Grancel Fitz
Grancel Fitz | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1894 Philadelphia, US |
| Died | May 12, 1963 (aged 68) Mount Sinai West, New York City, US |
| Occupation(s) | Big-game hunter, photographer |
Grancel Fitz (1894 – May 12, 1963) was an American big-game hunter and photographer.
Biography
Fitz was born in 1894, in Philadelphia, to William H. A. Fitz. His first hunts took place in the Susquehanna River Valley area. Having hobbied photography from 1914,[1] he began doing so professionally in 1920. In 1929, he established an advertising photography business after moving to New York City. Active in the 1920s and 1930s, he worked for companies such as AT&T, Chevrolet, Ipana and Ivory[2] and received eight national prizes for his works. He married Betty Sample Haggard[3] by 1924.[4]
As a big-game hunter, Fitz hunted in places such as Africa and India. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he successfully hunted every anumal in North America which was listed by the Boone and Crockett Club. He used an M1 Garand.[5] He also coined "grand slam" in a big-game hunting context while writing for True in 1950, to describe the collection of every sheep variety listed in North America.[6][7] In 1953, he tied the world record for the grizzly bear score after killing one near the Klinaklini River.[8]
He was also an early influencer of the Boone and Crockett Club's scoring system.[9] In September 1962, Fitz suffered a myocardial infarction whilst hunting jaguars in Mato Grosso. He died on May 12, 1963, aged 68, of heart disease, at Mount Sinai West in New York City.[3]
References
- ^ "Grancel Fitz papers". library.umbc.edu. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
- ^ Fitz, Grancel (1917), Under the Boardwalk, retrieved 2025-07-24
- ^ a b "GRANCEL FITZ DEAD; BIG-GAME HUNTER, 68". The New York Times. 1963-05-14. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
- ^ "Image 13 of Der Nordstern (St. Cloud, Minn.), February 21, 1924 | Library of Congress". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
- ^ Petzal, David E. (October 2005). Can One Gun Do It All?. p. 25.
- ^ Kallman, Harmon (1987). Restoring America's Wildlife, 1937-1987: The First 50 Years of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration (Pittman-Robertson) Act. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-16-003578-4.
- ^ Barsness, John (May 1991). Grand-Slam Flim-Flams. p. 49.
- ^ Grancel Fitz. Time Inc. 1955-10-31. p. 78.
- ^ Walrod, Dennis (2010-07-30). Antlers: A Guide to Collecting, Scoring, Mounting, and Carving. Stackpole Books. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-8117-4214-6.