National Mid-Winter Pistol Championships
Tampa, Florida

Pistol Shoot To Start

By LEE LaCOMBE

The 35th annual National Mid-Winter Pistol Championships will be conducted on the Tampa Police Pistol Range today through Monday.

The range is located off State Road 580, seven miles west of Dale Mabry and all events are open to the public without charge.

This year's matches which have drawn entries from two dozen states, will again have an international flavor as there will be four international-style pistol events. The top finishers in each will receive invitations from the National Rifle Association of America to attend final tryouts for selection of the U.S. Shooting Team which will compete in the Pan American Games at Cali, Colombia, in midsummer.

William B. Blankenship, Columbus, Ga., is not expected to return to defend the individual title he captured last year in the regular three-gun championship.

Army SSG Barbara Hile, Lapeer, Mich., will be on hand seeking her third straight women's crown.

The USAMTU shooters will conduct a complete marksmanship clinic Saturday at 7 p.m. on the range. The clinic is open to anyone interested in learning about marksmanship and is free.

International free pistol and center fire pistol matches will kick off this year's tournament today. Standard pistol will be fired Friday and rapid fire pistol will be shot today through Saturday.

The Mid-Winter individual championships will get underway on Saturday with firing of the .22 caliber and center fire (.38 caliber and larger) competition and wind up on Sunday with the .45 caliber matches. A 90-shot Service Pistol match will complete the individual portion of the championships.

Sgt. Henry Huerta of the Tampa Police Department is tournament director and executive officer of the matches.

The Tampa Tribune, March 11, 1971

Clark Top Shooter

By LEE LaCOMBE

Army Sfc Hezekiah Clark, New Orleans, La., currently the hottest gun on the pistol circuit, chalked up another victory Thursday in the International Center Fire Pistol Match.

Clark, who is assigned to the Army's famed Marksmanship Training Unit at Fort Benning, Ga., fired a very creditable 592 out of 600 points in the dual stage event. The Army non-com is undefeated in pistol competition this year. His latest conquest was the Palmetto tournament in Miami last week.

In Thursday's only other competition Sfc James McNally, Seattle, topped the field with a 545-point effort in the Free Pistol match. McNally is also a member of the Army's MTU.

The two events marked the opening of the 35th Mid-Winter Pistol Championships at the Tampa Police Pistol Range. Firing will continue Friday with the Standard Pistol Match and continuing competition in International Rapid Fire.

The three-gun Mid-Winter Championship competition begins Saturday. All events are open to the public free of charge. The range is located about 10 miles west of Dale Mabry Blvd., on State Route 580.

National pistol champion Marine WO Francis Higginson, Quantico, Va., was runnerup to Clark with 591 points and Marine T-Sgt. Joe DeCosta also of Quantico was third with 588.

Army Sfc Sam Hunter, Warrenton, N.C., took second in the Free Pistol with 543 points and his teammate M-Sgt. Emil Heugatter, Adehart, Tex., was third with 542 points.

Walter Walsh, Arlington, Va., was high civilian in Center Fire with 578 and Joe Benner of Tampa, three-time world pistol titleholder, led the civilians in Free Pistol with 532 points.

The Tampa Tribune, March 12, 1971

Dorsey Grabs Pistol Crown

By LEE LaCOMBE

Marine Sgt. Jimmy Dorsey broke the Army's hold on victory yesterday by capturing the International Standard Pistol Match at the Mid-Winter Championships.

Dorsey, who was a member of the U.S. Shooting Team in the 40th World Championships at Phoenix, Ariz., last October, pounded out a fine 583 out of a possible 600 for his first place finish.

He needed every point however as the Army's red-hot Sfc. Hezekiah Clark, New Orleans, slammed out a 582 for the runnerup position.

Jan Brundin of Charlotte, N.C. topped the expert category with a 569 and Sally Sloan, North Oaks, Minn., chalked up her third straight first place in the Sharpshooter Class with a 550.

Tampa's Capt. Joseph Schule also notched his third win in the Marksman competition with a 550.

International competition moves into the back-ground today as the race for the individual Mid-Winter Pistol championships opens with four matches with .22 caliber pistols and four with center fire (.38 caliber of larger) handguns.

Defending champion William B. Blankenship of Columbus, Ga., is not entered this year.

Others who will undoubtedly be near the leadership are Sgt. John Smith, Army, Stroh, Ind., Dorsey of the Marines and a pair of Army competitors Sicinski and M-Sgt. Emil Heugatter, Adlhart, Tex.

One of the highlights of action at the range today will be a marksmanship clinic to be conducted at 7:00 p.m. by members of the Army's famed Marksmanship Training Unit. All of the instructors in the public free of charge, are top notch pistol target competitors and battle veterans.

The Tampa Tribune, March 13, 1971

Clark Top Gun So Far

By LEE LaCOMBE

Red-hot Army SFC Hezekiah Clark, New Orleans, La., came from behind Saturday to snatch the lead in the Mid-Winter Pistol Championships at the Tampa Police Range.

Clark, who has won all three matches that he's entered this year, posted 1769 points of a possible 1800 in eight matches to take a slim one point lead over Marine WO Francis Higginson, Quantico, Va.

Higginson, the current national three-gun pistol champion, won three matches and Clark captured a pair. But the Army noncom was a little steadier throughout the day and took the sub-aggregate center fire title with 883 points.

Army MSG Robert Whitacre, Columbus, Ga., took an early advantage as he topped the field of 260 competitors from two dozen states with a total of 894 points for the four .22 caliber events.

The Tampa Tribune, March 14, 1971

Clark Captures 4th '71 Shooting Title

By LEE LaCOMBE

Cool-headed Army SFC Hezekiah Clark, New Orleans, refused to fold under pressure yesterday and captured the 35th annual Mid-Winter Championship moving away from a star-studded field of 269 of the country's best pistol target shooters.

Clark, undefeated in three other outings this year, passed his toughest test as he chalked up a two-day total of 2,655 points of a possible 2,700, only two under the match record established in 1965 by Air Force Maj. Franklin Green.

He started the day leading national pistol champion Marine WO Francis Higginson, Quantico, Va., by a single point, but slammed the door on his pursuers with an outstanding 887 of 900 with the .45 caliber pistol.

Clark followed up his superb performance by winning the four-match Service Pistol championships with 874 points of 900.

Higginson finished in the runnerup spot with 2,646.

The Tampa Tribune, March 15, 1971

Marine Wins Title In Pistol Match

Marine GySgt. Jimmy Dorsey broke the Army's hold on victory last month by capturing the International Standard Pistol Match at the Mid-Winter Championships.

Dorsey, who was a member of the U.S. Shooting Team in the 40th World Championships at Phoenix, Ariz., last October, pounded out a fine 583 out of a possible 600 to edge the Army's Sfc. Hezekiah Clarke.

The Marine pistol team took part in an eight match international invitational pistol tournament occupying the first two days of a four day tourney at Fort Benning. The last two days of the tournament consisted of the Fort Benning monthly open handgun pistol tourney.

The Marines set the pace in the first round of the International Pistol Tournament. Starting strong in the first match, Dorsey overwhelmed all opposition in the free pistol and flashed to victory with a 588. He also won the standard pistol title. WO F. A. Higginson placed 3rd in center fire pistol competition. The pistol team, composed of Dorsey, Higginson, GySgt. M. L. Ewing and SSgt. D. R. Oxford, took first place in the free pistol competition with a 2162 total.

In the Fort Benning monthly tournament, WO Higginson scored a 2656-132 to place second in the grand aggregate competition.

Quantico Sentry, March 26, 1971