Although he was never known to have ever pointed a gun at a target, Elmer F. Shaner still was recognized as the "Dean of Organized Trapshooting," the man who put the sport on the athletic map. Shaner spent nearly 50 years in the sport and didn’t miss a single Grand American until failing health stopped his streak in the last two years of his life.

Shaner was managing tournaments for the Pennsylvania State Sportsman’s Association when the old Interstate Manufacturers Trapshooting Association, a forerunner of today’s Amateur Trapshooting Association, chose the former school teacher from the Pittsburgh, Pa. area to guide the destiny of their sport as its secretary-treasurer. He managed all 10 of the Grand Americans at live birds, from 1893 through 1902, also was the manager of the first 19 Grand Americans at inanimate targets.