Our third Enshrinee could very well be characterized as “The First Lady of Trapshooting,” a title which would no doubt be true for the State of Georgia. The ten time All American started her trapshooting career in 1941, attending Fred Etchen’s shooting school so she could join husband Clyde King, Jr. on the line. She broke 79 for that year’s State Women’s Championship, the first of 20. 

As of 1991, she was the only woman in Georgia history to win three State Singles titles. She was champion three years in a row, beginning in 1950, and she smashed 200 straight in 1952. It was the first time the Georgia 16-yard winner had broken 200, and until 1987, she was the only woman in ATA history to win a State Singles Championship with a perfect Double Century. She ended as runner-up in the 1947 State Singles Race. She secured the 1952 All Around award (in a shootoff over her husband). He beat her in overtime for the handicap and the High Over All as well. She was Georgia Handicap Titlist in 1958 and 1960 and she earned the ATA Southern Zone Open Handicap, All Around and High Over All trophies in 1948. 

In 1946 she earned her first “Grand” Trophies, placing third in the Women’s Champion of Champions and teaming with husband Clyde, shot 190x200 for the Husband and Wife title. They won again in 1950 and tied for the 1952 crown. In 1947 she took home that year’s femme Grand American Handicap title, placed second two years later and won again in 1957. 

At the 1952 Grand, she captured women’s titles in the Clay Target Championship, Dayton Homecoming, All Around and High Over All, and she was runner up in the ladies Champion of Champions event. For the season she led women’s 16 -yard averages with .9559 on 4,700 targets and she was named captain of the 1953 femme All American Team. At her final Grand in 1962, she won the Women’s Champion of Champion’s crown with a 96. 

She registered her last targets the following year, earning the Peach State’s women’s title. During her career she fired at 62,150 singles and approximately as many in doubles, handicap and practice.

In 1950 she was voted into the Georgia Athletic Hall of Fame, and she was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Atlanta Journal in 1950 and 1957. She was enshrined in the ATA Trapshooting Hall of Fame at Vandalia in 1972. 

She was a graduate of Washington Seminary in Atlanta and national Park Seminary in Washington, D.C. and is a past president of the Atlanta Girl Scouts and the Druid Hills Garden Club. She was also a member of the Cherokee Gun Club in Spartanburg, South Carolina. During her lifetime she held many offices in numerous organizations. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of the Trustees of the Georgia Trapshooting Hall of Fame, I present to you Frances King Garlington – a true champion in every sense of the word. 

Enshrined May 30, 1994