The English Springer Spaniel Club of Long Island
OFFICERS
Marge Silverthorn, President, 163 Academy St, Bayport, NY 11705
Kevin Dolan, Vice President, 12 Fanwood Pl, Huntington Sta., NY 11746
Gail Schuljan, Secretary, 120 Ninth Ave, Holtsville, NY 11942
Scott Gillis, Treasurer, 120 9th Ave , Holtsville, NY 11742
FIELD TRIAL COMMITTEE
Chairman: Ted Lagala 631-572-4499
A BRIEF FIELD HISTORY
Formed in 1960’s, the English Springer Spaniel Club of Long Island (ESSCLI) is a very active and diversified club. Once the ESSCLI was accepted as a breed specialty club by the AKC the members sought qualification to conduct licensed AKC events. Today the ESSCLI is licensed to conduct breed confirmation shows, obedience trials, tracking, English Springer Spaniel field trials and flushing Spaniel hunt tests.
Frank Kirkman is credited with beginning the field group of the ESSCLI. In 1967 he contacted Evelyn Monte who was the Secretary of the ESSFTA at the time and Billy Garvin who was associated with the Cocker Spaniel Club of LI. He witnessed his first Springer Spaniel field trial, also in 1967, at the Winthrop estate in Old Westbury, NY and later that year, with the assistance of Evelyn Monte and Billy Garvin, purchased a dog named Jazz from upstate NY. In 1968 he attended another Springer spaniel trial held on Shelter Island. It’s interesting to note that English Cocker Spaniels and English Springer Spaniels were allowed to compete equally in the same trial at that time.
In 1969, Frank started doing some obedience training with the ESSCLI where he met Joyce Smith, Sandy Brown and Betsy Gulotta. It was then that he began to transition to field work and so began the field training in the club. At the same time, he began to write articles about Springers for “Suffolk Outdoors” and local newspapers. On one occasion, Frank put on a demonstration in Huntington to demonstrate Springer field work and, in doing so, met Don Cande. In 1974, a group of field members including Frank Kirkman, Tom Lynch, Don Cande, and Tom Longnecker began training in Bridgehampton and later in Calverton, north of the Grumman property in what is now the VA cemetery. Tom Longnecker, also a member of the LI Beagle Club, initially purchased a Springer to flush rabbits along with many of the Beagles that he has owned over the years. Don Cande later moved to New Hampshire and field trialed many fine dogs including “Yankee” who was high point sire in the U.S. for several years. Richard Soule, a current club member, bought a Yankee pup which was his first Springer. In 1975, the club held its first Parent Club sanctioned Working Dog Test, and in addition, began holding fun trials.
Throughout the 80’s, training continued on weekends at the Navy property and also on the DEC Sarnoff property which club members helped to clear of debris so that it was safe for dogs. Since the club wasn’t licensed to hold field trials at that time, the members still contributed to the sport and remained involved. For years, Frank Patinelli served as chairman of the Parent Club trial and members John Lamendola, Louis Pastore and Bruce Hotchkiss contributed by planting birds and doing whatever else was necessary.
Under the leadership of Frank Patinelli, and with the support of several other prominent members including Louis Pastore, Dr. Roger Schenone, Clayton Perry, Willie Nixdorf, Vince Palladino, Tom Longnecker and others, the club began the process of becoming licensed to hold AKC licensed field trials. Interestingly, Dr. Schenone later moved upstate to Elmira, NY, bought a farm and later co-founded the Southern Tier FTC along with Gary Wilson. The ESSCLI informal trials were sanctioned by the AKC and were run over a period of years. Once the club had completed the required number of sanctioned B trials, it then had to offer more structured A trials which included sending out entry forms and having participants submit formal entries to the club. These A trials, as they were referred to, included all of the necessary steps that were needed to hold a licensed trial. All of the sanctioned trials were held on the DEC Navy property in Calverton on LI New York. After having successfully completing the requisite number of AKC Sanctioned A&B trials, the AKC approved the ESSCLI to conduct AKC licensed field trials.
John Lamendola worked to get AKC permission to hold our first AKC licensed field trial. First, the club had to get an approved date from the parent club and obtain permission from the AKC to hold a trial off of LI. Bruce Hotchkiss, who was a pilot, rented a plane and along with John Lamendola flew over eastern LI in an attempt to find a place to hold a Springer trial. Suitable grounds on LI were nowhere to be found.
About that time, the Pittsburgh club moved from the Eastern interclub to the Mid-East interclub thereby opening up the first weekend in October as a possible date for an ESSCLI trial. Then, Ham Rowan, Director of Performance Events and Mike Diesu, Executive director of field events for the AKC worked hand in hand with us and eventually granted us permission to hold a trial off of LI. The first ESSCLI AKC licensed field trial was held on October 6-7, 1990 at the NYSDEC Multiple Use Area in Lafayetville, NY. That first field trial committee included John Lamendola-chairman, Louis Pastore-secretary, Frank Patinelli, Bruce Hotchkiss and Earl Reyes.
