying as a Veteran, he has made the NJ State Team several times since his first in the 1980’s. In October 2004, a shoot to honor Ed’s service was held at the Pine Belt Sportsman’s Club where he was presented with commemorative plaques from the club and the New Jersey State Trapshooting Association.

Ed will no doubt be remembered for attending the 2005 last Grand American tournament
ever held at the Vandalia, Ohio ATA homegrounds. As winning bidder of an eBay auction, Ed was a member of the last squad to shoot over these hallowed grounds – shooting at and breaking the last registered target thrown in competition.

At the close of the 2005 target year, Ed is 27th on the list of most lifetime registered singles with 315,300 and has doubles and handicap target attainments of 106,000 and 101,675 respectively, totaling 522,975.

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