About Me
- Coached multiple U.S. National Champions in men, women, junior and intermediate divisions.
- Several U.S. patents on archery products.
- Senior member of Pope & Young Club.
- Pope & Young and Boone and Crockett measurer.
- Arizona Bowhunters Hall of Fame inductee.
- Published in many U.S. and International publications.
- Archery Hall of Fame Inductee
My journey in the sport of archery began at age 5 with a toy bow and arrow game while visiting one of my cousins in Minnesota. Shortly after that experience our family moved to Arizona and I was introduced to real archery by an older gentleman that lived a few doors down from us in Sunnyslope, Arizona. He fashioned a bow from an Oleander bush and made arrows from the slats found in wooden orange crates. The feathers were leaves. The year was 1950 and little did I know that I would spend the rest of my life involved in the sport of archery.
My first real bow was a #20 Ben Pearson Lemonwood bow that came in a set with a few arrows, an armguard and a tab. This Christmas present touched off a passion that had been growing with all sorts of homemade bows and arrows. Next came a #35 Ben Pearson Hickory static recurve bow and a membership to my first club. The Sun Valley Bowhunters. ( I was the ripe old age of 9)
At the age of 13, I moved with my parents to Toronto Canada and was introduced to the sport of target archery. Up until that time I had only shot field archery in Arizona and hunted small game in the woods across the street from our home in Canada.
Shortly after trying my hand at target archery I entered the Ontario Provincial Championship in the junior division. I won that event by over 100 points and my love of competition had begun in earnest. For the next six years I shot every tournament I could in Canada, moving from the junior division to the intermediate division and finally to the adult division. My last tournament in Canada was the Canadian National combined target and field held in Joliet Quebec in 1964. I won both the target and the field portions of the tournament with a combined total of just under 400 points ahead of the second place finisher. (I was now 18 years old) During the six years I spent in Canada I took second place only once, winning every tournament that I entered.
I returned to the United States in the fall of 1964 and began training for the US World Target Archery team. The trials were held in Chicago and I managed to make the 4 man roster to compete at the World Championship in Vestros Sweden. I placed 5th individually and was a member of the winning World Target Championship Team.
During the 60’s and 70’s I competed in and won many regional and state titles and began my interest in being part of the archery industry. I also spent a year in Vietnam courtesy of the US Army. During that time, I had my bows shipped over and was able to get in some practice during down time. I was invited to do several USO Shows and opened for several big stars at the time. (Not Bob Hope)
After returning to the states I continued shooting competition in the PAA, (Professional Archers Association) and was eventually elected to the board of directors in 1971.
Archery Industry
My business and industry experience in archery has been quite varied and fairly complete. I worked in retail during the summers in Canada, and when I returned to the US. I managed Hugh Rich Archery in California (a large distributor and retailer at the time). I spent time working for Easton Aluminum in Van Nuys, CA. and learned the aluminum arrow manufacturing process from the ground up. Doug Easton, the founder of Easton Aluminum was a personal friend of mine and I spent many hours listening to his stories about archery.
I went on to manage Henderson Archery in Phoenix Arizona for several years and met my wife Diane at that time. Diane was shooting for ASU at the time and we have been together ever since. We were married in 1973.
I worked in the industry for Wing Archery in the mid 1970’s and then for Ben Pearson Archery up to 1980. At that time we moved back to Phoenix and I started my own sporting goods rep group which was heavy in archery products. During the 10 years I had the group we represented, Ben Pearson, Himalayan Industries, Rocky Mountain Razor Broadheads, Cobra Sights, Hoyt Archery, and a dozen or so other companies.
I also started my own company with the help of a partner and machinist Mr. Jim Haines. Jim was a shooter that I had met during my time in California and was making products for Wing. I had come up with an arrow rest and needed a manufacturer. Jim and I started a partnership that lasted until his death in 2005. The company was named after his high school basketball team in La Salle, Illinois, “The Cavaliers” I would come up with the products needed in the industry and we would get together and design them and he would work out the method of manufacture. I was a perfect partnership.
Cavalier products were sold world wide in the target archery and hunting industry. At one time archers using Cavalier products owned every world and Olympic record on the books. Some of the records that were shot using Cavalier products are still unbroken today. We sold Cavalier to AAE in Prescott, Arizona in 2005 and they are still manufacturing many of the products that Jim and I came up with. My original arrow rest, the T-300 is still in production today. It was patented in 1976.
