National Mid-Winter Pistol Championships
Tampa, Florida

Pistol Match Set Here

By DEL OSSINO

Tribune Sports Writer

The U.S. Military will add another chapter to its sports feud when the service units plus police and civilian teams vie in the annual National Mid-Winter Pistol Match Championships here, Tuesday through Saturday.

Sgt. 1.C. Bill Blankenship of the U.S. Army three time national mid-winter champion who set a world record with a 2674 score out of a possible 2700 last month, will be out to regain the title his lost to Capt. Thomas D. Smith, U.S. Air Force, last year.

THE FORMER world mark of 2663 was held by Lt. Franklin Green, USAF, another entry in this year's event.

The matches will be contested at the Tampa Police Pistol Range, 1801 West Dania Ave., and will begin at 8 o'clock each morning.

Tampa Police Pistol Club is the sponsor of the matches, having purchased rights from Mrs. C. A. Brown, who was the event's sponsor since its inception in 1935.

The event is being held with the cooperation of the National Rifle Association and The National Board For The Promotion of Rifle Practice. Retired Maj. John Prehle, U.S.A., is the tournament director and range master.

Altogether, there are 335 contestants, 70 per cent of which is military.

TOP AREA marksman are Tampa's Henry Huerta and Bradenton's Wade Dix, both members of the exclusive 2600 club. James Clark, Shreveport, La., who has won the national civilian championship at Camp Perry, Ohio, has re-entered the event after a two year's absence.

Lucy Chambliss, civilian police woman from Winter Haven who has won the women's mid-winter championship 12 of the last 13 years, is the top female entry. Only Gertrude E. Blackstrum, Hoquiam, Wash., has defeated Chambliss since 1951.

Twenty-four matches will be fired in the individual competition with the national mid-winter champion being the shooter who accumulates the highest aggregate total of matches 10, 15 and 21.

CAPT SMITH scored a 2650 for the men's title last year. Sgt. 1.C. Blankenship was second with 2646.

The 25-yard targets have been painted green and yellow this year by the sponsoring organization so as to prevent cross-firing in the rapid fire events. The odd number targets are green, the even number yellow. All 50-yard targets are green.

This year, winners in all categories will receive awards and gift certificates. Grand aggregate awards for individuals are as follows: Winner - Plaque and $100 gift certificate; High Civilian - Ruger Pistol and Civilian Champion's Plaque; High Military - Ruger Pistol; High Police - Ruger PIstol and The Tampa Police Chief's Plaque; High Reserve - Rugar Pistol (National Guard and Reserved Combined); High Army - CONARC Commanders Plaque; High Air Force - The General Curtis LeMay Plaque; High Marine Corps - The Commandant's Plaque; High Navy - The Chief of Naval Personnel's Plaque; High U.S. Coast Guard - The Commandant's Plaque; High National Guard - The National Guard Plaque; High Reserve - The Reserve Plaque; Senior Shooters Plaque; Team winner - Plaque and four gold medals.

THE YANKEE-REBEL team match will actually be fired this year on Thursday. In the past, the top ten scores of teh shooters south of the "Mason-Dixon" line and the top ten scores from shooters north of the "line" were tabulated after the individual events and the team with the highest total was declared the winner.

The Tampa Tribune, Tampa, Florida, Sunday, March 8, 1964, Page 4C

Mid-Winter Pistol Matches Open Today

By DEL OSSIO

Tribune Sports Writer

Air Force Capt. Thomas D. Smith, whose marksmanship has lost none of its edge from last year, may have to fire a better score if he is to successfully defend his crown when the National Mid-Winter Pistol Match Championship opens today at the Tampa Police Pistol Range.

CAPTAIN Smith scored an aggregate 2,650 out of a possible 2,700 to win last year's title and last week to capture a meet at Jacksonville.

However, Smith will have to resist the challenges of Army Sgt. 1.C. Bill Blankenship, who has won the mid-winter title here thre times and who last month fired a National Rifle Association record score of 2,674 at Fort Benning, Ga.

The previous record was held by Air Force Capt. Franklin Green, who registered a 2,663 two years ago at the Alamo Pistol Range in San Antonio, Tex.

LUCY CHAMBLISS, civilian policewoman from Winter Haven whose reign as the mid-winter pistol champion seems endless, is the top distaff entry.

Miss Chambliss has pepered the targets accurately enough to win 12 shoot titles in the last 13 years.

The U.S. Army team from Fort Benning won last year's team title here, but will be up against an Air Force outft which defeated the defending champions at Jacksonville last week.

Captain Smith and Sgt. Al Merz were the top guns in the Air Force team win.

THE AF team Headquarters is San Antonio, Tex.

