Not only did it lack the seriousness of trapshooting, 
     
     but it spread the shooting time out, taking longer to 
     
     complete the semi-circle. A five-man squad would 
     
     shoot all the single targets first, and then move back 
     
     to the number one station to begin the doubles. More 
     
     and more avid smoothbore enthusiasts joined the 
     
     growing number of clubs and it wasn't long before 
     
     competitions were the order of the day. Competitions, 
     
     both on a club level, and between organizations, 
     
     seemed to be starting up everywhere. It was obviously 
     
     time to formalize the game and develop a firm set of 
     
     rules that would be the same for all...It needed a 
     
     governing organization. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Bill Foster (who, with Charles and Henry Davies, 
     
     had innovated 'Around-the-Clock' and its advancement 
     
     to 'Half-Clock') was by profession a renowned free- 
     
     lance sportswriter who had recently been made assis-— 
     
     tant editor of the popular National Sportsman, an 
     
     outdoor recreation magazine that had a large North 
     
     American circulation. It was through this. magazine, 
     
     and his syndicated stories in other outdoor monthlies, 
     
     that Bill Foster began to spread the word about the 
     
     exciting new shooting game that offered sportsmen all 
     
     the excitement of live bird shooting, combined with an 
     
     abundance of fun and fellowship, without taking an 
     
     actual toll of wildlife. Apart from the shells 
     
     expended, the brunt of environmental damage was 
     
     absorbed by the least harmed bird of all, the Clay 
     
     Pigeon. Although it was the initiative of Henry 
     
     Davies that created, 'Around-the-Clock,' and 'Half— 
     
     Clock,’ it was Bill Foster, through his many articles 
     
     in the early 1920's, that actually made the game a 
     
     national pastime. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In 1926 Foster, through his magazine, offered 
     
     $100.00 for the best suggestion of a name to give to 
     
     this new shooting game that was spreading throughout 
     
     the Nation. Many entries were sent in, but it wasa 
     
     Dayton, Montana, housewife who received the $100.00 
     
     cheque, for her suggestion of a Scandinavian word 
     
     meaning 'to shoot'--The single word was SKEET. 
     
    
   
   
    
     --136-—