BY DICK METZGAR
Staff Writer
Florence P. Murphy of Freehold won 16 New Jersey trapshooting titles and captured the Women’s North American Clay Target crown at the 1930 Grand American in Vandalia, Ohio. The photo below shows Murphy’s pin from the Amateur Trapshooting Association. Florence P. Murphy was Freehold Borough’s version of Annie Oakley, the legendary female sharpshooter who dazzled audiences around the world with her uncanny marksmanship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Murphy’s trapshooting exploits from the late 1920s to the early 1950s are expected to earn her a spot in the New Jersey Trapshooting Hall of Fame, Pittsgrove, Upper Pittsgrove Township, Salem County, according to Ken Estes, the institution’s secretary.
Florence and husband, Joseph S. Murphy, who was also a well-known local trapshooter, were the owners of Murphy’s Bar on South Street, Freehold, from the early 1930s.
In an interview with Greater Media Newspapers, Estes said that for the last four years he has done considerable research documenting Florence Murphy’s shooting exploits. Her skill with a gun earned her many trapshooting championships, first winning at the state level in 1928.
Murphy’s 1928 state title began a record-breaking string that has lasted until this day, although her record will probably be broken in the near future by Deborah Ann Ohye, of New Brunswick, one of the best shooters in the world, according to Estes.
Following her initial success in 1928, Murphy would go on to win the state women’s title (at singles targets) 16 times, capturing her last championship trophy in 1952 when she was 59. That record of 16 titles lasted 53 years until it was tied by Ohye last year.
Murphy’s crowning glory was achieved at the 1930 Grand American, the premier trap shoot held each year in Vandalia, Ohio. Her score of 185 out of 200 was good enough to capture the Women’s North American Clay Target Champion-ship against all comers from the United States and Canada.
In 1932, Florence ranked third in the country among high average women.
However, her performance at the North American championship in 1930 was probably her greatest single achievement.
Elaine Smith (pictured at top of page and here) took her own shot at shooting as a young girl. A local newspaper described Murphy’s shooting in that event as follows:
“With clay pigeons popping up in all directions in such an erratic manner as to have driven a more nervous member of her sex into hysterics, Mrs. Florence Murphy of Freehold calmly stood at the firing line and knocked them off as soon as they sprang gyrating from the traps.
“One after another they were blown into fragments by the shot from her gun. There were few that escaped from her eagle eye and when the smoke had cleared from her weapon after the final burst, Mrs. Murphy received the plaudits of spectators as the champion woman trap shooter of the United States.”
“Yes, I was a bit nervous when I stepped up,” Murphy told an interviewer after the 1930 national shoot. “But when I felt the familiar pressure of my lucky gun against my shoulder I just calmed down and all I thought of was bringing those clay pigeons down as fast as they started up. The weather was bad; there was a high wind and it made shooting difficult. There were 23 others competing and I knew I had to do well for the pick of the country was there.”
JEFF GRANIT staff Elaine Smith looks over scrapbooks that relate the sporting achievements of her grandmother, champion trapshooter Florence P. Murphy. At the time, Murphy dismissed the possibility that she might take part in a big game hunting safari in Africa.
“No, I have no desire to go to Africa to shoot big game,” she told her interviewer. “I am not expert with the rifle or revolver and I have no desire to stalk lions or tigers in the jungles. I had one experience deer hunting that will last me a lifetime. I was down near Pasadena (Manchester Township, Ocean County) and the woods seemed to be full of gunners. I wore the customary red headdress for protection as a safeguard for any hunter mistaking me for a deer.
“I heard them starting a drive near me and I was a bit afraid of what they might do. So I stepped behind a tree,” she continued. “I had no sooner gotten there than two shots were fired in rapid succession and buckshot splattered the tree and the ground at my feet. The gunner, having fired, looked to see what he had fired at and discovered me. One hasty glance and he legged it through the woods at top speed. That was a cruel thing to do, for I might have been wounded and the least he could have done was stop and see if I was in need of help.”
During an interview at Greater Media Newspapers’ offices in Freehold Town-ship, three of Florence’s grandchildren, Elaine Smith, 69, and William Smith, 59, both of Freehold Township, and James Smith, 64, of Manasquan, all recalled that as small children they would pile into the back seat of the family’s “woodie” station wagon of 1930s vintage to accompany their grandparents to trapshooting events at various locations.
Their mother, the late Mrs. Floyd F. Smith, was Florence’s daughter, Mary, of Freehold Township. Florence was living with her daughter, Mary, at the time of her death in 1968 at the age of 76. Florence’s son, Robert, who was born in 1914, lives in Kensington, Md.
“It was a treat for us kids to go with our grandparents to trapshooting events,” said Elaine Smith, who is a noted local artist. “I can still remember the shouts of ‘pull!’ and then ‘boom.’ I can remember her shooting at targets off the boardwalks at Atlantic City and Asbury Park, and a lot of other places when we were young. She was a fierce competitor. She always wanted to win. She got mad when she missed.”
Estes said he believes Florence P. Murphy compiled the necessary credentials to be inducted into the National Trap-shooters Hall of Fame in Vandalia, Ohio.
“She was certainly one of the country’s great female trapshooters,” he said.