Year 'Round Sportsman

Chapter 1

Four year old Harrison, his two-year-old brother, his mom and dad had driven to the southern part of the state to visit his grandpa.  The day was muggy hot with a heavy sun, which seems to push right down on the very top of your head and shoulders.  The sparrows in a nearby bush sat with their mouth open and their throats quivered in an attempt to get every life saving breath of air.

The family sits in the shade of the big elm trees in the back yard sipping on tall glasses of lemonade.  The ice chips and slivers from the ice box on the back porch was a treat but after a few minutes Harrison set his glass on the table and went next door to Uncle Welker and aunt Florence’s house.  Florence was his grandpa's sister.  He had heard a yelp and he followed the sound to a box where he found a litter of pups.  Looking in the box where they were sleeping he dropped to his knees and with a stroke of his hand he had the entire litter up and squirming for attention.  He started to play with these six-week-old pups, half Shepherd and a dog about town.  After toying with them for almost an hour he picked a pup of his choice out of the box and carried it and played with it the rest of the afternoon.  He was later told that at one point he tried to feed the pup an ear of field corn.

When it came time to go home Uncle Welker gave Harrison a box and said, "Here boy, you need something to carry that puppy in on the way home."  That pup became his first dog.

Well, Harrison has kept at least one dog ever since.  He delivered papers as a 12 year old lad, riding his bicycle down the sidewalks and his faithful Jack, a beagle, trotted along side watching his every move.

Harrison could throw a folded paper with uncanny accuracy and allowing for the wind he was able to slide the paper right up to the door most of the time.. He didn't miss very often but when he did, his pal Jack, would wheel around, race to the errant paper, pick it up and deposit it on the porch.  Harrison never had to get off his bike and retrieve his few mistakes.  He remembers showing off to friends by tossing a paper to one side so Jack could show his stuff.  Jack enjoyed his part of the job.  He just started doing it one day when Harrison had tossed a paper low and it went under a bush.

Harrison still remembers that day well and recalls that Jack was the first and only beagle he ever had that would retrieve anything.  He's owned various breeds of hunting dogs since those days.

As a boy while living in Indiana he entered his first Beagle field trial when he was 12 years old.  Jack won that first trial and he considers that perhaps that was the factor that maybe created the sincere interest he has for field trials of all types.  Harrison and Jack compete at least every other weekend at a field trial and the entry fees are paid from his earnings from his paper route. 

Harrison played basketball, football, baseball, ran on the track team and was an outstanding fast pitch softball pitcher.  Harrison graduated from High School and entered the U.S. Navy where he was able to continue to play basketball and softball.  He received a certificate of merit when he competed and was on the winning team for two “All Navy” competitions in the same year.   After he served his tour of duty Harrison, his wife and three little girls have moved from Indiana to the northern Virginia area when he accepted a job selling wiring devices and pulse forming networks.  His customers include large and small business organizations, the many railroa