Training continued on weekends for years in the 90’s on some farm property in Riverhead. Members who regularly attended included John Lamendola, Tom Longnecker and his wife Jean, Kevin Dolan, Elizabeth Buckman, Jennifer Burrell, Josh Perry, Bruce Hotchkiss, Earl Reyes, Frank Pomes, Buzz Hartshorn and Richard Soule. Members would also on occasion run their dogs in field trials, hunt tests, and sometimes weekend tower shoots. Also, during the early 90’s, the club conducted licensed hunt tests, working dog tests and fun field days mostly on the Navy property in Calverton and once on the North Fork Preserve Property in Riverhead. A licensed hunt test was also held at Dyson Orchards near Clinton Corner, NY. It was at one of the fun field days that then chairman Buzz Hartshorn introduced the club “Twinkie Award”.
John Lamendola continued to chair and Kevin Dolan served as Field trial secretary for several annual licensed field trials which were held in lower NYS at Dyson Orchards near Clinton Corners, Conklin Hill, and the Grassi Estate for examples. Kevin Battistoni and Ray Cacchio, both of the Cocker Club, were a tremendous help in obtaining permission to use those properties. But, as time went on, it became increasingly difficult to find available property in lower NYS suitable for field trials. It was then that the ESSCLI sought out the assistance of Gary Wilson, who found some trial grounds near Painted Post in 1993 and then later on the Erma Brown/Aaron Burns property in Howard, all in the Southern Tier area of Western NY. For several years, the Brown/Burns property became ESSCLI’s signature, or “home ”grounds. Kevin Dolan served as chairman for most of these trials, John Lamendola served as co-chair and Ted Lagala as secretary. Committee members included Carol Dolan, Richard Soule, Rick Wilhelm, Elizabeth Buckman, Damon Licari and Jennifer Burrell. In 2012, Ted Lagala took over the job of field trial chairman and Rick Wilhelm as field trial secretary. Both continue to serve in that capacity for the 2014 field trial which marks the 25th anniversary.
For the past 25 years, the ESSCLI has always tried it’s best to put on quality field trials. Providing grounds with excellent cover, strong flying birds and excellent judges, bird planters and guns have always been a priority. But, it’s also important to mention the ESSCLI hospitality tent which has been a key part of our field trials, providing hot coffee, breakfast, lunch, snacks and most importantly congeniality. Elizabeth Buckman, Jennifer Burrell and her daughter Iona, and Coleen Licari have all contributed at times over the years, but Carol Dolan has been the stalwart.
Our field trials have enjoyed success not only because of the hard work of the field members previously mentioned but also because of several non-club members. For most of our earlier field trials Bernie Castellani provided us with quality pheasant that he raised. Bernie, now in the hall of fame, also provided us with a bird truck and planted birds. He put on bird planting seminars and taught many of us the correct ways to plant birds. Later, Stanley Smith and Don Manning have done an outstanding job of planting birds for all of the trials ESSCLI held in Western NY.
Gary and Cindy Wilson have allowed ESSCLI members access to their kennels and provided a great deal of technical assistance over the years. They have trained and handled many of our dogs. It can also be said that they trained many of us, thereby making us better handlers. Other pro’s including Ralph Botti, Dan Lussen, Billy Akouris, Mike Wallace, Casey Sajdak, Jim Keller, Ray Wunderlich and Jeff Books have all provided their assistance at times and supported our trials with their entries.
The gun teams have always provided excellent and safe shooting. It is widely believed that the gun teams in the east are the best in the country. Earlier on, Paul Van Houten served as gun captain for several years then Johnny Castellani took over the job. Both have been indispensable and provided us with excellent and safe gunning. Some of the guns who have repeatedly shot at our trials over the years include Bob Ryan, Ed Faraci Jr., Chris Jensen, Ralph Botti, Bill Pearson, Bill Reinis, Chuck Urland, Stan Olszewski and Timmy Edwards.
It should also be noted that behind the scenes the ESSCLI board of directors and officers have provided ongoing support for the past 25 years for our field trials, hunting tests, working dog tests and fun field days. Board members included Marge Silverthorn-President, Don Snyder-Vice President Bench, Kevin Dolan-Vice President Field, Ralph Silverthorn-Treasurer, Gail Schuljan-Corresponding Secretary, Anne Barile-Recording Secretary, and board members Scott Gillis, Carol Dolan, Kevin & Barbara Czarasty, and Tracey Monahan.
Epilogue
Several people have contributed to this ESSCLI field history. But as nature would have it, memories fade over time and more than likely some events may be slighted or missing entirely. Eventually, this history will be posted on the ESSCLI website and that will give anybody who wishes to contribute the opportunity to add any missing pieces to the puzzle. We welcome your input.
Happy Trialing! Hope to see you for another 25 year!
