The English Setter Club of America is proud to have Joe Luisi inducted into the ESCA Hall of Fame!

By Edmund R. Gager - President ESCA 1985 - 1992

The English Setter Club of America has been described in Bird Dog journals and Sporting Dog magazines as the greatest one course trial in America, and now after one hundred years, the club is still held in the highest esteem. The English Setter Club was started in 1906 by a group of Philadelphia sportsmen, headed by George C. Thomas of Chestnut Hill, PA, and Frank Reily of Meford, NJ, who maintained an office in Philadelphia for his glass company. Their first specialty dog show was held in Horticulture Hall in Philadelphia on April 17, 1907, and the first field trial for members on April 11, 1908, on the Thomas estate in Chestnut Hill, PA. In 1910, several members favored the development of field competition rather than purely bench shows. In 1911, the trials were moved to more spacious grounds near…

By George M. Rogers

Somehow, through the sheer fun and periodic joy which comes with occasional success, men, women and even boys and girls have contributed much to the second twenty-five years of the continued existence of the famed English Setter Club of America. It has, in fact, been far more then a mere existence. The Club has grown in stature during its late years. It has maintained the standards achieved and etched in time by the Club's founders. A face lifting so to speak, has not been its only obvious tribute to the country side, but it has soundly embedded its roots in the community in which it lives.

The club's small share of business in the area is sought after and it has glistened during good years and bad under an A+ credit rating. More than this, its facilities as a public boarding kennel have gained renown…

Hall of Fame Member and Owner of National Champion Eugene M

While taking no deserved glory or credit from any person of the past or present there is one outstanding Bright Star in the firmament of The English Setter Club of America that never to this day has lost its luster. This star is the late Frank Reily of Medford, NJ. While Frank, a prominent field trial personality, was a member of a number od field trial clubs, his one love was The English Setter Club. He was active in its affairs from almost the day of its founding. It was he who obtained in his own name the option on the farm at Medford and it was he who was the guiding spirit that carried the club successfully through its early days of growing pains and development. It is doubtful that The English Setter Club of America would ever…