The Expert Challenge Cup (The Expert Trophy)

The Expert Challenge Cup (in recent decades known as the Expert Trophy) is an ornate sterling-silver pitcher, 8-1/2 inches tall, that Julian M. Rumsey donated in 1892 to what was then called the Geneva Lake Yacht Club. (Julian M. was the son of Julian S. Rumsey who owned Nettie, the first Sheridan Prize winner.) Rumsey named the trophy after his sloop Expert, winner of the Sheridan Prize in 1890, and he designated it for challenge racing between cat-rigged sandbaggers in the 18- to 21-foot class. Decoration on the silver pitcher includes a faint swallowtail burgee on the handle (perhaps a private signal) and a heavily embossed design (a dogwood blossom, leaves, other flowers) that twines beneath the trophy’s name and those of its first three winners. Engraved on every surface, even the bottom, are the names of winning skippers up to the 1990s. Currently missing is a new wooden base that bore the names of the most recent winners. Starting in 2012, the winner of the Expert Challenge Cup received for one year a plaque with a drawing of Nettie at the top by the late Ted Brennan and the names of the winners since 1996.

On August 27, 1892, John Johnston Jr. won the first of the match races for the Expert Challenge Cup; on September 25, challenger C. F. K. Billings won the trophy; in 1897, Byron Boyden finished first with Walter Jewell at the helm. Within a few years time, Boyden transferred his boat and her equipment (and the trophy) to L. H. Stafford, and competition for the Expert Challenge Cup stopped for close to three decades. Records suggest that the trophy’s return to the Yacht Club in 1927 was facilitated by the efforts of Walter Jewell, Henry H. Porter, and convincing correspondence from Commodore William Nelson Pelouze, Colonel of the First Infantry, Illinois Reserve Militia.

In an effort to restore challenge racing “to the high place it occupied when such historic yachts as Nettie, Vanadis, Whisper, Sphinx, and others competed for the championship of the lake,” LGYC’s officers revised the procedures for challenge racing and selected the relatively new Class E to compete for the trophy. The first match in Class E was in 1927, and the winner was Herb Taylor, a former Olympic swimmer and later the instructor of the Yacht Club’s fledgling Sailing School. In April of 1929, club officers abolished the challenge-cup system and designated the Expert Challenge Cup for fleet competition, as is the case today.

1892 John Johnston Jr. (August 27 challenge race)
1892 C. K. G. Billings (September 25 challenge race)
1897 Byron Boyden/Walter Jewell, skipper (August 13 challenge race)
1927 G. Herbert Taylor (July 3 challenge race)
1927 O. P. Curran Jr. (July 10 challenge race)
1928 O. P. Curran Jr. (August 12 challenge race)
1929 O. P. Curran Jr.
1930 Winfield Craven
1931 Ralph Isham
1932 I. L. Ellwood
1933 I. L. Ellwood
1934 Harold R. Hough
1935 Bruce P. Adams
1936 Bruce P. Adams
1937 Bruce P. Adams
1938 Clarence W. Sills Jr
1939 Colman Brothers
1940 Clarence W. Sills Jr.
1941 Tom Courtney Jr.
1942 Harold R. Hough
1943 Harold R. Hough
1944 Clarence W. Sills Jr./John Clifford, skipper
1945 Harold R. Hough
1946 Clarence W. Sills Jr.
1947 George H. Kiefer Jr.
1948 No race
1949 George H. Kiefer Jr.
1950 George H. Kiefer Jr.
1951 No race
1952 William C. Grunow Jr.
1953 No race
1954 Tom Ferris
1955 Tom Ferris
1956 Tom Ferris
1957 Tom Ferris
1958 William H. Freytag Jr./John R. Perrigo; William H. Freytag Jr., skipper
1959 William H. Freytag Jr./John R. Perrigo; William H. Freytag Jr., skipper
1960 Buddy Melges
1961 Robert E. Pegel
1962 Robert E. Pegel
1963 Robert E. Pegel
1964 Ed Smith
1965 Buddy Melges
1966 Robert E. Pegel
1967 Bob and Jane Pegel
1968 Bob and Jane Pegel
1969 Bob and Jane Pegel
1970 Bob and Jane Pegel
1971 Robert E. Pegel
1972 Kay Larkin
1973 Bill Allen
1974 Bill Allen
1975 Clayton Gaylord
1976 Dave C. Williams/Tom P. Heskith
1977 Bill Allen
1978 John Gluek
1979 No race
1980 Jim McGinley
1981 Jim McGinley
1982 Brian Porter
1983 Brian Porter
1984 Brian Porter
1985 Brian Porter
1986 Robert R. Harring
1987 Jim McGinley
1988 Brian Porter
1989 No race
1990 No race
1991 Jeff Colman
1992 Eugene Wittenstrom
1993 Brian Porter
1994 Brian Porter
1995 Brian Porter
1996 Brian Porter
1997 Brian Porter
1998 Brian Porter
1999 Buddy Melges
2000 J. Wendell Sherry
2001 J. Wendell Sherry
2002 No race
2003 Peter Wall
2004 Scott H. Ripkey
2005 Scott H. Ripkey
2006 Ken Wruk
2007 Brian Porter
2008 Ken Wruk
2009 No race
2010 Frank A. Davenport
2011 Brian Porter
2012 Vincent Porter
2013 Ken Wruk
2014 Brian Porter
2015 Vincent Porter
2016 No Race
2017 Vincent Porter
2018 Tom Freytag
2019 Vincent Porter
2020 No Race
2021 Brian Porter
2022 Josh LaCroix
2023 Brian Porter