First the Palma, now the Digby Hand Trophy

by Hap Rocketto

One of the great pleasures of the annual sojourn to Camp Perry is visiting both the National Rifle Association and the Civilian Marksmanship Program Trophy Rooms. It is a bit sad that more people do not visit these repositories of shooting history. Whenever I bring new shooters to Camp Perry, I make it a point to take them along with me. For my junior shooters, it is a required activity.

A representation of the lost Palma Trophy

These displays are impressive exhibits of art as well as the history of the sport. Glittering Victorian silver cups and ewers, such as awarded to the winners of the Wimbledon and Leech Cup Matches, sparkle next to Frederick Remington’s western frontier bronzes which in turn are nestled next to modern trophy firearms. These mute witnesses stretch back in time to the earliest days of organized shooting in the United States. Had they the power of speech the tales they might tell. In their presence, even without tongue, they seem to whisper the greatness of the men and women who have their names incised upon them. The only major trophy absent is the original Palma Trophy, which was lost during the years between the World Wars.

Early one indoor season, a member of the Corporal Digby Hand Schützenverein mused aloud that our club should donate a trophy, to be awarded by the NRA, at Camp Perry to the winner of some prestigious match. The idea struck us as inspired and it was the topic of hot discussion for much of the winter. After making some preliminary inquiries we found that our treasury’s pockets were just not deep enough to afford a trophy of sufficient grandeur. It was axiomatic that we also did not have the requisite funds to maintain the trophy and the plaques given annually to the winners. Digby Hand is not a wealthy club when one looks at our balance sheets so we put the discussion to rest, for a while. However, poor as we might be financially we could never overdraw our accounts of spirit and ingenuity, as you shall soon see.

One match night, teammate Charlie Adams was eyeing a rather Baroque octagon shaped silvered plastic plate that held the cold cuts for our post-shooting buffet. As we were cleaning up the scraps of lunchmeat, crumbs of bread, and smears of mustard Charlie discretely dropped the cheap plastic plate into a paper bag and took it home. About a month before we were to leave for Camp Perry he showed up at practice with a rather handsome looking silver salver adorned with the Digby Hand coat of arms. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the old unassuming cold cut platter given both a new lease on life, as well as a higher station, by the creative talents of his artist wife, Carol.

Young Eric Majewski, one of our juniors and a carpentry student at the local vocational technical school, opined that he could turn out a nice display base. True to his word, within the week, we had an elegant wooden stand. Despite its plebian origins and practical purpose, the decorated plate assumed the air of a Tiffany object d’art when it was mounted on the dark wood. The glint of the sun on the flimsy silvered plastic was all the solar energy needed to germinate the seed of an idea lying in our fertile minds.

Four weeks later, and 700 miles west, Majewski, his father Greg, my brother Steve, Steve Schady and his boys Steve Junior and Tom, Ned Lombard and I sauntered through the door of the NRA Trophy Room at Camp Perry. Schady fills and I distracted the two blue-haired ladies who guarded the fortress with small talk and requests to see various items offered for sale from a glass display counter. While we diverted the women Ned and Steve took up position in the passageway between the sales area and the trophy display seemingly studying a photo of Perry days of yore. In truth, they were effectively blocking the view of the trophy room, should the distracted guardians glance that way.

The Schady brothers, in an effective imitation of a con man playing the shell game, quickly and quietly shuffled a few trophies about to make space for the trophy. This done the Majewskis whipped the plate and base out from underneath their shirts and set them up in the newly vacated space. In less time than it takes to switch magazines and scope your shots in rapid fire, the Digby Hand Trophy had been donated. It now stood proudly on display next to such venerated shooting relics as the Critchfield and Western Cartridge Company Trophies. Our philanthropic act complete we politely thanked the ladies and ‘The Gang of Eight’ gracefully withdrew from the scene of our anonymous munificence.

The next day and, in fact, every day thereafter, we dropped by the Trophy Room. Each day the two ladies dutifully dusted and arranged the smallbore trophies and the interloping Digby Hand Trophy sat proudly next to its better-known brethren. We quietly spread the word about the new trophy, not mentioning the circumstances of its donation, to the many fellow Digby Hand members whom were at the National Matches. The traffic through the Trophy Room increased almost geometrically as club members dropped by to view the new trophy. We even went back with a camera and took a snapshot of a few of us standing by the award.

Much to our disappointment the trophy did not show up on the stage for the big awards ceremony on Friday night. One of the club members queried George Harris, the Master of Ceremonies and Match Director, about the missing trophy. George’s reply was a cryptic, “Why don’t you ask the Rocketto brothers?”

Shades of the Palma! The trophy had been lost, it disappeared while in the custody of the NRA, and they attempted to foist off their negligence on the donors. All that is left is the memory of our club’s generosity is a rather fuzzy picture of some smiling faces around a silver plate. Despite the loss of the trophy by a careless NRA, circumstances which makes us think twice about donating a replacement, we still visit the scene of our largesse and reminisce about days gone by. Next time you are at Perry why don’t you do the same?

Ned Lombard, Tom Schady, Hap Rocketto, and Steve Schady with the Digby Hand Trophy For Distinguished Service in the Perry NRA Award Room when it was in the Arcade.