BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The football spiraled tightly under a blue autumn sky, and were Annie Oakley to re-emerge and shoot it from the air, passer Mark Jones probably would have said, "Nice shot, I know all about you."
Today marks the 123rd anniversary of Ms. Oakley's famous target-shooting contest victory at what is now St. Clair Heights Park in Cincinnati's South Fairmount neighborhood. She was just 15.
Her marksmanship propelled her to world fame, a slice of local lore with which 9-year-old Mark is quite familiar.
Interrupting a football toss in the park Sunday with his friend, 10-year-old William Copeland, Mark played history teacher.
"She shot a hole in a penny," Mark said. "Threw it up in the air. She was real famous."
Mark attended the fifth annual Annie Oakley Days park festival in August, when locals gathered for an 1850s-era softball game, storytelling and a pioneer re-enactment. The event raised $1,500 for park preservation, event coordinator Elliott Ellis said Sunday.
According to legend, Ms. Oakley and Frank Butler gathered at then-Shutzenbuckle Park and shot at flying targets. She won. Later, they married. The couple, joined by "Buffalo" Bill Cody, went on a tour of shooting exhibitions that took them around the world. They became an international sensation.
The enduring sensation Mr. Ellis talked about Sunday was the hope that Ms. Oakley's life story, and South Fairmount's place in it, isn't forgotten.
"She was a good example for women in general and in many respects was a pioneer of sports," he said.
He recalled that Ms. Oakley's sister, Lydia, and brother-in-law, Joe Stein, lived on Grand Street, what is now Iroquois Street, which dead-ends at the park.
There is still a sliver of debate about what occurred Nov. 23, 1875. Some say it actually occurred in the city's Oakley section. Mr. Ellis cites records from the Old German Shooting Club that indicate it happened at what is now St. Clair Heights Park.
The debate is of little consequence to Mark and William. Fall foliage is in the final stages. A small rip on his Atlanta Falcons jacket flapped in the breeze as Mark went deep for a pass.
A moment later, during a break, he was going deep for the past - and he liked the fact that it involved his neighborhood.
PH:After the 1875 shooting contest, Annie Oakley went on a world tour of shooting exhibitions and became a sensation.
