SUDLERSVILLE — Showcasing a small town with a rich history of esteemed sports, the Sudlersville Betterment Club presented exhibits of local renowned athletes at the Sudlersville Train Museum July 6.
Sudlersville Community Betterment Club showcased exhibits earlier this month featuring local sports heroes, according to club secretary Ginny Moran.
In addition to baseball Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx, Sudlersville is also the claim to fame local home for Olympic archery extraordinaries, renowned skeet shooters, award winning horse racing, championship golf, acclaimed target shooting and historic fox hunting.
Members Alison and Luke Howard, of the Wicomico Hunt Club, spoke on the activities of the only organized fox chase on the Eastern Shore.
The club hunts from Elkton, Maryland to Bethel, Delaware. The fox chase has a prominent local history as the first fox hounds and foxes were brought to America right here in Queen Anne’s County in 1650, she said.
The Wicomico Hunt Club houses all of their three breeds of hounds together at one kennel near Salisbury, she said.
Sudlersville is also home to several World Class Skeet Shooting Champions including Joseph M. George, who is entered into the Maryland Hall of Fame for Sports for 1,800 lifetime shooting wins. George’s grandson, Jonathan Levan, is also featured for his accomplishments winning Top Gun at the Grand National Waterfowl Hunt at the age of 17.
Greg Clark from the Sudlersville Skeet Club shared memories from pulling clay targets for the Club as a child.
A display of memorabilia also showcased local sports champions Zach Schmidt and David Sink who were National Rifle Shooting Champions at national competitions and went all the way to Junior Olympics. Both participated in the Jacksonville State University Rifle Team in Alabama.
The event also recognized former resident Jeff Hopkins for his World Championship of the Archery Shooters Association in 1997. Julie Russum, also from Sudlersville, was a State High School Golf Champion.
Humans aren’t the only impressive athletes to come out of Sudlersville; Slick Tony, a Standardbred Pacer raised right out of Sudlersville was also featured having 66 career wins to his credit.
Owner Nola Leager shared Slick Tony’s pictures from the Dover, Harrington, and Ocean Downs Race Tracks, as well as recognitions from Hoof Beats Magazine.
Several local equestrians have been big winners in the Trotter and Acer Races and at one time Sudlersville was known as the “racingest town around,” according to Moran.
With the mindset of “citizens serving citizens,” since 1916, the Sudlersville Betterment Club is a group of volunteers who operate out of the Sudlersville Train Station Museum to collect, preserve, and maintain the history of Sudlersville and the surrounding community.
The Sudlersville Train Station Museum is located at the corner of Main St. and S. Linden St. and will be open during the Peach Festival Aug. 3.
More information about the museum can be found at https://www.sudlersvillemuseum.org.
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