The Sharpshooter
Dud did not confine his athletic prowess to just team sports. He got his most notoriety as a champion trap and skeet shooter. Taught by his father at 14 the rudiments of trapshooting, he startled the sports world by winning tournaments against seasoned veterans. In 1922 he received real prominence winning the Junior National Trap Shooting Championship in 1922 just shy of his 16th birthday. He won again in 1924 with a record 140 birds without a miss. Stepping into the senior ranks in 1925 he won both the Massachusetts Open and New England Open titles and again the following year. Dud had a pet racoon with him at all times often sitting on his shoulder. Not even a gunshot would frighten his furry friend.
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Dudley "Dud" Shallcross was one of the early Rhode Island amateur hockey stars in the 1920s and 1930s. Dud, a rugged defensemen, played in the Industrial Hockey League for the champion R.I. Fish Company (1926-27) as well as the New England Telephone & Telegraph Company (1928-29). He was a key member on the 1928-29 state champion Newports of the Blackstone Valley Amateur Hockey League. He was an original member of the Rhode Island Scarlets, Rhode Island's amateur All-Star team which won the 1932 New England AAU championship. When the long running Inter-City Amateur Hockey League opened in the 1932-33 season at the Rhode Island Auditorium, Dud starred for the New Bedford Garwoods followed by the Pawtucket Capitols in 1933-34. Shallcross was also an accomplished ice poloist playing for the East Sides (1927-28) and Wanskucks (1928-29) of the Providence Ice Polo League. His rugged athleticism was also on display on the gridiron at right tackle for the Warren Wanderers and the famous Corona A.C. football club of Riverside.
Although always considered a Rhode Islander, he was never able to compete for the Rhode Island State Championship because he lived over the line in Seekonk, Massachusetts. Moving to Barrington, Rhode Island in 1934, Dud returned to competition after an inactive period and won individual honors in the State Tourney. In 1939 he was on a team that set the world record for skeet shooting for five-man teams. Dud was the epitome of a true sportsman on the ice, gridiron and the great outdoors.
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