U.S. Shooting team

Rifle Members

Lanny Bassham, David Boyd, John Foster, Dave Kimes, Bruce Meredith, Margaret Murdock, John Watkins, Lones Wigger and John Writer

Ladies Rifle Members

Tricia Foster, Bonny Hampson, Margaret Murdock and Diana Timberlake (Alternate)

Pistol Members

William Blankenship, Donald Hamilton, Emile Heugatter, Francis Higginson, Elmer W. Hilden, William W. McMillan, Aubrey Smith, John Smith, Edwin Teague, Arnold Vitarbo, Charles Wheeler and Jimmy Dorsey (Alternate)

Ladies Pistol Members

Sallie Carroll, Lucile Chambliss, Barbara Hile and Mary Norckauer (Alternate)

Running Boar Members

Loyd Crow, Ted McMillion, Frank Tossas and Robert Yeager

Clay Target Members

Kenneth Blasi, Jim Columbo, Kenneth Gilbert, Dallas Krapf, Robert Rodale, Larry Stafford, Larry Tiner, Walter Zobell and Allan Morrison (Alternate)

Ladies Clay Target

Valerie Johnson

Team Management & Support

Walter R. Walsh (Team Captain & Coach), Harry Reeves (Assistant) and Jack Maple (Armorer)

Tryouts set for world shooting

WASHINGTON, D.C. - More than 500 of the country's best men and women sports target shooters have been invited by the National Rifle Association of America to participate in the 10th annual U.S. International Shooting Championships at Phoenix, Ariz., July 18-26, and compete for positions on the U.S. team which will represent this country in the 40th World Shooting Championships.

The World Championships, which will be conducted by the N.R.A. on behalf of the U.S. and the International Shooting Union, will be held at Phoenix, October 17-26.

The U.S. Open Team will be composed of nine rifle shooters, 11 pistol shooters, four international skeet competitors, four clay pigeon (trapshooting) members, four running boar shooters and two alternates.

In ladies competition, the U.S. will also be authorized to enter three rifle shooters, three pistol shooters, two clay pigeon shooters, two international skeet shooters and two alternates.

With six officials permitted on the Open Team and one official for the ladies squad, the U.S. contingent will total 53 persons.

Walter Walsh, a retired Marine Corps colonel has been named as team captain for the U.S. Team by the N.R. A.

The Missourian, June 19, 1970

International Shooting Event Will Start

By Wilson K. Lythgoe

Every summer and fall, hundreds of riel marksmen, pistol shooters and skeet competitors vie in matches up and won and across the country.

Interest of shooters tomorrow will be centered upon Phoenix, Ariz., where more than 500 of the country's best men and women sports target shooters will open 13 days of competition in the U.S. International Shooting Championships.

Modesto's top rifle shooter, Duane Jenner, will not attend the International Championship. Jenner, who is one of the top rifle competitors in the nation, declined to attend because of the extremely hot weather in Phoenix.

"When fully clothed in my shooting gear, the heat would be intolerable," Jenner says. He will, however, attend the National Championships at Camp Perry, Ohio in August.

The shooters have been invited by the National Rifle Association to compete for positions on the U.S. team, which will represent the country in the 40th world shooting championships Oct. 17-26 in Phoenix.

Select US Team

The US open team to be selected will be composed of men as well as women rifle, pistol and skeet shooters. For a target match to draw women as men is no longer unusual.

And for a match to be marred by the least untoward incident is most unusual.

It made headlines, though, a few years ago when antigun senators and congressman applied pressure to the point where the Defense Department, avowedly in the interest of economy, withdrew its support from the National Rifle and Pistol matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, an annual event which the military and NRA had conducted jointly since 1903.

The NRA, backed by target shooters, sportsmen and shooting sports industry, have since gone it alone in putting on the competitive shooting events.

Truly these events have become both All-American and international. As such, they merit full public acceptance and recognition.

The American-style target shooting competitions, which had their beginnings in colonial times, have caught on and spread throughout the world.

Convincing Rebuttal

This, by the way, offers a convincing rebuttal of the ill-founded claim that Americans alone are peculiarly a sect of "gun worshippers." Gun interest is universal.

Local matches generally invite public, usually at a modest fee, often to benefit some local civic or charity movement. Sponsors of such events have found shooters as well as sportsmen and others drawn to them to be more than charitable.

Members of the crowds that marvel at the marksmanship of the shooters come away from the matches with a better understanding of the prowess of the country's frontiersmen and its soldiery.