Two entries, Capt. William McMillan, U.S. Marines, and retired M/Sgt. Joe Benner, U.S. Army, have competed for the United States in the Olympics. McMillan won a gold medal in the 1960 Olympics at Rome and Benner shot for the U.S. in the 1948 Olympics in London.

Captain Green has fired in international matches and Blankenship was a member of a United States team which won the world championship in Moscow in 1958.

Amonth the area's best shooters entered are Henry Huerta, Tampa Police Department, and Wade Dix of Bradenton, both of whom are members of the 2,600 club.

THE .45 caliber service pistol matches will be fired today, but will not count toward the grand aggregate which qualifies shootesr for the mid-winter championship.

Competition for the crown starts tomorrow in the .22 caliber matches and will continue until Friday. Team matches will be held Saturday.

The Yankee-Rebel team match will be fired Thursday after the individual matches are completed and will be contested between the top 10 shooters north and south of the Mason-Dixon line.

THE MEET is under the sponsorship of the Tampa Police Pistol Club in cooperation with the National Rifle Association and the National Board For The Promotion of Rifle Practice.

Matches will start at 8:30 a.m. daily.

The Tampa Tribune, Tampa, Florida, Tuesday, March 10, 1962, Page 1C

No Error This Time; Smith .22 Leader

The tall, red-headed Air Force officer walked through the door of the Statistical Office of the Mid-Winter Pistol Matches late Wednesday night and above the hubbub of busy voices announced that he thought an erro had been made in one of the matches.

"I SHOT A 299 over the course and I'm not even on the awards bulletion." he said.

A quick check by the statistical officer proved him correct and the proper change was made in the bulletin, and the Air Force shooter departed, unhurried and unperturbed.

These are both distinguishing features of Capt. Thomas D. Smith, who emerged from Wednesday's .22 caliber matches with a narrow one-point lead in the race for the Mid-Winter title, a crown he won last year by 10 points.

HE FINISHED the four matches with an outstanding 892 out of a possible 900 points.

Hot on his heels are his teammates. Capt. Franklin Green and SSG Hershel Anderson of the Army's Marksmanship Training Unit, who both posted 891s.

Lodged at 890 are the MTU's Sgt 1C Ralph O. Thompson, who won the service pistol championship Tuesday, and Fourth Army's Sgt. Elgin Carter.

SMITH HAS been on of the Air Force's hottest guns recently.

Last week at Jacksonville in the Dixie championships he conquered many of those competing against him this week.

An as the front-runner today, it is up tothe others to catch him, and that could be a difficult task.

The Tampa Times, Tampa Florida, Thursday, March 12, 1964 Page 13A

Olymipc Medal Winner Fires in Matches Here

By DEL OSSINO

Tribune Sports Writer

U.S. Marine Capt. William McMillan won an award most aspiring amateur athletes strive for - an Olympic Gold Medal - and not under the easiest conditions.

McMillan captured the .22 caliber International Rapid Fire event at the 1960 Olympics in Rome by outshooting a Finn and a Russian in a shoot-off after all three tied after regulation rounds.

McMillan scored a 147 out of a possible 150 in the shoot-off to win the event. The Finn scored a 139 and the Russian a 135.

DESCRIBING how he felt when standing at attention while the Star Spangled Banner was played in his honor for winning the gold medal, McMillan said, "Nothing has come even close to that. It was the biggest thrill I've had in my shooting career."

McMillan, who joined the Marines in 1946 and is now stationed at Quantico, Va., will tryout for another Olympic berth in July. Competition for the United States team will be held at either Fort Benning, Ga., or Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Tex. The 1964 Olympics will be held in Tokyo.

A NATIVE of Turtle Creek, Pa., McMillan had only one week's practice for the Olympic tryouts at Fort Benning in 1960 but finished first among the contestants there.

What made it more difficult was the fact that the matches at Fort Benning were fired under international pistol rules. McMillan and other U.S. shooters had only four weeks of practice in Rome to adapt to the new system.

"We fired at silhouette targets, shoot at different time intervals than we normally do and were not permitted to raise our arm until the targets began to face," said McMillan, explaining international rules. The gun also had to be held at a 45 degree angle.

"THERE IS a lot of presure in the Olympics for U.S. competitors because of the importance of the games, because it is contested in foreign countries most of the time and because we are competiting against the Russians," said McMillan.

"I haven't done well in the National Mid-Winter Pistol Championships here so far," McMillan continued. Most of the shooting programs in Quantico, however, don't start until this time of year.

McMillan competed in the 1958 world championship games in Moscow and won the center fire event in a playoff over a Czechoslovakian.

McMILLAN, who will enter the Inter-Service Championships in April, has entered rifle matches only in Marine competition.

