Local history: The secret of the old trophy – Akron Beacon Journal

This could be a Nancy Drew book called The Secret of the Old Trophy or maybe an Ellery Queen novel titled The Loving Cup Mystery.

Millie Neiman Korachs antique vase has a curious past.

For decades, the 96-year-old Akron woman has used the silver container to display fresh flowers. Thats the way it originally was presented to her. But she has always been aware of a faint inscription on its side:

PORTAGE GOLF CLUB

BOGIE HANDICAP

JUNE 18, 1904

WON BY

WILL CHRISTY

Im very interested in what you may have to tell me about my trophy, Korach told a Beacon Journal reporter.

We checked the newspapers archives and found a sports story from June 21, 1904, headlined CHRISTY WON IT.

In a sentence that could never be diagrammed, the article noted: The 18-hole mens bogie handicap, for a trophy offered by the club, which was played on the Portage golf links Saturday afternoon, was won by Will Christy with P.D. Hall pursuing him hotly. The winners handicap was 10, while Hall had a handicap of 12.

Akrons first golf club, a nine-hole course, was laid out in 1894 on the farm of Col. George T. Perkins, grandson of Akrons founder, Gen. Simon Perkins. Its clubhouse was the former home of abolitionist John Brown at Copley and Diagonal roads.

The summer of 1904 was the last season at the original location before it incorporated as Portage Country Club and moved to North Portage Path and Twin Oaks, where it remains today. Christy was one of the incorporators.

Who was he? Highland Square residents might recognize him as the namesake of Will Christy Park at West Exchange Street and Rose Boulevard. Christys wife, Rose, inspired the boulevards name.

In the early 20thcentury, Christy was one of Akrons most prominent and influential citizens. He served as president of Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., Central Savings & Trust Co., Northern Ohio Traction & Light Co. and Akron Peoples Telephone Co.

In 1883, Christy organized the Akron Street Railway and Herdic Co. with John E. Metlin and Ira M. Mather. A herdic was a 25-passenger, horse-drawn car that rolled on iron rails. Christy later invested in electric trolleys and led the Northern Ohio Traction & Light Co., a forerunner of Ohio Edison.

Christy spent much of his free time on the links, competing in tournaments and taking golf trips. Harvey Firestone was one of his golfing buddies.

Will Christy was 56 when he died unexpectedly from appendicitis in 1916. Rose died in 1929 at age 61 in her pink brick mansion, Rosewill Manor, on a hill at West Exchange and South Portage Path. She lived across the street from Grey Lodge, the George Bertram Work home that now serves as the Akron Womans City Club.

They had no children. The mansion was demolished in 1966 and the hill was leveled during the development of the nearby Five Points Shopping Center.

But were straying from that trophy, arent we? The loving cup stands more than a foot tall and appears to be made of pewter. It has a floral motif with ornately molded handles. A picture of a golfer in mid-swing is etched on one side.

Millie Neiman Korach, the former owner of Regency Wine Store at Fairlawn Plaza, has treasured the silver cup for more than 50 years.

It had belonged to Akron brick manufacturer Henry H. Camp and his wife, Anna, who lived in an opulent, English-style home at 20 N. Revere Road across from Fairlawn Country Club.

Our shop was very close and they would come in frequently, Korach said. Thats when Fairlawn Plaza had just opened up.

She wasnt friends with the couple, but she knew they were good, kind people. In the mid-1950s, she and her first husband, Eli Neiman, lived a few blocks north of the Camps on Revere Road. She always admired the corner home on the way to and from the wine shop.

They lived such an elegant life, Korach said. Their home was a museum.

The couple, who had no children, employed a chauffeur, housekeeper and other workers on the huge estate.

One spring day in the 1960s, the Camps housekeeper Maddie delivered fresh lilacs to the Neiman home. Korach doesnt remember the occasion. The flowers were presented in the old trophy.

Henry died in 1956 at age 79. Anna Camp died in 1966 at age 85.

They passed away and the vase stayed with me, Korach said. I always wanted to get it back to the owners.

But there apparently are no direct heirs.

Anna Camp was Will Christys niece. She must have inherited the trophy through her mother, Alice Metlin, Christys sister. The Christy and Camp couples had no children and Anna had no siblings.

The contents of the Camp home were liquidated in a public sale. The mansion was razed to make room for an office building.

It was really too bad that the house was torn down and made into offices, but those things do happen, Korach said.

Now she knows more than she probably ever wanted to learn about a golf trophy from 1904.

She had hoped to see it in good hands, but with no apparent Camp or Christy heir to receive it, shell hold on to the vase a little longer.

That trophy has no mama or papa, Korach said. Ill have to take good care of it myself.

Mark J. Price can be reached atmprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

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Local history: The secret of the old trophy - Akron Beacon Journal