From Chesapeake 20

Wagner Trophy - West River Championship in early 30s

Posted in: Historical Race Results, Perpetual Trophies
By Ted Weihe
Oct 24, 2009 - 10:58:43 AM

Wagner Perpetual Trophy -  West River Championship, 1933-1937

 

Wagner Perpetual Trophy was awarded as the West River Championship from 1937 until 1937.  It was won by Ozzie Osbourn in Vanity after three consecutive victories and is Osborn’s most cherished trophy.  In his autobiography, The Wizard is Oz: Huntsman, Fisherman & Sometime Sailorman, he wrote:

 

The Wagner’s Cup was donated in 1932 by Louis Heintz, husband of Lillian Wagner, in memory of his father-in-law, “Uncle” Billy Wagner.  It was planned to be a perpetual trophy, as it had to be won by the same boat for three consecutive years to be retired.  The Cup went to the winner of the last race – the Free-for-All – of the annual West River Sailing Club Regatta, which was held on Labor Day weekend.  In 1933, it was won by E. Leatherbury of Shady Side, Maryland; in 1934, by E. Hartge of Galesville; and in 1935 and 1936 by Os Owings of Washington, D.C.  So, the Free-for-All in the 1937 Regatta was the most important race in my sailing career, particularly since I was engaged to Jeanette Stutler, one of Uncle Billy’s granddaughters.

 

See 1930s archives for description of the race.  Oz Osbourn concludes in his autobiography that:

When the gun sounded, we whooped with joy.  It had been our most exciting race – and the Wagner Cup was ours.  It now rests in a prominent place in our trophy collection.”

 


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