 OWAA Legends
Southern Gentle Man
By Jim Casada
Note: This is a revised and shortened version of Jim Casada’s introduction
to the 1987 Premier Press reprint of De Shootinest Gent’man.
Nash Buckingham was born in Memphis, TN, on May 31, 1880, the son of Miles
Sherman and Annie (Gyfford) Buckingham. Growing up in Memphis exposed him to the
ideals of gentility and humanity that characterized Southern society at its
best, and these praiseworthy attributes were to be the essence of the man
throughout his career. An innate courtesy and respect for his fellow man, no
matter what his race, lay at the heart of Buckingham’s very being. The
uninitiated or casual reader of his poetry and prose might be tempted to condemn
him unjustly of being condescending if not forthrightly racist in his treatment
of blacks. A more careful reading of his work, however, will reveal the esteem
in which he held members of that race and the prominent (and favorable) role
they are assigned in both his writings and real life.
In Buckingham’s adolescent years, Memphis was the commercial heart of a region
where cotton long had been king, but within short distance still lay marvelous
hunting and fishing territory. Though we know less than we wish about
Buckingham’s development during this period, his writings suggest that he spent
a lot of time in the field. In all likelihood his parents were quite affluent,
because published recollections of his youthful hunting contacts and the nature
of his formal education suggest comfortable circumstances.
An individual whose bonhomie was matched by a powerful intellect, Buckingham
enjoyed the opportunities to expand and develop his mental abilities as an
undergraduate at Harvard University and the University of Tennessee. He also
pursued legal studies at the latter institution. Although there is apparently no
concrete evidence to confirm this, one suspects he transferred from the
sometimes sterile atmosphere of Cambridge to the more appealing environs of
Knoxville as a result of the combined effects of homesickness and the absence of
river bottoms and pointing dogs. Certainly the full years of Buckingham’s
subsequent career, as well as specific statements he made, indicate that an
abiding love of the South and the genteel pace that moved its people were deeply
imbedded in his character.
Buckingham’s athletic abilities – he was a four-sport star at the University of
Tennessee – naturally figured prominently in the duck blind and afield. From an
early age he was a first-rate wing shot. The original introduction to De
Shootinest Gent’man quotes the gun editor of Field and Stream, Captain Paul
Curtis, on Buckingham’s abilities, and the author of the piece, Colonel Harold
Sheldon, also praises his shooting prowess. If Buckingham was a master with the
shotgun, eventually he would make even more of a mark as a writer and
commentator. Surprisingly, he pursued a variety of occupations, even though the
first of them was as a journalist, before eventually deciding that writing was
his métier.
His apprenticeship as a sports writer came immediately after college with a
stint on the staff of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, where, as a sports writer,
he was especially noted for his coverage of football. His marriage in 1910 to
Irma Lee Jones ended his work with the newspaper. Doubtless feeling an increased
sense of responsibility as a result of his new marital status, Buckingham tried
his hand at a number of occupations over the next two decades, but all related
in some way to the sporting instincts that were so deeply ingrained in him.
These included, among others, ownership of a sporting goods business in Memphis
from 1917 to 1925, a directorship with the Western Cartridge Company, and an
associate editor’s position with Field and Stream magazine. The latter position,
together with a growing string of published tales to his credit, led directly to
the publication of his best-known book, De Shootinest Gent’man.
Once Buckingham reached a juncture in life where he possessed sufficient
introspection to realize just how much the sporting life meant to him, he
abandoned all pretense of pursuing other careers and gave himself fully to his
first love. His prolific pen produced a steady stream of articles for the best
sporting journals of the day, and his knack of crafting sprightly, well-told
tales served him well. All of his books are, in essence, collections of such
tales spiced with an ample sprinkling of his simple, unaffected poetry.
Both Buckingham’s poetic and prosaic endeavors drew heavily on his own
experiences or those of individuals with whom he was familiar. One of the finest
ways to grasp the measure of the man lies in reading his works and recognizing
the pronounced autobiographical strain they contain. He was a master of dialect,
especially that of the blacks who served as cooks, dog handlers and sporting
jacks-of-all-trade in the real-life world he knew, and he makes good use of this
ability in his writings. Buckingham has been criticized on more than one
occasion for his extensive use of dialect, but in truth it gives reality to his
work. For anyone with Southern roots, his words soon come to have an almost
uncanny audibility – as if they were actually being spoken – and even the
untrained ear easily adjusts to their rhythmic quality. From the outset
reviewers recognized this special ability of Buckingham’s, although one should
hasten to add that he was masterful in producing well-turned phrases in normal
English.
Ever the obliging gentleman, in literary pursuits as well as everyday affairs,
Buckingham followed his first full-length work with a number of similar efforts.
These included six further volumes in much the same vein: Mark Right! (1936),
Ole Miss’ (1937), Blood Lines (1938), Tattered Coat (1944), Game Bag (1945) and
Hallowed Years (1953). Later Buckingham coauthored, with William F. Brown,
National Field Trial Champions: An Authentic and Detailed History of the
National Field Trial Championship Association Since Its Inception in 1896
(1955). This highly specialized, carefully researched work was a labor of love,
for Buckingham long had been a fixture at regional field competitions, and
beginning in 1933 he regularly judged at the National Field Trials.
Field judging was but one of many examples of the manner in which Buckingham
closely paralleled his literary endeavors by giving unstintingly of himself to
causes devoted to the betterment of hunting, sporting literature and the
preservation of the American outdoor tradition. A man of considerable perception
with a shrewd eye to the future, he was among the first to recognize the
variegated ways in which the changing face of America would affect the sport.
As one of the founders of OWAA, Buckingham realized that as access to habitat
declined, there would be a concomitant rise in demand for literature about that
habitat and the game it supported. In the same vein, he became a noted
conservationist and regularly raised his voice to help that cause. His services
in this regard were recognized by a number of awards, and rightly so. Buckingham
was tireless in his efforts to reduce the bootlegging of game, to eradicate
widespread indifference to (and even official connivance in) game law violations
and he was one of the staunchest advocates of the Migratory Bird Treaty. In
short, he left far more to future generations of sportsmen than his wonderful
literary legacy.
Ever the athlete and a man of surpassing physical fitness, Buckingham lived to a
ripe old age and hunted virtually to the end. Buckingham died on March 10, 1971,
just two months short of his 91st birthday in Knoxville, TN, home of his
daughter. More than 20 years earlier a journalist had called Buckingham “one of
a disappearing American strain,” and there is no question that he stands among
our great sportsmen and sporting writers. A gentleman in the original and finest
sense of the word (“gentle man”), Buckingham has left to posterity his own
memorial. His books capture forever the flavor of the man and his milieu, and
without question he ranks well to the forefront of OWAA’s legends.
Jim Casada of Rock Hill, SC, is a freelance writer, book author, editor,
columnist and lecturer. A member of OWAA since 1986, Casada recently served as
OWAA’s president.
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