The matches also are important in that they acquaint Americans, other than shooters and sportsmen with the National Rifle Association.

The NRA made headlines for its lobbying against gun control, and has been a target of antigun legislators and members of Congress.

Lost sight of its nationwide hunter safety program for youths. For instance, California law requires youths to complete a course under the program before they can obtain hunting licenses.

Youth Classes

Classes for youths are being taught now by volunteer instructors under guidance of the Fish and Game Department and the NRA to acquaint youngsters with firearms safety so they can enjoy hunting without endangering themselves or others.

Fish and game officials remind the opening of the coastal season on deer Aug. 1 will kick off hunting in California and now is a good time for youths to complete their hunter safety training.

They may obtain names of instructors near them from license agents, wardens or by writing the Fish and Game Department, 1416 9th St., Sacramento, 95814.

Clubs affiliated with the NRA also are to open their ranges to fellow sportsmen for the purpose of sighting-in their firearms in preparation for the coming hunting season.

Sacramento Bee, July 12, 1970

State Places 3 Shooters On U.S. Team

Turtle Creek Marine Carries Pistol Hopes

The National Rifle Association has announced the selection of the United States international shooting team to represent this nation at the 40th World Shooting Championships scheduled Oct. 14-26, in Phoenix.

The 43-member team is composed of the top rifle, pistol and shotgun marksmen in the United States, including several U.S. Olympic medal winners and holders of world shooting titles.

Three of the competitors chosen are from Pennsylvania. Selected from nearly 400 hopefuls at tryouts recently completed in Phoenix, the U.S. team will compete against more than 1,500 of the world's top shooters from over 40 nations in the championships.

During the 12 days of shooting, there will be 21 team and 23 individual events.

Hosted by the National Rifle Association of America, the 40th World Shooting Championships will be staged on two of the finest ranges in the nation.

The rifle and pistol events will be fired on the newly completed, international-type Black Canyon Range, owned and operated by the Maricopa County Recreation Department.

The shotgun event will be stated at the Phoenix Trap and Skeet Club, a privately owned facility. Both ranges are located within easy driving distance from downtown Phoenix.

Col. Walter R. Walsh, USMC (Ret.), Arlington, Va., has been named Captain of the U.S. team, a position he held in 1966 at the last world shooting championships in Wiesbaden, Germany

The three Pennsylvanians who qualified for the competition are:

Marine Lt. Col. William McMillan, Turtle Creek, who will shoot on the pistol team.

Army Staff Sgt. Dallas Krapf, Coatesville and Robert Rodale, Tommaus, who will be members of the clay target team.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 6, 1970

Five Marines, Hamilton Named to Represent U.S.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Five Marines and a Navy man will be among those representing the United States in the 40th World Shooting Championship here October 14-26.

The 43-member U.S. International Shooting Team, which is composed of the top rifle, pistol and shotgun marksmen in the country, will be competing in the championship against more than 1500 of the world's top shooters from more than 60 nations.

The Marines on the team are: Lt. Col. William W. McMillan, Capt. Allen W. Morrison, CWO-2 David I. Boyd II, WO Francis A. Higgison and GySgt. Jimmie R. Dorsey.

Aviation Machinist's Mate First Donald L. Hamilton is the lone Navy representative.

Navy Times, October 7, 1070

40th World Shooting Meet Will Open

PHOENIX, Ariz. (AP) - The problems and politics of assembling teams from more than 40 nations take a back seat Saturday to opening ceremonies of the 40th World Shooting Championships - the marksman's Olympic Games.

Kurt Hasler of Switzerland, president of the sponsoring International Shooting Union, will welcome more than 1,100 of the world's finest shooters in four languages.

Competition begins Sunday, and continues through Oct. 26.

Teams from Europe, Asia, Africa and South American have been streaming into this desert city for days, but not without complications.

Members of the Russian team discovered some of their baggage missing at the airport.

India's 10-man team withdrew in protest of South Africa's participation. One official, noting the team never left India, said lack of funds or competitors has influenced "political decisions" in the past.

The teams from the United Arab Republic and Israel are billeted as far as possible. "This is a sporting event, pure and simple, but we're not stupid," commented another official.

Unknown newspaper, October 13, 1970

Yankee Shooters Take Direct Aim, Fire At ISU Jury

PHOENIX, Ariz. (AP) - A cold desert wind drew a curtain of dust over the 40th World Shooting Championships Monday night, after final award ceremonies were completed with the aid of automobile headlights.

