Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/801177
A ll sorts of thoughts ran through the corridors of my mind (yes, I'm aware that many of those thoughts lead to rabbit holes or down meaningless trails) while pondering a suitable book column for this special issue. I considered covering books devoted to trophy rooms; maybe a profile of Rowland Ward, the pioneering taxidermist who did so much to foster special rooms and décor for sportsmen; or simply looking at a fine library as an integral, important aspect of the sporting lifestyle. Then, while caught up in a spate of reorganizational madness, a malady that seems to infect me about once a year, I had an epiphany. This came while dusting, rearranging, and re-shelving my collection of this magazine. In the course of doing so, it occurred to me that I was holding in my hands a mirror to all that is gracious and genteel, enduring and endearing, in the world of sport. My complete run of Sporting Classics, with all the hundreds of magazines carefully stored in slipcases, forms a free-flowing literary spring from which one can drink, whether Books By Jim Casada The sporTing lifesTyle Through The pages of Sporting ClaSSiCS. enjoying a well-told tale for the fifth time or ferreting out some vaguely remembered reference, and always come away refreshed. The only real drawback to the lasting appeal of the magazine is its lack of a comprehensive index. Who knows, maybe that could be part of its golden anniversary celebration just under a decade and a half down the road? The premier issue does not give months of publication but simply states, on the contents page, that it is Volume 1, Number 1 from the year 1981. However, since the second magazine appeared in September/ October of that year, obviously Sporting Classics began its life in the late summer of 1981. From that moment forward the attributes and aesthetics we associate with enjoyment of the sporting life have been front and center in the publication. New columns have been added over the years; stellar writers such as Art Carter, Mike McIntosh, and Joe Wilcox are no longer with us; and the magazine has burgeoned in size (the premier issue was only 80 pages, whereas today's magazines often exceed 200 pages) and in frequency, from six to eight issues a year. But many things remain constant. Among them are top-rate contributors who know how to tell an inveigling tale; focus on the splendor of sport in areas such as fine dogs, dream-like destinations, and sporting history; paintings and photographs that lay hold of the viewer's soul; and what for want of a better description might simply be styled the paraphernalia of sport. The latter category is a wide-ranging one that embraces everything from fine guns to top-drawer optics, exquisitely crafted fly rods to every sort of travel accessory imaginable. Or take a single area that to me exemplifies the sporting lifestyle at its finest— collectibles. We treasure memorabilia and mementoes because they are visible, tangible, and readily accessible reminders of the things we find especially meaningful. I'll use the setting where these words are being written as an example. It's a room housing perhaps 4,000 books on sport, a glass-fronted cabinet holding a wide array of turkey calls, two turkey mounts atop a desk and a table, a pair of signed Lynn Bogue Hunt etchings on one wall with plaques and original art on others, a vintage wicker creel, a Winchester clock, a rack filled with fishing rods, scores of pocket 152 • S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S