A S.Sgt. in the Korean War and the head of an anti-tank section, McMillan was commissioned in 1953 at Quantico. He is married and has three children.

"I would like to see more police and civilian competitors in the mid-winter program," McMillan said. There are a lot of categories in the program and it would be nice to see these shooters here."

The Tampa Tribune, Tampa, Florida, Friday, March 13, 1964, Page 3C

Stineman Wins In Center Fire

Master Sgt. Richard Stineman of the Army Marksmanship Training Unit blasted out a four match aggregate of 883 out of a possible 900 yesterday to capture the mid-winter center fire pistol championship and move into contention for the grand aggregate title.

He trails the leaders, Capt. Franklin Green and Capt. Thomas D. Smith, both of the Air Force, by only two points. The Air Force officers have compiled a total of 1,770 points out of a possible 1,800 at the end of the eight fired matches.

GREEN enjoys a slight edge, however, because 89 of his shots have been in the x-ring as compared to 84 for Smith. The x-ring is a smaller bullseye, used to break times.

Poised within striking distance of the leaders are national pistol champion Sgt. 1. C. Bill Blankenship of the MTU and Air Force Sgt. Tony Vitabro, both at 1,764. Vitarbo aslo was runnerup in the center fire aggregate with an 880.

Match winners yesterday inculded Sgt. Frank Kwas of the Air Force, who captured the national match course with a 298x300; Green wrapped up the timed fire with a 200-18x; Blankenship topped the field in the rapid fire with a 200-14x and Stineman napped the Slow Fire match with a 198x200.

The matches continue today at the Tampa Police Pistol Range with competition in the .45 caliber pistol.

The Tampa Tribune, Tampa, Florida, Friday, March 13, 1964, Page 1C

AF Officer Top Gun With Pistol

The secret of success in sports is to outscore you opponents.

Capt. Thomas D. Smith of the Air Force proved this yesterday when he jumped off to such a big lead in the first two of the day's .45 caliber matches that his nearest competitors couldn't catch up, and he left the range with his second consecutive individual Mid-Winter pistol championship safely tucked away.

Smith, one of the top guns for the men in blue in the past three years, complied a three-day aggregate of 2,650 out of a possible 2,700, to easily outpoint his nearest rival, teammate Capt. Franklin Green by four points.

Lodged in third place was Sfc William Blankenship, of the Army's Marksmanship Training Unit, with 2,643. It was only the second defeat suffered by the Army's stellar competitor, who is the defending national champion.

Yesterday's competition was all with the .45 caliber pistol and when the smoke had cleared at the end of the day, SSG Frank Kwas of the Air Force emerged the big gun champion by the narrowest of margins.

HE HAD a four match total of 882 with 43 shots in the x-ring, a smaller circle withing the bulls-eye used to break ties. Hot on his heels was the MTU's Sgt. Leland Wessel with the same total and only one less shot in the x-ring.

This year's edition of the Mid-Winter championships, which are sponsored by the Tampa Police Department, will end today with firing of three team matches. The squads will contest with .22 caliber, Center Fire and .45 caliber pistols.

The only other team match completed thus far, the .45 caliber service pistol event, was captured by the Army's Blue squad Tuesday with an 1,160 out of 1,200 point effort.

The Tampa Times, Tampa, Florida, Saturday, March 14, 1964, Page 8

Air Force Team Pistol Champions

The Air Forece Pistol Team from Lackland AFB, Tex., swept three of the four team matches yesterday which concluded the National Mid-Winter Pistol Championships at the Tampa Police Pistol Range.

It was the second straight major match that the men in blue had dominated in the individual and team events.

They captured the team aggregate yesterday with a three match total of 3,523 out of a possible 3,600, collected first place in the .22 caliber match with an 1186x1200, and the center fire event with an 1167x1200.

Pacing the Air Force to victory were Capt. Thomas D. Smith won won the individual title Friday, Capt. Franklin Green, Sgt. J. L. Mahan and S. Sgt. Alvin Merx.

The gunners on the winning Army team were M. Sgt. Hershel Anderson, Sgt. 1.C. Ralph Thompson, Sgt. 1.C. John Lingle and Sgt. 1.C. William Blankenship.

Perennial champion Lucy Champbliss of Winter Haven added her 13th National Mid-Winter Women's Pistol Championship in the last 14 years to her list of awards by winning the title with a three-gun aggregate of 2,473 out of a possible 2,700.

Alicia Van Deusen, wife of the commanding officer of the big Air Force team, placed second in the women's division with a 2,243. Third spot was taken by Donna Weber, a member of the Women's Army Corps from Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., with a 1,935 score.

The Tampa Tribune, Tampa, Florida, March 15, 1964, Page 7