Question: For more than 10 years, this home was a solitary “bookend” of an older residential area of the village. The “bookend” at the other end of its street had been built 50 years earlier. Do you recognize this house? The house itself was given a name that has continued through different owners. Do you know its name or its location?
Last week’s answer: The photo from last week was in the Messenger on July 30, 1959, during a field trial at the Three Rivers Game Management Preserve. The gentleman on the left should be recognized by many. Carmen Basilio, former world’s middleweight and welterweight boxing champion was an avid participant in the pheasant dog field trials.
He is pictured with Frank Ash, one of the people in charge of the development of the area. The dog was Rumson Farms Hayride, one of the pointers who participated in the pheasant dog field trials. It was taken at the time of the pheasant dog field trials during 1959. The trials were first held here in 1950. People from every state in the United States and from various provinces of Canada were in attendance at the various championships.
The Three Rivers Game Preserve is a 2,500-plus acre game preserve located on the western portion of the lands which were once a federal installation employed in the manufacture of explosives for use in armor-piercing shells during World War II.
In 1952, the Pheasant Dog Championship and the American Field Pheasant Dog came to the area. The National Amateur Pheasant Dog Championship followed, meaning that all national pheasant dog championship competitions in the country are held at the area. Much of the success of the Three Rivers Game Management area as the site for the trials is credited to the close cooperation between trial officials and the State Conservation Department. Pheasants are not killed during the trials since blanks are used, primarily to prove that the dogs competing are not gun shy.
The event still takes place today although it has been played down somewhat due to the fact that too much publicity and attendance from spectators distracted the dogs. The real prizes are the cash winnings and the notoriety of a job well done.
Mickey Piscitelli was the first person to correctly identify Carmen Basilio in the photo. He emailed his answer to the Messenger.
Janie Atwater called to say she was waiting tables around this time and remembered the pheasant dog trials as well as Basilio’s battered appearance.
“That’s Carmen Basilio, probably a day or two after the fight,” she said of the boxer. “He looked horrible.”
Email your guess to [email protected] or leave a message at 315-434-8889 ext. 332 with your guess by noon Friday. If you are the first person to correctly identify an element in the photo before the deadline, your name and guess will appear in next week’s newspaper, along with another History Mystery feature. History Mystery is a joint project of the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse and the Baldwinsville Public Library.