I have also served on the Board of Directors of the PAA (Professional Archers Association) and the AMO (Archery Manufacturers Association, now the ATA)
Trick Shooting
Along with my love of target archery and bowhunting, I also became passionate about trick shooting with the bow and arrow. The ability to put on a good show and promote the sport of archery was a natural part of the sport for me. As I mentioned before, I did USO Shows in Vietnam that earned me a phone call home. I was hired to do a show for the Calgary Stampede in the early 70’s. This was 2 shows a day for 10 days for crowds of 500 to 1000 for each show. The show included precision shooting that climaxed with shooting an asprin off a golf tee and a trick shooting exhibition that involved a variety of shots and aerial targets. The show was voted the most professional show at the stampede.
I have done a number of movies for the Arizona Game and Fish Department to promote the sport of archery including shooting Trap with a bow and shooting pheasants out of the air (5 in a row) for the cameras. This was all done with a recurve hunting bow and broadhead tipped arrows. I have performed for numerous TV shows and for countless archery and bowhunting banquets and gatherings.
Hunting
During all this time, I have always found time to do a little bowhunting. I have never considered myself a great hunter but I have always had the ability to hit what I was aiming at and therefore I was successful in spite of myself. I have been fortunate enough to hunt in many different states and several different countries. I have harvested many large and small game animals including 12 elk, over 40 deer, over 45 Javelina, 1 Bison, 2 Caribou, 2 Black Bears, 2 Antelope, several fox, Coyote, Pheasants on the wing, numerous Catalina Goats and Pigs, Moreno Sheep, Ferrel Hogs, Angora Goats, Corsican Sheep numerous small game and fish, 3 different species of Grouse and several varieties of aspen trees! Most recently a red oak sapling to add to my collection.
I am a Senior Member of the Pope & Young Club and I have been an Official Measurer for the P&Y for over 38 years. I am a life member of the Arizona Bowhunters Association and I served as the emcee for their annual banquet for 25 years. Most recently I was honored to be inducted into the Arizona Bowhunting Hall of Fame. My good friend Randy Ulmer was also inducted the same evening which made it even more special.
Coaching
I began coaching in 1964 and at the Canadian Nationals, Joan Gallie (Now Joan McDonald) won the women’s division and Brian Leonard won the Intermediate division. These were my first real students.
Since that time I have been fortunate to have coached a vast number of winners in the sport of target archery. These winners include State, Regional, National, Intercollegiate, World and Olympic Champions. I have had both the men’s and women’s national champions multiple times and in almost every division available.
I have written numerous published articles on shooting and tuning techniques, for magazines both here and in Europe. I am still writing articles today for Bow & Arrow Hunting and for Bow International. I was involved with the USAT Training Camps from 1981 to 1992 attending up to 2 camps a year along with other outside work to help promote the training of our elite athletes. I have coached several US Teams: 1986 Championship of the Americas Team, 1988 World Field Team, 1989 World Target Team, 1990 Spring Arrow (Russia), and the 1992 Olympic Team, Barcelona. At the present time I am still coaching on a private basis, and I have several very good archers on the way up. I teach two advanced classes at Archery Headquarters in Chandler, AZ. At the recent 2016 Las Vegas Shoot I had two young people win their divisions against some very tough competition. One of the young ladies that I have worked with is now the number 1 woman in the USA. I have attended the 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996 Olympics in some official capacity either for the team or for the Olympics. Most recently I have been working with the Canadian National Teams in an effort to help them improve as archers and coaches. There has been some considerable improvement in their program since I began working with them. In 1993 I was awarded the Level 5 Master Coach status from the US National Archery Association.
My journey in the sport has taken me all over the world and I have made countless friends and I am sure a few enemies along the way. My involvement in the sport of archery has allowed me to meet and be friends with many of the top athletes from other sports that also share the love of shooting a bow and arrow. I have been able to share in the victories of my shooters and console them when they were not so successful. I have been able to help bowhunters harvest game that they never thought would happen and I have shared the stories around a campfire after an unsuccessful attempt. I have enjoyed being able to come up with unique products to advance the sport of target archery and bowhunting. I have been around this sport long enough to have met and become friends with many of the legends of the sport including, Ben Pearson, Fred Bear, Jim Dougherty, Doug Easton, The Wilson Brothers (Black Widow Bows), Earl and Ann Hoyt, Dale Marcy, Chuck Saunders, , Howard Hill, Gail Martin, and many other pioneers of our sport. It has been a good ride.