Free-rifle gold medalist Margaret Murdock of Topeka, Kan., expressed the feelings of most American team members when she said, "There was really no 'best' feature of the matches. There were only inadequacies."

John Foster, gold medal winner in the army rifle match, cited as an "anti-American attitude" on the part of International Shooting Union jurors, but added, "I can't prove it."

The American team, he said, was subject to "a lot of negative jury opinions, starting the first day with a hassle over shooting coats.

The alleged "negative" treatment continued through the ninth and final day of competition when the United States and Russian teams tied with 2223 out of 2400 for first in army rifle, and the Soviet shooters won the gold medal on a decision of ISU officials.

"The Russians should be given a gold medal for winning protests," said William McMillan of Turtle Creek, Pa., bronze medal winner in the standard pistol match which, by the way, was finally decided Monday, after four days of haggling.

But it was not all won in jury meetings, although they resulted in a few additional points for the Soviets here and there, and a medal or two. The Russians performed powerfully on the line in a meet which produced 20 medal-winning countries.

Russia had 19 gold, 16 silver and 9 bronze; followed by the United States with 12, 14 and 9; Yugoslavia with 3, 1 and 4; Switzerland with 3, 0 and 1; West Germany with 2, 3 and 8; Czecoslovakia with 2, 3 and 7; Italy with 2, 1 and 2; Australia with 2, 1 and 0 and Hungary with 2 silver.

France had 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze; East Germany, 1, 1 and 5; Mexico, 1, 1 and 0; South Africa, 1, 1 and 0; Finland, 0, 3 and 2; Romania, 0, 2 and 0; Poland, 0, 1 and 3; Bulgaria, 0,1 and 1; Austria, 0, 1 and 0 and Norway, 0, 0 and 1.

Perhaps the enthusiasm of being Australia's first international shooting gold medal winner brightened her outlook when Judy Trim said "no coment," whe asked to tell of unfavorable aspects of the matches. Miss Trim said she could remember only the good things, "and everbody getting together."

In the final day's competition, Vladimir Agishev won the silver medal in the army rifle and his teammate, Valentin Kornev, won the bronze medal. Poland took the team bronze medal.

Rafael Carpio won Mexico's only gold medal in center fire pistol, followed by Finland's Seppo Nakinen and Lubomir Nacovsky of Czechoslovakia.

The Czechs won the team gold medal, leaving the silver for the United States and the bronze for Russia.

Nina Stolyarova of Russia won the gold in women's center fire, followed by Barbara Hile of the United States and Karin Fitzner of West Germany. The American women took the team gold medal, the Russians won the silver and West Germany captured the bronze.

Tucson Daily Citzen, Tucson, Arizona, Tuesday, October 27, 1970, Page 29

Russian Tops U.S. In World Shoot

PHOENIX, Ariz. — An outstanding performance by U.S. marksmen which included three world records, fell short of the medal bounty collected by the Soviet Union in the 40th World Shooting Championships here.

Stars of the U.S. squad were Army Lt. John Writer, who won 11 individual and team medals, and Army Capt. Margaret Murdock, who competed against the best men in the world in the rifle event and proved their superior.

But when the last round was fired the Americans were outdistanced by the Russians in the race for gold medals by a score of 19-12, and in the overall results America also trailed the USSR, 44-35. Sweden, Switzerland and Yugoslavia were the only other countries with more than two gold medals — each won three.

Writer also shared the title of winning the most awards with Russia's Vital Parkimovitch, each with 11.

Army Maj. John Foster won the last event on the program when he fired a 566 score with the Army rifle but the Russians won the team event with a 2223.

The Army's top pair of women shooters won gold medals for the U.S. Maj. Sallie Carroll won this country's first gold medal in the air pistol competition. Murdock took the measure of the men in the standard rifle with a record-setting 571 which helped the U.S. win the team title.

Marine Lt. Col. William McMillan finished eighth in the rapid fire pistol competition and Marine Sgt. Jimmie Dorsey finished ninth in the center fire pistol match.

Dorsey and another Marine, WO Francis Higginson, also were members of the second place team in the center fire pistol team competition.

About 1100 shooters from 58 countries participated in the matches which were fired under the auspices of the International Shooting Union but directly organized by the National Rifle Association. The firing proceeded at a very leisurely gait, requiring 10 days to bang out 23 matches.

Navy Times, December 2, 1970