Samuel Vance won his first Canadian trap shooting championship in 1912 and, by the time he was selected to represent his nation at the 1920 Summer Olympics, had numerous Ontario provincial, national, and international tournament victories to his name. The 1920 Games were a disappointment for the much-heralded shooter: he placed fifth in the team event (alongside George Beattie, William Hamilton, Ben McLaren, James Montgomery, and True Oliver) and failed to medal individually. Four years later, however, he won a silver medal in the team competition, with Beattie, Montgomery, William Barnes, John Black, and Samuel Newton, and was joint-sixth individually. This team also came in third at that year’s British Championships. He continued to participate in, and win, tournaments through the 1930s. Most notably, he became the first Canadian to tie for first place in the prestigious Grand American Handicap in 1935, but lost the shoot-off to J. B. Royall of the United States. By career he was a wholesaler of seeds and he has been inducted into the Trapshooting (1971), Ontario Trapshooting (1981), and Tillsonburg Sports (2006) Halls of Fame.
Date of birth previously given as 6 May 1881 and date of death as 29 December 1976, but they belong to the wrong person.
Canada